The Denver Post
recreation
Colorado injects extreme elements
Adventure racing evolving into intense competition in which athletes need supernatural skills
By Scott Willoughby
Special to The Denver Post
Tuesday, July 13, 2004 -
Consider it the evolution of sport. Or perhaps the evolution of adventure. But even the sport of adventure racing is not immune to evolution, and Colorado is providing the missing link.
When producer Mark Burnett brought the first Eco-Challenge Expedition Race to Utah in 1995, he was onto something more than the hit television series "Survivor" he has since become known for. And while the intra-team tiffs, whining and back-stabbing he so famously documented in those multiday adventure epics ultimately morphed into their own Emmy Award-winning television, the reality of adventure racing has taken a decidedly different tack - manifesting itself most recently in Colorado as the Red Bull Divide and Conquer.
Set within the dramatic backdrop of Colorado's San Juan Mountains, the four-sport mountain relay race held last month began at 9,300 feet in Silverton, with trail-runners ascending 4,000 more over 7 miles of dirt, rock and knee- deep snow up the side of Kendall Mountain. From there the baton (a silver painted rock) was passed to paragliding teammates who climbed the remaining half-mile to the summit, flew down 1,100 vertical feet over the course of a mile, then hiked up another 200 vertical feet before unfurling their wings for a 3,000-foot high- speed death spiral toward the banks of the Animas River.
White-water kayakers then took the helm, racing through 27 miles of numbingly cold Class IV and V rapids punctuated at the finish by the notoriously demanding Upper Rockwood Box, a 2-mile gorge of Class V white water, vertical walls and few eddies. At the takeout, the boaters shouldered their kayaks and sprinted up a steep, narrow path where they handed the silver stone to a mountain biking teammate. The bikers started out of the gate (elevation 7,200 feet) with a 3,000-foot climb in the first 4 miles, continuing for 23 more technically demanding miles and a total vertical ascent of 6,280 feet before finishing at Durango Mountain Resort.
"I'd have to say that was the toughest race in the U.S.," said professional adventure racer Mike Kloser of Vail, whose Team ACG/Balance Bar won the event in just less than eight hours. "What they threw at us at this thing was grueling."
New set of skills required
While the rigorous demands of Colorado's extreme elevation and unforgiving terrain long have been recognized by ultra-endurance athletes in events such as the Leadville 100 foot race and the 2002 Primal Quest Adventure Race in Telluride, the Divide and Conquer is among the first adventure races to introduce a full set of skills representative of the state's extreme sports. The four events at the Divide and Conquer reflected a race unsurpassed in the technical demands placed upon adventure racing competitors in the past, and the challenging individual disciplines represent a progression of the sport some say is overdue.
"The difficulty of this course isn't something you typically see in adventure racing," said ACG/Balance Bar's winning kayaker, Mike Freeburn of Durango. "This is a whole different level. Winning at this level is something to relish because it's so hard to do."
Kloser and second-place kayaker Kamil Mruzek of the Czech Republic said the Divide and Conquer was a more demanding race than the event it serves as qualifier for, the 17th annual Dolomitenmann race in Austria in September, billed as "the world's toughest team relay race." Team ACG/Balance Bar, including runner Michael Tobin and paraglider Othar Lawrence, will compete in the Dolomitenmann race.
"This was the most technical race I've ever taken part in," said Mruzek, defending Dolomitenmann and World Cup wild-water kayaking champion. "The kayak leg was six times longer and much harder than the Dolomitenmann race."
Most events remain tame
But it remains to be seen whether such events are genuinely pushing the sport of adventure racing to a new paradigm or simply are serving as an outlet for elite athletes to showcase a unique skill. And for the throngs of newcomers heading to the starting line every year, the technical challenges facing the upper echelon are unlikely to become a factor in their weekend outings anytime soon.
The standard set of skills comprising an adventure race typically amounts to four primary disciplines: paddling, mountain biking, foot travel (running and navigating or orienteering) and rope skills (usually rappelling). The extent each skill is employed is determined by individual race directors, the length of the race and surrounding geography. Adventure races usually are categorized as sprint (less than eight hours), 24-hour, stage races (such as relays) or expedition length (multiday epics like the Eco-Challenge).
