Adventure Racing and Out-of-the-Box Triathlon Talk on The Slowtwitch Podcast

February 27, 2026

^{The New England Endurance Events team puts on eight races, including the brutal and tough Sea to Summit triathlon. Photo: New England Endurance Events}

On this week’s episode of The Slowtwitch Podcast, race directing husband and wife Andy Scherding and Kathleen Walker joined the show to talk about their unique suite of events. Scherding and Walker run New England Endurance Events (NEEE), a race organization based out of Cape Cod. As Walker and Scherding explain in this episode of the podcast, they got their start in organizing events after they set up a race for charity. After that, people started asking the couple to run more races. Over a decade later, they have eight events on the NEEE calendar.

Of the eight races Scherding, Walker and the rest of their team offer, there are four traditional triathlons (the classic swim-bike-run format with no added wrinkles). The couple touches on these races a bit in the episode, but the main focus of the podcast is their more out-of-the-box events.

The first of those events discussed is the Sea to Summit. While technically a traditional format for a triathlon, this swim, bike and run is far from a normal race. The swim is 1.2 miles long, followed by a 93- to 95-mile ride and it ends with a five-mile “scramble” (not a run) up the summit of Mount Washington.

“‘Run’ is kind of a misnomer,” Walker says in the episode. “It’s more of a hike, sometimes a cry, but eventually you make it to the top.”

Scherding describes the Sea to Summit as an “adventure triathlon” in the recording, which pairs nicely with NEEE’s two legitimate adventure races: the Gut Checks. The pair of Gut Check events are held in Cape Cod and Vermont, and as you’ll hear in the podcast, they have a bit of a mystery element to them when it comes to the course.

^{The Sea to Summit is the longest race NEEE offers. Photo: New England Endurance Events}

Finally, the NEEE duo talked about their swim-run race. They have personally been quite enthralled by swim-run events in their own racing careers in recent years, so they were keen to put on a race of their own. The event is also in Cape Cod, and although it takes place in October, you’ll hear on the podcast that it’s not all that chilly as athletes hop in and out of the water on race day.

To find out all you need to know about NEEE and their interesting lineup of races, listen to the full podcast here.