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

Turns out the outage was/is a DNS problem. Fix is in the works. Look for the site to be back online tomorrow or shortly thereafter.

As of this morning http://www.ecoprimalquest.com is inaccessible and http://www.subaruprimalquest.com is redirecting to a temp page hosted by Overture.

Race management has said the site was not taken down intentionally and they are looking into the cause of the outage.

More when I know more...in the meantime...quit speculating...you'll live longer :-)

From a message posted on the site on the 23rd:

"Plans for the next Primal Quest Expedition Adventure Race (TM) are in development. Once they are solidified, we'll post the details on the website."

http://www.subaruprimalquest.com/race2004/index.cfm?tabSection=newsArticle&news_ID=%23%2B%2EU2%0A

Speculation that this means there may not or definitely will not be a race in 2005 (I've gotten several emails) is just that...speculation. Race management told me this morning via email that an update with more information will be posted as soon as "we have all of our ducks in a row"...which is more or less exactly what the website says.

So I watched the SPQ special on CBS. All in all I thought it was exceptional. If I had one complaint it might be that I would like to have seen more teams show up for a cameo at least.

However, this particular episode of AR on TV (it happens so infrequently I like to think of it as one long mini-series stretched out over my lifetime) was different than anything we've seen before (Eco, Balance Bar, Raid, etc.) for the obvious reason that this time around the challenge of presenting our nascent sport in a positive light was made immeasurably harder than it already is by the tragic death of Nigel Aylott.

I think Dan and crew did a masterful job of drawing people into the story of adventure racing and Primal Quest in particular leading up to the accident, and then an even better job portraying what transpired after the accident.

The short vignette featuring Dan, his staff and the captains discussing what to do was an important and revealing scene. Ian's comment that a decision about how to proceed needed to factor in the wishes of Nigel's family and the impact on the future of the sport was important for the world to see. It provided a glimpse into the mindset of adventure racers that is sometimes very hard to convey to the average man on the street.

That the race actually ended with Seagate and Nike sharing first place to take the emphasis off the competition and money was a tribute to the character of every racer everywhere. That the Primal Quest broadcast ended by showing that spirit to the world is a tribute to Nigel and the sport he loved.

With Riverrats throwing their 2 sprint races into the mix the series now stands at a total of 5 events. Teams will compete throughout the year to accumulate points...most points at the end of the year wins.

Also new for this year, coed and same sex teams can declare up to 4 members and then race as a 2, 3 or 4 person team on a race by race basis. This is an excellent idea as it will allow teams the flexibility to deal with those inevitable situations where someone gets hurt at the last minute or just can't make it to one of the events without being penalized.

The series consists of the following events:

Salomon / Moosejaw Spring Fury - April 30, 2005 - 2 or 4 person
River Rats AR Spring Warm-Up - May 14th, 2005 - 2 or 4 person
Salomon / Moosejaw Summer Groove - July 30th, 2005 - 2 or 3 person
River Rats AR 12 Hour Race - August 27th, 2005 - 2 or 4 person
Salomon / Moosejaw Adventure Rage - September 23-25, 2005 - 2 or 4 person

With backing from Michelob and a healthy stable of other sponsors this thing looks to have all the makings of a great series. It's a great opportunity for racers in and around Michigan.

For more information visit infiterrasports.com or riverratsar.com.

According to Octagon Sports Marketing who owns and operates the AR series formerly referred to as the Balance Bar Adventure Racing Series, said company has decided not to renew its title sponsorship.

Assuming a new sponsor steps up Octagon intends to bring the series back in 2005 though time is short. Keep your fingers crossed.

If any of you are rich and would like to put your name on this series contact Lauren Pelletreau at Octagon. However, if you're just digging for more information sit tight as they intend to update the site (www.balancebaradventure.com) as soon as more information is available.

According to their website the race will be back in 2006. Quote from General Manager Natalie Pelland:

We are very disappointed to postpone the event but we couldn't take the risk to hold it in this financial context. The raid will not take place this year. Everything is already in place to have the event next year.

