One Water Race Preview: Meet Team 1 – USA
The One Water Race is a huge 250km race down the Stockholm Archipelago which combines navigation, swimrun and adventure racing.
Participating teams need to excel at orienteering, become masters of the challenges of multi-day endurance racing with an abundance of swimming in open water and long distance running.
Here we meet Team 1 – USA of Jarrod Shoemaker, Kristen Smith, Misty Becerr and Sara McLarty.
About the team
This is a team which has known each other for nearly two decades. They lived in the same town and have competed, trained and been teammates in triathlon and adventure racing across the years. Team 1 possess strong athletic ability, with excellent swimming and runner credentials. They aren’t bad navigators either, Sara and Jarrod are ‘top notch’ and Misty is ‘no slouch’. Their ambition is to win the race and enjoy the experience of traversing through nature.
Why did you sign up for the race?
The unknown! This team has seen success across every other challenging endurance event and wants to conquer the One Water Race.
What is the biggest challenge you think you will face during the race?
The biggest challenge as a team will be dealing with the cold during the race. They don’t think that you can underestimate what being cold for hours on end does to your body and are coming up with strategies to help combat that. They are used to working together, have their gear planned out, but nature is what will make the race challenging.
What advice would you give to the swimrun community from your pre-race preparation?
Practice getting into and out of the water and swimming with shoes. With a pull buoy swimming with shoes is not a big deal, but it does feel different.On race day, be prepared with your own nutrition. Stash a few gels or chomps in your suit because you will get hungry in the middle of a run!
What are you most excited about?
A hot shower at the end! As a team this race is built for us, we are excited to go at it.
