Monique Merrill To Retire From Team Nike?

I first saw this while reading the Yak Blog over at Check Point Zero. It seems that Team Nike, the top ranked adventure racing team in the World, could lose another one of their stellar athletes. The Summit Daily News has posted an interview with Monique Merrill in which she hints at an impending retirement.

Monique has been one of the top female adventure racers for several years. She’s a tough competitor and a well known name in the sport. But she has found her greatest success since joining Nike last year, including two back to back World Championships. Now she isn’t sure she wants to continue in the sport, and is considering getting out while she’s on top. Right now, she plans to race in The Raid in Chamonix on July 1, but beyond that her schedule is clear.

This would be the third blow to Team Nike in less than a year, as adventure racing legend Ian Adamson retired last December and Richard Ussher left to form his own team. So far, the team has continued to find good members to replace their losses, but it’s difficult to find a good female racer that can keep up with the team. Especially since some of the other great ones have already come and gone with this group of racers. It should be interesting to see how things play out with this.

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Kraig Becker

Kraig is an outdoor and adventure travel writer based in Nashville, TN. Over the course of his career, he has contributed to numerous online and print outlets, including Popular Mechanics, Gear Junkie, Outside Online, National Geographic, Digital Trends, Business Insider, TripSavvy, about.com, and of course The Adventure Blog.