With the conclusion of the AR World Championship (ARWC) last November in New Zealand, it was well publicized that both Nathan Fa’avae and Kristina Anglem (formerly Strode-Penny) were going to retire after the race. Both athletes were members of Team Seagate that won the 2002 Eco Challenge in Fiji. But what I found out recently, is that another racer made the ARWC his last race; Billy Mattison. Billy Mattison was on the first all US team to win an Eco Challenge. His team, Team Vail, won the 1998 Eco Challenge in Morocco. So that makes 3 Eco Challenge winners that retired after the ARWC. These racers are at the top of their sport too. Team Balance Vector (Fa’avae and Anglem) took the victory with a VERY convincing win and Team Golite/Timberland (Mattison) took third. Nice way to end a career don’t you think? Best of luck in “retirement” guys and girls!

While this has nothing to do with Checkpoint Adventures or Adventure Racing; I wanted to mention this in the blog. For those that know what a podcast is, if you haven’t been listening to the Ricky Gervais Podcast you should download it right now and listen. This is what keeps me laughing contsantly! Ricky Gervais was behind the BBC show The Office which is perhaps one of the funniest things I’ve seen in quite some time. Check it out!