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Before you read more about us,
let us first draw the physical and
psychological profile of our
favorite team.
Benoit Letourneau
First and foremost, our glorious captain Benoît
Létourneau. A tough guy, a dirty face. A beast. Former
member of
the Canadian cross-country ski and mountain bike teams. A
real competitor. With an incomparable sense of humor,
admittedly a bit misunderstood by the rest of the racers.
Some people have seen him smile; yet we have no proof of it.
His sense of diplomacy is still under development, he’s
working on it, slowly. And what an incredible navigator he
is. Quick, precise, incisive. Christophe Colomb, Magellan
and James Cook look like beginners beside him!! [>>]
Liza Pye
The first time we met Liza, she was volunteering at the
Raid the North Canadian Championships race.
With her radiant smile and sparkling eyes, she made
us seriously consider quitting racing and switching to
volunteering in the future.
But that won’t be necessary since she’s racing
with us now. Little did we know at that time that behind her
glowing good looks was hiding an extremely determined and
talented athlete. Incidentally,
we tested her on a memorable threesome adventure where she
demonstrated impressive stamina and performance.
(Editor’s note: we are talking about the Salomon
Adventure Challenge – exceptionally raced in teams of 3).
With her excellent paddling and biking technique, she
likes to challenge the boys on the team.
And just like her smile, we like that very much.[>>]
Benoît Tremblay
Benoît Tremblay is the latest addition
to our adventure racing team. With his young freshman face,
he proudly sports a resolutely athletic style with an
intellectual touch that distinguishes him from the rustic
personality of typical adventure racers.
When Benoît timidly joined the team 2
years ago, he was expressing with humility his ardent desire
to modestly contribute to the success of the team, admitting
his great chance to be learning the Simon River Sports
adventure racing style school in company of long time
veterans like Benoît and myself. Since his first paddle
strokes and his first swamp crawling with our team, he has
long pretended that I was a model for him and that his first
objective was to become just like me. However, along the
various races and victories and his newly acquired
self-confidence, it appeared totally obvious that not only
he wanted to be like me, he wanted to take my spot on the
team. It
started insidiously and almost unnoticed;
it has now been confirmed since he started cutting
his hair like mine and dressing like me and stealing
underwear in my gear bin.
In many ways, I can say Benoît is a racer who pushes
me to surpass myself… Until he actually steals my place on
the team, I greatly enjoy racing with Benoît.
We have to recognize his great abilities and personal
qualities, notably his integrity and his great generosity.
We have soon realized how dedicated he was to the
team and how much he was ready to give his body and soul to
help his teammates since
his now famous “Hey Liza, you need a screw?” in
the middle of the 2004 Beast of the East.
As teammates of Benoît, we are really
sorry for all other racers who don’t have the chance to
race with him, anyway, none would understand a word of what
he says in English…[>>]
Alain Beaudry
Alain Beaudry, is the veteran; he enjoys each moment and
races as if there were no tomorrows since he’s always
racing his very last event. His profile is by far the most
aerodynamic on the circuit which is practical during high
wind days or in the middle of hurricane Isabel. President
and founder of the Gear Acquisition Disease foundation for
Adventure Racers (all donations accepted), Alain is always welcomed with smiles$$ in
the various Ottawa sports and outdoors shops. [>>]
Tanya Martin
Tanya Martin, our other « girl », our support, has the
looks of a supermodel. Like all girls on our team, she loves threesomes – we’re talking
adventure raids here - she has
even admitted to Benoît L her boyfriend, (there are
withnesses!), while breathing heavily, that she preferred
doing it with me, cause mine was longer!!! Well, we’re
talking bike towing lines here. Anyway, with her child Véro
and Dave, they form the best support team ever. Being a
racer herself – she has just placed 2nd solo at the Mont
Ste-Marie Sea 2 Summit – she is super efficient and always
smiling. On top of that, she knows how to add a bit of
action of her own each race by her unconventional use of the
team’s van, which allows her to make friends with other
team’s pretty faces… [>>]
Benoit Gauthier
Benoît Gauthier is our « Golden Boy », with his Hollywood
looks . An inexhaustible source of energy. An animal. A two
time accomplished Olympic athlete, polyvalent, he shines and
excels in absolutely everything, God has given him all
qualities and we are thankful for it since he shares this
energy and talent with all his friends thanks to his
infinite generosity and his permanent good moods. [>>]
Melissa Paquet
Mélissa Paquet has a superstar look
combined with the most athletic body one can imagine. She
absolutely never complains even when she doesn’t feel at her
best and has to throw out, , that doesn’t even slow her at
all, we think she enjoys physical pain. She drives her bike
as if it was an un-destroyable tank and her mental strength
is only equalled by the spectacular and powerful muscles of
her legs. [>>]
Together, we form a not too bad team (!!), and certainly the
funniest too, would you bet a $10 bill on
that team?
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Benoit "dirty face" Letourneau
Alain "slick" Beaudry
Tanya "top model" Martin
Benoit "golden boy" Gauthier
Mélissa "caporal" Paquet
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