BROWNING NAMED HONORARY STARTER Patch Pioneer Returns for 20th Anniversary

Dallas,TX, Feb. 2--  Twenty years after making Adventure Racing History, one of the men responsible for starting the Patch Sprint Craze will be back to usher the 75 or more expected racers and trekkers out on to the course for the 2006 event.      Robert "Doc" Browning has been named the honorary starter for the Patch Sprint, scheduled for May 27, in Willsboro, NY.  The announcement came late yesterday after Patch officials reviewed the credentials from a number of qualified candidates.  "We had a lot of great candidates," stated event board member Amy Kobak.  "It is a demanding job:  calling the runners together, reading the rules, counting down and saying 'uh, go!'"  In the end, it boiled down to race history.  "Doc's booming voice was a plus," said event co-founder Tim Singer, "but it was the sense of history in this landmark year that made the difference."

In July, 1986, Browning, along with Jody Edwards, made the first recorded successful traverse of the Patch mountains in a single day.  They braved heat and poison ivy, and set in motion a phenomena that has grown in numbers and stature ever since.      Edwards returned in 2003 to be honorary starter, and it's only fitting that Browning gets the honor in the 20th anniversary year.  "Obviously, I am honored to participate in this historic Patch Sprint," said Browning from his athletic training facility in Dallas.  "I have some important work commitments that I need to try and work around, but I am going to try to get up for the race this year since it is the 20th anniversary of Jody and I doing the first 'Patch in a Day.'"

?     Says race veteran Mike Daley:  "It's only appropriate- as we look back twenty years in time-  that he's the starter.  After all, Doc Browning  invented the Flux Capacitor, which is what makes time travel possible.  Oh wait... that was Doc Brown."      Aside from being the starter, Browning will come furnished with tins of his famous cookies, to give out to the winners in each division.  "Of course, I would love to bring up plenty of "The Finest Ginger Cookies in the History of the World!!!"       "Yeah those kinda old cookies, I mean Old Kinda cookies are pretty good," said Drew Canning.

PATCH NEWS: Registrations have already been received in the trekker, Kinder Sprint, volunteer, open women's and open men's division.  The latter has seven early entrants, including three past champions and three of the top four finishers from 2005..... In the open womens's division, veteran endurance racer Steph Lylis is back after a one-year layoff, while Kate Durlacher returns for the second consecutive year.  "I may have finished third last year, but training with Lance this winter has really stoked my confidence."... To date, over $400 in donations hav?e been received for the Adirondack Scholarship Foundation.