Alpha WarriorsEvents

Project Buzfecta

Our first project of 2017: Project Buzfecta!

A special project for Team Alpha-1 Athlete and Alpha Warriors, involving

– Two athletes with pulmonary disease
– Two continents
– Events in three different countries
– Support crew

In addition to our own Karen, this project will include Buz Kuzan from Wilmington, North Carolina US. Together with their support crews they will undertake events in US and Czech Republic. Buz and his friends will join in when Alpha Warriors do their annual race under Oslo Maraton in Oslo.

Buz will be running at least 3 Spartan Sprints, and Karen aims to complete multiple Spartan Trifectas.

The two athletes will start their projects on separate continents, Buz in US and Karen in Europe.

In September, we will fly Buz and his project crew over from US to Oslo, Norway. First event there will the participating in the “3 for alle” race on Friday 16. We will then travel to Germany where they will enjoy the hospitality of Karen and Torbjørn, before they all go to Liberec in Czech Republic. There Karen and the support crews will do a Spartan Beast on 23 September, and the following day everyone will take on a Spartan Sprint.

During the first weekend of November the last stage of the project will be completed in South Carolina, US. Buz will do his final Spartan sprint for the season, earning him the Buzfecta. Karen will be joining him for this race. The following day Karen will do her final Spartan race of the year, which should give her the 4th Trifecta of 2017.

Running a project like this does not come cheap. Please help us make it successful by making a small donation. The donation page has a comment field. Write the word “Buzfecta” in the comment field, and we will make sure your donation goes specifically towards this project.

When you suffer from a respiratory disease, a race like these will present some extra challenges. Due to the dust, mud and water, an electronic oxygen concentrator is not suitable. So Buz and Karen depends on carrying liquid oxygen, with flows in the region 4-6 litre/minute. There are no cylinders available with the capacity to last through any race, and for the Spartan Sprint we did together in South Carolina Oct 2016, we carried no less than 7 cylinders in total. Throughout the race Buz and Karen need to monitor their O2 saturation, and the team frequently monitor the cylinders in use, so that they can be replace when required. In addition to this we need to carry extra emergency medication. Medication so special that we cannot expect it to be available from the event organiser.

The support crews are therefore a valuable and necessary part of our team. For this project Buz and Karen will have the support of Kasey Meunier and Cliff Cunningham from US, and Håkon Frahm Stokka and Torbjørn Skålvoll from the European side.

As the project goes on through 2017, with preparations and races, we will be posting updates here. So come back and keep updated on this exciting story. This has never been done before by two athletes with persistent respiratory problems.

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