Brent Freedland discovered Eco-Challenge as a teenager, and he spent the next decade daydreaming about adventure races. Since 2006, he has competed in over 100 events, including 11 USARA National Championships and 12 expedition races. Racing highlights include winning the 2018 USARA National Championship and 2018 podium finishes at XPD and Untamed New England, but his favorite memories are the little moments with his teammates out on the course. In addition, Brent has directed events for over a decade, first with GOALS ARA and then as a co-founder of Rootstock Racing with his wife, Abby. He has worked with USARA for almost as long, as the Ranking Coordinator, a Racer Rep, and an advisory board member. He counts his work with Rootstock Racing as his greatest accomplishment in the sport to date and loves designing courses and watching racers explore them. He lives in Philadelphia with his family.

Abby Perkiss volunteered at her first AR in 2006, at which time she declared that she could never do an adventure race. A year later, she completed her first adventure race, and has since competed in dozens of events at the regional, national, and international levels. She is a two-time USARA national champion who still ranks learning to rappel off the garage roof as one of the highlights of her racing career. In 2010, Abby began designing and directing races, first under the banner of the GOALS Adventure Racing Association and then as Rootstock Racing, which she and teammate/husband Brent Freedland founded in 2015. Abby believes that the best part of adventure racing is working together with teammates to create something better than the sum of their individual parts. She lives in Philadelphia with Brent and their two kids, Zoe - who currently prefers RDing to racing - and Simon, the newest member of the team.

Stephanie Ross competed in her first adventure race in 2002, Odyssey's twelve-hour Jeep Kentucky AR at Carter Caves State Resort Park. She raced it solo and was completely demoralized by the course - and also completely hooked on the sport. A year later, she designed her first race, the Red River Gorge American Classic, aka the Fig, now the longest-running adventure race in Kentucky. She continued to organize races under the Flying Squirrel Adventure banner until 2015, when she turned over the Unbridled AR series and the Fig to 361 Adventures. Her efforts now focus on bringing more women (and youth) into the sport, through the Women of AR campaign. She has directed two USARA National Championships and has assisted with planning and vetting courses for Nationals since 2010.

Cliff White competed in his first adventure race at age 18 and has been hooked ever since. Cliff has now raced in 18 states and six countries on three continents, including five USARA National Championships, three Adventure Race World Series events and the 2019 Eco-Challenge in Fiji. In between, he also squeezed in a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail, a thru-paddle of the Maine Island Trail, and more than 20 ultramarathons. As half of the leadership team of Strong Machine Adventure Racing (along with wife Kate), Cliff has been a race director for five years, putting on the Maine Summer Adventure Race and the Wildlands Adventure Challenge. He believes that adventure racing should exist and be fun for all types of racers, that the sport is the perfect way to get people active in the outdoors, and that an adventure race is not an adventure race without some epic paddling. He lives in Portland, Maine, with Kate, their son Wilder, and their adventure pup Mose.

Kate White participated in her first adventure race in 2012 with her husband, father-in-law, and friend, and crossed the finish line at the back of the pack. Nonetheless, she was intrigued by the sport and has spent the years since then learning, training, and pushing her limits. Race career highlights include many USARA National Championships, a tour of races from coast-to-coast in more than a dozen states, and expedition racing around the world including ITERA in Ireland, Nordic Islands in Sweden and Norway, and Eco Challenge in Fiji. Kate also co-directs races as part of Strong Machine Adventure Racing and enjoys balancing the suffering and the fun in the courses she designs. Kate lives in the adventure paradise of Portland, Maine with her husband (Cliff), son (Wilder), and dog (Mose), where her favorite activities include sea kayaking and hiking or running in the hills.