This was the Team MAAR motto for our whitewater weekend on the Wolf RIver. This was our last group training opportunity before PQ and we hit the Wolf River in Northern Wisconsin for some whitewater kayaking, playboating and riverboarding. Andy McCarthy was our guide and Melaine’s brother Warren joined us for the fun. Their guidance and expertise were well appreicated. The river was a bit low so some of the boulder gardens were a bit bony. We had a blast riverboarding at Gilmore’s mistake rapid. We were definitely the hit of the rapid as the playboaters hit the eddy’s to watch crazy Team MAAR hit the holes and the wavetrains on their riverboard. Photos below:
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Video at Gilmore’s Mistake:
Team MAAR: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ka_xQAVmLuE
 Mickey and Melaine: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ka_xQAVmLuE
 Chris: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ewp_S90etAE
 Dan: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ka_xQAVmLuE
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Dan from Team MAAR teamed up with Nick Rogne from Team Albatross/Masterlock to take 3rd place overall in the open division and 2nd in the all male division at the inaugural “Race for the Booty” adventure race held May 17,2008.
 http://www.raceforthebooty.com/Â
 Nick and Dan road and mountain biked and navigated over 80 miles in just over 13:30:00. The race, which was based upon a pirate theme, covered the Northern Kettle Morraine Forest and Long Lake. The format of the race was unique with teams choosing the race segments and completing them in any order. There were time penalties for missed controls and missed segments. Nick and Dan finished all the bike/nav segments missing ony one optional control (damn pirate flag) and finished one of the “paddle” segments, although never got their boat wet :) Overall a good training day.
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Team MAAR headed to the Black River in northern wisconsin to do some whitewater training the weekend of April 26. The idea was to get some whitewater paddling and riverboarding in. Mother nature had her own plans and made the weather a factor. Significant rain and snow melt made the river pretty gnarly. The usual discharge for this time of year is 800 cubic feet/second but on our weekend it was flowing at nearly 3000 cubic feet/second. Add on top of that temperatures that peaked at 39 degrees, snow and 20 mph winds gusting to over 30 mph made for an adventuresome weekend! However, it didn’t deter Team MAAR from getting in some quality training. Saturday consisted of whitewater kayaking. The kayaks that we used were not truly meant for whitewater and the spray skirts were loose causing alot of cockpit water and a fair amount of swimming in 40ish degree water. Lots of fun. We were too cold to take pictures!
On Sunday, we decided to riverboard some Class 2-3 rapids. It was a blast. The temps were the same but at least the sun was out. Pictures below.
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Video of Chris Decker riverboarding the Black river: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nObbkesCqn4
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Dan and Chris traveled to Willow Springs, Illinois on 4/19 to compete in the WOW (World Orienteering-Wilmette) Palos 12-hour Rogaine.Â
 http://worldorienteeringwilmette.com/index.htm
 The race was held at the Palos Forest Preserve just outside of Chicago. The area is beautiful and was a great venue for a grueling 12 hour rogaine. The event was a score-orienteering rogaine where controls were worth 1-6 points depending upon difficulty. Chris and Dan hit 29 controls for 105 points in 11hrs and 15 minutes, snagging first place in the 12-hour division. The second place team in the 12-hour division had 87 points in 11hrs 45 minutes. In getting those 29 controls Team MAAR covered 30+ miles on foot. Navigation was dead on for most points. There was alot of running between points. Overall a great PQ training day.
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Dan and Chris teamed up with Cathy Diamond for the Planet Adventure 28 hour adventure race in Story Indiana on April 6, 2008. The trio covered the course in 25 hrs and 52 minutes to take 9th overall and 2nd place in the masters division. As usual for team MAAR, this was a race of attrition, as 17 of the 30 teams starting the race DNF’d. The race began at 0800 on Saturday and after a quick 5-6 mile trek, teams hit the mountain bikes for some muddy single track and backroad riding. Team MAAR “misinterpreted” pre race instructions to stay off of the routes up Browning Hill (actually, only the trail was off limits and not the road). That forced the team to look for alternate routes (which were all under water!). Eventually, the team made it to the orienteering course but had burned a good 90 minutes with their mistake. The orienteering course went well, with Team MAAR posting the 9th best time on the 12+ mile O-course. Then it was off to the paddle. This was to be the defining moment for most teams. Teams that started the paddle with 2 hours or more of daylight ahead of them did well while those who started later had an impossible time navigating the overflowing river at night. Team MAAR started with only 30 minutes of daylight left but stuck with it, while most teams who dropped out did so during the night paddlle as temps dropped into the low 30’s and hypothermia was a real problem. Some teams had to find shore and “camp” until daylight when they could then paddle out to quit. Once off the paddle, Team MAAR hit one of the trekking points and biked to the finish. Overall, a good PQ practice day for Team MAAR. See more on the Planet Adventure checkpoint tracker website at:
 http://www.checkpointtracker.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=app.showDashboard&eventID=134
 
Dan, Chris and Cathy prior to the start of Planet Adventure 28 hour Challenge
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 Team MAAR (Dan and Chris) won the 2 person team division and took 2nd overall at the 2008 Frozen Otter Ultra Trek. Melaine joined Dan and Chris as a solo competitor but had to withdraw at the 16 mile mark due to a work emergency (BIG FIRE!) back in Davenport. Dan and Chris trekked 42 miles in 16:19:00 in brutal weather conditions. The temperature dipped to -15F with windchills in the -30F range. The winner of the solo division lost 2 toes to frostbite during the race!Â
Melaine, Dan and Chris as they prepare for the 2008 Frozen Otter Ultra Trek.