In place of the Raid, the company is now offering the Urban Ukatak to be held February 6th during the Winterland in Ottawa festival.

More at http://www.ukatak.com.

It gives me a warm fuzzy to be able to announce the addition of some great new content to go along with the all new checkpointzero.com. We are now the exclusive online syndicating partner for all AR related interviews produced by EnduranceRadio.com.

These guys are really onto something. They're interviewing athletes, event promoters, vendors...you name it...across the full spectrum of endurance sports. These interviews are available via audio streaming, download or in PDF format.

Tim Bourquin has gone out of his way to hook us up with a filtered list of just those interviews that relate to adventure racing. You'll find links to the two most recent interviews on our homepage for your convenience.

A detailed race report is on my list of things to do, but until I get to that here's a quick summary...

Litespeed read the course directions too fast (insert irony here) and got DQ'd for traveling on a prohibited road. Cotton sweatpants on a 20+ mile paddle equals frozen booty. Might Dogs got mighty sick. Tony Berwald's father-in-law bet me $1 that Team Checkpointzero.com wouldn't finish the race 5 minutes after I met him for the first time in my life. I owe him $2 because I went double or nothing around midnight.

GoLite was renamed GotLost after spending 4 hours looking for a trailhead every that every other team tripped over. Someone fell in the lake and got wet. There was a big teepee, but no indians that I could see. A bunch of support crews sat around waiting for a long time. It got dark, people got cold, they dropped out. Team SEAR won, NADS got second, Racemetrics.com/Switch took third.

Congratulations to each and every team that even started this race. As always NGAR has proven to be one of the toughest going. You've got moxy for even trying. Props to Tony and Beth for dedicating their lives to raising a pet seal and putting together such an exceptionally rare experience for all of us to enjoy. Thanks also for letting me and Mrs. Yak crash at HQ.

I've uploaded 120 pics so far. I'm still editing and hoping to get more uploaded later tonight or in the morning. It may take a couple days to get through all of them.

To buy prints click on a thumbnail to view the larger preview and then click the "Add to cart" button below the image. Prints are available in 3 sizes and finishes.

If you've ever visited this site before today then God willing you've noticed that it has changed...dramatically. I've spent that last two months gradually rewriting the back end (ColdFusion/Fusebox) and redesigning the front end (XHTML/CSS) for the sake of performance, standards compliance, scalability and aesthetic appeal. I hope you like it.

The very blog you are reading is new. The forums are still in the shop, but will be back soon and actually put to use this time around. I removed a few pages that weren't getting any play and did away with the dropdown menus altogether. The links page is a bit tidier though I will likely overhaul it entirely in the near future. The events calendar is partially complete. Look for about 500% more listings and enhanced search capabilities within a week or so.

You will also notice that there are quite a few things missing. The registration, login and racer profile tools are hidden for the short term as I'm not quite finished updating them. When they return it will be easier than ever to register, sign up for the all new weekly news digest, login, manage your profile and so on.

By all means please email me and let me know what you think or at least send me a joke or recipe.

FYI - don't forget that the 2004 Subaru Primal Quest will be aired on CBS on January 23rd. Check local listings for times in your area. Be sure to queue it up on Tivo if you're going to be out. Don't have Tivo...well then you're up the proverbial creek now aren't you? Lets just hope you got a Tivo'd friend or one of them VCRs my parents told me about :-)

Racing Ahead, Inc. based in Bethel Maine is one of the premier race promoters in the country. Run by the AR power couple Tracyn Thayer and Norm Greenberg, Racing Ahead produces some of the most popular and challenging events on the eastern seaboard. They've recently announced their 2005 schedule featuring the return of the Mountain Sports Festival Adventure Race in Asheville, the Appalachian Extreme in their hometown (an AR World Championship qualifier), the New England AR Series and a slew of training events. For more information and to read about Tracyn and Norm visit their site at http://www.racingahead.com.