Team Backpacker - Louisiana

RESULTS: 1st, 2024 Martin Dies Adventure Race, Texas; 1st, 2024 Fontainbleau State Championship, Louisiana; 3rd, 2024 USARA Sprint National Championship, Louisiana; 1st, 2024 Super Cooper 12-Hour Adventure Race, Texas; 1st, 2024 Spillway Sprint Adventure Race, Louisiana; 1st, 2024 Lake Bistineau Adventure Challenge, Texas; 1st, 2024 Pain in the Pines 12-Hour Adventure Race, Texas; 1st, 2024 Martin Dies Adventure Race, Texas; 2nd, 2024 New Orleans Urban Challenge.

THE PLAYERS: David Bogle, 35, is a design engineer from Destrehan, Louisiana, who admits he was only “mildly athletic” throughout his life. He began running five years ago to start losing weight and wound up getting into duathlons and triathlons. But his dislike for swimming led him to adventure racing in 2024. Married with three boys (who he says are future team members), David is the team captain and primary navigator.

Misty Richard, 28, of Denham Springs, Louisiana, was a star cross-country runner in high school, but quit running after graduation. She picked it up again in the summer of 2024 and soon thereafter got into swimming and road biking. A single mom with a 7-year-old daughter, Misty is working on a doctorate degree in epidemiology at Louisiana State University.

Jeff Diamond, 37, of Greenwell Springs, Louisiana, manages industrial chemical cleaning facilities for a living. He started adventure racing after watching a Hi-Tec race on the Outdoor Life Network in 1999. Since then, he’s raced in more than 30 races with 10 different teams. He’s an Expert class NORBA mountain biker, a strong duathlete and triathlete and a successful runner from 5k to ultramarathons. Married for nine years, his wife, Robin, is an aspiring adventure racer.

Darius Sampey, 39, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is a technical specialist for a medical imaging company. He’s a strong off-road duathlete and triathlete, having won USAT duathlon age-group national titles in 2024 and 2024 and placed 18th at the 2024 Xterra USA Championship in Nevada. Also a solid swimmer and NORBA Sport mountain biker, Darius was a competitive motocross racer as a teen. Married for 16 years to his wife, Carrie, he lists one of his biggest recent accomplishments as serving as scout master for their twin boys for a year and a half until both made Eagle Scout.

THE SCOOP: Team Backpacker (formerly known as Team Magellan) has been racing together as a team for a year. Jeff and Darius have known each other for several years, having been at many mountain bike races and Xterras together. Misty met Jeff on a training run last spring and he talked her into joining the team. She says she agreed to be a part of the team because “Jeff couldn’t find a girl [athlete].” “I had no idea what I was agreeing to,” she says. “But after the second race — not the first race — I was hooked.” Jeff was introduced to Dave by Louisiana Adventure Racing race director David Poleto when they teamed up for a Steel Sports adventure race in Texas.

HIGHLIGHTS: The team’s most exciting race in 2024 was the Louisiana Adventure Racing Series championship race in Mandeville, Louisiana. Although they led the race early, they took a slower route on a trekking leg and wound up 20 minutes behind the leaders on a mountain biking section. Early in the ensuing paddling leg, they wound up back in first place when the three teams ahead of them all missed a checkpoint. They beat rival Massey’s Outfitters by 15 minutes for the win.

WHAT'S NEXT Team Backpacker plans to race in 12 to 15 adventure races in 2024, primarily in the Steel Sports and Lousiana Adventure Racing series.


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