09/19/2026
Yeehaw! We were the overall winners of the Cowboy Tough! We were the only team to clear the course, and we did it in less than 47 hours. What did it take? 134 miles of travel and 20,758 feet of elevation gain while mountain biking, trekking, and canoeing with solid navigation and a determination that’s really best described as stubborn.
Starting in Curt Gowdy State Park in Wyoming, Mark Miller, Chip Dodd, and I (Andrea Anderson) made quick work of the short lake paddle which gave us our first look at the outcroppings of massive rounded boulder formations.
We lost our lead for a bit on the next bike leg when we bobbled and took a difficult black trail that we had to hike back up. No biggie though, we continued on and made our way to the TA in Medicine Bow National Forest.
There, we tackled a challenging 4-checkpoint O-course among the Vedauwoo rock formations. So cool! We also did a quick via ferrata-style scramble and a rappel. Fun!
After that, a quick ride up, up, up to the next TA, where we started the monster trek. This is where our experience really shined. We knew we were in for a long haul. This was the highest section of the course, with multiple peaks above 9,000 feet and no clear route. The checkpoints came slowly. From a time-per-checkpoint perspective, they were “expensive.” There were 13 points on this leg, many of them were more than an hour and a half apart, with a lot of challenging bushwhacking and a lot of boulder scrambling.
It’s always exciting to see headlamps in the distance and then get to find out who they are and what they have to say as they approach. With each encounter, we learned the latest race “news” and which teams were cutting points. When asked, our answer came easily and quickly. We weren’t skipping any. It could have bit us later though. Knowing we were falling behind our logistics estimate, we told ourselves there’d be plenty of points to cut later in the race if needed. We also thought the next bike leg would likely run faster than estimated, similar to an earlier leg. Call it strategy or call it stubbornness. Not sure exactly which it was.
Despite a lot of huffing and puffing, and Mark having trouble getting calories in (likely due to the altitude), we trudged on. We picked off several of the higher, harder points in daylight, then made our way south for six points overnight and three more the next morning. The guys took a couple of five-minute sleeps here and there. It’s exhausting enough without the added effort navigation takes. They worked together really well, and having two sets of maps was clutch. Our goal was to finish the leg in 9 hours, but it took 18. Phew! Even if we had lost to a better strategy, I was really proud of us for persevering! It was not easy. At the next TA we realized we were the only team to clear that trek. If we could gain time on the remaining legs, we had a shot at the podium. Great motivation!
We hopped on our bikes and made quick work of the ride back down to Curt Gowdy, literally it is about 2000 feet lower. Slept an hour at the TA, then did the next trek leg mostly in the dark. We’d gained time again compared to our estimates, so we treated ourselves to another nap, 45 minutes this time. Amazing how much a short sleep helps. We woke up to a relaxing final mountain bike leg, with an embedded short lake paddle leg tucked in at sunrise.
It was great finish with great teammates! And, so fun to get to know the other teams, too! Adventure Racers are such a great community to be a part of!
Huge thanks to Nick Hurff, Jesse Tubb, and the whole crew behind this epic GRIT Adventure Racing event. They did a great job!
Side note: This 50-hour format isn’t typical, but I loved it! It’s also a great length to try before stepping up to a longer expedition race.
Another side note: I thought I might not enjoy doing multiple legs in the same area, but for the most part, I liked that, too. In a lot of multi-day races, you miss seeing the course because you’re doing some of it in the dark. I appreciated trekking through the night and then seeing some of that same ground the next day in the daylight. It was completely different, and a unique perspective both times.
Photo credit of the overall podium goes to the legendary Randy Ericksen. Thanks!
