US National Champions!

Team Eastern Mountain Sports

crosses the finish line first to win the

2006 United States Adventure Racing National Championships!

Crossing the finish line (L to R) Dave Lamb, Jennifer Shultis, Eric Bowker, John Hartley, Chad Denning, Frida Rosenberg

The course started on the Pacific shoreline just south of beautiful Santa Barbara, California before taking racers up and through 100 beautiful, treacherous and pain-inducing miles of the Santa Ynez Mountains and Los Padres National Forest.

Team Eastern Mountain Sports was there with two strong teams composed of Eric Bowker, Chad Denning, John Hartley, Dave Lamb, Frida Rosenberg and Jennifer Shultis. After a strong and successful season together, both teams decided they would rather race together than apart. This decision proved to be a winning one as 24 hours and 31 minutes after the gun went off, both teams crossed the finish line arm-in-arm, to share first place honors having bested 48 of the top teams from 21 states around the country. To get any team over the line in first place is an accomplishment--to get two teams over together in first place is an amazing feat beyond compare. Team Captain, Jennifer Shultis said, "We won this together and because of each other. We share equally in this victory. It is near impossible to describe just how strong and tight this team has become over the past year--everyone is like family-- and to share in this together gives me incredible joy and tremendous satisfaction. To bring back a win from the West Coast for the adventure racing community here on the East Coast is an incredible privilege and accomplishment."

For splits and finish times, please visit the USARA Nationals website at http://www.usaranationals.com/