The competition should be fierce in the Maine Summer Adventure Race starting July 16 in New Gloucester, ME, by Strong Machine AR. The event is the penultimate USARA Regional Championship for the 2021-2022 season.
 
“Several of the top teams in the nation will be competing this year and there's always great competition up front,” says Cliff White, co-race director. “In the mixed premier division, we're excited to have Team Toyota Tundra making the trip east from Minnesota for our race, but they'll have an uphill battle against two-time defending champions Rootstock Racing, previous two-time champions Untamed New England, and our own up-and-coming crew from Strong Machine AR. But there are a lot of other fast teams out there to keep them company!”
 
Strong Machine AR has been working on the course for over a year.
 
“To show off how perfect this state is for adventure racing, each year, we completely redesign our course, and we're pretty sure even our most experienced racers don’t have any idea where we're going to take them until they spread out their maps the morning of the race,” says White. “And we like to treat paddling as an equal part of the equation when it comes to AR, but expect to move fast, as we use sea kayaks for our paddling stages.”
 
This is the sixth year for the AR duo of Kate and Cliff White as directors of the Maine Summer Adventure Race. They have also directed the Wildlands Adventure Challenge, which takes place in October at the peak of fall foliage, in Orland, ME, for the past five years.
 
“Our course design style is centered around a "fun first" philosophy,” says White. “We are not out to try to destroy our racers - we try to keep our stage-length manageable and our navigation fair. We want our racers to have a great time exploring parts of Maine they've never visited before.”
 
“As race directors, it's always fun (and nerve-wracking) to finally have teams out there taking it on,” adds White. “We love creating a course that's approachable for anyone with a can-do spirit, and yet has enough challenging optional points to keep everyone busy for the full 3, 8, or 24 hours. And we love route choice and strategy and try hard to force every team to have to make some tough decisions out there.”
 
“In terms of overall event experience, we've tried to once again up our game this year and we've added a bunch of elements to enhance the race, from a cool new trophy for the overall winners, to an expanded gear raffle with all racers eligible to win prizes ranging from Hyperlite and OutThere backpacks to Zanfel products to L.L. Bean gift cards to Sap Hound organic maple syrup,” says White. “As usual, we'll have some great food and beverages for racers to enjoy after they've finished. And of course, special for this year, we'll have an actual brand-new Toyota Tundra on site that racers can check out before and after the race.”
 
Thanks to USARA's partnership with Adventure Enablers tracking for the 2022 Maine Summer Adventure Race is available at: http://live.enabledtracking.com/msa2022/