Badger Sponsorship 2015 Powered by LARABAR

It’s here. For those who may not be familiar, each winter we kickoff a MASSIVE gear giveaway, called the Badger Sponsorship (this year’s contest is brought to you by LARABAR, because they <3 thru-hikers extra hard).

The Badger Sponsorship is my effort to pay forward all the goodwill given to me before and during my thru-hike.  This includes free gear and food, financial support (in the form of mail drops), and other hiker resources.  It began in 2012 and each successive year has proven to bigger than the previous; this year is no exception.

Let’s not beat around the bush.  Here’s what this year’s class of thru-hikers will win:

……

Grand Prize Winner

• Twelve (12) boxes of LARABARs (192 BARS! Your choice of flavors)
• One (1) Big Agnes FlyCreek UL2 Tent (The same tent I use, multiple award winning)
• One (1) Big Agnes Bellyache Mountain SL 17 Sleeping Bag (Long)
• One (1) Big Agnes Q-Core SL Sleeping Pad
• One (1) Gregory Backpack or Gossamer Gear Backpack (Your choice of any style from either brand)
• Seven (7) Good To-Go Gourmet Dehydrated Meals (Their Thai Curry recently won an award from Backpacker Magazine)
• Two (2) cases (16 packs) of The New Primal Grass-Fed Beef Jerky (Super tasty. Appalachian Trials Readers: get a 20% discount by using coupon code “AT Nation” at checkout)
• One (1) pair of Bedrock Sandals (Your choice of style)
• Five (5) Innate Mentor Storage Sacs (Your choice of size. I used these during my thru-hike and continue to do so, they are great)
• Three (3) Mail Drops Courtesy of OmPiHikes
• Three (3) AT Coaching Sessions
• One Signed Copy of Appalachian Trials
• One eBook Copy of Appalachian Trials
• An invitation to become an Appalachian Trials Blogger

Runner Up

• Four (4) boxes of LARABARs (Your choice of flavors)
• One (1) Gregory Backpack or Gossamer Gear Backpack (Your choice of any style from either brand)
• Two (2) Good To-Go Dehydrated Meals
• Three (3) packs of The New Primal Grass-Fed Beef Jerky
• One (1) pair of Bedrock Sandals (Your choice of style)
• Four (4) Innate Mentor Storage Sacs
• Two (2) Mail Drops Courtesy of OmPiHikes
• One (1) AT Coaching Session
• One eBook copy of Appalachian Trials
• An invitation to become an Appalachian Trials Blogger

Third Place

• Three (3) boxes of LARABARs (Your choice of flavors)
• One (1) Gregory Backpack or Gossamer Gear Backpack (Subject to availability)
• One (1) Good To-Go Dehydrated Meals
• Three (3) packs of The New Primal Grass-Fed Beef Jerky
• One (1) pair of Bedrock Sandals (Your choice of style)
• Three (3) Innate Mentor Storage Sacs
• One eBook copy of Appalachian Trials
• An invitation to become an Appalachian Trials Blogger

Fourth Place

• One (1) box of LARABARs (Assorted Flavors)
• One (1) Gregory Backpack or Gossamer Gear Backpack (Subject to availability)
• Three (3) packs of The New Primal Grass-Fed Beef Jerky
• One (1) pair of Bedrock Sandals (Your choice of style)
• Two (2) Innate Mentor Storage Sacs
• One eBook copy of Appalachian Trials

Fifth Place

• One (1) box of LARABARs (Assorted Flavors)
• One (1) Gregory Backpack or Gossamer Gear Backpack (Subject to availability)
• Three (3) packs of The New Primal Grass-Fed Beef Jerky
• One (1) pair of Bedrock Sandals (Your choice of style)
• One (1) Innate Mentor Storage Sac
• One eBook copy of Appalachian Trials

6th through 12th will also receive:

• One (1) box of LARABARs (Assorted Flavors)
• One (1) pack of The New Primal Grass-Fed Beef Jerky
• One (1) ebook copy of Appalachian Trials

……..

Yeah- that just happened.  Well over $4,000 worth of gear, food, and other resources!

So now that we know the what, let’s get to the question you’re surely asking…

How?

ONE) Record a short video (no more than 90 seconds) explaining a) why you want the Badger Sponsorship Powered by LARABAR b) why you’re embarking on a thru-hike, and c) convince us why you’re going to complete all 2,189 miles of the Appalachian Trail*.

* For the first time, we are opening this contest to aspiring 2015 PCT and CDT thru-hikers as well.  Needless to say, replace with the proper trail and distance when putting together your video.

TWO) Post this video to YouTube. Title it “ Wants Badger Sponsorship Powered by LARABAR”. E-mail me the link to this video at [email protected] no later than 11:59pm EST on Saturday, January 10th.  Any entries sent after this time will not be accepted.

THREE) I will post the 12 top videos on AppalachianTrials.com on Monday January, 12th.  Each video will receive it’s own post. The winner will be determined by a combination of Facebook “Likes” (i.e. a vote) and our Expert Panel (a 50/50 valuation from each category).  To receive a vote, simply ask people to click the Facebook “Like” button on your post / video.  The video with the highest combined score will win.  Voting ends at 10am (UPDATE: due to some site down time, we’ve extended voting until 11:59 pm EST) on Monday, January 19th.

A couple things to note for this year’s contest:

• Only the top 12 videos (as determined by a small team) will make it into the voting round.  We anticipate receiving more than 12 video submissions. Make yours standout!  Creativity is your friend here 🙂
• To ensure that your email doesn’t go to SPAM (which has unfortunately happened in years past), don’t assume that I have received your email until receiving a response from me (which I will try to do within an hour of receiving your message).
• The winner will be determined on a 50/50 combination of votes and our Expert Panel.  The Expert Panel = one representative from each of the gear sponsors.  If you’re confused as to how the voting portion will work, check out last year’s contest.

That’s it, the rest is up to YOU!  Happy video making!!

And of course, none of this is possible without our amazing sponsors.  A HUGE thank you to…

Title Sponsor

Community Sponsors