Photos by Tina Ray/Paraglide Women's open division champions Aubrey Huber, left, and Jennifer Schaeffer, cycle the 10k bike ride during Saturday's Adventure Race, at Smith Lake. Adventure Race is an annual Fort Bragg event that, this year, in addition to biking, featured canoe paddling, a 5k run, orienteering and frisbee golf. Huber and Schaeffer won their division with a time of 3 hours, 4 minutes and 23 seconds.

Heather Adams once worked as a sports specialist in Fort Bragg’s sports office, a job that prevented her from participating in competitions across the installation.
On Saturday, Adams, who recently transferred to the Marketing Division, and her husband Bruce won the mixed open division of the Adventure Race at Smith Lake.

“It’s the first year I was actually able to participate in it,” said Heather, whose team won with a time of 2 hours, 29 minutes and 5 seconds.

The Adamses joined 29 other teams in the competition, which began with a 5k run at 7:30 a.m. and included canoe paddling, orienteering, frisbee golf and a 10k bike ride. Each year, the race features a mystery event. This year’s mystery event was frisbee golf.

John Eimers and Matt Mellinger won the men’s open division with a time of 2:10:05.

Aubrey Huber and Jennifer Schaeffer posted a time of 3:04:23 to take the women’s open division.

“This is our first week here,” said Mellinger, who was in-processing from Fort Benning, Ga. “It was an overall fun event to do as a team.”

Eimers agreed.

“It’s a good workout; it’s an enjoyable activity and it’s fun,” Eimers said.

According to Schaeffer, canoeing was something she and Huber had not done before, so it presented its own learning curve.

“We were doing a lot of circles. That’s where we learned the most because we didn’t know what we were doing,” Huber said.

Adventure Race was challenging, but well-organized, said Tony Shifflett, who teamed with Joel Sears to finish second place in the men’s open division.

If Shifflett participates next year, he said there are some things he would change.

“I’d train a little more on running and biking if I had to do it all over again,” he said.

Shifflett was not the only competitor challenged by the race.

“It’s challenging, but it definitely lets you know what you are made of,” said Daniel Rodriquez, who teamed with Fonshee Richardson.

“This is good stuff. This is stuff that keeps you motivated, keeps you going and physically fit at times,” he said.

No matter the outcome, many of the participants were cheered by friends and loved ones.

Chrissy Inocenio and sons, David, 10 and Dominic, 4, made Saturday’s race a Family affair. The three waited by the finish line for their husband and father, Jeremy, and his teammate, Carlos Baca.

He was eager to complete the Adventure Race, Chrissy said.

“It promotes a healthy lifestyle and we’re all about being fit and staying healthy,” she said. “It shows them (sons) for later that this kind of stuff can be cool.”

Huber and Schaeffer, who are both assigned to the 503rd Military Police Battalion, were supported by their captain, Josephine Ladnier.

“We’re just really good friends. We always support each other when we do races,” Ladnier said.

Overall, about 20 to 25 personnel helped facilitate Adventure Race, said Karen White, chief, fitness, sports and aquatics, Directorate of Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation.

“For an event like this, you’ve got to have people everywhere,” White said.

One such person was Theresa Shields, a therapeutic recreation specialist who helped watch over canoers at Smith Lake and who recognized the growth potential of the race, which has been held annually on Fort Bragg for three years.

“It’s a wonderful event. I suspect that each year, we’ll be growing,” Shields said.

Fort Bragg Sports Office 2011 Adventure Race Results

Men’s Open Division Time

Matt Mellinger and John Eimers 2:10:05
Joel Sears and Tony Shifflett 2:14:13
Pedro Somarriba and Stuart Rasmussen 2:14:27
Kurt Barger and John Russell 2:14:45
Christopher Brindle and David Watson 2:23:07
Mike Nelson and Chris Nelson 2:34:30
Andrew Golden and Jim Moore 2:40:21
Mark Breugem and Christopher Lemuel 2:42:51
Carlos Baca and Jeremy Inocencio 2:48:32
Donald Randall and Alex Gernandt 2:50:23
Ryan Meurer and Cain Hill 3:20:05
Doug Winders and Sheldon Cherry 3:51:33
Branden Spencer and Silias LeClerc 3:55:47

Mixed Division

Heather Adams and Bruce Adams 2:29:05
Nicole Woltman and Jacob Woltman 2:41:24
Kimberly Maxwell and Jeff Chase 2:57:52
Tracy Erickson and Carter Clapham 3:08:28
Krystal Murphy and Michael Childs 3:31:29
Dana Bruce and Gregory Bruce 3:54:06
Jennifer Van Aukon and Christian Schanfenberg 4:00:22
Kelly Wichman and Todd Wichman 4:02:55

Women’s Open

Jennifer Schaeffer and Aubrey Huber 3:04:23
Michelle Vigil and Amara Camarata 3:36:13

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