Hosts of Expedition Oregon: America’s Toughest Race, Team Bend Racing can be relied on to send a very strong team to the USARA National Championship. That almost didn’t happen when an illness forced one of Bend’s usual teammates to drop out with just 6 days remaining before the race. Even with half of the team in Paraguay for the ARWS World Championship, Bend was able to scramble and fill out their team for this year’s race. Uncertain if a new team put together on short notice would perform well, but the “Bend, don’t break” attitude shone through with this latest iteration of their team as they snatched 2nd place overall.