Hungry, cold, wet and exhausted are accurate words to describe Team ATP on Monday.

Appalachian Extreme Adventure Race champion and potential World Champion can now officially be added to that list.

Overcoming a three-hour time deficit, Team ATP, wearing bib No. 1, charged past Team SRS on the final trek to claim the title.

“From what they told me, they were all wet and cold and wanted to finish before dark,” said race organizer Norm Greenberg. “They had been wet for so long they were dreading being out all night, so they pushed it hard and ran when they had to to get in before dark.”

Team SRS, meanwhile, was, as Greenberg described, “disappointed.” Going into the final, 12-mile trek across unmarked terrain, SRS had a three-hour lead.

“Team 16 (SRS) was in the lead all the way from Transition Area 3 (near the Cupsuptic River) until Checkpoint 31 (on the Northwestern edge of Sunday River),” said Greenberg. “It was a combination of fatigue, and with one team member getting sick, and they mis-navigated a few points on the map.”

The race itself was shortened early on Monday morning. Citing weather and a generally slow pace, race organizers altered the course by eliminating the long, first trek that would have taken teams from the Androscoggin River north to the Balsams Resort in Dixville Notch, N.H.

“We made that decision at about 1:30 a.m. after it became clear that maybe one or two teams would have a chance to finish by the cutoff if we kept it as it was,” said Greenberg. “In general, I think most of the teams are pretty happy with the change.”

With the change, officials believe the last of the racers will cross the finish line early in the morning on Tuesday.

“Now that it’s dark out, and now that the race is pretty much over, teams will slow down tonight,” said Greenberg.

As of 10 p.m. Monday, four teams completed the course, but just two, ATP and SRS, were official finishers. Another team (Genesis/Timex) crossed the line complete, but had taken an alternate route due to time constraints, and still another (Raceday) had crossed without one of its members, and they, too, had taken an alternate route.

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