Tag Archives: Colorado

I NEED YOUR HELP: Adventure TEAM Challenge 2018

The Exceptional Athlete Matters! I want to invite you to be a part of one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen in my life. Adventure TEAM Challenge is an intimate and powerful event that I have been a part of for the past three years. Put together by World TEAM Sports, the racecourse is grueling and beautiful and life changing…but it’s nothing compared to the grit of the competitors.

TEAM RED (USMC) 2016 ATC WINNERS

Each Adventure TEAM is made up of five individuals. Three are able bodied, two are disabled, and one of the two must be in a wheelchair. Disabled doesn’t belong anywhere in the description of these athletes. They come from all corners of the country with so many different and compelling stories, and the one quality all of them share is their ability. 

Donations can be made here:  HELP ATC 2018

Before this experience, I hadn’t spent much time with anyone who might be considered disabled. It took just one Adventure TEAM Challenge weekend to change my view on the power of the human spirit. As exhausted, beaten and cut up as my body was, my mind and heart were being bombarded with inspiration, laughter and new friendships. This is the MOST POWERFUL EVENT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD ABOUT and I need YOUR help making this magic continue to happen.

Please check out this video of last years event and consider making a donation – your generosity will go to an amazing event!

This is my first time ever fundraising for something I am passionate about, and that’s where you come in. This is strictly an effort to create a impactful and life-changing experience for others, both adaptive and able-bodied. I truly appreciate your help by donating, sharing ATC posts and helping me/us spread awareness about this life changing event. Thank you, PJ

Team Graphite 2017 which I kept calling granite which eventually became
TEAM COUNTERTOPS!  

Press Release

Colorado Adventure Team Challenge brings Together Disabled and Able-Bodied Athletes

By Richard Rhinehart

Eagle, Colorado, September 14, 2015 – Disabled and able-bodied athletes from across the United States are participating in this week’s inclusive Adventure Team Challenge Colorado from national non-profit World T.E.A.M. Sports.

Teams work together at the Adventure Team Challenge Colorado.

Held at the rustic Rancho del Rio resort in the rugged Gore Mountains northeast of Eagle, the Challenge is unique in adventure sports. Each participating team of five athletes includes two athletes with disabilities, one athlete being a wheelchair user. This combination of able-bodied and disabled athletes working together encourages teamwork and cooperation to overcome physical and technical challenges during the three-stage outdoor event.

“The Adventure Team Challenge is a truly unique event,” said World T.E.A.M. Sports CEO and President Van Brinson. “It is the embodiment of a team event. Each member of every team must work together to accomplish the goal. Through two long days of orienteering, mountain biking, hiking, ropes and water events, the teams are challenged at all phases. Every person who participates in this event walks away with a new perspective.”

Participants in the Challenge raft the Colorado River, ride off-road bicycles on rocky, steep trails, climb granite cliffs and use orienteering to find each checkpoint along the course. Teams missing a checkpoint are assigned penalties by the event organizers, Billy and Helene Mattison of Vail, who compile overall times for each team. At the end of the weekend, the team that completes the course in the shortest time overall and does not miss any checkpoints, will be recognized as this year’s champion.

Teams on the Colorado River.

Athletes in the Challenge include military veterans and civilians, many of whom are active in outdoor sports, but who have not previously competed in a team adventure. Disabilities for athletes range from spinal cord injuries that have resulted in full to partial paralysis, amputations, Post-Traumatic Stress and brain injuries.

Although many of the athletes are from Colorado, others are traveling from states from coast to coast. Participating athletes will arrive from California, Oregon, Florida, Massachusetts, Illinois, Texas, New York, Missouri, Virginia, Maine, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania and Virginia. Teams consist of men and women, ranging in age from 24 to 57, who will camp under the stars at the resort, share meals and work together to successfully complete the Challenge.

Since the first Adventure Team Challenge in 2007, each participating team has completed all stages. Challenges have been held at Rancho del Rio in the Gore Mountains, along the Arkansas River near Leadville, and near the Colorado/Utah state border west of Grand Junction.

Team mebers work on a bike in 2014.

Participating adaptive athletes include Jamey Stogsdill of Oregon, who was the first woman to mon-ski the Big Couloir at Montana’s Big Sky Resort in 2014; Army Staff Sergeant Ian Newland, who served two deployments in Iraq and was wounded in action; Massachusetts cyclist Gina Utegg, who was in a serious automobile accident in 2001 that left her with a variety of injuries and ended her corporate career; and Estes Park athlete Dan Marshall, who survived a paralyzing aircraft crash in 2002 and is returning for his second Challenge.

Navy veteran and stand-up comedian PJ Walsh, a recent participant in NBC Television’s American Ninja Warrior competition, will be joining the Marines Team at the competition. As a veteran, Walsh feels he has a duty of honoring servicemen and women who fight for their country. His participation will help honor these veterans, as well as bring attention to the remarkable skills and dedication of disabled and able-bodied veterans.

Team Endless Abilities, who traveled across the United States in the spring of 2012 searching for adaptive sports for athletes with disabilities and filmed a feature documentary film in the process, will be joining together to undertake the Challenge.

The 2015 Adventure Team Challenge Colorado from World T.E.A.M. Sports is supported through sponsors and partners including American Portfolios Financial Services, Audubon Orthotic & Prosthetic Services, Deven’s Recycling, Pearl Meyer & Partners, Skanska USA, TimeCapital and Timberline Sports. Additional financial support is provided by Jim Noland, George Puskar and James Benson.

Downhill off-road bicycling.