 Here is a local newspaper article covering the teams success!
16-hour hike is just a starter for these guys
Posted: Jan. 28, 2008
It’s a question, I suspect, they get often.
Are you crazy?
A 16-hour hike in the woods 10 days ago, when the mercury touched minus 12 to minus 15 and the wind chill was about triple that, was simply a training run for Dan DeBehnke and Chris Decker.
DeBehnke, 47, of Hartland, and Decker, 43, of Brookfield, are emergency room physicians at Froedtert Hospital - which suggests they’re certainly not dummies. They are also self-described “middle-aged adventure racers” - which suggests, well, I’ll let you decide.
Adventure or expedition racing involves a day or multiple days on little or no sleep and getting from one point to another using a variety of skills - orienteering, running or hiking, mountain biking, canoe or kayak paddling, rock climbing, and rappelling or traversing with ropes.
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 Walker
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Photo courtesy/
Dan DeBehnke
Dan DeBehnke (left) and Chris Decker prepare to rappel down a cliff during a 2006 24-hour race in northern Wisconsin. They also raced in Kettle Moraine State Forest this month - 16 hours in subzero weather. They were OK, but the winner lost toes to frostbite.
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DeBehnke and Decker, operating as a team, were the only competitors - other than the solo “winner,” a 27-year-old Iowa man who lost some toes to frostbite - to finish the Frozen Otter Ultra Trek in the Northern Unit of Kettle Moraine State Forest Jan. 19 and 20. They hiked 42 miles; Andrew Wells of Davenport went 49.
As cold as it was, it was only a warm-up to their big goal this summer, a 10-day expedition race in Montana called Primal Quest 2008. They’ll go without sleep for up to two days, then sleep about three hours a day, all the while trying to get between designated points over a 500-mile course that will go up and down the equivalent of Mount Everest three times.
The Frozen Otter gave the pair a chance to work out in the extreme.
How cold was it?
The peanut butter and jelly sandwich DeBehnke was saving in his backpack for the 16-mile mark was frozen like a rock by the time they got there. He said he had to stuff it into his layered shirt so it would thaw. His drinking supply in a camel-back bladder froze in 15 minutes, so that, too, had to go into his shirt.
“We never felt cold,” DeBehnke said, though before the race, “I was a little worried about my feet.” He wore layered clothing and trail running shoes with strapped-on cleats and a new pair of wool hiking socks. They did just fine, he said.
The key, both he and Decker said, was to eat and drink regularly, since dehydration is one of the things that can lead to frostbite.
“We were pretty vigilant of how our fingers and feet felt,” he said. They came through unscathed, only a little tired and a little sore at the end.
“You’re mentally tired because you’ve been up for so many hours, but it’s a rewarding feeling,” DeBehnke said. “Really, it’s not that hard to walk 42 miles.”
Decker said that while they were prepared to go the distance, “we started that race saying we were willing to quit if it didn’t go well.”
It went well enough, because the two are looking forward to what they say is an epic backcountry adventure, the crown jewel of expedition racing, this summer. They’re hoping to find sponsors to help cover some of the cost of Primal Quest. The entry fee alone is $12,500 - not including gear, transportation, food and a support crew.
The two are part of a four-person team, including a 49-year-old firefighter from Iowa and a 44-year-old massage therapist. They call themselves MAAR (you know - middle-aged adventure racers).
The two local physicians met on the job at a time when both were doing triathlons, but they gravitated to expedition adventure racing.
The older you get, the harder it is to compete in triathlons, DeBehnke said. But he sees the challenge of expedition racing as much mental as it is physical.
“People who are older maybe have more mental maturity and can deal with it,” he said. “We’re better navigators,” too. Someone who’s more athletic, for example, but with no navigational acumen won’t win.
Both men enjoy the variety in these adventures, a chance to train by bike one day, by foot the next, by rope another. They usually train about seven to 10 hours a week, but as a big expedition race approaches, they have to build up to much longer spans, perhaps as much as a 20-hour non-stop workout.
“We’re middle-aged,” Decker said. “We’re balancing professional lives with what we really like to do. This is unique. There are lots of people in the region who enjoy parts of this. We’re doing them all.”
Both men, who are married with children at home, said their families understand.
So back to that question I started with.
“They think I’m crazy in a good way,” said DeBehnke.
Call Laurel Walker at (262) 650-3183 or e-mail lwalker@journalsentinel.com
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