By By Adam Robinson
sports editor
A group of four local residents recently competed in a “bear” of a race.
A coed team made up of Will Ruzic, Scott Huff, Rebecca Jordan, and David Stokes Jr. recently competed in the BEAR Adventure Race on Sept. 6.
The race was comprised of four different legs involving kayaking, mountain biking, running/trekking with mystery events along the way to test mental capacity. The order and distance of each leg is not revealed until the race itself. Mystery tests are just that — mysteries until teams reach them.
Ruzic said the whole idea of the race started when Scott (Huff) and himself were thinking of new endurance challenges to keep them motivated in training. 
Jordan is a local marathon runner who has competed in numerous races and has placed in the top finishers and has won a few. 
Overall, Ruzic said the team spent about seven months training in the woods and creeks around the Brewton area with many early mornings, long Saturdays and very understanding spouses. 
But with all the training, there was one concern for the team.
The order of the events, checkpoints and destinations were not revealed until the race was under way.  The race started with the kayak on the St. Johns River, which also included about a one-mile manual transport of the boats. 
Ruzic said as the team moved into the running/trekking portion, they were again faced with a lot of swampy conditions. 
While there were many good things that happened in the race, Ruzic said he would have to say the best part of this experience was the team concept. 
Is another race in the team’s future?