Vern at the 'finish line' in Pismo Beach, CA.

Wow, it seems like only yesterday that our Product Regulatory Manager, Vern Schrum, strapped on his cycling shoes and started peddling in pursuit of a life-long goal – to ride his bike coast to coast. Well, earlier this week he did it.

Ostensibly tracing the ACA’s Southern Tier Route, Vern set off in St. Augustine, FL, in late September and eventually completed his journey 3,382 miles and 61 days later in Pismo Beach, California, near where he grew up and where family and friends were eagerly waiting to congratulate him.

Vern embarked on the trip in part to raise awareness on and funds for cancer research (he had lost his own father to the disease at early age) and in part to complete a meaningful goal before hitting the big 5-0. It’s evident from reading his final post reflecting on his journey that the trip has had a major impact on him that will last far beyond this week:

My emotions when I started were of excitement, anticipation and I would be lying if I didn’t say some fear of the unknown. But if we didn’t attempt things we were afraid of we wouldn’t get to experience the excitement of life. I wouldn’t have seen the cotton fields of Alabama, the cliff dwellings of Texas, the pecan trees of New Mexico and many other amazing places our country has to offer. The thing, however, that I will never forget is the kindness and generosity of the people I met along the way. Strangers who would shake my hand and wish me luck or ask to say a prayer with me or invite me to stay at their home and have dinner with their family. The kindness I received was amazing. There are truly kind people in this world. If you have ever thought about traveling by bicycle and life provides you with the opportunity, take it. It will be the adventure of a lifetime.

Vern, your pursuit of your goal has been a huge inspiration to everyone at the company. Congratulations on achieving it!

Where it began - St. Augustine Beach, FL.

For a recap of and great images from Vern’s bike trip, check out his blog on crazyguyonabike. To donate to cancer research, visit Vern’s dedicated page on the American Cancer Society’s Family & Friends’ site.

Team Tecnu at finish line of Adventure Racing World Champs Race

AMK is proud to announce that our favorite group of adventure athletes, Team Tecnu Extreme/Kailash (featuring AMK’s own Kyle Peter), battled the globe’s top-ranked athletes on the rugged terrain of Tasmania to clinch 12th place at the 2011 Adventure Racing World Championships.

This was no small feat considering the epic nature of Australia’s biggest expedition race and the team is still beaming with pride at their achievement – one that now ranks them as the top team in North America.

Team Tecnu competed against 80 other four-person teams from around the world. The ‘Tassie’ course, which consisted of 700 km of extremely challenging geography, took the team six days and 19 hours to complete.

“It was one of the most beautiful and diverse races of my life,” said team captain and lead navigator Kyle Peter.

For the Tassie World Champs race Peter assembled an international dream team made up of Brazilian and Tecnu veteran Marco Amselem, seasoned American adventure racer Ryan VanGorder and Canadian Liza Pye. The team battled sand dunes, freezing temperatures, aggressive white water rapids and knee-deep mud all while navigating their way to the finish line on Tasmania’s beautiful Northwest coast.

“We had a great race,” says Peter, “and it has only made us more excited for the upcoming 2012 season where we hope to keep on moving up the ranking board.”

Be sure to follow Tecnu Extreme Adventure Racing for the latest team news, including the upcoming announcement of their 2012 racing schedule.

Congratulations Team Tecnu!

Vern in Tender's NH offices

Vern Schrum, Product Regulatory Manager for Adventure Medical Kits and our parent company Tender Corp., has begun the process of crossing off a major item on his Bucket List. The 49-year-old, who we all turn to whenever questions pertaining to the FDA, EPA and other important sounding acronyms come up, recently set out to ride his bike solo across the country.

Ostensibly following the Adventure Cycling Association’s (ACA) Southern Tier Route, but with some minor tweaks, Vern’s journey will take him from St. Augustine, FL, to San Diego, CA. He’ll then head north, connecting with the ACA’s Pacific Coast route, before finishing up in Arroyo Grande, CA. The once-in-a-lifetime trip will see him cross through seven states and cover more than 3200 miles. He expects to finish the ride in 75 days, which will include 10 off days. We spoke to him prior to leaving for Florida.

