Spring 2008 - Northwestern College

Fudacz-Burrows walked toward Kuhnau and kicked his backpack.
“Get up, we’re not done,” was all she said.
Kuhnau would later say of the Chilean desert, “When God was trying
to think of a suitable place for the devil to call home, Atacama came in
second.”
New Road
Kuhnau’s journey to Atacama began six years earlier, in 1998, when
he weighed 265 pounds and realized he needed to improve his health.
His first 5K road race was in October 1999, and six months later he ran
a marathon.
Ambitious in his career as a business technology consultant, he
brought a similar intensity to his exercise regimen, completing seven
marathons within the next year. Kuhnau has now run 21 marathons,
more triathlons than he can count, and four Ironmans (which consist of a
2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike race, and 26.2-mile run).
Kuhnau met the Burrows during recreational runs along Chicago’s
Lake Michigan shorefront and later ran in two Ironmans with them.
When they asked Kuhnau to join them in the Atacama Crossing, the
first event in the 4 Deserts series of endurance races, he agreed with a
simple, “Sounds cool, sign me up.”
“The more I read about it, I thought, ‘What did I get myself into’ At
that point, once I was committed, I felt I couldn’t let two other people
down,” he says.
Kuhnau (back) and his teammates finish the Sahara Race in front of the famous Egyptian
pyramids at Giza.
hitting 135 degrees—the athletes endured sand storms, vipers and
scorpions. Again, Kuhnau’s team won, completing the distance 90
minutes faster than they did in China.
While it took some time for Team Illinois members to decide to enter
the second and third races, they already knew when they finished Sahara
that they would run the final event in the endurance series. The Last
Desert race would feature temperatures opposite what they endured in
the first three, as the setting was Antarctica.
An irrigation pipe gives Kuhnau relief from
the 135-degree heat in the Sahara Desert.
Running Hot
Kuhnau’s commitment to his
teammates was the reason he got
up from the salt flats and kept
moving forward in the Atacama
Crossing. And that commitment,
coupled with his desire to push his
physical and mental limits, led him
to sign up for the next desert race,
China’s Gobi March, nine months
later.
Armed with experience, more
off-road training and expert advice
from trainers and nutritionists,
Team Illinois won the Gobi
March with a time of 42 hours,
13 minutes, defeating four other
teams.
Five months later, Kuhnau
and his teammates were back
in competition, this time in the
Sahara Desert of Egypt. Running
in the most oppressive heat
yet—the thermometer consistently
Undying Commitment
Adventure racing pushes every physical limit imaginable, Kuhnau
says. He loves the challenge and the knowledge—borne of experience—
that he can overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles.
“He possesses an iron will that does not know the meaning of the
word ‘quit,’” says Joel Burrows of Kuhnau. “In his darkest moments, he
is able to find a rallying strength to lead him back to conquer the task in
front of him. He emboldens those around him to work at a higher level
than they may have thought possible.”
Kuhnau’s perseverance and boldness to go after his dreams were
among the characteristics he shared with his sister Tamara ’89—along
with a love of travel. Close friends growing up, he admired her strong
faith in God and vivacious approach to life.
In 2000, Tamara was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast
cancer. Her brother immediately suggested she come to Chicago to hunt
for advanced treatment centers, and he volunteered to research new
medicines and programs for her. She chose a different path, nutritional
and herbal treatments, eschewing the options of chemotherapy and
radiation.
That conflict led to a strain
in their relationship, and for five
years the two avoided extended
conversations. Kuhnau was
called home to Iowa a week after
On the Web exclusive
Read a day-by-day account of Team
Illinois’ conquering of The Last Desert
race in Antarctica in January 2006 at
classic.nwciowa.edu
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