How to Choose Teammates

Choosing your teammates for an adventure race has perhaps the most impact on the outcome of your race experience. With this in mind, you will want to proceed with care and take into account several considerations.

First and foremost sit down & have a meaningful heart-to-heart with yourself. Ask yourself why you want to attempt an adventure race; what you expect to gain from the experience; if you are remotely prepared or qualified to attempt a race; what your strengths and weaknesses are, and so on. If you are really anal, I would write down your responses to these questions in order to get really clear on your motivation, commitment level, and goals. With this guide in hand, you are ready to go looking for teammates.

Obviously, some basic logistical considerations should be addressed first. Which race are you considering doing and what are the team divisions or categories available to you? If the race has an all male/female division and a mixed category, then you have all options for teammates available to you and several avenues to explore.

When looking for teammates, start by considering like-minded, friends in your area who may be as crazy as you are. Feel them out & gauge their response. You will want them to go through the same exercise as you did with yourself (above). Depending on your results, you could then expand your search to people you know who may not be local. Another option would be to put an advertisement in a local sports magazine, put notices up in outdoor retail stores or fitness clubs, etc. You can also take advantage of teambuilder databases on this website or other adventure racing websites or put word out through the adventure racing association newsgroup. When I got started, I volunteered at a race and met like-minded volunteers who were looking to become competitors. No one avenue is better than the other, just know what they are and explore them in an order which seems to make sense to you. The point here is that adventure racing is among the fastest growing team sports in the country so finding warm bodies should not be a problem. The challenge arises in coming up with a group that can function as a team.

So we are back to your questionaire which you filled out on yourself at the beginning of this exercise. First, look at your strengths and weaknesses. If you are a strong trail runner and navigator, but not as strong in mountain biking or paddling, then look for people whose strengths complement your weaknesses. My first team had a nationally ranked ultra-distance runner, a professional mountain biker, another strong mountain biker, and a mountaineering/outdoor specialist. I was the team captain and primary navigator. Our paddling experience was limited, so we sought out experts to train us as a group in canoeing and white water rafting.

Next look at your expectations. Do you want to simply finish or are you out to be competitive and perhaps win. A sure fire way to have a miserable experience is to not be clear on everyone’s expectations and goals and match them appropriately. Also consider personalities and leadership traits. Personality clashes are definitely no fun when you are 20 hours into an event. Similarly all chiefs and no indians can cause friction. Your team should have a captain and everyone should be clear on how decisions will be made before, during and after an event. If everything is very democratic for race preparations, but then the captain becomes a dictatorial power freak during the race, then someone is probably going to walk away an unhappy camper. These considerations are critical and should be thoroughly addressed. Also be aware, that being flexible is a very important character trait. Expectations can change over the course of a race from winning to simply finishing.
Not everyone on the team has to be competing for the same reasons. People tend to have very personal desires which drive them in a race. While the why’s and where-to-fores are perhaps less important, knowing what they are is important. The very nature of the sport is to push people beyond their comfort zone and limits. If you are not clear as to your motivations, then when the going gets tough, you may find yourself with teammates dropping like flies. The main cause of this is that they lose sight of why they are there in the first place.

The bottom line—find a compatible group with like-minded expectations, similar commitment levels and complimentary skill sets who respect each other and you will probably have a great experience and a strong team. This sounds easy enough, but it may be the toughest pre-race challenge which faces you.

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