ADVENTURE RACING
ADVENTURE COMPETITIONS
Adventure Racing, also known as Raids, Quests and Multisport includes sprints of a few hours through Expeditions of many days. Natural terrain obstacles such as mountains, deserts, rivers and oceans are common. Teams of 2, 3 or 4 use any means of non-motorized transport to navigate distances up to 1,000 km or more. Sprint Adventure Races were popularized in the 1980’s and 1990’s introducing man-made obstacles, fewer disciplines, less equipment and shorter distances. Originally popularized by the Raid Gauloises, Eco-Challenge and The Amazing Race.
Follow live coverage of Adventure Races around the world at AR LIVE COVERAGE
A Brief History of Adventure Competitions
Download a history matrix here
1921 Sea to Summit Adventure Race (Seattle, USA)
1968 Karrimor International Mountain Marathon, OMM (UK)
1980 Alpine Ironman (NZL)
1982 – 2004 Wildtrek Spring, Summer and Winter Classic series (AUS)
1982 – Current Alaska Mountain Wilderness Challenge (USA)
1983 – Current Coast to Coast and TV show (NZL)
1989 – 2008 Raid World Championships / Raid Gauloises (Worldwide)
1995 – 1997 ESPN X-Games (USA)
1995 – 2002, 2019 Eco-Challenge World Championships (Worldwide)
1997 International governance structure proposed for Adventure Racing (Ian Adamson et al)
1997 – 2000 HiTech Sprint US national series (USA)
1997 – 2004 Outdoor Quest Multisport World Championships
2000 – 2004 Balance Bar Sprint US national series (USA)
2000 – 2010 Muddy Buddy / OCR US national series (USA)
2000 Discovery Channel Adventure Race (NZL)
2001 Discovery Channel World Championship Adventure Race (SUI)
2001 – 2004 X-Adventure Raid World Series
2002 – Current: Primal Quest worldwide
2004 – 2010 Adventure Racing World Championships produced by Southern Traverse Ltd*
2007-2010 Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge
2011 – 2022: AR World Championships & ARWS produced by Geocentric Pty Ltd*
2012 – 2023 GODZone, New Zealand
2014 International AR governance restarted with IORF (Joe Desena, Adamson et al)
2015 – 2022 Geocentric Adventure Racing World Series (ARWS)
2016 – Current Adventure 1 **
2021 – Current Adventure 1 World Cup
2022 – Current Adventure 1 World Cup Final, True West Adventure Race
2023 – GODZONE Expedition Racing World Championships
2023 – ARWS produced by Adventure Racing World Series LLC
* Southern Traverse Ltd received backing from the Discovery Channel in 2000 when Eco-Challenge broadcaster changed to USA Network. They renamed the event the Discovery Channel Adventure Race and again in 2001 to the Discovery Channel World Championships Adventure Race. The event was taken over by Australian event management company Geocentric Pty Ltd in 2011 adding to their portfolio of commercial races. Adventure Racing World Series LLC assumed ownership in 2023.
** A1 National Series, A1 World Cup and A1 World Cup Final includes races of 24 hours and up. The organization is structured and operates as a not-for-profit run by volunteers with no events fees or revenue.
24-hour Adventure Racing: swim, bike, run, kayak, navigate, obstacles, $200,000 prize purse
THIS IS ADVENTURE
Expedition Alaska: A1 World Cup USA
Eco-Challenge: The World’s Toughest Race, $150,000 prize purse
Raid Adventure Racing World Championship: the Original Team Expedition Race, $345,000 prize purse
Primal Quest Expedition Race: $250,000 prize purse
Adventure Stage Racing: the Outdoor Quest Adventure Stage Racing World Championships $200,000 prize purse
HiTec Adventure Racing Series: 9 races, 300 teams of 3 per race, run, bike, kayak, obstacles “special tests”
A (MORE) COMPLETE HISTORY
The following is a comprehensive, unabridged, history of adventure compeitions including references.
What are Adventure Competitions?
Adventure Racing (also called Raids, Quests and Multisport depending on the region) are timed “multisport” races that include two or more sport disciplines. Events commonly last from several hours to a weeks in length. Most events require teams of 2 or more people, often coed (men and women racing together on the same team), and some include solo categories. The principal disciplines in adventure competitions include racing on foot, bike, boat, although races may include orienteering, marine navigation, climbing skills, parachuting, scuba diving, horse riding, skiing, sailing, white-water rafting, other skills and non-motorized means of transportation.
Early Races
The earliest documented adventure competition is the Mount Baker Marathon (WA, USA) which ran in 1911 – 1913 and inspired the Ski to Sea Race, which includes cross-country skiing, downhill skiing or snowboarding, running, road biking, canoeing, cyclocross biking, and kayaking.
