Mike McGarry aka Superman
Carol Brimm
Mike McGarry, woodshop teacher and cross country track coach at Mustang High School, is better known to his students as Superman. He earned this title not because of his skill with a wood lathe or even by coaching the boys track team to its first State Championship in 2005, but because he is an adventure racer.
Adventure racing is an ultra-endurance event that requires teams to run, bike, paddle, climb, swim, rappel and hike through rugged terrain in state parks. The race can last 6, 12 or 24 hours. Teams must use map and compass to navigate the course without knowing until the day or night of the race where they will be required to go or what they will be required to do. The object of the race is to find markers and overcome challenges along the trail. Once the race begins, there is no stopping until the end.
Adventure racing tests the participant’s ability to think, strategize and anticipate while enduring extreme mental and physical exhaustion. Many teams don’t even finish. At the end the prize is a banner emblazoned with the team’s place in the race. No money, no trips, no trophy, just a banner!
“We race for the glory,” McGarry laughed.
McGarry 48, John Lunn 47, and Dennis Williams 39, are known as the Trekking Teachers. Lunn is a principal at Lake Park Elementary in Putnam City and Williams is the Chairman of the History Department at Southern Nazarene University. The team began adventure racing together in October 2004 and has competed in five races. They try to compete in at least two or three events each year, and they faced their toughest challenge on Friday, Feb 18 when they entered their first 24-hour race.
While most Mustang residents were huddled by the fire watching the temperature drop and the freezing rainfall, McGarry and his team were at Robbers Cave State Park in southeastern Oklahoma. At 1 a.m. Saturday morning with the temperature holding steady at 23 degrees and a wind chill of 12 the race was on. The team ran, in the dark, 1 ¼ miles up a hill, pushed a canoe ¾ miles to the lake, paddled across the lake and back, and as the sun was rising set off on a 20 mile trek on mountain bikes. During the ride the wind froze their fingers and the water bottles, filled with a combination of water and Gatorade, turned into frozen slush.
“It was actually pretty good,” said Lunn, “sort of like a Sonic drink.”
Stopping only long enough to warm up, get food and plot a new course, the team began running.
“As long as you were moving you were okay,” said Williams “but if you stopped you froze.”
Ten miles through the brush and along park trails they ran, and then back on the bikes for another 20 miles up hill and down, on dirt roads around the park. At 10:30 p.m. Saturday night it was over. They finished. The Trekking Teachers placed 2nd overall in the event against teams from Colo., Texas, Kan., Ark., and Okla. They fell into bed and were up the next morning by 7 a.m. They were sore for several days.
“But it was a good sore,” McGarry said.
Adventure racing is similar in some ways to the reality show Survivor. Perhaps because Mark Burton, producer of Survivor, also made ECO Challenge, an adventure racing reality show. Like the contestants on Survivor, the teams sometimes form alliances when markers are very hard to find but McGarry said, as soon as the marker is found it’s each team for themselves again. Along the way they are faced with both physical and mental challenges, much like the immunity and reward challenges on reality T.V. In past events they had to solve a wooden puzzle, go on a scavenger hunt, sing karaoke and swim across a lake at night.
Training for these events is a lifestyle for the three men. Each runs long distances each week and spends as many hours in the gym as possible. They try to meet once a week to practice biking, canoeing and running together, sometimes at night. It builds endurance and teaches them to be prepared for the unexpected.
Although the team has competed only in Oklahoma so far, there are adventure races somewhere in the United States every weekend and some corporate sponsored professionals compete in races across the world. One of the biggest races is the ECO Challenge, which is held in a different country each year. It last 7 days and cost $10,000 to enter. But for the average amateur, adventure racing is not an expensive sport.
“Anyone can get started with just the things they have in their garage and a good mountain bike,” said Williams. “It’s a lot of fun.”
Carol Brimm
Mike McGarry, woodshop teacher and cross country track coach at Mustang High School, is better known to his students as Superman. He earned this title not because of his skill with a wood lathe or even by coaching the boys track team to its first State Championship in 2005, but because he is an adventure racer.
Adventure racing is an ultra-endurance event that requires teams to run, bike, paddle, climb, swim, rappel and hike through rugged terrain in state parks. The race can last 6, 12 or 24 hours. Teams must use map and compass to navigate the course without knowing until the day or night of the race where they will be required to go or what they will be required to do. The object of the race is to find markers and overcome challenges along the trail. Once the race begins, there is no stopping until the end.
Adventure racing tests the participant’s ability to think, strategize and anticipate while enduring extreme mental and physical exhaustion. Many teams don’t even finish. At the end the prize is a banner emblazoned with the team’s place in the race. No money, no trips, no trophy, just a banner!
“We race for the glory,” McGarry laughed.
McGarry 48, John Lunn 47, and Dennis Williams 39, are known as the Trekking Teachers. Lunn is a principal at Lake Park Elementary in Putnam City and Williams is the Chairman of the History Department at Southern Nazarene University. The team began adventure racing together in October 2004 and has competed in five races. They try to compete in at least two or three events each year, and they faced their toughest challenge on Friday, Feb 18 when they entered their first 24-hour race.
While most Mustang residents were huddled by the fire watching the temperature drop and the freezing rainfall, McGarry and his team were at Robbers Cave State Park in southeastern Oklahoma. At 1 a.m. Saturday morning with the temperature holding steady at 23 degrees and a wind chill of 12 the race was on. The team ran, in the dark, 1 ¼ miles up a hill, pushed a canoe ¾ miles to the lake, paddled across the lake and back, and as the sun was rising set off on a 20 mile trek on mountain bikes. During the ride the wind froze their fingers and the water bottles, filled with a combination of water and Gatorade, turned into frozen slush.
“It was actually pretty good,” said Lunn, “sort of like a Sonic drink.”
Stopping only long enough to warm up, get food and plot a new course, the team began running.
“As long as you were moving you were okay,” said Williams “but if you stopped you froze.”
Ten miles through the brush and along park trails they ran, and then back on the bikes for another 20 miles up hill and down, on dirt roads around the park. At 10:30 p.m. Saturday night it was over. They finished. The Trekking Teachers placed 2nd overall in the event against teams from Colo., Texas, Kan., Ark., and Okla. They fell into bed and were up the next morning by 7 a.m. They were sore for several days.
“But it was a good sore,” McGarry said.
Adventure racing is similar in some ways to the reality show Survivor. Perhaps because Mark Burton, producer of Survivor, also made ECO Challenge, an adventure racing reality show. Like the contestants on Survivor, the teams sometimes form alliances when markers are very hard to find but McGarry said, as soon as the marker is found it’s each team for themselves again. Along the way they are faced with both physical and mental challenges, much like the immunity and reward challenges on reality T.V. In past events they had to solve a wooden puzzle, go on a scavenger hunt, sing karaoke and swim across a lake at night.
Training for these events is a lifestyle for the three men. Each runs long distances each week and spends as many hours in the gym as possible. They try to meet once a week to practice biking, canoeing and running together, sometimes at night. It builds endurance and teaches them to be prepared for the unexpected.
Although the team has competed only in Oklahoma so far, there are adventure races somewhere in the United States every weekend and some corporate sponsored professionals compete in races across the world. One of the biggest races is the ECO Challenge, which is held in a different country each year. It last 7 days and cost $10,000 to enter. But for the average amateur, adventure racing is not an expensive sport.
“Anyone can get started with just the things they have in their garage and a good mountain bike,” said Williams. “It’s a lot of fun.”
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