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Four Winds Adventure Races
A Training Ground with a Cause
[Lakeport, CA Race]  [Ventura County, CA Race]  [Mountain Rage Final]

Dr. Bill Lionberger and Karen Livesay founded Four Winds Adventure Company in 1997. The two have combined their love for the outdoors and competition in the sports venue to create a kind of trilogy of adventure racing: a series of two-day races; an expedition-style race; and, a camp to help train adventure athletes for this demanding sport.

The Mountain Rage Series, Four Winds' two-day races, is intended as an introduction to adventure racing. Teams compete in the major adventure racing disciplines, such as mountaineering, horseback riding, whitewater rafting and canoeing, running, mountain biking, and orienteering. Unlike the Hi-Tec races, which take three-six hours to complete, the Mountain Rage races enable teams to experience what competing for 24 hours nonstop is like. However, competitors in this series are not all beginners. Many of the major teams come to compete in these two-day races as preparation for races like Eco-Challenge. The more experienced teams are able to hone in on the team's communication and navigation skills by racing in a smaller scale event. Thus, Four Winds Mountain Rage Series is more of a melting pot of athletic ability and experience level. Teams participating in the series will accumulate points over the course of the year for each race, culminating in an overall Mountain Rage Series champion. The championship team will win a free entry into next year's USA Supreme Adventure Race.

The Supreme is the race put on by Four Winds. The race is nonstop for seven-plus days and teams will travel over 300 miles of terrain. The only difference between this race and a race like Elf Authentic Adventure, is the fact it is not held in a far-away location; it is held in the Midwest. The less than tropical locale is possibly why Four Winds is not as readily known as other expedition adventure races, but this does not negate the level of competition found at this race. The course travels over environmentally diverse terrain testing teams in the major race disciplines: mountaineering, kayaking in level III to level IV streams, rappelling, running, mountain biking and orienteering skills. The USA Supreme is a race for teams to find the challenge of an expedition-style race without travelling out of the United States.

If the races Four Winds Adventure Company puts on aren't enough, this organization is one with a conscious as well. A portion of the event profits is donated to educational programs for indigenous peoples, designated by the tribes local to the regions in which races are held. This want to give back not only stems from the organizers' heritage — Dr. Bill Lionberger, a Native American, Choctaw-Chikasaw Indian, and Karen Livesay, a Costa Rican-Nicaraguan Indian — but also as an honor to the heritage of native peoples across America.

For more information on Four Winds call: 800.775.7671

Susan Overton, MountainZone.com Staff


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