Puerto Rico!

Photos from Puerto Rico online at:

http://wm.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2064278&l=70a41&id=7602784

NORSA Films Production:

Team NORSA Cycling Attempts 1st Stage of the BBBT - The Virgilina Twelvety

[Courtesy of Alan Stewart and sailnaway.blogspot.com]

For the last 3 weeks or so, Adam, Mike and Alan had planned a ride from Raleigh North to Virgilina, VA. Virgilina is a very small and unique town in that half of it is in NC and half in VA a total of about 120miles round trip and the plan was to complete the whole ride in one day leaving early in the morning. Tim was also exited about it and joined the group as did Adam's friend Steve who drove down from DC for the weekend. Team NORSA was on the road again.

We rolled out from Base Camp (Mike and Alan's apartment) at 7:36am Sat. morning bundled up for the low 40 degree temperatures and 100% overcast skies that greeted us. The forecast for the day was low 40s all day with increasing chance of rain after about 1pm in Raleigh and 100% chance in the evening. Being an optimistic bunch we just decided that we would probably be ok. We took flashy bike lights along since we figured that we would not make it back before dark. We were off.

From left: Adam, Steve, Mike, Tim (Alan w/ camera). It was cold but we were making good progress and having fun. Averaging about 15mph and with purpose we were exited to be on an adventure and awaited what challenges might lie ahead of us. Dun dun dun (...thats foreshadowing).

Adam had one flat tire at the bottom of a hill just before we got to Falls Lake which is exceptionally low due to the severe drought in and around Raleigh. We waited up for him and all was well. We made it to a gas station for a bathroom break in Stem, NC about 32miles out when the rain started. Mike noticed the drizzle at first and then bigger drizzle quickly followed. A check on time revealed that we would definitely not be making it home before and dark and while we are a rough and tough bunch, even we were not prepared to ride home in the dark...in the rain...in the freezing cold. No thanks. We voted, and with more weather on its way decided to return to base camp. It would be lunch in Raleigh at IHOP for this chilled crew

But not before photo proof of our progress as the Stem Town Hall Police Department building served as a backdrop. With a renewed energy we headed back to Raleigh. About a quarter of the way back we outran the drizzle storm that was moving west south west and the roads were dry again but it was definitely a little colder.



We made it home around 12:30 after riding a solid 65miles. Feeling good about our accomplishment and now fully realizing how much the temperature had dropped as the darker clouds filled in faster than expected we enjoyed a satisfying IHOP lunch and good conversation. Team NORSA has unofficially vowed to attempt the ride again in the near future. If you're interested in coming along just let us know.

NORSA Triathlon and NORSA Films hard at work.

Team NORSA's Biggest Showing Yet at the 2007 Turkey Chase!

Thanksgiving day 2007 proved to be a reunion of epic proportions. Team NORSA came together to compete in the 25th annual YMCA Turkey Chase in Bethesda MD. This 10K race wound its way through some of suburban Maryland's finest neighborhoods, around the world famous National Institutes of Health, and through downtown Bethesda before finishing on Old Georgetown Road.

Team NORSA's large turnout helped make this race Montgomery County's largest. NORSA Tri team members Adam, Jon Spurlock, Steven Long, John Long, Matt White, and Tom Saffell were joined by runners Bethan Haaga, Allison Iciek, and Alex Paplomatas.

Newcomer Alex provided himself to be NORSA's elite runner, finishing 22nd overall with a time of 37:19 while Jon Spurlock continued to show his running strength by finishing with a time of 45:35.

Thanks to all who came to cheer the team on.

Full results can be seen here:

http://www.doitsports.com/newresults3/client/188708_220669_2007.htm (male)
http://www.doitsports.com/newresults3/client/188708_220670_2007.htm (female)

Team NORSA Joins Forces with Team ENERGY at the Second Annual OBX Marathon!

On November 11th, 2007, Team NORSA members Julia Brockman and Adam partnered with Team ENERGY members Jana and Erin Dennis at the second annual running of the Outer Banks Marathon. Starting in the town of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, runners wound their way through the coastal towns of Kill Devil Hills and Nags Head before crossing over to Roanoke Island and finishing in the town of Manteo ... 26.2 miles later.

This was the first marathon for each team member - and on a sunny, breezy, and crisp November morning, all of their training paid off in success. The course was primarily flat with the exception of a few mild hills and one large bridge. Along the way runners were treated to views of the Albemarle Sound, the Wright Brothers Memorial (location of the first human powered flight), Jockey's Ridge State Park, and the many quaint neighborhoods that the Outer Banks are famous for. Throughout the day, runners were cheered on by packs of locals and race fans completely caught up in the thrill of it all.

All team members met or exceeded their goals. Despite spending several minutes in a port-o-potty at mile 13, Adam still finished with a time of 3:58:45 - thus succeding in beating Oprah's 4:29:20. "I love you Oprah, you've been a great inspiration," he said before the race. "But I've got to beat your time, girl!"

