By Rebecca Stearns, PhD, ATC, Chief Operating Officer, KSI
The weekend of August 26th found eight close members of the KSI family at Northfield Mountain, MA, ready to take on a grueling 121.6 mile trail relay. The Ragnar Relay consists of a team of 8 people, who all run three distinct loops of varying distances to complete this race (the three loops amount to 15.2 miles total per person). The team members take turns, running one at a time and through the night to complete each round of loops and reach the finish line. The most elite teams have finished this course in about 15 hours, but the KSI team only had 24 hours to complete the course to officially complete the race. Lucky members are able to even catch a few hours of sleep between their running loops.
As it would only be appropriate for a team of heat experts, the weekend proved to not only provide a logistical challenge (through a winding and hilly 2,700 feet of total elevation gain), but also proved to challenge the teams heat preparedness, with the starting heat index of 89°F. The team’s running order and members consisted of the following individuals:
- Yasuki Sekiguchi, KSI Intern
- Rob Huggins, VP of Research, VP of Athlete Health and Safety, KSI
- Tutita Casa, Assistant Professor at Uconn’s Neag School of Education
- Yuri Hosokawa, Director of Communication, Director of Education, KSI
- Doug Casa, CEO, KSI
- Will Adams, Vice President of Sport Safety, KSI
- Megan McCollum, Research Assistant, KSI
- Jake Earp, Assistant Professor, University of Rhode Island’s Kinesiology Department
The KSI team finished in 22 hours and 44 minutes, which clinched the Corporate Team category by over 1 hour. The team also placed 3rd overall for the mixed team division and 11th out of the 150 teams participating. The winning time this year, given the new course route, was 19:33.05.
In true team fashion, the rugged finish medals all create a Ragnar puzzle with fitted together. A big congratulation to all the team members that participated!