 
Adventure racing can be defined as a non-stop, multi-day, multi-sport,
mixed team event. In many ways it can be likened to an expedition
with a stopwatch. The goal of the competition is to be the first
team to get all members across the finish line together. The course
should take competitors through remote wilderness where they must
travel without outside assistance. Each team must use strategy to
determine the best route, equipment, food and pace to maintain to
win. Since a significant part of the challenge is in the planning
and problem solving, race information is given on a "need to
know" basis only (often you won't even know where the start
line is until the day before the race). By doing so, the actual
problem solving and planning must be done quickly and efficiently
during the competition. The ideal and simplest race format would
be to drop all of the teams in the middle of a remote location with
gear and a set of maps with two labels, point A (their location)
and point B (the finish line). In actual practice, each event will
have to make a number of compromises to this format to ensure safety
and to simplify logistics.
Where It All Began
The origins of adventure racing lie in a multi-sport race (mountain
running, kayaking, and mountain biking) that takes place in New
Zealand, called the Coast to Coast. Founded in 1980, this was the
first multi-sport, wilderness endurance race. It was actually created
when someone misunderstood a conversation they overheard suggesting
some American's were looking to create a wilderness challenge, the
next step in our endless pursuit of the ultimate challenge. In an
attempt to beat the American's to the punch, Coast to Coast and
another race known as the Alpine Ironman were created. Not long
after and completely unrelated, the American's actually did dabble
in the extreme with a race called the Alaska Mountain Wilderness
Classic founded in 1983. While Coast to Coast has grown into one
of the most heralded multi-sport races, the Alaska Mountain Wilderness
Classic has stayed very grass roots, advertising by word of mouth
only, and all profits from the race being given back to the competitors.
It is still very much as it was in 1983.
The next big step was the Raid Gauloises (commonly known as the
Raid), first held in New Zealand in 1989, the first mixed team multi-sport,
multi-day wilderness endurance race. Created by Gerard Fusil, the
Raid quickly popularized the sport of adventure racing in Europe
(particularly France, Fusil's home turf), Australia and New Zealand
through Fusil's superb marketing. To many, this was seen as the
ultimate test of human endurance. The Raid traveled to a different
exotic location around the world every year leaving room for a new
race in the homeland of the sport, Southern Traverse. Founded in
1991, Southern Traverse maintained the true spirit of adventure
racing established by the Raid but over a shorter, 3-5 day period
(although the winning team has traditionally done it in less than
three days). Although the popularity of the sport grew rapidly in
Europe, Australia and New Zealand, it was still relatively unheard
of in North America. It wasn't until a two-time Raid competitor
and talented entrepreneur, Mark Burnett, created Eco-Challenge,
that the sport was taken notice of by North America. The first race
took place in Utah in 1995 (in the face of much environmental controversy)
and grew from there to a status equalled only by the Raid. Since
then, many new races have begun to pop up all around the world varying
in length and disciplines involved.
In the wake of the heavy media attention around events like the
Eco-Challenge, a new, more accessible style of adventure race has
emerged - the weekend race. The 5+ day races around the world require
not just a huge time commitment for preparation and competing but
also a substantial financial investment. The weekend race (typically
36 hours in length) offers a more realistic starting point for those
looking to test themselves in the adventure racing arena. They require
substantially less time and training to prepare for, technical skill
requirements are minimal and the cost is much lower yet they are
still long enough and challenging enough to test the limits of most
weekend warriors and provide an ideal training ground for those
looking to compete in longer races. The result of this new trend
- participation in adventure racing is exploding and bringing it
perilously close to mainstream.
Seeking the Ultimate Challenge
There are endless accounts through history of the human search for
the ultimate challenge. And as each goal is achieved a new, even
bigger challenge is set. For some, adventure racing offers the next
step in that search for the ultimate challenge. When people felt
that the marathon had been tackled triathlons were created. When
that got tired, the ultimate triathlon was created - Ironman. Now
some people have moved on to double Ironmans and ultra marathons,
while others have taken on adventure racing. Although, with adventure
racing it was much more than just adding to the distance or physical
difficulty. A whole new genre of sport was created by adding much
more technical skill requirements, strategy and planning.
Simply stated, adventure racing is an opportunity for people to
challenge themselves. It's a chance to push yourself to your limits
or, for the really daring, to redefine your limits. This challenge
is not just limited to elite athletes either. There is so much more
to adventure racing than just being in shape. Anyone wanting to
challenge themselves can enjoy adventure racing. In fact, you don't
even have to finish a race to reap the rewards - which is good because
less than 25% of teams finish their first race. Although the races
are designed to be competitive, you quickly learn you are really
only in competition with yourself. The point is not how well you
did relative to the other teams, it's whether or not you truly challenged
yourself.
There are many different reasons why people compete in adventure
races but most of them will relate back to the idea of taking on
a bigger-than-life challenge and beating it. The sense of reward
that comes with it is overwhelming and the bigger the challenge,
the bigger the reward.
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