Brooke ran her first Pangea adventure race in October this year, at the age of SEVEN! She and her daddy were on a team together called Beauty and the Beast.
Brooke was the youngest racer there
by far, but turned out to be a bigger threat than many expected. The Lighterknot race is a three hour race consisting of three legs: running, paddling, and biking. And you do this all while navigating with a map and compass to find check points where you punch your card.
Getting ready to start the race, listening to instructions and surveying the map.
Getting ready to head out on the canoe part of the race.
Brooke gets ready to punch her card at one of the canoe check points.
Steve said that Brooke had a really fun time during the race, despite the heat and exhausting nature of it all. Here she is doing a leap of joy while looking for their next check point.
Brooke and daddy were able to outsmart a few teams and make it to a few check points first, even though the other teams were in the lead.
The home stretch!! Here they come, finishing the last part of the race, the bike! We did not think that Brooke would be able to participate much in the bike portion of the race.. it can be pretty intense. But thankfully, the sand was hard-packed and they were able to find 3 of the 5 points on the bike.
As Steve and Brooke crossed the finish line, Greg, the race coordinator, got on the microphone and invited everyone to cheer for the little 7-year old who had amazed everyone that day. Everyone applauded and it was a really cool moment. Both Steve and I got a little misty eyed.
Brooke received a medal and special trophy for her amazing accomplishment that day. Team Beauty and the Beast placed 20th out of 33 teams. Not too shabby for a 7-year old in the company of adults. Pangea was so impressed with Brooke that they wrote an article about her for their website. You can read it
HERE.
Brooke, you are an amazing girl! You are my hero! You are brave and strong and your mommy and daddy are so proud of you!