Modern adventure competitions can be traced to the two-day Karrimor International Mountain Marathon, first held in 1968. Now known as the “Original Mountain Marathon”, OMM requires two-person teams to navigate mountainous terrain while carrying all the supplies required to support themselves through the double-length marathon run.
In 1980, the Alpine Ironman was held in New Zealand. Individual competitors ran, paddled, and skied to a distant finish line. Later that year, the Alpine Ironman’s creator, Robin Judkins launched the better-known Coast to Coast race which includes trail running, cycling and paddling.
Australia’s 2-day WildTrek ran from 1981 through 2004 with 2-person teams competing in Nordic Skiing, orienteering, wild water kayaking, mountain, and road cycling. The race evolved into the Spring, Summer and Winter Classic series, adding ocean kayaking, flatwater kayaking, windsurfing, and beach running.
The first expedition-length adventure race, a week-long, North American event called the Alaska Mountain Wilderness Classic debuted in 1982. The Classic allows only wilderness travel and no support teams. Less than 30% of its 150-mile length is on trails.
One of many multisport television show competitions was Survival of the Fittest (1974-1997) , created by IMG founder Mark McCormack. This was a multi day stage competition for invited world class and Olympic athletes that included skills common to contemporary adventure, obstacle, and multisports. Competitors included adventure race champions such as Rebecca Rusch (USA), John Howard (NZL), Steve Gurney (NZL), Pat Csizmazia (USA), and Ian Adamson (AUS).
The Golden Years
In 1989, the modern era of adventure competitions arrived with Gerald Fusil’s launch of the Raid Gauloises in New Zealand. Inspired by the Paris-Dakar Rally, Fusil envisioned an expanded expedition-style race in which competitors would rely on their own strength and abilities to traverse great and challenging terrain. The race included all the modern elements of adventure racing, including mixed-gender teams competing in a multi-day 400+ mile race. The Raid Gauloises became the Raid Adventure Racing World Championships which included a World Series, the “Raid World Cup” and ran until 2006. Building on Fusil’s concept, the inaugural Southern Traverse was held in 1991.
In the early 1990s, Mark Burnett read an Los Angeles Times article about Raid Gauloises and was inspired to compete and bring the race to the USA and promote the race as a major televised sporting event. After purchasing the rights from Gerald Fusil, Burnett launched the first “Eco-Challenge” race in 1995. Burnett promoted his event with Emmy-award-winning films (tapping the talent of Mike Sears to produce the films for the first two events). This incarnation of Eco-Challenge was last held in 2002 when Burnett shifted his focus to Survivor, the Contender, the Apprentice and other reality-based television shows. With the Eco-Challenge also came the name “adventure race”, a phrase coined by journalist and author Martin Dugard, to describe the class of races embodied by the Raid and Eco-Challenge. Eco-Challenge race reports can be found here: 1995, “Eco-Challenge 1996”, “Eco-Challenge 1997”, “Eco-Challenge 1998”, “Eco-Challenge 1999”, “Eco-Challenge 2000”, “Eco-Challenge 2001”, “Eco-Challenge 2002”, “2019 Eco-Challenge Results”, “USA Network 2001 Eco-Challenge Finish”, “2001 Eco-Challenge Video”. Team members of Eco-Internet (aka Salomon, Green Peace, Vail, Nike) won every race from 1996 through 2001.
Multi-day stage races took off and established adventure competitions in Asia when the Mild Seven Outdoor Quest launched in 1997 in China. This race was created by IMG’s Nick Freyer and was the first race to offer a $200,000 prize purse. The format and money attracted elite adventure racers, triathletes and endurance athletes. The last MSOQ was produced in 2004 in Malaysian Borneo. All races aired on ESPN Star Sports. MSOQ race reports and information can be found here: “MSOQ Sabah”, “1999 MSOQ”, “MSOQ Photos 1997-2001”, “2000 MSOQ”, “2003 MSOQ”, “2003 MSOQ NPR”, “2004 MSOQ on ESPN Star Sports”, “2004 Outdoor Quest on Mountain Zone”, “2004 Outdoor Quest on SleepMonsters”.
In 2002, Bill and Denise Watkins (of Seagate fame) launched the Subaru Primal Quest, the richest and adventure race to date, with a $250,000 prize purse. Echo Entertainment produced the show, now available on Amazon Prime. Primal Quest ran in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2015 to 2018. Team Nike (Mike Kloser, Ian Adamson, et al) won every edition and shared the 2004 win with Seagate (Nathan Fa’avea et al.)
