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Adventure Raci… Searching!
March 16, 2009By Kevin Mackinnon
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Simon Donato gestures towards Steve Fossett's point of takeoff, near Mount Grant in the Wassuk range.
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Jon Billman, Gary Hudson and Simon Donato climbing Masonic Mountain in the Bodie Hills as part of their acclimation training.
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Donato running on the flank of Wheeler Peak
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Daybreak on Mount Patterson, Sweetwater Mountains
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Lunch break on Day One in the Bodie Hills with Keith Szlater talking to the team about critical spacing.
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Hudson, Donato and Jim Mandelli double check the map.
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The full team at base camp (Bridgeport Reservoir, California).
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Greg Marshall searching in the Bodie Hills.
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Searchers in the Bodie Hills: Gary Hudson, Greg Marshall, Paul Trebilcock, Simon Donato, Jim Mandelli, Derek Caveney
The best part is that this should put the conspiracy theories and associated garbage to rest for good. Steve Fossett deserves to be remembered as the adventurer and pioneer that he was, not a cop-out who couldn’t face adversity as several individuals tried to paint him.
While finding Fossett’s remains certainly put those theories to rest, the Adventure Science search can certainly be viewed as a success. The scientific research from the Fossett adventure, done by McMaster’s Dr. Mark Tarnopolsky, an avid orienteerer and world-renowned exercise physiologist himself, monitored the team’s heart and metabolic rate during the six-day search using, among other measures, Suunto heart rate monitors equipped with altimeters. Data were compiled to see how each athlete’s heart rate responded to the altitude changes and also to determine how much energy each runner burned throughout the six days. Those numbers will be crunched to gauge the daily energy requirements for athletes, adventurers and searchers in those conditions.
For Donato, though, the search has opened up new avenues for his team to explore. This summer he’s been asked to take on two more searches for downed planes and pilots, one in Arizona and another in British Columbia, where his team will be trying to find Ron Boychuk, who was flying from Calgary to Vancouver Island and was last seen in Revelstoke, B.C.
Before the crew takes on another search, they have a different challenge planned for June. Starting June 17, 2009, Adventure Science will try to shatter the relay record for running Ontario’s Bruce Trail. Two teams of 10 will compete against each other, all the while being closely monitored by Tarnopolsky.
Will Adventure Science ever start searching for missing people who are likely still alive? Donato hopes it will happen one day. “It would be great if people were to see that as something of value,” he says. “It felt really good to be searching for Steve Fossett, to have that extra motivation. It’s for a greater good. I think it would be fantastic if Adventure Science could become a quick search option. People like the concept … of using our skill to help people.”
The team is giving new meaning to the term, “running for a cause.”
