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.

Hopefully by now you've noticed that we've posted the 10 top ranked teams on our homepage. We'll be getting updates from USARA as the rankings change (monthly) so you won't have to look any further than your favorite AR site to know who's on top and who's dropped.

Today from Troy at USARA we have a short statement announcing the first official rankings:

The USARA National Ranking System is making it's debut in 2005 and it's time for the first set of monthly top 10 nationally ranked teams . It is exciting to see these teams slugging it out for a top slot and the competition will only heat up as the year continues. Congratulations to the 10 top ranked teams in the country for March 2005. If you have not registered your team for the USARA National Ranking System visit www.usara.com and register, there is no cost.

Some of you may have noticed an interruption in the syndication of our headlines via the AR Newswire over the weekend. The outage came about when the syndication provider's hosting company attempted to move their operations from one data center to another.

In theory moves like this should be transparent to the outside world...if it's done properly. Clearly this move wasn't handled properly. I've spoken to all parties involved and they have informed me that they are already working on mirroring the service so the in the future it will continue to operate off one of two duplicate server farms even if the other gets nuked.

If you're like me the only thing that will convince you either way is to go and see for yourself. If this kind of mystery is your cup of tea then you ought to volunteer to help out at the upcoming Smoky Mountains Adventure Race.

They're looking for a few good anyone to fill a wide range of open positions. In addition to solving one of life's little mysteries you'll also receive a shirt, food and a $150 credit towards any future Raceday event.

For more information or to sign up call Beth Berwald at 770-592-7977, email her at bberwald@racedayinc.org, or go online to www.smokymountainsar.org to fill out the volunteer form.

Occam's Razor is a principle stating that the simplest explanation is usually the right one. While there is no official news regarding a future Primal Quest or Eco Challenge, speculation guided by Occam's Razor would seem to indicate we should not be expecting either one this year.

Regarding Primal Quest:

1. It's freakin' March and there has been no announcement.


2. The 2005 Raid World Championship is scheduled for September...the same month as Primal Quest...which would force top teams to choose, unlike like years past. On it's own this may not mean much, but I know the folks at Saga d'Aventures who are behind the Raid and they are shrewd businessmen (and women)...September was no coincidence.


3. The number of people telling me that they've been told directly there will be no Primal Quest is mushrooming every day...either they're all wrong or news has already been leaked.

As for Eco:

1. It's freakin' March and there has been no announcement.


2. The ever charismatic Barry Siff recently interviewed Mark Burnett for an article to be printed in one of the next couple issues of ASM. If Eco were immanent you'd think we'd have already seen this piece to lay the groundwork for an Eco comeback. My guess is that article will make the case for an event sometime in 2006...see below.


3. Forget The Donald...Burnett is all tied up with The Martha. I don't see him splitting his time between the high priestess and adventure racing.

Disclaimer: Keep in mind all of this is just one Yak's opinion...and we all know what opinions are like :-)

For those of you who didn't happen to catch my earlier post about my car being broken into in Florida a couple weeks ago...it was...guilty party made off with an Alienware laptop, iPod and other assorted gear (the loser even stole my toothbrush).

Fortunately for me, Mrs. Yak made sure long ago that our homeowners insurance policy would cover such a turn of events and it looks like I'll be able to replace everything no problem.

As such I've spent the last few days shopping online for the right laptop. I've settled on a Powerbook. This will be my first foray into the world of Mac OS X after about 14 years of Winblows.

I realize this inconsequential tidbit is not even remotely related to AR in any way, shape or form, but I really don't have anything that is to share with you just now and hey...a blog with nothing on it is not a blog...

If you we're planning on winning the upcoming Smoky Mountain Adventure Race you better stop reading this and go do some more training.

A little birdie tells me that Patrick Harper (Team Montrail) and Dan Barger (race director behind the Cal-Eco series and Primal Quest) will be competing...Patrick as 1/3 of Team Explorer and Dan with Team Subaru.

That Patrick and Dan have decided to travel all the way from the left coast for SMAR on top of GoLite's recent appearance at the NGAR says a lot about adventure racing on the east coast in general and Raceday, Inc. in particular. Tony Berwald has always been known for designing long, tough courses. His events are typically characterized by difficult navigation and a management style that leaves nothing to chance. Looks like more and more racers are taking notice.

Be sure to say hi to Patrick and Dan before the start...that's likely the last time you'll see them from the front :-)