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

41 year old Eduardo Delgado Rosas of Mexico drowned Thursday during the second stage of the Extreme Adventure Hidalgo. Rosas was swimming across Laguna Azeteca when he was seen disappearing under the water by a racer from team Smartwool Mexico who was swimming nearby.

The swim was only 1 kilometer...some teams finished in just 30 minutes. Racers were not required to wear PFD's, but were to stay within 100 meters of one another. Reports seem to indicate this rule was not enforced and most teams spread out quickly.

More information as it is made available by race management.

Liam Neeson narrates OLN's coverage of Primal Quest - "The World's Most Grueling Adventure Race." Primal Quest airs on OLN from Saturday, February 26th - Wednesday, March 2nd at 10:00 PM ET/PT. More than 50 of the world's most competitive adventure sports teams will compete for the Primal Quest crown after trekking, biking, kayaking, climbing, and mountaineering themselves across 400 intense miles of the United States Pacific Northwest. The grueling and dangerous race can last up to ten days and participants rarely get to rest or sleep. Viewers will share in their triumphs and failures and the exhausting mental and physical challenges of the sport.

It's been busy around here lately...lots of great content...some from promoters, vendors and teams we haven't heard from before. This is great news for two reasons.

First, it helps us provide all of you with more of the great content you crave...which is the sole reason for our presence on this, the 3rd rock from the sun.

Secondly, it means more and more of the newsmakers in the AR world are taking advantage of our position in the AR community...which means the 3 years I've put into this site so far may finally be starting to pay off...ok that's not great news for all of you necessarily, but it makes it easier for me to sleep at night :-)

For those of you out there with news releases or race reports that aren't sending them in you're missing out the best thing going when it comes to free publicity.

Every article we published is not only featured on the homepage until bumped by newer content (and seen by over 1,500 visitors a day), but we're also indexed by Google several times a day...which means your press release, editorial or race report will help attract the eyeballs of those Googlers searching on keywords contained therein. Oh ya...we're also closing in on 50+ AR related sites syndicating our headlines.

Thanks a ton to all of you that have helped make checkpointzero.com what it is today by sending us content and helping to spread the word by putting the AR Newswire on your site.

As for the rest of you...it's never too late to get on board. Send your press releases, race reports, editorials, jokes and recipes to yak@checkpointzero.com.

20 is how many hours I spent in the car driving to beautiful Spring Hill, Florida to cover the 2005 Swamp Stomp. 1,100 is how many miles I covered round trip. 5,000 is the number of dollars worth of the computer and camera gear that some a@#hole stole out of my car while I was taking pictures at the Weeki Watchi Wilderness area.

All in all not a great weekend. I shot the start and a few hours of the first trekking leg, unloaded the pics to my laptop and drove to the river. I packed up my gear and hiked maybe a half mile down to the water and shot for about 3 more hours. When I returned to my car it had been cleaned out.

While frustrating these things do happen. God willing my gear will be replaced by insurance. Unfortunately that won't make up for not being able to bring home a couple thousand pictures of such a well run and competitive race through such a unique and beautiful landscape.

The 6 or so hours of the race I did manage to follow could not have been managed more professionally or come off any better than it did. Kudos to Kip, Jessica and Shawn along with the entire WeCeFar crew for making it happen.

I've got some pics that were actually on the memory card in my camera. I should have those uploaded tonight. As for the race the only info I've got so far are the top three finishers.

Congrats to:

1. Mighty Dogs
2. Tally Ho
3. ASM

Heading out the door to drive to Spring Hill, FL for the Swamp Stomp. If I can get online you'll have reports from Patagonia as I get them along with pics and updates from the Swamp (time permitting)...if not, you won't...until I get back Sunday.

Go play outside...see you Monday.

Quick...name the big corporate sponsors behind the ongoing Patagonia Expedition Race in Chile? Ok that's a hard one 'cause those companies are all Chilean. The point is the race isn't named after the 800lb gorilla with the fattest checkbook...Chilean or otherwise.

Quick...name the TV network that will be broadcasting the Patagonia Expedition Race? Ok that's a trick question 'cause it's not being post-produced into a reality-drama for the unwashed masses. You probably assumed it was because over the last few years it seems that is the whole point of promoting a true expedition length race.

Quick...name the last expedition race that didn't include roller blading? Ok that's an easy one 'cause clearly I'm about to make a point about the Patagonia Expedition Race.

