Team Nike Takes Two In China!

I'm a bit late on reporting this, but better late than never.

World Adventure Racing Champions Team Nike recently put together their first all male squad, and took off for China to take part in the Wulong Mountain Quest Adventure Race. Team regulars Mike Kloser and Michael Tobin were joined by mountain biker Jay Henry and multi-sport athlete Josiah Middaugh to round out the squad.

The Vail Daily News has posted a brief article on the event, and Nike's performance. It seems despite a rough start in the kayaks during the prologue, the four men managed to claim the victory and then went on to dominate the event itself, and claiming the victory by crossing the finish line first after three days of racing.

During one stage of the event, Tobin was injured due to a fall while running, and managed to cut himself up quite badly. He soldiered on through the pain, and obviously managed to perform well enough that the team remained at the top of the leaderboard. However, once he had access to the medical tent Tobin received ten stitches to close up his wounds on his left knee and hand. Ten stitches doesn't sound like a lot, but Kloser remarked that the wounds were severe enough that he probably should have had three times that many stitches to properly close the cuts. Being the consummate adventure racer that he is though, Tobin continued the race, and was integral in the team's victory.

After the won the Wulong Mountain Quest, Nike was asked to compete in another event, the Zunji Outdoor Challenge. The boys happily excepted another challenge, but later found out that getting to the event required a 9 hour bus ride. Never ones to turn down a challenge however, the Team went on to win that event as well, after 45km of mountain biking and 10km of trail running.

All in all, I'd say a pretty productive trip to China for Team Nike. Two more wins for the resume, and two new teammates to call upon in the future. It was a remarkable performance by Michael Tobin as well to still perform at a high level while suffering from battle wounds. Once again, the best team in the sport proves their mettle, but seriously, when is someone going to step up and beat these guys?