Q. So Vern, why the big trip now and can I have your cubicle till you get back?

A. Well, hitting 49 this year has prompted me to ‘you know what or get off the pot’! In April I decided if I don’t do it now I will always find an excuse not to do it.I am also dedicating this trip to my father, who passed away from cancer at a young age, and to all those whose lives were cut short by cancer and were unable to do that one thing they always wanted to do.

Vern has packed plenty of AMK and Tender gear into his panniers, including the new as-yet-released breathable SOL Escape Bivvy, which he’ll be rigorously field testing throughout the journey.

Check back here for regular updates on Vern’s progress and on crazyguyonabike, where he’s also blogging. And if you feel the urge, donate to a Cancer Research charity.

Be Safe Vern. See you in December!

AMK's Kyle Peter (pictured second from left) & Team Tecnu at Finish Line of Gold Rush Mother Lode

The team, which AMK also sponsors and supplies various survival and first aid items to, finished the race more than four hours ahead of second place Dart-Nuun and Team Gearjunkie.com/YogaSlackers, which took third place. The four-day long event saw four-person co-ed teams attempt to cross a 275 mile (442.5km) course of rocky, challenging terrain in the Sierra Mountains of California.

Said Team Tecnu’s Kyle Peter, “Thank goodness for AMK’s Blister Medic, Ultralight/Watertight .7 and SOL Survival Blankets. Believe it or not you get hurt, develop lots of blisters and are really cold while traversing the Sierra Mountains in 3 days on 1.5 hours of sleep!”

Taking top spot in the race means Team Tecnu automatically qualifies as the only U.S. team that will participate in the upcoming World AR Championships, which kick off on Oct. 31st in Tasmania. Way to go Kyle!… Now back to work.

A: If you are planning on administering care to other victims, you will want a kit with enough contents to treat a large group and an organization system that is easy to use in an emergency. For this reason, I recommend ourMountain Series Comprehensive kit, which contains a wide range of wound care supplies for trauma scenarios like those encountered during an earthquake, as well as our Easy Care organization system that organizes contents in injury-specific pockets with quick-reference instruction cards. The Comprehensive makes a great home preparedness kit as well, since it contains a number of specialized medical instruments that are difficult to improvise and might be impossible to obtain during an extended disaster scenario.

Thanks.

–Nick

A. Hey Nick,

An unopened package of QuikClot has a shelf life of three years. The only Storage No-No — don’t leave a pack of QuikClot in direct sunlight for an extended period of time. Other than that, QuikClot can be stored at  high or low temperatures (even below freezing). Please note: once the package has been opened, QuikClot loses sterility and should be used immediately.

Glad you have QuikClot, Nick. Here’s hoping you never have to use it!

Best,

AMK

Only 13 more peaks to go!

Kyle Peter, Adventure Medical Kits’ East Coast sales manager, adventure racing pro par excellence and all-round thrill seeking freak, is at it again. This weekend Kyle is attempting to scale 15 peaks in Desolation Wilderness, the wilderness area located along the crest of the Sierra Nevada mountain range.

Kyle and two friends, Dennis Wilkinson and Mats Jansson, kicked off their journey early this morning. The loop the three will be traveling covers 35 rugged miles and about 15,000 vertical feet. The 15 peaks they will be scaling range from 8,600 ft to 10,000 ft in elevation.

Kyle will be posting pics and updates throughout  the weekend here. You can also track the trio, who are well equipped with AMK gear, including  Ultralight .7 kits, Heatsheets Emergency Bivvies and QuikClot Sport, at TrackMe360.com.

Best of luck, Kyle!

Over the course of the race runners climb 18,000 feet and descend a total of 23,000 feet on mountain trails before they cross the finish line. Runners finishing before the 30 hour time limit for the race receive a bronze belt buckle; those who finish in under 24 hours receive a silver belt buckle. Kyle, an accomplished adventure racer and member of Team Tecnu, snagged a bronze buckle, finishing in 169th place at a time of 26:35. Read below his account of the challenges he experienced during his first stab at an ultra marathon:

This was by far the highest quality event I have ever competed in, and that includes Ironman and Primal Quest. After the race, I definitely developed a new outlook on the pace of adventure racers – Adventure Racers, we are slow!

