Rebecca Rusch Tells Us Why

Our friend and incredible Suunto athlete Rebecca Rusch sent us this recently released project that she has been secretly working on with Corey Rich, acclaimed photographer. Corey has been developing a new film, titled "WHY", to highlight the new Nikon D4 camera, for a showcase at the Consumer Electronics Show this week. The film tells the story of the motivation behind the endless drive of three super-athletes.

Click the image to watch the video.

This is a stunningly amazing video, showing off the talents of kayaker Dane Jackson, rock climber Alex Honnold, and Reba. All three tell the story of why they do it - why they push themselves to the limits on the water, on the bike trail, and on the sheer slope.

Here are Rebecca's words describing the project:

"I got to spend Thanksgiving in Moab with Greg, photographer Corey Rich and his crew of about 8 people. It was a big, multi-day shoot that ran from pre-dawn til after dark every day.
It was cold and sort of hard work, but pretty cushy compared to racing. I've known Corey for about 15 years and worked with him during my adventure racing career. He invited me to be part of the video from Nikon launching their new D4. The only thing is that the camera was so super top secret that we weren't allowed to tell anyone what the shoot was for, or who we were working with. Corey spent months shooting and working in secrecy on this amazing video. He did three different shoots with his crew in Mexico, Moab and Joshua Tree. The idea was to highlight what the D4 can do and Corey told the story by featuring the athletes in this amazing film called "WHY". It's one of the best films I've ever seen. It was a blast to be part of it."

You can check out Corey Rich's blogsite for more details on the shoot. Rich has this to say about his motivation to make the film:

"I have always been facinated by those people that are the best at what they do. Those that operate on the edge; scientists, artists, athletes, etc. Always the question that I find myself asking is "WHY"? What deep inside drives them? What does the world look like through their eyes?"

And stay tuned. We have some behind the scenes imagery and commentary from the project that we'll be bringing you!

Thanks Rebecca, and thanks Corey Rich!

Leadville Trail Qualifiers Announced

The six qualifying events for the 2012 Leadville Trail mountain bike race have been announced. Last year was the first time the race was built on a qualifier system, rather than the previous lottery system, and this year will require racers once again to prove their mettle to get into the elite event.

We're hoping to see Suunto superstar Rebecca Rusch in the scrum, defending her women's champion title at the tough, high-altitude race, which happens August 11th in Colorado.

Cycling News has a great story about the qualifying events, including the list of locations. Read it here.

And if you want to relive Rebecca's awesome domination of the race in 2011 - including setting a new course record - here's Cycling News' coverage of that too! Of course, you'll also want to check out Reba's recap of the day, as well.

Hooray for The Queen of Pain!

La Ruta Loves the Queen of Pain

La Ruta de Los Conquistadores kicked off on Wednesday, and runs for four total days over 240 miles and five mountain ranges as it takes racers across the continent from the Pacific Ocean to the Caribbean Sea.

photo: Cycling News

Suunto athlete, Rebecca Rusch is taking on La Ruta and keeping us informed on her blog. Here's a bit from her Day 1 update:

Day 1 of La Ruta is in the books. I had a great day and it felt so good to be racing and working hard again. I’ve sort of had a couple months of really unstructured training, so I had no idea if my legs would remember how to race. I was pleasantly surprised with how I felt today on what they call the hardest day of La Ruta. There was over 10,000 ft of climbing in about 110 km. The jungle hike a bike portion is a bit of a slip and slide event, but it went OK.

Make sure you take a look at this photo gallery from Cycling News!