The Expedition Idaho Adventure Race continues into its fourth day today, with teams continuing to navigate their way through a tough course in the wilds of northern Idaho. The racers have been going nearly non-stop since Sunday morning, and there is a real battle shaping up at the top of the leader board for who will eventually win this race.
At the moment, Teams Thule and Seagate are pushing each other to the limit at the front of the pack, with the rest of the teams chasing further back. The lead teams have endured long treks and mountain bike legs, intermixed with some paddling and "special" challenges, that included having to build their own raft and starting a fire without matches or a lighter. Team GearJunkie/YogaSlackers, who are racing unranked due to the loss of a teammate, and Team Bones are in third and fourth place respectively.
The race hasn't gone without its mishaps. While the elite teams at the front are chugging along, some of the others have had their struggles. For instance, Team Idaho made a navigational error that put them 50 miles off course, while one racer crashed on a mountain bike section and had to be airlifted off the course.
When it's all said and done, the teams will have raced for more than 500km over a six day period, and organizers of the event are promising them quite a welcome at the finish line. I don't want to give too much away yet, but I can say the finish should be unlike any other in adventure racing.
Follow the action on the Expedition Idaho website, blog, and Twitter feed. There is still plenty of racing to go, and I think there will be an epic battle between Thule and Seagate before its all done.