As for the toll running 100 miles took on me physically, overall my feet held up pretty well, especially considering I used only one pair of socks and shoes the whole race. By the time I reached the finish line, though, my quads and Achilles were both shot and my left knee was aching.

The biggest challenge by far was running the course’s long steep descents. They really tore me apart and forced me to walk down hills in the latter half of the race. At mile 45 I had to walk a steep descent at a snail’s pace after I had been descending for over four hours. I sat down a couple times (for 10-15 minutes each), once on a rock at mile 45 when I was crawling and actually started hobbling back to the last aid station to quit, and again at mile 85.

Mentally and physically, the lowest of lows for me in the race came between miles 82-85. That’s when I needed to regroup, and get my calves and ankles massaged at the aid station.

WHAT I’LL DO DIFFERENTLY FOR THE 2011 WESTERN STATES 100
Running 800 – 1,000 foot descents multiple times in a long run just doesn’t cut it for downhill run training for the Western States 100. I will need to get into the high mountains and do 5,000 foot descents on tired quads.

The experience of running 100 miles went a long way, in terms of showing me how I need to better calibrate my pacing, food in-take and mental approach. I think that making adjustments in all of these areas could shave 2.5 hours off my time.

In terms of pacing, when I felt good I ran how I should in a 100 miler, but that’s the exact moment when I should have even gone slower. When you feel good and comfortable, dial it down a couple of notches until mile 60 and then open it up. While I did try to do this my energy level began to wane by mile 82. I was only 20 minutes off the 24 hour pace at that point — when the wheels came off — which added two more hours to my time.

INJURIES & AILMENTS
I really need to heal my Achilles Tendonitis, even if it means taking a good portion of 2011 off. Oh and next time, I have to make sure I don’t start the race with a cold. That didn’t help my energy level at all.

By far this was the toughest race I have ever participated in, but I loved almost every minute of it. Traveling in the back country, with snow on the ground, from Lake Tahoe to Auburn was unreal, even though I felt like I was running in circles out there. Also, having to take the ferry across a river because high water made it impossible to cross on our own, was definitely a first for me during a race.

I will definitely be back to claim that Silver buckle in 2011!

–Kyle Peter

Team Tecnu

Swamp Stomp 2010
Team Tecnu Staphaseptic
Kyle Peter, Mari Chandler, Keith Bushaw, Leslie Reuter

The 2nd race of 2010 took team Tecnu to about one hour north of Tampa, FL to race in the Swamp Stomp.  Plotting the course Friday night near the banks of the Homosassa River proved that the race would live up to its name.  30 miles of  river-paddling in a maze of waterways cutting though the swamp and miles of  swamp travel ton foot and even bike (yes…I said bike) though thick wet swamp ooze!

Saturday morning we started with a 14 mile paddle on the Homosassa River Trail that we finished in around 4th place, but we transitioned quickly at the ‘Chaz’ Campground and headed out onto Bike #1 in first place. Biking mostly on paved roads we grabbed a few CP’s and cruised into the transition to Trek 1 holding our lead.

Paddling through the Fog

Trek 1 was a relatively straightforward rogaine in Withlacoochee State Forest.  After 5 hours of running we cleared the section.  Most points were 100-300 meters from a trail or road, but with no features in flat Florida, the team relied heavily on pace counts to get the CPs.

We took off on Bike # 2 still leading the pack, but with a local team hot on our heels.  We grabbed 3 CP’s or so on our way into the deep nasty swamp at the same the time the sun began to set.  The first point we went to in the swamp requited us to leave our bikes at the end of a trail and stomp through the swamp for 100 meters to find the flag.  It was cold, it was our first time moving in the swamp, and Leslie found a keeper spot that sucked her in deep.  Needless to say, we slowed a bit.  We started to bike back out the same trail we used to come in to the CP and saw the local FL team.  I estimated we had about 15 minutes on them.  We also saw Checkpoint Zero and some other teams on the out-and-back section.  Next up on our plan was a group of 4 CP’s that didn’t have a clear connecting route to get them all.  We tried to get them in a loop that appeared to be the most efficient according to the map.  But it turned out that trails in the swamp can easily be covered in 3 feet of water and near impossible to find.  We decided to bike an extra 15 kilometers on relatively fast trails to avoid a 750 meter swamp bushwack with our bikes over our shoulders.  Seemed like the safest smartest thing to do, but turns out the race directors designed the course so everybody had to carry there bikes through the swamp.  The marked trails on the map were really hunters’ bushwacking routes through the swamp than ride-able trails.  Long and short of it we were passed out there by the local team as well as Checkpoint Zero with all three of us getting all points on Bike 2.  We came into the start the Trek 2 30 minutes behind CP0 and 2 hours behind the local team.  Game over!  The intensity immediately dropped and my focus on the maps faded.  We pushed on adjusted our plan for the trek, got what points we could with Leslie navigating us through a 1 kilometer, pitch black, below freezing, thick swamp.

