Kate and Cliff White of Strong Machine Adventure Racing have been a fixture in the adventure racing community for over a decade — first as racers stumbling toward the back of the pack at a winter race in Wisconsin, and eventually as two respected race directors on the East Coast. The path between those two points is anything but straight.
In this episode, we trace that journey: how a family machinery business became a team name, how a land trust in Maine became their first race venue, and how the simple act of showing up in a state with almost no races led them to build the ones they wanted to exist. Along the way, they’ve developed the Strong Machine Development Squad — a structured mentorship program designed to solve what Cliff identifies as the sport’s most stubborn barrier to entry: people who want to race but can’t find anyone to race with.
We also talk about the big races. Cliff on going unofficial in South Africa after a teammate’s injury on day one, and still grinding through nine more days. Kate on a moment in Spain when she asked her teammates to leave her at a river crossing — and what it meant to come out the other side of that.
And we talk honestly about the sport’s ceiling. Adventure racing will never be mainstream. Kate and Cliff have made their peace with that. What they haven’t made peace with is the wide audience of endurance athletes who have yet to dip their toes into the AR water. Bringing them into the sport is the work they’re still doing.
Shownotes:
https://www.mainesummerar.com/
Sponsor Links:
Adventure Addicts Racing’s Brake The Habit AR – https://www.adventureaddictsracing.com/copy-of-brake-the-habit-1
Shenandoah Epic Adventure Race – https://www.adventureenablers.com/
The Dark Zone: An Adventure Racing Podcast 