Congratulations are especially due to Julie, who finished with a time of 3:40:27, thus qualifying for the Boston Marathon in April, which she plans on making her next and last marathon.

See the full results: http://results.active.com/pages/displayNonGru.jsp?rsID=49824

Thanks again to all Team NORSA supporters. Come join the team at the YMCA Turkey Chase in Bethesda, MD this next Thanksgiving morning. We hope to see you there!

NORSA Adventure Racing Team Debuts at the 2007 Gold Nugget!

This past weekend, members of the NORSA Adventure Racing Team (Mike Rhodes, Alan Stewart, Tim Josey, and Adam) competed in the "Dirty Dozen" category of the 2007 Gold Nugget Adventure Race. Taking place in and around the Uhwarrie National Forest in south-central North Carolina, this 12 hour race was a combination of mountain biking, trail-running, bushwacking, canoeing, orienteering, and a high ropes course.

Trip Report and Photos by Alan Stewart:

"We arrived Friday late afternoon and set up camp at Morrow Mountain State before heading down to God's Country Outfitters to check in with the race director. There were many other racers there, including a two man team and from Erie, Pennsylvania who remarked that "we wanted to get in one more before we went to nationals." They apparently do many 24 hour races and made themselves out to be quite the hotshots (despite the fact that they were staying in a hotel friday night). Our other favorite quote was... "You guys have altimeters on your watches right?" We must have asked each other about 100 times during the race.."TIM! whats the altimeter reading? I think we're almost there!" They were nice guys though; fun to talk to.

Afterwards, we hit up the Walmart Supercenter for supplies, headed back to camp, ate dinner, and did some last minute rigging. Racing started at 6:45am.

We were up at 6am and after the pre-briefing, with a blow of the horn at 7:00 AM, it was a mad dash to the top of Morrow Mt. to get our maps and passports. The trail was composed of very steep switchbacks for about 3 miles and NORSA's biking experience showed through as we were the first ones to the top. We felt good biking in close formation and passing other teams with ease (and maybe pushing a little hard so early on). We joked later that the newbies were saying "holy shit," while the old guys were calling us "newbies."

We plotted our points, headed back down to the get the boats, crossed the river, and got to the transition area without incident. Our first stop was check point (CP) 2 where we completed the special challenge: a high ropes course. The course was pretty easy but waiting in line for 15 minutes to get on the stupid thing was hard. We were all feeling really good.

Next, we were off on our bikes. We hit all the waypoints designed for the bike (near a bike or jeep trail) over the course of six hours of HARD riding over extreme grades and rocks with brief moments of jogging through woods to a CP. We had to backtrack once after getting a little exited on a downhill run and blowing by a CP worth 40 points. We finally finished the bike course with about 5:30 hrs remaining. We got in the boats again and went for the canoe points.

We decided (for some reason) that we could hit the canoe CP's faster by landing and running through the woods instead of paddling. We landed and started running. We were off by about a 1/2 mile on the first point. It took us a while to figure it out but we eventually got it (it was hanging off a limb over the water, imagine that). The second one took us pretty far off course but we found it (well Adam did) by literally he just stumbling upon it walking toward the river.

The return to the boats took us onto to a road where we jogged for a while before taking a creek bed back to the canoes (a pretty major detour). By this time we were down to 1hr and we needed to get back to base camp.

We made it across the river post haste, hurried up the trail to base camp, and turned in our map with about 15 minutes to spare. This is the part where you are supposed to start the Orienteering course. We threw everything down, got the "O" map, located the first point and sprinted for it. We made it back and finished together with about 1 minute to spare and 5 more points added to our score.

We got some mad props for our "never quit" attitude and found out that the hot shots from PA didn't get any of the "O" points which we thought was kind of weird. When we finished they had already showered so they must have thrown in the towel hours ago (not very NORSA'esque).

Pizza, Subways and gatorade awaited us at the finish line (a welcome sight) and we ate ... a lot ... while we talked to Altimeter guy and his partner comparing routes and. The awards followed immediately afterward and though we didn't get top 3 we were still really happy with our day's accomplishments. There was a raffle of sorts as well. Tim scored a $30 floor pump, Mike got trail guide for Uwharrie forest, Adam got a bottle of electrolyte powder and I got another event T-shirt.

We slept well that night and woke up around 8am. We left the campground at 9:30 and made it back to Raleigh by noon. Great trip; awesome adventure. Another one for the NORSA record books."

NORSA Triathlon Competes at The Nation's Triathlon!

The last weekend in September was a first for Team NORSA and the DC Area. Saturday, September 29th was the first full running of The Nation's Triathlon. Tri-Team members Adam and Steve Long donned the famed yellow jerseys and raced around Washington D.C.'s famous landmarks.