We returned to the TA to pick up our bikes to find out  Checkpoint Zero still in the TA but with 1 more CP than us (a point worth 2 points when most were worth only 1 point).  We also discovered that our bikes cassettes had frozen solid.  Hours of swamp biking, sandy road riding, and 28 degree temperatures are not the best conditions for bikes.  We put on our frozen solid bike shoes, and all of the clothes we had (none of it dry at this point) and set off on the final bike ride (Bike 3).  I have probably been heard saying a half dozen times or so, “This is the coldest I have ever been.”  I don’t think I said it this time because I was too cold to talk, but I truly believe this was the coldest I have been in my live.  All four of us had completely numb feet and hands.  At every CP, Keith would put his bare hands down his pants to warm his fingers, and Leslie would ride without her hands on the bars in order to put them up here shirt to keep them warm.

We pulled into the final TA and transitioned into our frozen solid paddling gear.  When I took my bike shoes off there was a layer of ice between my wet sock and my shoe.  I don’t think that has ever happened to me before.  Not to mention in FL?

We stated Paddle 2 early Sunday morning and preceded to get the mandatory CP’s  They were all located up channels that were feed by springs.  We usually had to wade the last few meters in 72 degree water from our boats up to the spring to reach the CP.  What a welcome change from the frozen socks and PFD we wearing!  Our final CP required one teammate to swim into a deep hole being fed by a spring. As the youngest on the team I won the chance to dive the 10 feet into the clear spring and get the CP!!  I was cold, but the finish line was only 200 meters away, and as a special treat we were greeted by a family of manetees swimming under our canoes as we left the spring.

Diving for the Checkpoint gold!

CP Gold!

Manatee

The Swamp Stomp proved to be a very challenging race both physically and mentally.  Florida doesn’t have hills, but it sure has swamps!  All things considered we are happy with our third place finish, and impressed with Checkpoint Zero’s second place finish and the local teams win.  I won’t speak for the rest of the team, but I will be back.  I want another shot at those swamp ‘trails’ or lack-there-of.

Items AMK sent include topical burn treatments, alcohol-free hand sanitizer, sterile gauze dressings and other materials used for cleaning and dressing wounds.

Following the aftermath of a major natural disaster, materials for treating and disinfecting wounds are typically in high demand for relief workers who are tending to the injured. With its logistical expertise in executing major relief programs, AmeriCares is ideally suited to deliver essential medical supplies to the people of Haiti.

Formed in 1982, AmeriCares is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, and maintains offices in India, Sri Lanka and El Salvador. Over its 28-year history, it has participated in multiple disaster relief efforts around the globe.

“It’s our sincere hope that our efforts with AmeriCares, along with the donations we continue to make through other aid  organizations, will in some measure help the Haitian people to weather the very tough days that they face ahead,” said AMK’s marketing director and co-founder Frank Meyer.

AMK sent medical supplies to AmeriCares in packs provided by The North Face.

Adventure Medical Kits is a proud sponsor of the 2010 Tubbs Romp to Stomp Out Breast Cancer Snowshoe Series.

Be Part of the Cure with AMK!

In addition to sponsoring the event and providing product samples and prizes, AMK is donating $1 for every Women’s Outdoor Medical Kit sold during the duration of the series. For every Women’s Outdoor Medical Kit sold between January 23rd and March 30th, 2010, Adventure Medical Kits will donate $1 to the Tubbs Romp to Stomp out Breast Cancer that benefits Susan G. Komen for the Cure®. Visit our website to learn more.

