A Ridiculous Compilation of Videos From Untamed New England

In July of 2009 Team Cogeyed AR ventured to New Hampshire to compete in Untamed New England, a three day expedition adventure race. Our race was a great success! We finished 5th in the open division and 14th overall. Of the 44 teams who participated, only 23 were able to finish as it was quite a challenge. Most importantly, we had an amazing time! From all of our training and preparation, to the drive to New England all the way to the start line it was all a lot of fun.

I had forgotten that we'd taken quite a bit of video on the trip before the race. We didn't get any video footage during the race as our backpacks were already too heavy to carry a camera too! Recently I found the old SD card with the videos on it and I know that quite a few people will want to see some of these gems. However, I do feel it necessary to offer the following disclaimer: I am a dangerous, self indulgent fool with a camera. While some may get a laugh out of these videos, others might conclude that I've suffered one too many head injuries while others still might find them to be a waste of time. I sincerely hope that most of you find them funny! Do enjoy.

This was early in the drive when my company first abandoned me on their way to dreamland. That 'thing' in the back is Madmartigan, our Irish Wolfhound. He stayed in Fredericton while we continued on.



We camped somewhere in the USA that night after meeting with Team Natural Selection Adventure Racing. I don't remember where we stayed, nor am I sure I ever knew. It did rain all night and we woke up bitterly cold. Team Cogeyed AR is diligent with our conditioning so we proceeded with our typical morning calisthenics. Nick (seen on the far left) from NSAR tried to keep up, but he wasn't ready for such an intense workout.



Here I'm seen supervising Shawn's final exercises.



Shortly after our morning routine we hit the old iron road again. Guess what? Everyone fell asleep on me again. I seized the opportunity for more video footage, and even added some lip-syncing for your viewing pleasure.



Here we're seen in our room at The Balsams, which served as race HQ. We were making the final preparations on our gear. Each of us were allowed on gear bin weighing no more than 30 lbs, and a team paddling bag of 40 lbs. This was difficult! In this video we also speculate that the delicious granola that Erica made may have contributed to some unpleasant, yet hilarious, gaseous omissions.



As I became more at one with the camera my creativity became contagious. Erica joined in on this foolishness.



Things got a little out of hand in this one! Unfortunately... maybe fortunately... YouYube's video quality damping took away some of the detail. They are some nice legs though! And @1:00? Well... I told you I was dangerous with a camera. And I was only drinking a bit!



These next two videos are of us driving up the hill from the hotel to the golf course. We were practically hovering on our seat we were so excited! R. Kelly's Ignition Remix was our theme song for the race. We sang it whenever we were starting to feel the pull of fatigue or frustration and it immediately cheered us up. Strangely, Shawn sang it all the time without knowing a single word!





Okay, last one I promise! I had really hoped to take some time editing this one, and maybe someday I will. Please use your imagination a bit and imagine it's at 1/4 speed with Rush's Tom Sawyer playing for a soundtrack. Now picture title boards fading in "O9Man... The SST... and The E-Rukkus... star... in... UNTAMED NEW ENGLAND 2009"

It is a great slow walk, I must add those edits sometime.



Hope you enjoyed them, we enjoyed making them. My sincere apologies if you want your time back!