It is 4am on Sunday morning and my Adventure Race team, made up of myself, my brother Michael and 2 former marines (Mike and Josh), has now been out in hills of West Virginia for 20 hours. We have already conquered Class V rapids, climbed up and down mountains, and found targets hidden behind waterfalls (with the help of a local who was in the right place at the right time). Now we are mountain biking on sparsely used trails trying to make it to our final destination within the 25-hour cut off. This "Adventure Race", where we self-navigate through the woods to find targets at 28 check points, is the latest challenge that I have committed myself to. And boy did I commit.
We found all of our early checkpoints with the navigational expertise of Mike. But as we wind our way through the hilly trails looking for the finish line we feel as if we may have taken a wrong turn about 3 hours ago, which is probably why the 100 other bikers that were riding with us are nowhere to be found. We are at the point where we need to completely change tactics, and backtracking for 3 hours is not an option.
This is when Josh, who was completely silent until now, kicks into high gear. He turns on his phone GPS to get our coordinates. (Technically this disqualifies us but at this point our only goal was to get home safely.) Now that Josh knows where we are he comes up with a plan to race through a small hunt club (another disqualifying move, but oh well) to get us near the river so we can follow the coast line to safety. Dogs are protecting the hunt club, but that's no problem for Josh as he creates a weapon out of
trecking poles to ward them off. We get through the hunt club without a hitch or dog bite, but within just 500 yards of the river we run into a very big problem. We are now 1500 feet above the river (ie we are top of a cliff). Josh to the rescue. He advises us to put our bikes on our shoulders and slide down the steep slope while grabbing a tree every 15-20 feet to slow
ourselves down. Less than an hour of controlled sliding later we are at the river and a short ride to the finish.
We didn't finish on time or follow all of the rules but we did reach all of the check-points and go the full distance. With a great amount of teamwork we completed our first 24 hr. adventure race.
Afterwards I reflect on our team and realize what it took to get us over the finish line. Mike the marine was the seasoned navigator who almost always kept us on the right path. My brother Michael was the consummate high-energy motivator that kept everyone invigorated and focused on getting there fast. I was the big picture guy that kept us focused on how much we needed to cover in what amount of time and whether we were progressing at the right pace to meet our goal. The local we met by the waterfall had the local knowledge to help us find our target. And then there was Josh. Josh said little during the first 24 hours of the race and was
always a little behind, but when we realized we were in trouble Josh had he solutions. He was the problem solver. He took control and got us to safety. It took the efforts and skills of the entire team to make this race happen.
Teamwork is key in any endeavor, and at Signature Community I see those results every day. Detail-oriented managers and accounting team members are making sure the numbers are right. Community managers are focused on making our customer service the best in the industry. Leasing agents are getting the Signature name known throughout the country. An aggressive acquisitions group is making growth happen. Corporate managers are keeping the team moving toward our focused
goals. The past few years in the real estate industry have been quite an adventure, and it has taken a strong multi-faceted team to survive. It takes a team approach to run a company and at Signature Community we have the best team to make it happen.
Thanks for being part of the team.
-- Nickolas Jekogian
CEO
Signature Community
917-763-3500
www.ASignatureCommunity.com
Blog -http://www.nwjceommm.blogspot.com/
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