The most popular by far, according to Troy Farrar, president of the Austin, Texas-based U.S. Adventure Racing Association, are sprint races, attracting roughly 50 percent of the estimated 60,000 adventure racers in the United States this year.
"That Red Bull race is sort of like a purple zebra. Paragliding is a really specialized skill that you won't see in a lot of races. As a promoter trying to make a living, if you get really specialized, you are eliminating the pool that can come out and support your race," Farrar said. "The sprint races are the most popular because they are the most beginner-friendly. Organizers try to design a race for the whole population to come out and do, and it's smart to start with shorter ones to get the numbers up. It's like running: A lot more people can run a 5K than an ultra-marathon."
Colorado training ground
According to Farrar, the most popular states for adventure races are Texas, Florida and California - large states with warm climates. Colorado ranks in the top five and "is coming on strong," he said.
Perhaps a more accurate measure of Colorado's clout in the adventure racing world is the strength of its teams. Boulder-based Team Salomon (Adam Chase, Darrin Eisman, Sylvia Corbett and Bill Dean) is the reigning USARA national champion and, according to Brian Metzler, editor of Boulder-based Adventure Sports magazine, six out of the top 10 teams in the magazine's rankings are based in Colorado or have Colorado athletes on the team. The strength of local competitors may qualify Colorado as an anomaly when it comes to the skills employed in adventure races.
"These races tend to involve the outdoor skills that people in Colorado are used to - trail running, mountain biking, paddling and climbing - so we're starting to see standard events morphing into a bigger, faster, more kind of thing," Metzler said. "Different twists are being added to challenge athletes and to have a more unique event than the next guy down the road."
Will Newcomer, president of Durango-based Gravity Play Sports Marketing, is among organizers facing the challenge of testing athletes while sustaining mass appeal among budding adventure racers. His 4-year- old AdventureXstream race series added an expedition-length event to its five-race schedule this year, but has yet to enter the technical realm of the Divide and Conquer.
"Adventure racing as a whole probably won't go that technical, but those extreme events will probably continue to grow to satisfy the demands of elite athletes looking for a harder challenge," Newcomer said. "That's the way these sports evolve - marathons become triathlons, then Ironmans and adventure races. The Divide and Conquer is a progression of that too. It's all going to keep moving forward and hopefully get people involved in less mainstream events like paragliding and kayaking, just getting people outdoors and enjoying those activities."
Upcoming adventure races
In an effort to grow and celebrate the sport, the U.S. Adventure Racing Association is promoting National Adventure Racing Week, Saturday-July 25. Nearly 20 adventure races are scheduled nationwide during the week, including the Beaver Creek Adventure Racing Weekend complete with clinics and beginner races. Information adventure racing opportunities in the region are listed below:
Saturday-Sunday
Balance Bar 24-Hour Adventure Race|Beaver Creek,
www.balancebaradventure.com, 970-845-9090
Sunday
Beaver Creek Adventure Sprint Race|Beaver Creek,
www.active.com, 970-845-5293
Aug. 7
AdventureXstream Adventure Series Race #3|Breckenridge,
www.gravityplay.com, 970-259-7771
Aug. 8
Copper Mountain Adventure|Copper Mountain,
www.emgcolorado.com
Aug. 20-21
Cody Mountain Man Race|Cody, Wyo.;
www.codymountainman.com, 307-587-1942
Aug. 21
Denver Oyster Urban Adventure Race|Denver,
www.active.com
Aug. 27-28
Wastach Adventure Race|Park City, Utah;
www.highmountains.com
Sept. 11
AdventureXstream Adventure Series Race #4|Vail,
www.gravityplay.com, 970-259-7771
LungBuster Adventure Race|Pagosa Springs,
www.lungbuster.com
Sept. 25-26
Fifth annual Kokopelli Adventure Race|Grand Junction,
www.emgcolorado.com
Oct. 6-11
The Expedition Adventure Race|Moab, Utah;
www.gravityplay.com, 970-259-7771
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