About this episode
The Stoke Factor goes up a notch with Rea Kolbl and Trever Townsend in the room (or on the trail): “We just like to sign up for things we have no idea how to do, then figure it out!” Rea Kolbl was a competitive gymnast in her native Slovenia, then while earning a Masters Degree in Engineering at Stanford University, realized she could make more money Obstacle Course Racing than indoors teaching Grad students, so she walked out the door and hasn’t looked back. She has never been beaten in an OCR over 30 miles in length, prefers Skyraces to trail races, and really enjoyed Fiji in September for the Eco Challenge hosted by Bear Grylls. Trever Townsend never says, “I can’t do this”, while running and OCR all over the world. “I call it the 'Rudy genetics': I learned if I was going to hang with these guys I’d be dealing with a lot more pain, so I embraced it.” Is OCR for you? Listening to these two, it sounds like a great idea. “I like the challenge of unpredictability. It was snowing, the wind chill was about 6 degrees, and we had to swim in an alpine lake. The ladies cried for two hours." Their biggest project ever is, “Scale Slovenia” this May. Their version of “Lowest to Highest” in Slovenia entails free-diving to the lowest point at a depth of 120’ in the Mediterranean sea, swimming 300 meters to shore, cycling 130 miles, then climbing the highest summit in Slovenia. Scale Slovenia: https://closeencontours.wordpress.com/2020-projects/