So what is the point. Well Rob Harsh from Team Fukawi (as in Where The Fukawi) said it best when he was interviewed by our intrepid reporter Lisa in her latest report from the end of the world (sounds like a Douglas Adams book doesn't it). I won't bore you by quoting him since you've already read the report or are doing so now :-)

Essentially Rob makes the point that for the first time in a while we have a race put on for the sake of racing...not to prove who's the best in the world or to sell ads or bring adventure racing to people who may have a fleeting interest...or not. This is a very long and very hard race located literally in one of the most remote regions on earth. A very windy, remote region.

After the death of Eco (look it's just not coming back so get over it), the transformation of the Raid into a much needed and very well run pro series, the media angle of Primal Quest (and the recent uncertainty about it's future) it's nice to see such a well organized and truly awe inspiring race survive it's own growing pains to provide such a rare and unique experience. These guys have put on a world class event in a breathtakingly beautiful locale. Ok they only got 11 teams who didn't pay a penny and so maybe this ain't the best business model in the world, but it's got that old school vibe and that is a breath of fresh...wind.

The United States Adventure Racing Association officially launched it's new National Ranking System today. In a nutshell you get points for each USARA sanctioned race, weighted by length...see site for details.

Each month the top 10 teams will be listed in ASM and right here at checkpointzero.com. Top ranked team as of October 1st goes to Nationals for free.

Look for the first top 10 list towards the middle or end of March.

Bryan of Team Newcastle Ltd./Mt. Crested Butte talks about the CBS broadcast of Primal Quest, training, team dynamics and plans for 2005. These guys are going to be busy...AdventureXstream series, SPQ, Raid...you're going to be seeing them a lot. Links are on the homepage.

If any of you would like to be interviewed (hint: your sponsors will love this) or know anyone who might email Tim at EnduranceRadio.com.

Just got off the phone with Lotta Richter of Saga d'Aventures in Paris. She was gracious enough to provide some insight into the first known case of an adventure racer testing positive for doping.

First off all it is important to note that Saga has put a lot of thought into their drug testing policy. They decided some time ago that the issue was important enough that any world class race promoter must take a position on it and that clearly the only responsible position must be that the use of performance enhancing drugs or techniques is simply not tolerable.

They decided further that it is necessary to enforce that position by way of testing. To be sure that they instituted a program that would be fair and credible they sought the advice of the IOC (International Olympic Committee) who educated them as to the state of modern drug testing technology, policies and standards. Based on what they learned, Saga contracted IDTM (International Doping Tests & Management) in Sweden to provide drug testing services for each of their events around the world. They are one of only 4 companies that provide this service on a global scale.

Lotta went on to explain that a "positive doping control" does not mean that the athlete necessarily tested positive for the practice of blood doping, but only that there was a violation of some kind. In fact the specific details of the violation are known only to IDTM, Saga d'Aventures and the athlete who was notified before a public statement was made.

I asked why the results were only now being reported when the race and test were conducted in mid-December. According to Lotta the turnaround on the test takes some time and when the positive result came in, Saga once again sought the advice of the IOC as to the right way to handle notifying the athlete and about public disclosure.

You can read the details of the anti-doping rules at the Raid World Championship in the Rules and Regulations (PDF).

The bottom line is that as adventure racing grows and as we see more six figure payouts for winning the big races there are going to be some athletes looking for an edge to put them "in the money" and some will be willing to do whatever it takes. Barry Bonds anyone?

Kudos to Saga for being on the right side of this issue. A drug scandal doesn't do much to help the sport, but the fact that athletes are being tested goes a long way towards establishing a standard of professionalism at the highest levels of competition.

After being disqualified from the 2004 Raid World Championship for "seriously un-sportsmanlike behavior" it looks like team AXN Nike from Argentina has got a whole new problem to deal with.

There is a very short news item posted on the Raid site stating that team member Nadia Michel has tested positive for doping.

I can't be sure, but this may be the first time an athlete has tested positive for any form of performance enhancing drugs or practices in the history of adventure racing.

I'm working to get more details from the Saga d'Aventures, the event promoter based in France...stay tuned...er...browsered?

The Patagonia Expedition Race is fast approaching. We'll be bringing you periodic reports and photography thanks to the very talented Lisa de Speville of Johannesburg, South Africa.

You may remember Lisa's work from our coverage of the 2004 Subaru Primal Quest. After traveling half way around the globe and in the face of the tragic death of Nigel Aylott, Lisa provided us with insightful commentary and in depth reporting not found anywhere else. Look for more of the same as she follows the action in Punta Arenas, Chile.

In addition to a succesful career as a freelance journalist Lisa also finds time run the very popular South African AR site http://www.ar.co.za.

EnduranceRadio.com has added Realplayer and Windows Media to the list of formats they support. Links to the latest interview with former pro adventure racer Andy Petranek are posted on the homepage.

