Teva Mountain Games athletes dish on their sports, training and this weekend’s events in Vail, CO

John LaConte
Special to the Daily
Vail, CO Colorado
www.vaildaily.com

Zip Adventures Guide Ken Hoeve, Steep Creek Challenge founder, kayaker and stand-up paddleboarder
Is there potential for boaters to be pinned on Homestake?  Huge pin potential. The more water the better but regardless of flows there is always a number of places that will snag you up, flip you, pin you and spin you. You name it and it can and has happened there. Two years ago I dislocated my shoulder right in the middle of the race off one of the drops. I landed off the race line and tried to just muscle it back and POP, shoulder came out. That creek has knocked both of them out of socket in my 15 years of kayaking it. You have to respect that place.
Top Teva memory? My favorite memories always come from the 8 Ball.
Top memory from it? Laying a huge hit on Steve Fisher, smack in the mouth with the bow of my boat, crowd goes “ooooohhhhhhh” and he simply takes the hit and paddles past me like I was a bug on his windshield. That dude is an animal.
_{Photo credit: Vail Daily}

Josiah Middaugh, runner, pro triathlete and Ultimate Mountain Challenge competitor
How does the Ultimate Mountain compare to some of the other difficult competitions you’ve done?  This is a unique competition with true mountain events. Since each event is separated (not continuous), the intensity level is very high and with Vail Mountain as a playground, the terrain is grueling.
How did you get into enduro competition as a professional?  The high altitude mountains of the Vail area have proved to be the perfect stimulus for me. We moved to Vail 12 years ago and I had an aerobic engine but no skills. I pretty much just followed along and picked up a few new sports along the way. I always want to compete against the best so as soon as I was good enough, I made the jump.
Fond memory of competing at Teva?  I had never kayaked before the first year of the Ultimate Mountain Challenge so that was the most intimidating part. I thought I would be more comfortable on the water, but I found out quickly how difficult it is. I used an old kayak that my brother had bought for $100 from a garage sale and it turned out to be a very fast boat. I taught myself how to roll in a local lake and I usually have to use it. One year I had to roll three times during the race. There is a lot of action and anxiety above the surface, but underwater everything becomes calm and quiet.

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