1996 saw the race
set in spectacular British Columbia, Canada. A sudden storm during the race left
many participants huddled on a mountain side as a blizzard assaulted them.
70 teams
from around the world started the race, 300 miles later, just fourteen teams manage to
cross the finish line.
The stage for 1997's race was Queensland, Australia.
Spanning 300 miles in ten days, the race crossed dry temperate outback, rainforest and
even the Great Barrier Reef. That year, 48 teams started the race, 29
finished. 1997 winners were once again the incredible Team Eco-Internet.
This team
won the 1996 race as well as numerous other adventure races around the world.
In 1998, the race pitted 220 athletes from 27 countries
against the incredible wilderness of Morocco. The actual course covers 309 miles,
and the athletes will cover this distance with a combination of camels, horses, kayaks,
moutain bikes and their own bodies to cover this distance. At the end,
Team
Vail crossed the finish line first, no small achievement, given the caliber of the
competition.
The stage for the 1999 race was Patagonia,
Argentina. From the snow-covered Andes mountains to lush bamboo forests, the racers
once again pit themselves and their incredible stamina and endurance against an
incredible challenge. If you can't wait you can
check out the online coverage at the Discovery
Channel Eco-Challenge site.
2000 brought about some
significant changes to the Eco-Challenge race. For those of us who
have to watch the race on TV, the biggest change was that the Discovery
Challenge no longer carried the Eco-Challenge, but instead the coverage
was provided by the USA Networks. The organizer of the race, famed
"Survivor" creator Mark Burnett appeared to be running the
production of the race coverage in much the same fashion as that
"reality" based challenge. Reading the comments posted on
the message section of the USA Networks Eco-Challenge web
site, most had
the same opinion that I did, the change was not for the better. This
years coverage seemed more concerned with following the exploits of
"Team Playboy Extreme", that's right, three Playboy Bunnies
"toughing it out" with some of the worlds most talented
adventure racers, than with covering the real race taking place at the
front. In one particularly memorable portion of the coverage, two of
the bunnies somehow find shiny new carpenters hammers on a deserted Borneo
beach and manage to repair a large hole in their canoe with cut lumber
they somehow found on the shore. While the race is still an awesome
test of individuals and teams, the coverage is disappointing
now that the
Discovery Channel is no longer involved. We're now seeing trailers
for the upcoming Discover Challenge Adventure
Race, which is apparently
their attempt to get back the viewers they lost when the Eco-Challenge
moved away. This race coverage included lots of
"bio-mechanics" type fluff, showing us couch
potatoes the extreme physical demands this type of race places
on the human body, not all that useful in our opinion, but
there nonetheless.
It's impossible to describe what this race is all about, you
must see the coverage, visit the web sites of the teams and try to fathom the incredible
strength of both body and mind that these racers possess. The 1997 race coverage
included one participant sitting calmly while a teammate plucked a leech from his eyeball,
a team of Navy Seals being rescued from stormy seas as one of their kayaks started to
sink, and an absolutely incredible team from Japan who carried one of their members on
their backs after she injured her ankle. If you want your kids to have some great
role models, these people exemplify all that makes an athlete great. Teamwork, self
sacrifice, strength of mind and body and an overwhelming desire to not quit makes these
folks tops in our book. Forget those highly paid TV athletes! Check these
folks out if you really want to see athletes that you can respect! |