A friend emailed me a link today...a link to a website about an adventure race...at least my first impression was that I was looking at a website for an adventure race. There were a few shots of a pickup truck mucking its way over some narly terrain, but I figured the point was to show off the course.

"The event will consist of navigating through miles of trails, forest roads, leech infested swamps, and haunted forests; sometimes in the dead of night, by compass, with longitude, latitude, and dead reckoning skills by vehicle , by bike, and on foot. Paddling through crocigator infested lakes."

So far so good...an adventure race...my kind of adventure race...excellent.

"And running up to a dozen special events including: bridge building, paint
ball obstacle course, food challenges, etc."

What the @#$%?

The thing is there's nothing wrong with driving your Jeep through the mud, whacking opposing racers with a paintgun, eating 6 hotdogs and then rappelling down a waterfall. It sounds like a blast. I'm for as much of this kind of fun as possible.

What gets me is we're seeing more and more "special tests" and alternate disciplines in "adventure races"...and I'm not just talking about the Raid North Georgia "contest"...in fairness they don't even call it an adventure race...I'm just picking on them to make a point :-)

Last month the World Team Challenge, billed as an adventure race, had teams building catapults out of 2x4s to lob oranges down a football field. Remember the Rubics Cube at the Hi-Tech series? We all know how Nathan from Seagate and others feel about such things as rollerblading and scooters. Not big fans.

So what's the point? So what if there is a proliferation of events that on the surface look like an adventure race, but also include gimmicks, games or "special tests" like baking a pie or talking about your feelings? Who cares what you call an event or what disciplines are included if it's fun and people want to do it?

Anyone who appreciates adventure racing for what it is (read was)...based on it's legacy...the Raid, Eco, Elf, etc...ought to at least give passing thought to what the world will be like when all races are 24 hours or less because that's more convenient for everyone. When courses are designed to allow for spectators. When disciplines that have as much to do with adventure as an accordion has to do with hunting are added to "spice" things up or to create photo ops...wait that's already happening. You get the idea.

I used to play paintball professionally. Yes there are professional paintball players. The thing is I saw what happened to paintball between the time I quit (1995) and when I started playing again (2002) and I gotta tell ya...it ain't pretty.

Most of you think of paintball as being played in the woods. It's not...not anymore. Tournaments are now played in arenas made out of nets strung between telephone poles so fans can watch. Instead of 10 man teams playing in the woods you now have 5-7 man teams playing in a box, hiding behind inflatable bunkers, using paintguns that sling 15+ balls a second.

The sport is faster and games are over quicker. The fans love it. The guys making paintballs really love it. It looks great on TV, you can play more games in a day, you can even sell refreshments. But is it a better game? Is it more fun? Is there as big a difference today between a good player and an average player or is one guy with a paint hose just as good as any other guy with a paint hose?

The truth is noone ever talked about these things...they just happened as paintball manufacturers and event promoters searched for ways to make more money. I see the same thing happening to adventure racing. The business angle is influencing the sport. That's bound to happen and it IS a good thing. The problem is that without the active involvement of the racers in guiding this evolution there is no telling what it will look like in 5 years. Hell, there isn't even a definition of the sport today that any two people will agree on.

Every year more and more events that look less and less like what I would call an adventure race are using that moniker. Before long anything that takes place outside that doesn't already have a name will be called an adventure race and we'll all wish the sport had never gotten so popular.

I'm very interested in this subject as I am continually advised to branch out and start carrying content on events that I would not describe as adventure races. By all means please email me and tell me whether I'm an idiot or if I'm on to something.

Just a quick note on the recent press release about the Jeep World of Adventure Sports. The episode mentioned includes the Red Bull Divide and Conquer...which is sort of an adventure race...actually a relay, however later in the year the series will again air coverage of each event of the Raid World Cup and then the Raid World Championship which is being run in the Swiss, Italian and French Alps this year.

Just thought I'd make sure we all understood why we should all care about the show...at least so far as adventure racing is concerned :-)

I'll be leaving Greenville on the 18th to head down to central Florida for the Swamp Stomp. This is one of the few 24 hour races in the southeast and by all accounts it's a great one. This years race will see over 50 teams slogging through the gator infested, palmetto choked swamps north of Tampa...just for the fun of it :-)

WeCeFar is behind the race...same crew that will be designing this years USARA Nationals course. For those of you hoping to make the cut this race is a great opportunity to sample the terrain you're likely to encounter in November and get inside the head of the race directors.

We won't be making soup like we did at NGAR, but will be taking pics (I'm getting better...I'm taking a class...I swear) and writing up a race report.

See you in the swamp!