Triangle Adventure Racing Team

Bruce is a 37 year old Cary Resident who has worked for the Cary Police Department since March 1994, spending most of his time as a Mountain Bike Officer, he is currently a Police Sergeant, fitness, TASER and defensive tactics instructor. Prior to his Law Enforcement career Bruce spent time in the Army’s 82nd Airborne division. Bruce started racing AR as a progression of his running and mountain biking. His first Adventure race was the June 1999 Odyssey 24 hour in which he finished First Solo and second overall. Since then he has continued to pursue endurance racing and is looking forward to an injury free 2006. Following back surgery in January 2005 he was able to return to racing, posting some solid biking results. His goals for 2006 included the Shenandoah 100, the Slatyfork Wild 100k, the Greenbrier 50 and the Oarevents MTB endurance festival

Charlie is a computer geek currently held captive by a huge, evil corporation. He hopes to one day escape from its sinister oppression and find someone who will pay him to run, bike, climb and paddle in the wilderness. He prefers navigationally difficult races and is extremely competitive but always has fun, because “a bad day racing is still ten times better than a good day at work”. Race highlights include a 1st solo/overall finish at the 2003 Odyssey One Day, 1st solo/overall at 9-1-1 sprint race 2005, 1st overall at the 3-day Rock, Roll, and Rattlesnake Challenge 2006, 21st full-course finish at PQ2006, and several top ten finishes in races from 8 hours to 4 days in length. His goal is a top finish in a major expedition length race.Certifications:

• AMGA Top Rope Site Manager

Ernie is 31 years old, married and a Father of one beautiful little girl. He makes a living as a Research Scientist for a global biotechnology company. He got the urge to try Adventure Racing during a ten day long mountaineering trip in Colorado. With skills for many of the disciplines involved in Adventure Racing already under his belt, he naturally progressed at this new sport. Three years later, some of his accomplishments include a 4th place finish at the 2002 Appalachian Extreme, 3rd place Coed finish in the 2002 Endorphin Fix, and an 8th place finish in the 2003 Eco Challenge North American Championships. He is the type of person who can skip the training for the marathon and still finish the race. This can be a good thing and a bad thing. He excels at biking and paddling. His goals are to become a better navigator and a faster runner. “Never, never, never give up.” Winston Churchill.

Brian is a 33 year old software professional living in Holly Springs. Brian’s interest in adventure racing began a couple of years ago with several sprint races. This past year Brian competed in several 24hr + races including the Odyssey One-Day (solo), US Orienteering Championships (with Sean) and the 2004 North Georgia AR (with Ernie and Charlie). Brian enjoys includes lunch-time trail runs at Umstead State Park (when he can get away from work) and kayaking and mountain biking at nearby Harris Lake on the weekends. Brian’s goals for this year are to improve his mountain biking and follow a more consistent training regimen.

Jeff Thompson is a 30-year-old civil engineer currently living in Wilmington, NC. Most of Jeff’s time is spent working and looking at maps having developed strong map reading ability to enhance his solid navigational skills. Jeff’s athletic background consisted mostly of foot races since he was about 20, being relatively new to most of the disciplines in adventure races. His interest in adventure racing began in 2004 with an expedition length race in Moab. Since then he has competed in several 8 to 30-hour races in Virginia, NC, and Georgia. In 2005, Jeff competed in a 24-hour Rogaine for the American Bushwhacking Championships with a 4th place finish in the solo category, right on the heels of Brian. In 2006, Jeff and Brian took first place 2-person male at the Micheaux Forest 24-hr Rogaine. Jeff’s goal for the next year is to improve his paddling skills and try not to let work get in the way of training.Certifications:

• Wilderness First Aid

Sean Butler is a 35 year old Network Architect for an Internet company, with degrees in Telecommunications and Computer Science. He has been adventure racing for over eight years, with several top 5 division finishes in both sprint and multi-day races. He has also recently caught the orienteering bug, and has several 1st and 2nd place finishes on various course levels in the local races. He tends to enjoy the longer races more than sprint for their unique challenges, but also likes the all-out pace of shorter races. He has raced with many teams (Are We There Yet?, High Octane, Big Blue) and various teammates, including his wife Kelly (as team “Ball and Chain”) and his 61 year old father (who caught the bug after reading Sean’s race reports). When not working or training, he loves spending time with his wife and 3 year old daughter Riley, new born Reece, reading, cooking, and being outdoors—especially the mountains.Visit Sean’s personal web page at: http://www.2sparrows.org/Sean has been struggling through a knee injury since July of 2005. See his knee blog at http://www.2sparrows.org/blog