Teva Mountain Games: Team BACKPACKER

Four BACKPACKER editors kayaked, ran, and biked (road and mountain) for miles in the grueling Teva Mountain Challenge. Photos by Caleb Tkach and Ted Alvarez.

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First event: kayaking. The team’s purple ducky was nicknamed “Violet Violence.”

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It was assistant online editor Ted Alvarez’s first time in a kayak. You couldn’t tell.

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Here, the Violence led him astray. But he only capsized once.

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Assoicate editor Shannon Davis was inadvertently entered in the women’s division of the trail run.

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He placed 20th amongst the ladies in his age division over the 10K course.

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Map editor Kris Wagner took the third leg, mountain biking.

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The two-loop, 11-mile course had plenty of technical singletrack.

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Sporting the full BACKPACKER kit, assistant map editor Mark Harrison finished the mtn. challenge.

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Somehow, the team finished 4th (out of 12) overall in the amateur division.