Introducing Team SMAC/HART

Team Southern Michigan/Houston Adventure Racing Clubs (SMAC/HART) is composed of four seasoned adventure racing and endurance athletes from across the country. Each team member brings talents and skills that will be put to the test this June during the Raid the North Extreme (RTNX), a 6-day expedition length race in Northern British Columbia.

Paul Piorkowski is 45 years old and lives in Belleville Michigan. Paul is not just an avid competitor but believes in giving back to the sport that he loves. He is the founder of the Southern Michigan Adventure Club. Through this 1,600 member organization, Paul puts on races and organizes competitive teams. Paul is also a contributing writer for several adventure racing magazines. Paul has been involved in the sport of adventure racing for over 9 years and has taken part in several expedition length events. In addition he competes in Rogaine (long distance orienteering) competitions. Paul works for General Motors as a Powertrain Development Engineer at the General Motors Milford Proving Grounds.

Kenny Farrow, 33, has been adventure racing since 2003. He began competing in Rogaine and Orienteering events shortly thereafter. Kenny also competes in mountain biking, road bike, triathlon, duathlon and running races. Kenny is an active member of the Houston Adventure Racing Team. Kenny completed his bachelor’s degree in Structural Engineering at Gonzaga University, then went on to the University of Notre Dame and graduated with a master’s and a doctorate. He now serves as an Associate for Stress Engineering Services, a specialized engineering firm.


Philip Shrader, 39 years old, is a member of the Southern Michigan Adventure Club. Phil competes in adventure races, marathons and endurance trail running races. Phil has been adventure racing since 2005 and is a skilled navigator. Phil also lives in Michigan and works at Shrader Laboratories, an analytical laboratory that specializes in environmental testing and problem solving for automotive suppliers. Phil works on computers programming software that controls the analytical instrumentation. When not racing, Phil can be found skiing, hunting, working around the house, or enjoying time with his wife and two daughters. Phil holds a bachelors of science degree in environmental studies and a masters of science in parks and recreation from Michigan State University.

Jenifer Kwasniewski, 43, lives and trains in Boulder, Colorado. Jenifer majored in Environmental Science from the Florida Institute of Technology, which she attended on an athletic scholarship for Crew. After almost 14 years working for the Environmental Protection Agency, Jenifer moved to the private sector. She now runs her own environmental consulting company, JK Environmental Solutions, specializing in cleaning up abandoned contaminated sites and returning them to productive use.

Always active and interested in outdoors sports, Jenifer began competing seriously in mountain biking in the late 1990s. She has raced at the expert level both as an individual and as a member of Team Bad Betty, a group of women who compete in 24 hour races. After several years of mountain bike racing, Jenifer added adventure racing in 2001 to find a new challenge. In addition to adventure racing, Jenifer competes in solo endurance mountain bike races and is an avid trail runner. She also takes advantage of her mountainous surroundings to hone her rock climbing skills.