Team Adventure Medical Kits/Tender Corp. will also be attending the Stratton, VT event on January 30th.  Come out and join us for the day! If you can’t make it to one of the events, you can help us support the cause by donating to our team.

Follow our team’s fund raising progress: AMK Blog | Facebook | Twitter.

About the Romp:

Since its inception in 2003, the Tubbs Romp to Stomp out Breast Cancer Snowshoe Series® has engaged more than 16,000 people in the sport of snowshoeing and raised nearly ONE MILLION DOLLARS for Susan G. Komen for the Cure®!

Modeled after the highly successful Race for the Cure®, the Tubbs Romp to Stomp out Breast Cancer consists of a 3k or 5k snowshoe walk or a 3k snowshoe race. The event has grown every year and now is the largest snowshoe series in the world and includes the biggest single snowshoe event in North America (Frisco, Colorado).

The gorgeous snowshoe course, fun atmosphere, and FREE demo snowshoes* from Tubbs helps to attract participants of all levels. Nearly 25% of participants have never snowshoed before! *First come first serve.

With ongoing partnerships with the local affiliates of Susan G. Komen for the Cure®, the Tubbs Romp to Stomp is committed to helping stomp out breast cancer one snowshoe step at a time!

Where: 5555 San Leandro St., Oakland (1 mile from Coliseum & Fruitvale BART). Limited parking available. All sales final, cash only. Bring your own bag. Happy Shopping!
When: Friday Dec. 11th, 12 pm – 4 pm.

Congratulations to Kyle and Mari for their 3rd place finish in the Perak Amanjaya International Eco Adventure.

Details of their final day of racing are below…

To read all about their journey and race – check out their blog.

Day 4 – Final Stage

Kyle and I knew what had to be done for the final day of racing. We were currently in 4th place and less than 3 minutes behind a spot on the podium which was held by Team Salomon TLDM from Malaysia. The day began with a long 48 mile bike leg which the majority would all be on paved roads and flat. The first 12 miles were pretty easy as everyone rode in a peloton as expected. The next 4 miles were insane as we had to loop around some rice paddy fields. We were forced into a single file line through wet tall grass with mud underneath. It was a struggle to remain with the lead group through the slippery conditions, but we hung on. At the edge of the paddy field was a bridge that led us back to the road, but we had to heave our bikes up onto it as it was 4 ft or so off the ground. Kyle and I were back on our bikes and on the road only to find ourselves a good 200 meters behind the peloton. We knew we had gotten off the bridge before the Malaysians and needed to get back with the lead riders. Kyle took off and I got on his wheel and we road as hard as we could and eventually caught the group. We settled back into the peloton and enjoyed the pull and recovered from our sprint. The pace had slowed again and the French team(Chiru Racing Bikes) and the Japanese team each tried to break away, but each time we caught back up with them. With all the goofing around with the pace, our Malaysian friends were able to rejoin the group as well. No one would take the lead and push the pace except us and the 2 teams from South Africa (Team McCain Adventure). I took the lead and Kyle got behind me and we picked up the pace. The next thing we knew, we were all alone and the peloton had dropped behind us. We expected them to catch us, but that was the last we would see of them for the next 24 miles. Kyle and I alternated leading, giving 1 min hard pulls while the other recovered all the while thinking at any moment the freight train of riders would run us over soon, but they never came. We held 24-28 mph on our mt. bikes as we were led by a police escort and camera crews all the way to the TA. It was pretty exciting to have gotten a break-a-way from such a strong group of riders and be in the lead.

We had a quick transition into our kayak gear and were off for a short paddle in the Indian Ocean to Pangkor Island. At this point we still had no idea exactly how far ahead we were and just wanted to keep our lead as long as possible. We expected to be caught on the kayak leg, as we are not the stongest paddlers, but no one came. We reached the sandy beach and now had to run up a hill to a 60 m repel down a steep rock face right back down to the beach. Because we had done the entire bike section while wearing our climbing harnesses, there was no need for the transition and gained more valuable time on the Malaysian team who we knew was not wearing theirs.

