Check this page often for updates concerning the LBL Challenge Adventure Race!

04/12/2010 - RESULTS ARE POSTED

Hello LBL Challenge racers! We would like to thank everyone that came out and participated in the race! We hope you had a great time and enjoyed the challenge! We would also like to extend a HUGE "thank you" to all of the volunteers that came and helped with the race. The race would not have been possible without your help. We would also like to thank the Land Between the Lakes. What a great spot to get outdoors and have fun on their trails, in their woods and on their lakes.

Results for the race have been posted. We hope to have Split Times posted within the next couple of days (I'll be driving back to KC on Tuesday, so it will most likely be Wednesday before Split Times are up).

We would also like to thank all of our sponsors for supporting this race. We were able to give away some great prizes because of the support of all of our great sponsors. The next time that you go to purchase gear for a race or for any of your outdoor needs, please remember these companies that supported the LBL Challenge and Bonk Hard Racing:

Alpine Shop
Kuat Racks
The North Face
Hooper's Outdoor Center
Zanfel
MyTopo.com

A huge congratulations goes to WEDALI for winning the 24-Hour race and to FollowNoOne for winning the 12-Hour course! Congratulations!

We hope you enjoyed the LBL Challenge adventure race, and we hope to see you at some more Bonk Hard Racing events in the future!

Sincerely,

Jason & Laura Elsenraat
Bonk Hard Racing

04/06/2010 - FINAL PRE-RACE UPDATE

Ahhhhhhhh....finally.......I'm in Kentucky! I've been waiting all winter to go to Kentucky to set up the LBL course, for a couple of reasons: I'm super excited about these two courses and I knew when I was in Kentucky setting up the course it would officially be Spring! I'm looking forward to spending the next two days in the woods at LBL.

HOOPER'S OUTDOOR CENTER RAFFLE & DISCOUNT: Hooper's Outdoor Center, in Paducah, has become a sponsor of the LBL Challenge! They are giving all racers a 20% discount on items in their store this Friday through Monday. In addition to that, they are giving out $50 gift certificates as prizes, and will be open on Saturday and Sunday this weekend (to use the certificates on your way home). I went into Hooper's Outdoor Center for the first time yesterday. It's a big, beautiful store in downtown Paducah. I think it has 12,000 square feet of retail space with just about everything you need for the race. And it's only about 2 blocks from the banks of the Ohio River.

Hooper's is also doing a raffle on Friday night at the pre-race meeting! For every $5 that you spend in their store on Friday, you will receive a raffle ticket. Bring the tickets to us on Friday at racer check-in and we will have a drawing at the pre-race meeting. Also, your total sale will be rounded up; so if you spend $6 in the store, they will give you two raffle tickets. I highly recommend that you at least go in and buy a pair of socks so you can get entered into the raffle! They are giving us the following items to raffle:

- The North Face Rock 22 Tent - retail $190
- The North Face Terra 60 pack - retail $149
- The North Face Aleutian sleeping bag - retail $90
- Camelbak Octane XC hydration pack - retail $60
- Eagles Nest Outfitters DoubleNest hammock - retail $65

And Bonk Hard Racing will be throwing in two free entries into any future Bonk Hard Racing event into the raffle as well!

A HUGE THANK YOU to Hooper's Outdoor Center for supporting the LBL Challenge adventure race!

PRINT HOOPER'S 20% OFF COUPON

PRINT DIRECTIONS TO HOOPER'S

We will be utilizing Checkpoint Tracker's Leaderboard and Race Central for the 24-Hour race this year, and friends and family will be able to watch your team's progress online (you have to register your team in the Series and add the LBL Challenge 24-Hour race to your schedule - see update posted last week below). Pass along the following URL to all friends and family so they can follow the race online this weekend:

http://checkpointtracker.com/events/42

Be careful driving in and make sure you stop by Hooper's on Friday! See you soon!

Jason Elsenraat
Bonk Hard Racing

03/31/2010 - PRE-RACE UPDATE

Hello LBL Challenge racers! We hope you are getting excited about the upcoming LBL Challenge adventure race! I know we are very excited for the race and the two courses. We wanted to pass on some information to you about the race - so here goes.

