Musing and Errata on the world of Adventure Racing from the Yak
presented by MPGear.com

If you didn't catch the recent editorial by Devon O'Neil of the Vail Daily entitled "Adventure racing showing signs of fatigue?" take a minute to read it now and come back for a dose of reality.

Ok, so now we're all on the same page. Rather than rant I'm just going to shed some light on the subject and let all of you decide whether we should be worried about the future of adventure racing or encouraged by what some may see mistakenly as waning interest at the high/pro end.

1. Eco Challenge did not 'dissolve'. Mark Burnett put it on the back burner because he saw a bigger, better opportunity with what turned out to be a mainstream smash called Survivor...which turned out to be both a license to print money (for him and Buff...thank you for designing them to just barely fit the midriff of a starving model) and the genesis of the recent wave of reality-tv mania that is FINALLY showing signs of slowing down...thank God. It didn't fail because of some inherent deficiency or a lack of interest among racers or even the general public. It got trumped (pun intended) by a more profitable alternative...strictly business.


2. As for Primal Quest being the sports' premier race...how so? It offered the biggest prize purse, attracted many of the worlds top teams and was no doubt epic in scale, but lets face facts...it was designed for TV (ok so was Eco), not for the sake of the sport. Entry was based on invite or lottery not competition or any kind of rankings. It was (and may be again) a magnificent event and we all hate to see it go (or transition), but to paint it as the end all be all and to mourn it's passing as a portent of a tired sport is a bit over the top.
   
3. Balance Bar...a tough one. Kudos to Octagon for bringing such a well run and skillfully marketed series to the masses. Shame on them for homogenizing the sport to make it more "accessible" to the point that it was a stretch to call it adventure racing...again, "special test" anyone? We all hate to see it go, but we all know it could have been so much more. Again, it's passing only means that one business model didn't work...it says nothing about the sport or it's future.

Ok so I'm ranting...but in list form so cut me some slack. The point is that the events O'Neil points to as a barometer of 'fatigue' were all media or mass market endeavors first and foremost. They were businesses designed from the top down to make money in contrast to those AR entities which survive today by serving the racers first and profits second. This later approach is one based on a long term vision...profits come with longevity.

With all due respect, Mr. O'Neil makes broad generalizations that completely ignore the facts about the state of adventure racing today.

1. USARA is sanctioning more events this year than ever and just launched a ranking system that offers the possibility of empirical comparison of one team to another for the first time ever in the history of the sport.


2. USARA has competition. NA-ARCS aims to beat USARA at it's own game with an alternative approach to a national points system to determine the best of the best. They are also affiliated with ARResources.com who are trying to make insurance more affordable...something that will actually help grow the sport. It's a non-profit...sort of open source for AR.


3. The Raid Gaulois has evolved into The Raid World Cup. This series was designed after extensive consultations with the International Olympic Committee with the goal of advancing the standing of adventure racing as a real and credible sport. They just caught the first known AR doper. It's not a good thing that a racer was doping, but it's encouraging that he was busted. Professionalism is creeping into the sport like never before.


4. The Raid has competition. The AR World Series brings together expedition races from across the globe to qualify teams to compete for the title of world's best at the Southern Traverse in New Zealand.


5. I talk to a lot of race directors...probably talked to most of them in the US and tons from around the world at one time or another. Having done this for the past three years I can tell you that more are setting up shop than are going under for sure. The sport is still growing. Like any fledgling enterprise adventure racing has and will continue to experience growing pains. This is no surprise and nothing to worry about. Standards will evolve at the same time that the fringe balkanizes into weird AR clone-type things (see World Team Challenge)...no big deal...and certainly no sign of fatigue.

The only thing I find fatiguing after reading O'Neil's article is it's lack of depth or insight.