GEORGIA TECH WINS ATLANTA BIKE CHALLENGE
Georgia tech news, january 24th, 2022 — Victor Rogers
Georgia Tech Wins Atlanta Bike Challenge
This past fall, Georgia Tech teams captured the top two prizes in the Atlanta Bike Challenge. GTRI’s Thighs won first place, and ISyE Crew won second place. Tech also captured first place among workplaces with more than 2,000 employees. In the challenge, riders form teams and compete against other workplaces for who can log the most miles and get new cyclists to join.
GTRI’s Thighs’ first place win brought the top trophy back to campus for the first time since 2019. READ MORE
AR101 POdcast, september 8th, 2021 — JEFF LEININGER
AR101: WORLD’S TOUGHEST RACE: ECO CHALLENGE - TOP US TEAMS
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AR101 POdcast, DECember 8th, 2020 — JEFF LEININGER
AR101: TOPIC OF THE WEEK - “PADDLING TECHNIQUES”
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Tales of Toughness POdcast, november 12th, 2020 — sonja wieck
Episode 13: Joshua Forester - Journey to a “Yes” Life
With roots in Atlanta, Georgia, Joshua is a Contracted Research Scientist for the Department of Defense. He’s an outdoor enthusiast with an extensive background in distance running, yoga, backpacking, mountain biking, paddling, rock climbing, and mountaineering.
Joshua once overcame depression with exercise and then began saying yes to challenges he feared most. After executing a self-guided expedition up Denali, among other incredible achievements, he geared up to be the team captain, a navigator, and a workhorse in Eco-Challenge Fiji.
Tune in to hear about Joshua’s journey in exploration and physical endurance, noting some of his biggest challenges during the race and what he thinks about the power of gratitude…
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GTRI NEWS, OCTOBER 23RD, 2020 — Katrina heitz
Jacket Journals: Achieving a Childhood Dream
When the show, “Eco-Challenge,” which initially aired from 1995 to 2002, was picked up by Amazon Prime for a reboot, Joshua Forester knew he had to participate. He had grown up watching the show, seeing teams compete in extreme feats of strength, endurance, and resiliency. The show represented the apex of human physicality, heavily contributing to Joshua’s love for endurance sports… READ MORE
TA1 POdcast, October 5th, 2020 — randy Ericksen
Episode 271: Team US Military
The one about just getting it done.
Joshua Forester (TC)
Caitlin Thorn
Jesse Tubb
Jesse Sprangler
Kevin Howser (TAC)
NEWS STAR, AUGUST 14TH, 2020 — BONNIE BOLDEN
West Monroe native takes on 'Eco-Challenge' reboot
A West Monroe native has completed the world's toughest adventure race. Last September, Joshua Forester competed with Team U.S. Military in an 11-day endurance competition for "World’s Toughest Race: Eco-Challenge Fiji." The show reboots the 10-season "Eco-Challenge," which aired from 1995 to 2002. The last season was filmed in Fiji, and the new show returned to old stomping ground… READ MORE
Georgia tech news, december 2nd, 2019 — KRISTEN BAILEY & KATRINA HEITZ
Georgia Tech Wins Atlanta Biketober Challenge
Joshua Forester, who also works in the CIPHER lab, was the top rider overall for Georgia Tech, and a member of GTRI’s Thighs. Forester bikes for commuting and fun, and recently completed a bike race in Fiji. He blogged about the experience of this year’s Challenge and some of the activities that took place that month, including a trip from Georgia to Alabama along the Silver Comet Trail. Forester had a goal of being a top 10 rider during the challenge, and he biked nearly 900 miles in 10 days to meet that goal. READ MORE
RAILRIDERS, OCTOBER 14TH, 2019 — jared zissu
Who is Joshua Forester
The amount of pre-race organization that is involved in racing Eco-Challenge Fiji is unfathomable. I needed a full-time staff member to deal with all of the logistics. I took on the majority of the work getting the gear requirements, schedule and logistics, and team roster established. But thankfully, I was fortunate enough to have teammates who stepped it up and pitched in as the race approached. I do a ton of organizational work for some adventure groups I lead in the Atlanta area (over 40+ trips planned in 2018), and so I'm pretty dialed with it. But Eco-Challenge Fiji was on another level… READ MORE
Columbia Magazine, fall 2019 — rebecca Shapiro
Outward Bound: A Data Scientist Competes in one of the World’s Toughest Endurance Tests