Now we were off for a 6k run along the edge of the island through the town of Pangkor. We were still feeling pretty good and settled into a comfortable pace but tried to keep pushing. Kyle had fallen back a bit so he we connected the tow line so that we could keep together. It seemed as though the entire town of Pangkor had come out and lined both sides of the street to cheer us on. They seemed confused to find Kyle and I by ourselves , most likely looking extremely tired , and why were we tied together?? We pushed on and reached the aid station at the base of “Killing Hill”. In the race briefing the night before, the Race Director had told us that this hill was harder than the one we had done on Day 2 and had almost destroyed a few teams. We decided to take the time to load up on water before continuing up the trail. As we headed up the steep trail we still saw no one behind us. It wasn’t too much time later when we heard the Swedish team coming up behind us and moving fast. Within a few moments they had caught us, passed us, and dropped us. We kept on trekking and a few moments later, Pacific Adventure made up of 2 Americans caught us, passed us, and dropped us. We decided that was enough, and in order for us to grab 3rd overall, we had to hold onto 3rd for the stage win. We never saw another team. We reached the base of “Killing Hill”, which ended up being way easier than expected and had a short run back out to the main island road. Here we would get to choose from a group of “local” bikes and would be allowed to use one bike for the 2 of us to go the remaining 5k to the finish. Kyle immediately grabbed a bike that had the essentials…2 inflated tires, 2 pedals, at least 1 brake, and hopefully the ability to shift a gear or 2. I took off running and Kyle passed me on the bike. It was hilarious as the bikes were all for people a bit shorter than us and he looked like he was pedaling a kid’s bike. For the next 5 k, we leap frogged each other with one of us riding a short distance ahead and dropping the bike on the side of the road and then the other of us running to it, picking up the bike and continuing. There was a lot of traffic on the road and I was sure at some point our bike would either get run over or fall apart. With the bike being so small it was very difficult to ride up the few hills we had along the way to the finish and I was having flashbacks of riding my little niece and nephew’s little cruiser bikes and thinking that maybe that form of training was paying off at last. ha ha. I was just starting to feel pretty crappy and had told Kyle as he rode by me not to make me run to far when we could start to hear the sounds of the finish line. Kyle dropped the bike immediately after he passed me and was off and running hard to the finish. I barely caught him when we rounded the final turn and crossed the finish line together to finish the 4th and final stage in 3rd place. Immediately we started our watches and waited to see who would cross the finish line next. After 3 minutes we knew we had the last spot on the podium secured. As time ticked by and only the Japanese team finished, we thought we had a shot at 2nd place as Chiru Racing bikes had 6+ minute lead heading into this stage. At 4 1/2 minutes, Team Chiru crossed the finish line. It was official…

1st place: Team World of Multi-Sport from Sweden, 4 day race total of 15:30:07 (co-ed team)
2nd place: Team Chiru Racing Bikes from Australia & France, 15:50:36 (all male team)
3rd place: Kyle and Mari, Team Tecnu Extreme/Asolo, 15:51:55

To read all about their journey and race – check out their blog.

AMK Sales Representative, Kyle Peter is racing again – this time in Malaysia!

Kyle is racing with Mari Chandler on Team Tecnu Extreme/Asolo in the Perak Amanjaya International Eco Adventure 2009 which is a new event geared towards presenting 20 of the top teams to the Asian contingency, and also showcasing on ESPN STARS. The 4-day race is set to begin on December 2nd – they will be racing across Malaysia in a super fast stage race with little navigation, short disciplines, blazing fast transitions, and beautiful terrain.

Kyle and Mari arrived in Malaysia and have spent some time relaxing and recovering from jet lag.  Tomorrow is a pre-race brief/meeting, followed by interviews with ESPN STARS network where one billion Asian households are sure to fall in love with Kyle and Mari.  After that, there is nothing but waiting and doing countless gear checks and last minute preparations before the race starts on Wednesday.

You can follow their progress on their team blog. Good luck to Kyle and Mari – we can’t wait to follow their progress and hear the stories of this epic trip!

A satisified Sarah Tantillo at finish line of the NYC Marathon. Hey, is that a Heatsheets blanket?

AMK employees, Sarah Tantillo and Kyle Peter, enjoyed their NYC marathon experience.  Sarah breezed thru in 4 hours and 9 minutes, about 7 minutes faster than her goal time of  4:15. Sarah is hoping to break 4 hours next. Kyle blistered the first half in 1 hour and 30 minutes and jogged home the rest of the way to finish in 3:44. Kyle said if he saw any outdoor stores on route he was going to  stop in and check them out.  Next year we are going to challenge him to do it in under 3:30 while writing 3 orders on route.. That would be a productive marathon!

