2023 Recap & Highlights
DAY 1
RPAC Day One Ends with a Pin and an Arrival!
Day one ended on the bowling lanes at South Point Casino. Brian Compagnone tied with a spare in the tenth frame and then won outright with his next roll to capture the stage narrowly over Kevin Forster!
It also included a big arrival – as Cael DiMascio (Petitte) arrived in the evening to join the Challenge for Saturday. It’s the first time one of Ryan’s sons will participate, and a day long anticipated!
Day one led off with the football punt and pass, captured on the arm and foot of Jack Christensen. The Field Goal kick came next, and Jack again captured the title in a three-way tie with Tom and Ben Milder.
After a caravan to Lake Mead, competitors jumped in kayaks for a time trial race in groups of four by team. Tom Milder captured the stage by less than a second over his brother Ben.
Trail run came next, and Brian Compagnone blew away the competition, besting the nearest competitor by nearly three minutes on the canyon run.
Home run derby wrapped the afternoon stages, and Theron Stout blasted eight out of ten homeruns to capture the stage.
Team Copperfield (Brian Compagnone, Graham Henshaw, Donovan Baddley, and Kevin Forster) has the lead the team Challenge with 271 points. In second is Team Elvis (Jack Christensen, Tai Milder, Bill Forster and Tom Milder) with 257 points. And rounding out the list is Team Rat Pack (Josh Robinson, Shannon Clune, Theron Stout and Ben Milder) with 187 points.
Today, competitors head out to the Ninja Warrior obstacle course to kick off the day. Next comes the Mountain Bike in beautiful Red Rocks, followed by the Free Throw contest and the Shot Put. As always, the Challenge will wrap with the Football Accuracy throw, where it all comes down to six throws to determine the final standings.
Day one standings:
Ben Milder (90 points)
Tom Milder (83 points)
Jack Christensen (74 points)
Brian Compagnone (63.5 points)
Graham Henshaw (61 points)
Theron Stout (59.5 points)
Kevin Forster (53 points)
Tai Milder (47.5 points)
Donovan Baddley (44 points)
Josh Robinson (43 points)
Bill Forster, Jr. (27.5 points)
Shannon Clune (23 points)
Day 2
Day two of the Challenge easily matched the intensity of day one – and included a few more bumps and bruises (but none too serious)!
The day kicked off with the top drama of the weekend with the second time ever Ninja Warrior obstacle course. It came down to the very last competitor. After Josh Robinson blitzed the course in just over a minute, Jack Christensen was up and needing to shave more than 30 seconds from his previous time. Jack (pictured) thundered through all seven obstacles at breakneck speed to come in at just 53 seconds to capture the title (the crowd did go wild)!
The drama then continued in the signature Mountain Bike stage in Red Rock with Josh Robinson (pictured) again positioned to capture the win only to take a tumble in the final quarter mile (of the 8-mile course) in a full-on sprint with Graham Henshaw (also pictured, unbloodied) who took the stage title. Josh still managed to get back on the bike and finish second just ahead of Brian Compagnone. Tom Milder also took a full on launch over his handlebars just minutes later but recovered to remain in his fourth position.
Next up was the Free Throw stage – contested on possibly the worst double rims ever constructed, which led to some lower totals than expected. Ultimately, Ben Milder secured the stage with just 13 of 20 makes.
Shot put followed, with odds-on-favorite Jack Christensen heaving the longest throw and securing the stage.
That left only Football Accuracy as the final individual stage left in the competition. The finishing event every year includes six throws over two rounds and frequently shakes up the whole order of final finishers. This year was no exception. When it was said and done, Brian Compagnone delivered on a series of pinpoint throws to take it.
Ultimately, the overall title was decided by just two points, with Ben Milder (150.33) edging out his brother Tom Milder (148.33) to secure the coveted Adventure Challenge Cup. 4-stage winner Jack Christensen secured third place (140.33) with Graham Henshaw (115.5) edging out Brian Compagnone (114) for fourth and fifth.
The winner of the annual team event (which includes individual point totals from each stage plus a series of team stages – bowling, Anchor Man, Corn Hole) was Team Elvis (507) made up of Jack Christensen, Bill Forster, Jr., Tai Milder and Tom Milder. They were followed by Team Copperfield (495) with Graham Henshaw, Brian Compagnone, Donovan Baddley and Kevin Forster. At the bottom (but close behind after easily – and I mean easily – capturing the Anchor Man title, was Team Rat Pack (468) with Theron Stout, Shannon Clune, Josh Robinson, and Ben Milder.
The 2023 RPAC Iron Man award went to Tom Milder for the best collective finish across the Kayak (1st), Trail Run (2nd) and Mountain Bike (4th) stages.
The winner of the 2023 RPAC Pick ‘Em Contest was (drum roll please……) Vanessa Bigelow! Vanessa defied all odds and prognosticators to correctly identify four of the top ten finishers in the correct order and collects the $100 Visa gift card!
It was an absolutely fantastic weekend. I mentioned it already, but the real capper was having one of Ryan’s sons Cael join us for the second day of the Challenge. I can’t put good words to it, but having him out there with us was really a dream come true (as an aside, in his first time on a mountain bike he rocked the stage and he was one of just five competitors to complete the Ninja warrior course). We won’t likely get him back in 2024, as he’ll be aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln for the second half of next year, but he’ll be back again – I know that – and we’re hoping to get his twin brother Grey next time!
We can’t sign off without expressing our collective gratitude to all of you for making this event and scholarship possible. Just no chance it happens without your support, and we hope you know what that means in a real and direct way. It’s a constant and powerful current that runs throughout.
Thank you.