CHECKPOINT TRACKER ADVENTURE RACING SERIES: As most of you problably know, BOTH the 12-Hour course and the 24-Hour course are a part of the Checkpoint Tracker Adventure Racing series. The Checkpoint Tracker series allows teams from across the U.S. to register for the Series on the Checkpoint Tracker website. Your team goes out and races and you receive points in the Series based on how well you finish at the race. If you accumulate enough points in your division (4-Person Co-ed, 4-Person Open, 2-Person Co-ed, 2-Person Male, etc.) throughout the year, you have a chance to qualify for the Checkpoint Tracker National Championships in October in the Rocky Mountain region!

I know some of you may have no intention of racing at the National Championship race, but we encourage you to register for the Series and try to accumulate points throughout the year. Based on last year's rankings (for anyone other than 4-Person Coed teams), if you raced in just a couple of Bonk Hard Racing events and did just fairly well, there is a good chance that you could qualify to race at the National Championships race this year. It only takes a few minutes for your team to register. Just go to CheckpointTracker.com and create a racer profile (everyone on your team needs to do this) and it only takes about 2 minutes to create a profile. Have one person from your team create the actual team and add all of the racers to your team. That's the hardest part! Then go to 'Events' and click on the LBL Challege 12-Hour or LBL Challenge 24-Hour link and click on the button that says 'Add to Schedule'. That's all you have to do! Once the LBL Challenge is completed, Bonk Hard Racing will enter the results into the website and you will automatically receive points in the Series!

Even if your goals at the LBL Challenge are to have fun and do the best you can, please just register for the Series and just follow along this year. You may realize at the end of the year that if you had just done ONE MORE RACE and finished 14th in your division, you would have qualified for the National Championships race. And you never know, the National Championship race next year may be held closer to where you live and you will know what it takes to qualify for the National Championship race. If you are interested in learning more about the Series, please visit CheckpointTracker.com.

TURKEY SEASON: Turkey season will be open at the Land Between the Lakes on the Thursday and Friday (April 8th & April 9th) before the race! PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE do not go out for a run, ride or walk in the woods or on the trails on the Thursday and Friday before the race. The most hunting accidents in the United States take place during turkey season. Okay, I don't know if that is completely true.....I just made that up.....but please, if it is true, don't take any chances! Please, for your own good, STAY OUT OF THE WOODS at the Land Between the Lakes on the Thursday and Friday before the race!

FREE CAMPING & RACE START / FINISH LOCATION: Bonk Hard Racing has reserved the entire "northern end" of the Birmingham Ferry Campground at LBL for racers to camp on the Friday and Saturday nights of race weekend. All racers are welcome to camp here for free the weekend of the race. Birmingham Ferry also happens to be the Race Headquarters (Start / Finish) location for both courses this year. Below is a link to a map in Google with a placemark on it highlighting Birmingham Ferry and the camping location and the Race Start / Finish location. Click on the two placemarks to read more information. Also, please print directions to this location from where ever it is that you might be staying on Friday night so you have directions to the Race Start. To do this, right click the placemark on the map and select "Directions to here" and enter the starting address.

Now that we have released the Start / Finish location, enjoy trying to figure out the course for the next 9 days. :)

VIEW MAP

POST RACE FESTIVITIES: We know that some racers like to enjoy "adult beverages" after a hard day out in the woods. We wanted to let everyone know that Lyon County, where Race Headquarters is located, is a dry county. Also, most of the surrounding counties are dry as well. If you want to enjoy some adult beverages after the race, you should plan on purchasing before you get to the race site, because once you're there, you won't have an opportunity to purchase alcohol. The good news is that Kuat Racks, a Series Sponsor of all of Bonk Hard Racing's events, will be providing racers with private label brews for racers to enjoy after the race! Bonk Hard Racing reserves the right to refuse alcohol to anyone who complains about the race. :) Seriously though, if you are going to drink any alcoholic beverages after the race, PLEASE DO NOT DRIVE!!

There will be no gear check on Friday at racer check-in. All gear checks will be performed on the course during the race. Please make sure that you have ALL of the required gear with you at all times during the race! There will be major time penalities for teams missing gear.

Weather-wise we're a long ways away from the race, but the current weather forecast looks like we might get lucky for an early April race. However, those of you familiar with Bonk Hard Racing know that since this IS a Bonk Hard Racing event, you should be prepared for snow, hurricanes, extremely high wind gusts, tornadoes, typhoons, etc. Let's hope for the best and prepare for the worst.

