Cary chapter member Bruce Dale and Dale Long a retired officer from Conway, SC recently place third in an Adventure Race in South Carolina. The race is a grueling test of running, navigation, kayaking, mountain biking, and special skills and was held March 8, 2008 in McLellansville, S.C.

They finished with a time of 7 hours and 22 minutes. They were hoping to move up from their 5th overall finish from 2007. Dale and Long ran pretty consistently near the top 5 for the first portion of the morning, often crossing paths with other teams. At each checkpoint they moved up in the field and were in 2nd place after one segment. As with previous races they struggled on one segment of the race and lost time and places in the field. They were able to recover and moved back into fourth place. During the transition to the orienteering segment of the race they decided to do two risky sections of the course instead of running the roads and trails to pick up points. This is a critical part of the race where strategy is paramount and teams are allowed to make decisions about their course of travel. Dale Long remarked at this point that their decision “will make or break our race.” The movement was tough with some very swampy low lying scrub brush that tore their lower legs to pieces but Dale and Long fought through it. Their decision proved to be pivotal and placed them in 3rd place. Despite riding hard on the remaining segments of the race they couldn’t close on 2nd place. They finished 3rd overall but just 18 minutes out of first place and 13 minutes out of 2nd place.

Bruce has been a PBA member for a many years and was also a founding Cary Chapter board member. Bruce was born and grew up in Western Pennsylvania before moving to Cary in 1983. He graduated from Athens Drive High School and entered the U.S Army serving in the 82nd Airborne as a paratrooper. After completing his military term he attended college at UNCW where he majored in Health and Physical Education. In 1993, Bruce attended BLET at Cape Fear Community College in Wilmington NC and was hired by Cary Police Department in March of 1994. During his 14 year career he has served as a patrol officer and as a member of the bike patrol unit and diverse operations and enforcement team. He currently is the department's training Sergeant. He also is an instructor with specialized certifications in TASER, defensive tactics and physical fitness. Bruce continues to live in Cary with his wife Jill, son Zack and their 3 dogs.