The Adventurous Interview Part 3: A Sit Down With Team Toyota of Greensburg Member Matthew Darnell

Hello everyone! My name is Emily Terrick and I am a Marketing intern for Toyota of Greensburg. If you’ve been following Andrew’s blog posts, you know we’ve been interviewing Team TOG members.

Today's featured athlete is Matthew Darnell. Matt is finishing his PhD at the University of Pittsburgh in Sports Medicine Nutrition. He has been adventure racing since 2010. Read on to find out more about Matt and to see what adventure racing is!

Emily Terrick (ET): "Have you always driven a Toyota?"

Matthew Darnell (MD): "My first car was 1990-Toyota Camry. I had one car that wasn’t a Toyota but that got totaled and since then I have always had Toyota’s."

ET: "What model Toyota do you have and why?"

MD: "I have a 2003 Toyota Tacoma. I like Toyotas because they are dependable. I like the small pick-up truck because it is perfect for driving in the city or back roads and trails. This truck helps me do all my favorite activities like kayaking, mountain biking, construction etc."

ET: "When did you start adventure racing?"

MD: "My first race was in the summer of 2010 and it was a 24 hour race."

ET: "What is your skill in adventure racing?"

MD: I keep track of diet. I am a pusher as well. I like to keep everyone on the team motivated to complete the race. I also assist in navigating and pace tracking."

ET: "What is adventure racing?"

DM: "Adventure racing is a unique sport that in order to compete in the elite division, you have to race with at least one female on the team. It involves multiple disciplines like orienteering/navigating, running, mountain biking, paddling, climbing, and repealing. Everyone on the team works together to navigate to multiple check points throughout the race course.

ET: "What is your favorite course you have raced?"

DM: "I like all of them, but my favorite would be the National Championship in 2012 at Catskill Mountain in New York. It was a 30 hour race and we took a bus to the middle of nowhere and at the end of the race we repelled off a 70+ foot waterfall."

ET: "Do you have a job or going to school anywhere?"

DM: "I am currently finishing my PhD in Sports Medicine Nutrition and work at a Human Performance lab at the University of Pittsburgh. This September I will be an assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh working as the director of the Wellness and Human Performance Master’s program."

ET: "Were you friends with everyone before asked to form Team TOG?"

DM: "Nick and I were friends and started to do adventure racing together. And then Nick was friends with Amber and Lizzie and we all became friends and started racing together about 2 years before joining team TOG.

I enjoyed talking to Matt about adventure racing because it was something new to me. I learned a lot about adventure racing from this interview. I thought its was really awesome that he got to repell off a 70+ foot waterfall! I can't even imagine doing something like that! I would like to thank Matt for taking time out of his busy schedule to do this interview with me.