We plan to post one more update before the start of the race; hopefully by the end of this week. Hooper's Outdoor Center, in Paducah, KY, has signed on as a Sponsor of the LBL Challenge and they have big plans for the race! They will be offering a raffle to all racers and volunteers for some great prizes at the pre-race meeting and also giving away gift certificates as prizes at the race. We will post more information on the raffle later this week, so please check this page again in a couple of days and plan on stopping at Hooper's in Paducah on your way to the race. You will definitley want to be a part of this raffle....and they are offering a 20% discount to all LBL Challenge racers on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the race! More to come on that, stay tuned....

We're very excited to get this race going!! We're looking forward to seeing all of you and please drive carefully! We hope you're ready to have some fun out in the woods of Kentucky! :)

Jason Elsenraat
Bonk Hard Racing

01/22/2010 - BONK HARD RACING, LLC TO ADD A CASH PRIZE PURSE AT THE LBL CHALLENGE ADVENTURE RACE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

CONTACT:
Jason Elsenraat
Bonk Hard Racing, LLC
jason@bonkhardracing.com
http://www.bonkhardracing.com

BONK HARD RACING, LLC TO ADD A CASH PRIZE PURSE AT THE LBL CHALLENGE ADVENTURE RACE

Prairie Village, KS - Bonk Hard Racing, LLC has upped the ante for 24-Hour 4-Person Co-ed teams that plan on attending the LBL Challenge in April. Top teams will split a $2,400 cash prize purse at the race, with the first place team taking home $1,200.

The LBL Challenge will offer racers 12 or 24-Hours of pure backwoods adventure racing in one of the best venues in the Midwest, the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area. The Land Between the Lakes, in western Kentucky, is known for its fantastic and flowing single track trails, beautiful lakes and backwoods beauty. With more than 170,000 acres of backwoods forest, 300 miles of undeveloped shoreline and over 200 miles of single track trails and jeep roads, the Land Between the Lakes is an adventure racer's paradise!

This is the 2nd running of the LBL Challenge Adventure Race, and based on the over-whelming success of last year's race, Bonk Hard Racing has decided to add a cash prize purse in 2010. The cash prize purse will be awarded as long as there 25 teams participating in the 24-Hour 4-Person Co-ed division. In addition to the cash prize, the top team will come home with free entry certificates into any Bonk Hard Racing event, 100 points in the Checkpoint Tracker Adventure Racing Series and some fantastic prizes from our Sponsors. To learn more about the Checkpoint Tracker Adventure Racing Series, please visit www.checkpointtracker.com.

Bonk Hard Racing would like to thank The North Face, Alpine Shop, Kuat Racks, MyTopo.com and Zanfel for their support of the LBL Challenge and Adventure Racing in general.

To learn more about the LBL Challenge Adventure Race, or to register, please visit www.bonkhardracing.com. Early registration of $155 per racer (24-Hour race) and $100 per racer (12-Hour race) ends at 11:59PM on February 5th. Get your team together today, and join us at the LBL Challenge!

Jason Elsenraat
Bonk Hard Racing

01/04/2010 - REGISTRATION OPEN FOR THE LBL CHALLENGE AT LAND BETWEEN THE LAKES, KY!

Bonk Hard Racing is pleased to announce that registration is officially open for the second running of one of our most exciting events in 2010, the LBL Challenge Adventure Race. The race is taking place on April 10-11, 2010 at Land Between the Lakes, KY.

The Land Between the Lakes is an adventure racer's paradise, with hundreds of miles of smooth, flowing single track trails and hundreds of thousands of acres of beautiful backwood forests. Teams can expect to paddle on the biggest man-made lake in the Eastern U.S. and earn points towards the 2010 Checkpoint Tracker Adventure Racing Series to try and qualify for the first ever 2010 Checkpoint Tracker National Championship race! The LBL Challenge is offering a 12-Hour course and a 24-Hour course, and both races will be included in the Series.

To become a part of the Series, just go to the Checkpoint Tracker website and enter your team. Once your team is entered, just enter the races that your team plans on participating in this year. Once you've officially registered for the LBL Challenge, Bonk Hard Racing will move your team from 'Pending' to 'Confirmed' and your team will receive points to qualify for the National Championship race! (You do have to race to receive points. :)

We are very excited about the course for this year's LBL Challenge and it will offer excellent mountain biking, plenty of beautiful paddling and some tough navigation on brand new terrain! Get your team together today and join us on April 10th for one heck of an adventure at a beautiful location!

Jason Elsenraat
Bonk Hard Racing