Executive director Julie Breitigan said, while other nonprofits might choose to hold a gala as their annual fundraiser, "We are not gala people. We are outdoor adventure people that like to have fun."
Instead, the LAC holds an annual Extreme Adventure Challenge. It’s a timed race spanning over five miles. Each four-person team works to gain points by completing as many of the 18 activity checkpoints as they can over a 2-hour span.
"The people that are signing up for this type of event are really ready for a high-level challenge," said Breitigan. "We also get teams that come out that just want to have fun; they'll do like five or six checkpoints and have a great time doing it. But with the teams that really want a challenge, we want to rise to that occasion and give them something to look forward to."
To make sure the challenge course is up to the challenge, the LAC invited the University of Kentucky Men's Rugby Club to give it a test run. Players climb, bike, and test out new activities, like a tire pull.
"We're excited to see how they approach it, how much time different checkpoints take for them, so when we launch this again in May, we're ready with a little bit more feedback."
Head Coach Sam Enari said there are a lot of parallels between the mission of LAC and the rugby community:
"Come as you are, learning resilience, working through conflict, working through everything else, and then a teamwork aspect, which is why we wanted to come out here today," said Enari.
The Extreme Adventure Challenge will be held May 17, 2025. Tickets are $100 per racer, and participants must be 16 or older.