![]() Sports News Search Classifieds A taste for adventure
May 14, 2000 ![]()
Consisting of activities from canoeing to mountain biking to cross country running, this is truly an event for the all-around athlete. But even fewer people know that one of the sport’s top female athletes is from right here in Columbia. Cammy Ronchetto, 40, personifies what hard work and persistence are all about. Going from an alternate on an Eco Challenge team competing in British Columbia in 1996 to the only American female to finish the world’s longest adventure race last week in Brazil, Ronchetto has come a long way. On April 28, her team completed the final leg of the 14-day, 526-mile ELF Authentic Adventure race in San Jose de Ribamar, Brazil. Her four-person Terra Force team finished fourth in a field of 30, an amazing feat for an American team competing in a sport dominated by New Zealand, Australia and France. “We were spraying bottles of champagne all over the place,” said Ronchetto, who returned from Brazil on Tuesday. “It was such an incredible feeling knowing we were able to finish the race and compete with the best in the world.” The members of Terra Force got to know each other over the years at other adventure races but had never competed on the same team. They had only one weekend to train together before the race. “That’s not a lot of time to get to know the people who you’ll be risking your life with,” said husband Jim Ronchetto, who did not compete. On April 13, the adventure race began with a cultural exchange. Ronchetto, a teacher and assistant director at Columbia’s Walnut Creek Day School, originally wanted to provide an Internet connection to a school in San Luis, Brazil. When she heard that the school had no electricity, Ronchetto had to come up with a new plan. “This school had no walls, no crayons or paper and they used a garden to grow their own food,” said Linda LaFontaine, director of Walnut Creek. “These kids had to write on dirt during their classes. I just couldn’t believe this when Cammy told me.” To fit the school’s needs, Ronchetto traveled with 250 pounds of supplies, gathered by the parents of Walnut Creek children. “At first, the airline wasn’t happy with my excessive luggage,” she said. “But once they knew what it was and whom it was for, they were more than willing to help me out.” The children at the Brazilian primary school were ecstatic. They were all smiles when they saw the Terra Force team. “The kids there think English is the coolest language ever, even though very few of them know any words,” Ronchetto said. “What they lacked in materials, they made up in enthusiasm.” Ronchetto mostly communicated using hand signals, and the children gave wide smiles when they understood her. In return, the team was allowed to use the school as shelter during the competition, and at one point the community saved the team from dropping out of the race. As in all adventure races, the entire team must complete every leg of the competition within a set time limit. Ronchetto, while riding her bicycle, lost one of her derailers. A group of more than 60 parents, teachers and school children came to the rescue, searching for hours to find the missing piece. After they found the derailer, Ronchetto repaired her bicycle and the team stayed alive. “Obrigado!” Ronchetto thanked her rescuers in Portuguese. Through the course of kayaking, horseback riding, mountain climbing, trekking, rappelling and swimming, Terra Force used the school as its home base throughout the competition. The team spent nights in mud huts on the school’s grounds and was given water and food. “They gave me this great-tasting soup one day, but I noticed something strange in it,” Ronchetto said. “It was chicken feet. What a culture shock.” The race was by far the longest in the less than decade-old sport, the strongest test of endurance for any of the team’s members. “Stamina was Cammy’s biggest concern entering the race,” said Breitt Shea, Ronchetto’s former teammate on Team MoPride, her first adventure race team. “The focus of her weekend in Atlanta was on building up her stamina.” Seven teams abandoned the race. Another 19 ended up competing in the less-challenging Adventure and Discovery levels, with fewer courses and longer cutoff times. Several athletes suffered heat stroke in the Amazon conditions and numerous sports injuries, including sprained ankles and pulled muscles. Team Terra Force was close to falling to the lower levels. “My ultimate goal was to finish this race,” Ronchetto said. “I didn’t want to travel all the way to Brazil to compete in just part of the race. I was motivated to go all the way.” Most of Ronchetto’s motivation came from her mother, who died two years ago. Jewell Carter told Ronchetto to “go out and do something exciting with your life.” “That inspired me to do so much more than be a mom and teacher.” Ronchetto’s children — 11-year old Brian and 16-year-old Jamie — receive this same love and dedication that she puts into the sport. Even some of her athletic prowess has rubbed off. Brian placed first in the 13-16 year age group in mountain biking at the 1999 Show-Me State Games. The same cannot be said for Jamie. “Nothing rubs off on her,” Jim said. The French team Pharmanex-SPIE won the ELF adventure race in 12 days, a full-day ahead of the second- and third-place teams: Paul Vatine and Fujifilm. With Ronchetto completing her first international competition, her stock within the sport should rise tremendously. Adventure racing requires one female per team and with the limited amount of female athletes, Ronchetto is a prized commodity. “I would put myself in the top 10 percent of female competitors,” Ronchetto said. “Once word gets around about how I did in the ELF, I should be able to get more sponsorship.” Funding is a major obstacle for adventure racers. It took months of saving from each of the team members for Terra Force to be able to compete. Ronchetto is currently seeking a corporate sponsor. That may become a possibility soon. Exposure on Ronchetto’s performance will be known nationwide within a couple of months. An ESPN crew chronicled Terra Force’s progress throughout the race and will feature the American team’s triumphs in an upcoming television special. Now back in Columbia, Ronchetto spent little time recuperating. She returned to town on Tuesday night and was back at work at Walnut Creek on Wednesday morning. But she saw a disturbing side of U.S. life while waiting overnight for a connecting flight in Miami. All of her pictures and some of her equipment from the race were stolen from her rental car. “The children who have so little in Brazil would never consider taking things,” Ronchetto said. “But people in Miami, who have so much, would steal my meager things. How ironic.” Despite the sour return, Ronchetto has memories for a lifetime. Adventure racing has changed her life in numerous ways. She has dropped 40 pounds since she began competing. The 5-foot-4 Ronchetto, now 130 pounds, has also gained tremendous self-confidence with each race completed, which include first-place finishes in the 1999 Pathfinder Challenge in Michigan and the 1998 Show-Me State Games mountain bike competition. “She’s a better person to be around because she has so much confidence in herself,” Jim said. “Once she caught the bug and started winning races, no way could she stop competing.” She is truly a late bloomer. Ronchetto only ran and swam recreationally while at Hickman and later on at MU. “I did that more for entertainment than for anything else,” she said. LaFontaine got Ronchetto started in sports when the two started to run together daily in 1988. “I think our running together got her into athletics,” LaFontaine said. “After that, it became more of a multi-sport thing for her.” Pending funding, next up is the Beast of Alaska Odyssey. “I don’t plan future races until two months before it starts,” she said. “When the time comes, I’ll find a team looking for a woman. I’m sure I’ll get my fair share of phone calls and e-mails.”
Comments? E-mail News or Sports
|