A long long time ago back in 2011 my old friend David Cortivo, who I hadn’t talked to in awhile and is known for extreme exaggeration, called me up and asked me if I still mountain biked. Well I am known for “tall tales,” but I blame that on him since we have been friends since 2nd grade, until he dumped me for his college buddy Paul Frisbee. Note that there is still some unresolved jealousy, but I would have dumped me for Paul too as he is a dream boat; I mean animal, wait “Manimal.” I digress. I responded, “Yes.” He asked how often and how good I was. I answered, “I ride a lot and I am way better than I used to be.” He asked, “Do you still kayak?” I said, “Yes, but not as much as I would like” and told him about my kayaking partner that I took on a 30 mile trip in freezing weather that I never heard from again. Then Dave asks if I still run. I replied, “I stopped running during lunch at work about 10 years ago and haven’t played soccer since college.” I sense a sales pitch coming and ask him where he is going with this and he asks me if I want to do an Adventure Race with him and Paul. I ask what that is and he describes playing in the woods on our mountain bikes, paddling gentle waters on short down streams like a float trip, and running in the woods while looking for check points and baby animals. Well I remember back a few years at work that another friend had told me about Adventure Racing in Europe and said it was something I should do. He said I should sail over there and do it. I asked him for money and my wife’s permission and that led nowhere. Well I agree to Dave’s terms and I start running because I am slow and I don’t need mountain biking or paddling training because I am good… I thought…well my first Adventure Race was the 2011 Castlewood 8 hour that made me bleed between my legs literally.
Dave then invites a young buck, Kevin Minton, to train with us. Dave tells me he wants to put a hurt on him so we take him on a 40 mile mountain bike ride. As we are climbing a long road hill, Kevin shoots past us and climbs to the top. As Dave and I struggle, I quietly tell Dave, “we are keeping him.” We attempt to recruit a few more guys but Dave challenges them to break their legs and they are never heard from again. We race the 2012 Castlewood 8 officially as BOR (Balls Out Racing). Then Dave recruits our old high school friend Neil Dickhaus. Well we know Neil is super competitive and rather die than show defeat so we let him do that in the 2013 Bonk Hard Chill and he almost succeeds. We race quite a few races in 2013 including Smithville 8 Hour, The Berryman 12 Hour, the BT Epic, to name a few. As time passes teams started calling us “boar” and we explain that BOR is an acronym but it doesn’t work and now we are Team BOR, which is pronounced like the piggy or gun barrel. Late in 2013, Dave recruits John Naas and Amanda Miller and they compete in their first Castlewood 8 in single digit temperatures.
The rest is history...
Dave then invites a young buck, Kevin Minton, to train with us. Dave tells me he wants to put a hurt on him so we take him on a 40 mile mountain bike ride. As we are climbing a long road hill, Kevin shoots past us and climbs to the top. As Dave and I struggle, I quietly tell Dave, “we are keeping him.” We attempt to recruit a few more guys but Dave challenges them to break their legs and they are never heard from again. We race the 2012 Castlewood 8 officially as BOR (Balls Out Racing). Then Dave recruits our old high school friend Neil Dickhaus. Well we know Neil is super competitive and rather die than show defeat so we let him do that in the 2013 Bonk Hard Chill and he almost succeeds. We race quite a few races in 2013 including Smithville 8 Hour, The Berryman 12 Hour, the BT Epic, to name a few. As time passes teams started calling us “boar” and we explain that BOR is an acronym but it doesn’t work and now we are Team BOR, which is pronounced like the piggy or gun barrel. Late in 2013, Dave recruits John Naas and Amanda Miller and they compete in their first Castlewood 8 in single digit temperatures.
The rest is history...
