Last weekend I completed my big race. Luckily Greg Elston wrote a great little piece about it that I will just quote. Additional photos can be found at: [Pictures]
"Get your Ass over the Pass" - That was the motto and the goal for anyone entering the Wild West Relay. The relay is one of the most challenging relay races in the United States, which covered nearly 195 miles over some of the most mountainous terrain in the country. The relay started in Fort Collins, Colorado and wound it's way through the foothills of the Rocky Mountains into southern Wyoming before heading south over the Continental Divide at the Rabbit Ears Pass to Steamboat Springs, Colorado.
A team of your Accenture colleagues from the Kaiser Permanente NPI engagement successfully completed this relay challenge last weekend. In completing the challenge, the team, captained by Brian Burton, personified "High Performance Delivered" as they finished in second place in their division, narrowly missing first place by a scant ten minutes. The team completed the relay in 32 hours and 4 minutes, more than an hour quicker than their optimistic time estimate.
The team included:
Brian Burton
Greg Elston
Doug Peterson
Gloria Romeo
Angel Chu
Lindsey Friedman
Charlotte Nichols
Michael Klein
Dan Bryan
Bryan Uzzell
Cheryl Flaherty
Rita Rodriguez
Alison Pflugrad
Noel Ramathal
Michael Ojalvo
Tony Romeo
Laura Chicchi
Bryan Uzzell led off the first leg of the race at 6:00 AM on Friday morning at an elevation of nearly a mile above sea level. The team proceeded to attack each leg of the race eventually reaching an altitude of more than 10,000 feet, nearly 2 miles above sea level. In addition to the reduced oxygen at that elevation, the team conquered significant uphill and downhill runs and temperatures that ranged from 85 F degrees down to 40 F degrees as they ran around the clock to complete the race. In order to complete a challenge as large as the Wild West Relay, a team of volunteers was required to support the race as well as manage the runners. Dan Bryan, Cheryl Flaherty, Noel Ramathal, Rita Rodriguez, and Tony Romeo (Gloria Romeo's husband) did an exceptional job of supporting the team. In addition to staffing a checkpoint on the race course, these folks worked to make sure all the runners were well taken care of throughout the race. The team certainly would not have been successful without the efforts of the volunteer team.
Back Row (left to right): Doug Peterson, Michael Ojalvo, Dan Bryan, Michael Klein, Bryan Uzzell, Brian Burton, Noel Ramathal, and Charlotte Nichols
Middle Row (left to right): Laura Chicchi, Gloria Romeo, and Lindsey Friedman
Front Row (left to right): Greg Elston, Angel Cho, Rita Rodriguez, Alison Pflugrad, and Cheryl Flaherty
(Tony Romeo not pictured) As the team participated in the race, they promoted goodwill for Accenture as the exemplified sportsmanship by supporting numerous teams by providing water to runners as the temperatures on the second day peaked at more than 80 F degrees:
Laura Chicchi and Michael Klein provided water to unidentified relay runner. As important as completing the race, everyone walked away from the race with no injuries and a great sense of accomplishment. The team also had a great time in completing the race as evidence by preliminary plans to participate in next year's event. Please congratulate your WWR Team for their tremendous accomplishments this weekend.
Brian Burton
Greg Elston
Doug Peterson
Gloria Romeo
Angel Chu
Lindsey Friedman
Charlotte Nichols
Michael Klein
Dan Bryan
Bryan Uzzell
Cheryl Flaherty
Rita Rodriguez
Alison Pflugrad
Noel Ramathal
Michael Ojalvo
Tony Romeo
Laura Chicchi
Bryan Uzzell led off the first leg of the race at 6:00 AM on Friday morning at an elevation of nearly a mile above sea level. The team proceeded to attack each leg of the race eventually reaching an altitude of more than 10,000 feet, nearly 2 miles above sea level. In addition to the reduced oxygen at that elevation, the team conquered significant uphill and downhill runs and temperatures that ranged from 85 F degrees down to 40 F degrees as they ran around the clock to complete the race. In order to complete a challenge as large as the Wild West Relay, a team of volunteers was required to support the race as well as manage the runners. Dan Bryan, Cheryl Flaherty, Noel Ramathal, Rita Rodriguez, and Tony Romeo (Gloria Romeo's husband) did an exceptional job of supporting the team. In addition to staffing a checkpoint on the race course, these folks worked to make sure all the runners were well taken care of throughout the race. The team certainly would not have been successful without the efforts of the volunteer team.
Back Row (left to right): Doug Peterson, Michael Ojalvo, Dan Bryan, Michael Klein, Bryan Uzzell, Brian Burton, Noel Ramathal, and Charlotte Nichols
Middle Row (left to right): Laura Chicchi, Gloria Romeo, and Lindsey Friedman
Front Row (left to right): Greg Elston, Angel Cho, Rita Rodriguez, Alison Pflugrad, and Cheryl Flaherty
(Tony Romeo not pictured) As the team participated in the race, they promoted goodwill for Accenture as the exemplified sportsmanship by supporting numerous teams by providing water to runners as the temperatures on the second day peaked at more than 80 F degrees:
Laura Chicchi and Michael Klein provided water to unidentified relay runner. As important as completing the race, everyone walked away from the race with no injuries and a great sense of accomplishment. The team also had a great time in completing the race as evidence by preliminary plans to participate in next year's event. Please congratulate your WWR Team for their tremendous accomplishments this weekend.
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