RickMcCharles.com

My big AR event is right around the corner – Adventure Sports Week . Contact me if you can come down with me.

May 24, 2009

For Immediate Release…

Danelle Ballangee is scheduled to compete in the “Crux and the Crucible” at Adventure Sports Week 2009!

Adventure Sports Week is a 10 day long festival of 24 outdoor races, contests, clinics and social events taking place at Farragut State Park, 30 miles north of Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho, June 5—14, 2009.

One of the racing world’s greatest stars and most inspirational stories is coming to compete at Adventure Sports Week in Coeur d’ Alene, June 12—14.

Danelle Ballangee is perhaps the World’s most decorated female Adventure Racer, having won Primal Quest, the Raid, the Adventure Racing World Championships, as well as dozens of other equally impressive competitions. She has also been named “US Athlete of the Year” an unprecedented six times in four different sports.

Despite her impressive resume, it was an unlikely slip that has Danelle—Nellie—to national prominence.

In December of 2006, while on a routine training run with her dog Taz, she slipped on some black ice and fell nearly 60 feet down the cliffs at Hurrah Pass, Utah, near Moab, breaking her pelvis completely in half, and leaving her bleeding internally and unable to walk. She managed to crawl over a quarter of a mile to a puddle where she could drink, and she spent over 50 hours in sub- freezing temperatures as her dog tried to keep her warm. On the third day, Taz left her, eventually making his way to the trailhead, where he was seen by the search and rescue team, who followed him back to Danelle.

After major surgery, where she received a titanium plate to hold her pelvis together, she was in a wheelchair for several months, and doctors speculated she would be unable to walk for as long as a year.

As a tribute to her strength and tenacity, Danelle competed in a solo 12 hour adven- ture race less than 6 months after her fall, finishing as top female.

Danelle will be competing at ASW representing Project Athena— www.projectathena.org – whose mission is to help women with breast cancer and other medical traumatic setbacks live their athletic and adventurous dreams by providing coaching, equipment, travel, entry fees and encouragement.

She will also be teaching part of the Adventure Racing Clinic, along with other super- stars such as Mike Kloser, captain of Team Nike, and AR World Champion.

source – Mind Over Mountain

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Flame, originally uploaded by Sanctu.

Did not turn out the way the IOC and Beijing intended.

As you might expect, I have many thoughts on the Olympics. But am not sure where to start. Here’s the first post on my gymnastics blog: Olympics in crisis – IOC

(from video)

more photos

How will the old men running China react to this kind of scrutiny leading up to the Olympic Games next year?

I expect them to make concessions to democratic reform.

In this innovative ad, Amnesty International comes dangerously close to violating the heavily protected Olympic Rings trademark. At the same time, they get their point powerfully across.

The ad text reads, “In the name of ensuring stability and harmony in the country during the 2008 Olympic Games, the Chinese Government continues to detain and harass political activists, journalists, lawyers and human rights workers.” …

Beijing Olympic Rings of Torture – Amnesty International’s Shock Campaign

Amnesty International

Dave and Lisa just got back from Hawaii, urging me to get there and try the canyoning.

It looks fantastic!

MauiCanyons.com

I posed this question on my gymnastics blog. And got a big reaction from a number of coaches.

Everyone (so far) agrees that our kids are suffering long-term from not being more challenged.

I’m not looking for SPARTA, but it is time for a backlash. The benefits gymnastics coaches and parents see in competitive gymnasts are exactly those needed by all children.

Wordsmith from Nantucket wrote:

I think the fear of lawsuits has dictated much of what I consider to be “bad” changes in our society. It’s insulated us from “hurting ourselves”, but in so doing, has disarmed us of the tools we would otherwise develop as part of the maturation process in dealing with life…with learning to cope with adversity and conflict.

It’s similar to how we developed all these anti-bacterial products, from soap to baby toys – all in the hopes that it would protect us from getting sick. But exposure to some sicknesses, early on in life, is what makes our immune system stronger. ….

Here are some articles and studies that might be of interest:

Yep, life’ll burst that self-esteem bubble”

Enough already with kid-gloves

The Power and Perils of Praising your kids

I really do think that there is something about our society (at least what I see with kids here in Los Angeles) that is developing soft, mushy kids. Emotionally and physically. ….

Read the post and the rest of the comments.

source – New York Magazine

Kate delivered a big baby.

Actually, three big babies.

Her 3 final reports on the legacies of the 3 most recent North American Winter Olympics are posted on-line linked on her Kate is Always Late blog.

Certainly VANOC (Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games) — shouldn’t that acronym be VOCFT2OAPWG, Kate? — selected Kate to draft these invaluable documents because she is so passionate about sport. And legacy.

I was particularly interested in her Calgary report:

Two billion people worldwide watched the opening ceremony of the Calgary 1988 Olympic Winter Games.

Vancouver 2010 – Legacies of North American Winter Games – Calgary

I was one of the coldest of 2 billion, sitting in the frozen arena. (Thanks Katrina for scoring tickets!)

Kate’s done a great job of cataloguing the many benefits of the Olympics for Calgary. It was wonderful for the city. Good luck to Vancouver!

Vancouver 2010 Olympics – official website

A 3-time MVP of the Saskatchewan Moose Lodge Hockey League, Clark wanted to try something new for the off-season.

He took the Canadian hockey mentality to American baseball.

Click PLAY to see a hockey goalie playing shortstop or watch the video on YouTube.

Thanks George.

Another TV sports post. (Can you tell I’ve been sick this week?)

I can watch men’s curling. I find it fascinating and dramatic. It’s a terrific television sport. (Much like golf!)

The Canadians are normally the country to beat in this obscure activity that somehow became an Olympic event.

Our skip at Worlds, Russ Howard, dominated tournament play at Worlds.

Howard puts the hammer down. Win over U.S. vaults Canada into Sunday’s final.

Curling | Edmonton Journal

This was likely the most dominant round robin performance in World curling history. Howard’s rink was awesome. Good luck in the final against Germany!

I want to thank Bjarne Riis. Good on you for coming clean.

What shred of credibility remained about elite pro cycling has disappeared as 1996 Tour de France winner Bjarne Riis of Denmark on Friday became the first Tour winner to admit he used banned performance-enhancing drugs.

… Riis said in a news conference Friday he had taken the blood booster erythropoietin (EPO) from 1993 through 1998, including during his Tour victory. He also confessed to using human growth hormone and cortisone.

“The time has come to put the cards on the table,” Riis said. “I have done things I now regret and I wouldn’t do again. I have doped. I have taken EPO. For awhile it was part of my life.”

Riis, currently manager of the Danish CSC cycling team, expected to be stripped of his Tour de France title.

“My yellow jersey is in a box at home. You can come and collect it,” Riis said of the jersey worn by the Tour de France leader.

A sport caught in a cycle of cheating on ChicagoSports.com

I’ll never watch race cycling again.

source