This Olympic distance triathlon started with a 1500 meter swim in the Potomac River. Racers jumped in the water at Georgetown and swam upriver, turning around just before the Key Bridge and coming back. [as a side note, this was the first time anybody had swum legally in the river in 36 years due to a health-related ban dating back to 1971. See the full story here: http://www.nbc4.com/news/14235479/detail.html].

After exiting the water, Steve and Adam hopped on their bikes and made a 40 km, two-lap loop around the city before strapping on running shoes and making their way to the finish line on Pennsylvania avenue with the Capitol building serving as a backdrop.



See the complete results at http://www.thenationstriathlon.com/Results.html.


Team NORSA would again like to thank all of its supporters, both on and off the course, and we hope to see you at the next NORSA event!

NORSA Triathlon Team Debuts at the 25th Sandman!

Sunday, September 16, 2007, marked a new milestone in NORSA history when several members of NORSA coalesced into the small, but growing, NORSA triathlon team. The Sandman Triathlon, which is held during Virginia Beach’s Neptune Festival every year since 1982, was to mark the tri-team’s tri-umphant entrance into the exciting world of triple-disciplined competition. Those who participated in this historic event were co-founders and charter members Adam and Tom Saffell, charter member Matthew White, and new NORSA members, Jon Spurlock and Leo Weitzenhoff. Leo’s membership was clinched by doing the triathlon, which was also his first participation in a NORSA event. Unfortunately, long-time member in good standing and several-time triathlon competitor, Steven Long, was unable to compete and his inspiration was missed greatly by the whole team. However, Steven was able to offer invaluable advice to the new racers in training sessions and in the hours before the race itself.


Of the five participating members, only Adam had competed in any triathlons before, and, in fact, had finished a half-Ironman the preceding weekend. The other four competitors came as a rag-tag crew with heavy nerves and borrowed equipment, their only snappy attire being their comfy, yet elegant, NORSA team jerseys. The goal of the day for the newcomers was to do nothing more than to finish the triathlon without complication, but they accomplished so much more. All members had respectable, if not excellent, finish times and excelled in their individual categories and age groups. Despite choppy seas, two-way headwinds, and general exhaustion, all five NORSA team members were able to cross the finish line running with large smiles on their faces.

The Sandman Triathlon is on the more grueling sprint distance triathlons that the East Coast has to offer. The competition this year began with a 1,000 meter swim down the beach in extremely choppy seas. Some new NORSA tri-team members remarked about their uncertainty to complete the swim, and, to further demonstrate the tenacity of the team they were 5 of 540 to complete the triathlon – 750 people originally began the race and 210 were eliminated in the early stages of the swim. After the race marshal announced that the buoy marking the end of the swim had come loose from its mooring and drifted away, those members new to the triathlon scene were a little anxious to say the least, but after several mouthfuls of delicious Virginia Beach saltwater, all were able to successfully emerge from the ocean to enter the transition area.

Following a short and stumbly run on the sand to the transition area, the NORSA team athletes tore their goggles and swim caps off and were finally able to sport their NORSA pride in the form of their bright yellow NORSA tri-team jerseys, featuring former president Ronald Reagan on the right breast. Mounting their bicycles, the team biked into a heavy headwind that slowed them to a team average of 16mph down Virginia Beach’s main beach road. Heading north they entered Fort Story, the local Army base and turned the halfway loop in order to return down the beach road. All were looking forward to having a tailwind to propel them at greater speeds. However, nature had a different plan and somehow, bafflingly, the racers were slapped in the face with another headwind much to the amazement of all. None of these discouraging events brought down the NORSA team’s spirit, though, and all five racers pushed on to the biking finish line and back into the transition area.

After hastily throwing on a pair of good running shoes, the NORSA athletes ventured on to the boardwalk to finish the race with a 5K run. With the end in site, all of them valiantly pushed themselves to their limits despite the fatigue. After rounding the halfway marker at the end of the boardwalk, though, the same headwind that had hindered them on the biking portion again plowed into them for the final portion of the run. Still, compelled by the urge to show the world what NORSA members are capable of, all five competitors crossed the finish line running.

Following the race, the team posed for a fashionable photo shoot in their jerseys for expert photographer and Adam’s dad, Piotr, who had come to spectate and to immortalize the event in digital imagery. Some of the photos have been included in this e-mail for your viewing pleasure. After the photo shoot and a hearty meal, the athletes said their goodbyes and headed back to their respective homes. Adam has since gone on to enter himself in an Ironman triathlon, one of the most grueling competitions imaginable that is comprised of a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike, and a 26 mile run. Wish good luck to Adam if you see him. All in all, the 25th Annual Sandman Triathlon was another success for NORSA and a grand entry for the brand new NORSA triathlon team.

See the full results at http://www.sandmantri.com/sm07res.htm.

The NORSA tri-team gives its thanks to all of you for all your support and encouragement, and, it hopes that maybe you’ve been inspired to be out there with them next time.