Hunter Leininger, from Georgia, the United States, has been adventure racing since he was 7 years old. Now, at age 19, he has set world records, traveled around the globe, and completed over 50 races. And he is now on a mission to inspire other young people to follow their own dreams.

Adventure racing is a team sport that involves lots of different activities on unmarked trails in the wilderness such as hiking, running, rafting, canoeing, biking, climbing, horseback riding, orienteering, skiing and sailing. Races can last from two hours to two weeks.

Hunter became interested in adventure racing through his father, who is an adventure racer himself. While playing soccer and football, Hunter was looking to try something new. He asked his father if he could join him in an adventure race, and he went on to complete his first race in about six hours. Hunter loved being on the same team as his father and he has been hooked on the sport ever since.

Hunter has learned a lot of perseverance through adventure racing. There can be a lot of pain in a race, but if you drop out, your whole team will have to stop. This is unlike other team sports such as basketball or football, where you can stop and be replaced by another player. In racing, and in his life, the sport has taught Hunter to keep going when times get tough.

Hunter wants to inspire young people that they can accomplish incredible things at whatever age. “This is one of the most common excuses in our society: You’re not old enough to start that business, build that thing, complete in that race … you should wait until you get older to do those things. The biggest issue with this mindset is that once people put off their dreams at a young age, they tend to never come back to them which results in them never accomplishing anything. The best time to do something is now, so go after your dreams before it’s too late,” Hunter says.

Last year Hunter finished the 2019 World’s Toughest Race Eco-Challenge, an 11-day race around the island of Fiji. The reality show of the race hit the airwaves on Amazon in August. (SD-Agencies)