Congratulations to both!  We are all inspired.

Frank Meyer, Marketing Director

Looking calm and rested two days before the NY City Marathon

Kyle Peter looking to breeze thru the NYC Marathon in 3 Hours and 20 minutes

Adventure Medical Kits Sales Coordinator, Sarah Tantillo, and Sales Representative, Kyle Peter, are off to race in tomorrow’s NY City Marathon. This will be Sarah’s first attempt at  the 26.2 mile distance. Sarah is looking forward to her girlfriends cheering her on as she strides to hit the 4 hour mark. Kyle, a Boston Marathon finisher this year in just seconds over 3 hours, will be looking to take  it a little easier and wants to finish  in 3 hours and 20 minutes. Four days after Kyle returns he will be launching into a four day adventure race with three other teammates.  To compound the effort, they both took red eye flights on Friday night  for the Sunday race. They will be back at work Monday morning.  Check back on Monday for the after marathon pictures.

Good Luck Sarah and Kyle and Godspeed!

Crossing the finish line!!

The race began on August 14th and Team iMoat finished the race in Rapid City, SD after approximately 7 Days 11 Hours of racing. Congratulations to Team iMoat and Kyle on their incredible race!

Kyle after mountain biking and waiting for his turn on the ropes course.

Update from Eco Primal Quest : The sixth team to complete the 2009 Primal Quest Badlands presented by SPOT is Team iMoat, who arrived as the finish line a short time ago. Amongst their requests, other than the pizza, ice cream, and champagne that was awaiting them, was for a bottle of shampoo. I think the team is ready to hit the showers.

The 600 mile race was the longest Primal Quest event to date and one of the most challenging adventure/endurance races of all time. The Badlands are a challenging and brutal section of terrain to navigate – just look at the picture below – the view for as far as the eye can see…..

Team OrionHealth.com finished the race in first place in approximately 6 days 10 hours followed closely by Team Salomon/Crested Butte and Team Merrell/Zanfel.  The final standings are still undecided until the race directors have a chance to review and assess possible time penalties.

Here’s a photo taken just minutes ago from the checkpoint.

Teams Brace For More Bad Weather!
Posted on 08/19/09 7:53 AM| by Kraig

Wednesday morning brings us another round of incliment weather, as Primal Quest Badlands presented by SPOT stretches into its fifth day. The forecast calls for cooler temperatures today, with rain a distinct possibility. The combination of the two can make for a long, cold, miserable day out on the course.

At the front of the pack, OrionHealth.com, Salomon/Crested Butte, and Merrell/Zanfel Adventures are venturing into the Badlands at last, but many teams are still reaching the waters of Angostura Reservoir, where they face a swim and paddle orienteering course. The waters of the reservoir are a constant 75º F, but the air temperatures are currently quite cool and could play a part throughout the day.

You can follow AMK’s Kyle Peter and Team iMoat on their website.

You can track their progress here and view their team profile for more information about the team.  We’ll keep you posted on their progress – Good Luck Kyle and team!!

AMK’s women’s edition outdoor medical kit comes jam-packed with all the fixings adventurous boys get — wound care materials, mini tweezers, insect-bite salve, a variety of medications, and a first-aid booklet — plus a couple things only ladies need, like tampons, leak-safe tampon bags, menstrual relief meds, and compact expands-in-water disposable towels. And it’s all packaged in a sporty blue nylon bag that weighs less than a pound. No lipstick? No diet pills? No frilly, lacy case made to look like a purse or a bra or a tiny dog? We’re buying it.

The SF Bay Guardian held a gala event to celebrate its 2009 ‘Best of the Bay’ winners at swanky San Francisco night club Mezzanine. Joe Sementilli (AMK’s National Sales Manager), Sarah Tantilo (AMK’s Sales Co-ordinator) and Chris Gubera (AMK’s President) selflessly gave up their free time to represent whilst sampling some nosh and suds along the way. Click here to read the SFBG’s full write up on the Women’s Edition Outdoor Kit.