Dave Brunkow

Who, above all is your greatest sporting inspiration?
Tough question as often the inspiration combines with previous inspirations over time to create a blended superinspiration. The British polar explorer Shackleton is up there for living ‘ultra’ before ultra was a prefix applied to a sporting event. He pulled his whole crew through a year and half of harsh hell to get everyone home safely.

Other inspirations occurred as I pass through various sporting phases – Steve Prefontaine, Dave Wottle (Olympic half-miler) – always raced in a ball cap, famous for an unbelievable kick – in one Olympic final he started the kick from last position with a 220 to go and caught the field to win. Lance Armstrong for the obvious but in last year’s race the final climb on the stage where he was dueling with …..... on the last climb and fell after a spectator interfered and then proceeded to methodically charge through the field to win the stage.

I called the changes in a outrigger canoe paddling race (the three seat) that lasted about 90 minutes and in our coed boat hearing our girls offer words of encouragement under their breaths to the team in the thick of the race was very moving as we pulled ahead and held off the other boats.

A woman track racer at last year’s track champs at Alpenrose who took a nasty fall, got back on, proceeded to gut it out in the restart and then make a killer move to win a heat.

The K-man [Richard Kondzielaski] in last year’s RAO for quietly reeling people in, working hard the whole weekend and then still pulling out a great leg on the first half of the Timberline grade to the finish.

What preparation have you employed to prepare for RAAM?
Finished a couple of RAMRODs. Sat in the team captain’s chair for two great RAO efforts – a five man relay and then last year’s two man relay with the K-man and Mr. Packard. Working on my yoga so I can stand the misery of sitting in a vehicle for too many days. Drinking a lot of water!

Ultimate RAAM ‘04 goal?
Getting there as a team, getting there safely and hopefully getting there (to Miller time) with smiles on our faces even when it sucks.

Obstacle to reaching this goal?
My rahrah, and help out time available before departure date; Concern/hope about being able to effectively stretch every day in order to avoid back and hamstring problems.

What intimidates you the most about RAAM?
Getting through the period up to the point that we start the engines and head east from San D. Hoping that my ridemates won’t be put off if I want to listen to the Carpenters in the van. (damn, just kidding).

What attracts you the most about RAAM?
It is sick! If you can finish RAAM, you rock! There are fewer and fewer real frontiers in our world except surmounting the barriers within our heads. The heart is nearly always willing – the head, on the other hand…........ I remember reading in SI about one of the earliest RAAM when I was still in college? In the early 80’s I think – seriously intense. One of the guys I rowed with was gonna train for it – never knew if he made it. To be part of an expedition….... I have not climbed any ‘expedition mountains’ but gotta guess that the butt-kicking and the rewards are similar.

Favorite quote, either famous or not, that fuels your ambition?
“Winning isn’t everything, but winning can be a lot of fun!”

“You can do anything for 6-minutes.”—old rowing coach. Anything longer than that you simply break up into 6-minute increments.

What piece of music do you find most inspirational during an athletic
endeavor?
Steppenwolf – “magic carpet ride”