The Eco-Challenge — an eleven-day, twenty-four-hour-a-day race across the jungles and mountains of Fiji — is perhaps the toughest endurance event in the world. And this year, Joshua Forester ’04CC will be among the competitors. A former Columbia track and cross-country star, Forester spends his days as a data-science researcher on a Department of Defense contract at Georgia Tech, but he dedicates his weekends to running, mountain biking, rock climbing, and backpacking — “If it’s outside and self-powered, I’m game.” READ MORE
ENDURANCE SPORTS AND FITNESS, SEPTEMBER 3RD 2019 — joshua forester
Heading to the World’s Toughest Race: Eco-Challenge Fiji
In my case with Eco-Challenge, I have accepted the responsibility of both preparing myself for the event and organizing our team towards completing the race. After all, it is finishing—not starting–that is the actual goal. In fact, so much of my energy has been aligned to reaching the finish line that it is really hard to visualize myself with my childhood idols, shoulder-to-shoulder and toeing the same starting line. This is perhaps the humility in me speaking. And at the same time, it is even harder not wanting to replace them. This is perhaps the hunger in me, my teenage ambition–still alive and well–speaking louder… READ MORE
KNOE News, july 15th 2019 — what’s your story
What's Your Story: West Monroe native paddles around massive Lake Lanier
Meet a West Monroe native who beat mother nature and pulled off an incredible feat. VIEW SHOW
Lakeside News, june 28th 2019 — jane harrison
Joshua Forester completes Lanier Lap
Lake Lanier seems to lure strong-willed adventurers who chase extraordinary goals between its shores. Legends of the lake have put their bodies on the water for miles facing down challenges unfathomable to the average lake lover. A new one joined their ranks in June on a 400-mile journey-by-kayak around the lake in less than a week… READ MORE
11alive, june 19th, 2019 — jay plyburn
Local Man kayaks 400 miles along Lake Lanier Shoreline
He’s accomplished things that many people will never even attempt, and his most recent adventure involved kayaking more than 400 miles of shoreline in Lake Lanier. The feat has been appropriately dubbed “The Lanier Lap.”
“I conjured it up about 10 years ago and the seed was planted,” Forester said. “I was out here paddling on Lake Lanier with some friends for an adventure race that I was looking to participate in, and we did a circle around the main body here, about 50 miles, and I thought to myself at the time - I wonder what it would be like to actually paddle this thing around the entire shoreline and how many miles that would be? It wasn't until 10 years later and so this year that I thought you know what I should do this now, I think it's time…” VIEW SHOW
gainesville times, june 13th 2019 — NATHANIEL BERG
Kayaker Josh Forester finishes Lanier Lap, calls it harder than summiting Denali
As Josh Forester paddled toward Tidwell Park on the night of Wednesday, June 12 — nearly a full week after he set off on the first ever attempted circumnavigation of Lake Lanier in one sitting — he saw lights flashing in the distance. He wasn’t entirely sure what all the commotion was about, but he had a hunch. When the dock marking his final destination came into view, Forester’s suspicions were confirmed… READ MORE
access WDUN, june 8th 2019 — Rebecca hubbard
Adventurer almost half way through his "Lanier Lap" of Lake Lanier
The forecast for the rest of the weekend includes a Flash Flood Warning for the area through Sunday evening and more rain. "A lightning storm is not something that I do. I'm not like a thrill-seeker that seeks out danger," Forester said. "But I've paddled during thunderstorms down rivers where they have, you know, tall objects along side the shore before and I've never really felt threatened by it. I mean, that may prove foolish. We'll see…" READ MORE
Blue ridge Outdoors, june 2019 issue — will harlan
LANIER LAP: 100-HOUR PADDLE
Any quotes or mantras that you rely on? “It’s more of a general theme that suffering both reveals and improves upon character. If you really to want to get to know someone, go through something soul-crushingly hard with them. It will reveal who they are. Every now and then, you should get to know yourself in the same way…” READ MORE
gainesville times, may 31st 2019 — NATHANIEL BERG
Forester sets out for unusual claim to fame on Lake Lanier
For a task as daunting as the Lanier Lap, he knew he had to be fully conditioned, both physically and mentally. A 400-mile paddle is not an experience that is easily simulated, but Forester leaned on his distance running background to find the best training regimen.
