Everything Under The Sun: An Extra Team Member

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

An Extra Team Member

Racers on the river portion of the endurance race

It's a 430-mile endurance race, known as the ADVENTURE RACING WORLD SERIES, every year in different countries. This year's race happened in Ecuador. The four-member team from Sweden, TEAM PEAK PERFORMANCE, took a food break before tackling the next leg, a 20-mile slog through the mud. Team members spotted a bedraggled dog nearby and team captain, Mikael Lindnord, tossed the dog some scraps from lunch. It was at that point that the dog started following them.

The dog, who was named Arthur, continued to follow throughout each grueling event, just about all of which were on land, until they got to the last leg, which took place down a river. The four teammates had individual kayaks for this final leg. By now Arthur wasn't about to lose track of his adopted teammates, so he jumped into the water with them.

When they noticed Arthur frantically dog-paddling to keep up, Mr Lindnord gathered him up onto his kayak and continued the race. As reported by Mr. Lindnord, "You can't reject a dog that had put in so much energy into you. It felt like he was one of the team members, and we didn't want to let him down....It was not easy. We were shivering, of course, but I had my Gore-tex jacket - so I put my Gore-tex jacket over him."

Despite a few mishaps, with Arthur jumping in the water to chase after some fish, the entire team finished the race. Immediately after the race, the team made a quick side trip to a vet's office to make sure Arthur was okay, since he wasn't in the best shape to start.

That's not all. Mikael Lindnord decided to bring Arthur back to Sweden with him. After completing quarantine, Arthur will join Mikael at his home. Oh, and about that race; Team Peak Performance, with its new teammate, finished twelfth.