Everyone's favorite kayak shop operator,
Dave Burden of
SouthEast Expeditions, was elected to public office on Virginia's Eastern Shore earlier this week. The
Shore Talk online voice of the Eastern Shore had this to say on Dave's election:
After watching Dave “Jailhouse”
Burden endure an ugly, mean-spirited campaign, opponents and supporters
alike fully expect him to kick back and light a big spleef. (Remember,
Dave, there’s a statewide burn ban) . . . Prediction: With his background in marine
science, Burden will ride into Eastville under the banner of watershed
protection and will spearhead the county’s input to DEQ’s proposed
Aquaculture Enhancement Zones
You can read the full piece on
Shore Talk here.
Congrats to Dave (I just got off the phone with him and he sounds really psyched); among other things, it bodes well for the future of adventure on Virginia's Eastern Shore. Dave has been around adventure racing for many years; he got started by crewing for a team at the Southern Traverse in New Zealand and it got into his blood. More recently, he was instrumental in our building the Storm the Eastern Shore race with
HRAdventure (they had the successful third running of it earlier this Fall) and has always been supportive of the sport.
I've seen elected officials running 10Ks, marathons, or century bike rides so why not adventure races? I think a little teamwork and perseverance could only help those in political office. Besides, my work for the
decriminalization of adventure racing (and, generally, the ability for us to use public green spaces) continues very slowly as I work with only a few jurisdictions at a time with
Untamed Adventure as we plan and permit each course. I think Dave's solution, infiltrating the power and decision structure, is much more efficient. Way to go buddy!