“Honestly, there’s not a lot you can do to prepare for it other than say regular paddle training,” he said. “Regular paddle training for me is like going pretty hard for two to three hours. And then I’ll have a weekly or so paddle where I’ll do it four to six hours, maybe seven if I’m really feeling good. Those sorts of things will kind of build you up physically so you don’t break when you start to do it...” READ MORE
ATLANTA 11ALIVE, may 23RD 2019 — atlanta & Company
In Good Company: Joshua Forester
The Lanier Lap! Adventurer Joshua Forester shares his exciting outdoor challenge with Christine Pullara on 'Atlanta & Company' VIEW SHOW
CHEROKEE TRIBUNE & LEDGER-NEWS, may 10th 2019 — Alex resnak
Forester complete record-breaking trip around Lake Allatoona
Despite the difficulties, Forester finished what ended up being a 168.71-mile trip in just 55 hours.
He camped along the shoreline to rest and moved at an average of 4.4 miles per hour. He paddled while battling physical and mental fatigue.
“It plays into the mental side of things as well,” Forester said. “You’re sitting on a boat not made for long paddles. As it kept going, your back muscles get tired. It hurts just to sit. A lot of back and shoulder muscles get inflamed. You can hear the rotator cuff muscle pop as you paddle. You just have to do what you can to block it out and keep going…” READ MORE
Endurance Sports and Fitness, JUNE 2018 issue — joshua Forester
Commentary
In the world of endurance sports, athletes know they moment they reach the low of a competition, and I would encourage them to extrapolate these events to the sport at large. Two types of lows come to mind, each requiring opposite action to navigate successfully:
1. Malaise, where an athlete is simply not having fun anymore and wants to go home. Ultimately, we have to adapt ourselves and kind of go with this. Fighting it only makes it worse.
2. "The suck", where an athlete is in agony and does not believe he can complete what he set out to do. For this, fighting through it is actually the best medicine... READ MORE
Endurance Sports and Fitness, JUNE 2018 issue — alix shutello
Joshua Forester, Adventure Racer and Meticulous Goal Planner
Joshua Forester comes from an athletic family: his sister is a veteran distance runner and adventure racer and his brother followed suit. In 2007, when Forester was in his early 20s, his older siblings convinced him to race the Blue Ridge Adventure Race. Each of them built their own team; and in the end Forester, convinced he and his siblings' teams, was soundly beaten.
"Though our team's fitness level was superior to theirs, we were beaten on account of their experience," Forester said. "Being the youngest in my family, that didn't sit well with me. Like any little brother would, I devised a plan for revenge the next day!"
Forester, who over the past 11 years completed almost 60 adventure races, attributes his racing career to that rivalry. At first, Forester was only interested in beating his siblings; but he soon found himself immersed in the culture... READ MORE
Blue Ridge Outdoors Magazine, April 2018 Issue — joshua forester
Why participation medals are undermining what matters most about sports.
When it comes to young children, trophies can be a valuable tool. Alarmingly, however, participation trophies are no longer limited to kindergartners’ field day events and kids’ fun runs. Today, adults circle around Monday-morning water coolers across America, proudly wearing their medals bestowed upon them via pre-race schwag bag from the registration tent of the new fad obstacle course race. Others wear shirts from the latest distance running event, during which they never even toed the starting line because the race offered a “Ghost Runner” registration option (they simply paid the entrance fee from their couches and were shipped an event shirt as if they actually ran the race)... READ MORE