EVOLUTION OF THE SPORT
Sprint Adventure Races were popular in the United States from 1997 to 2010, with national series and championships like the HiTec (“HiTec Adventure Racing Series”, “HiTec AR Series”, “HiTec 2001”, “HiTec images”), Balance Bar and Muddy Buddy (“2001 Muddy Buddy”, “Muddy Buddy review”, “Muddy Buddy Boston”, “Muddy Buddy 2009”, races attracting 1,000 or more athletes to each event. Muddy Buddy started as a sprint adventure racing series in 1999 with trail running and mountain biking, and was later branded as a mud run and Obstacle Course Race as these races gained popularity. Sprint races and the Outdoor Quest introduced man made obstacles called “adventure skills” in 1997 and these were adopted to some extent by Obstacle Course Races.
The 24-hour race format was popularized by the Balance Bar 24-hour Series and championships and many other stand-alone races emerged in the 1990s and 2000s. Each Balance Bar series race paid out $25,000 in prize money.
In 2001, Southern Traverse Ltd owners Geoff Hunt and Pascale Lorre held the Discovery Channel Adventure Race World Championships held in Switzerland with Team Nokia Adventure crossing the finishing line first. The concept of a world championship lay dormant until it was revived in 2004 by Southern Traverse Ltd and Frontier Adventure Racing as the Adventure Racing World Championships, at Canada’s Raid the North Extreme. Nike ACG Balance Bar won the inaugural competition. The race was taken over by event management company Geocentric Pty Ltd in 2011, and by Adventure Racing World Series LLC lead by Heidi Muller in 2023.
THE BEST OF ALL TIME?
Adventure Racing is a team sport, so the question might be which is the best team of all time? Since competitions were originally driven by television shows and subsequently by event management companies, eligibility rules required to on national teams have not existed until now. As a result, teams commonly included athletes from more than one country, and many teams have a rotating roster of members. A few individuals stand out, all of whom raced with spectacular teammates. Below is a selection of athletes who raced against each other in international championships. Events listed are first place finishes:
- John Howard (active 1980-2000): 3x Eco-Challenge, 4x Raid, X-Games Gold & Silver
- Ian Adamson (active 1984-2006): 3x Eco-Challenge, 3x Primal Quest, 2x Raid, 2x ARWC, X-Games Gold, Silver and Bronze
- Mike Kloser (active 1998-2019): 3x Eco-Challenge, 4x Primal Quest, 2x Raid, 2x ARWC
- Nathan Fa’avae (active 1999-2023): 2x Eco-Challenge, 1x Primal Quest, 9x ARWC
Athletes with wins and podium finishes across multiple international championships include (in no particular order): Marc Balskovic (FRA), Steve Guney (NZL), Rebecca Rusch (USA), Neil Jones (NZL), Emma Rocha (ESP), Myriam Guillot (FRA), Jacky Boisset (FRA), Chris Forne (NZL), Monique Merrell (USA), Stuart Lynch (NZL), Sophie Hart (NZL), Danelle Ballengee (USA), Kristina Anglem (NZL), Richard Ussher (NZL), John Jacoby (AUS), Jane Hall (AUS), Andrea Murray (NZL / USA)
Modern Adventure Racing
Adventure Racing went into decline starting in 2007 when most of the major international races and the associated media, advertising, and sponsorships left the sport. The last major race with international broadcast was the 2004 Raid Adventure Racing World Championship, which wrapped up in 2006, ending 18 years of world series and world championship races. Up to that point world championship races and series, the Raid, Raid World Cup, Eco-Challenge, Outdoor Quest, Primal Quest, and Balance Bar Series’ paid over $950,000 in prize money each year. These events supported more than 100 teams worldwide that competed in the “Majors.”
The AR World Series (ARWS) originated from the 2001 Discovery Channel World Championship Adventure Race and was codified as the Adventure Racing World Championships Series in 2004 with seven international adventure races. This was an alliance formed by Southern Traverse Ltd and Jeff Langford’s Frontier Adventure Racing and included: Southern Traverse (NZL); Raid the North Extreme (CAN); Expedicao Mata Atlantica (BRA); Appalachian Extreme (USA); The Beast of the East (USA); Adventure Quest (RSA).
Adventure 1 Series (A1) launched in 2016 as a shorter, more cost efficient option for athletes without the resources or desire to compete in the longer, more expensive Expedition races. A1 includes national series, a World Cup circuit, World Cup Final, and World Championships. The impetus for Adventure 1 was to get more people involved in the sport by providing an entry level format.
Over 1,000 teams applied for 66 places in the 2019 Eco-Challenge “World’s Toughest Race” when it returned after an 18 year hiatus for it’s 10th show season, rekindling global interest in Adventure Racing. The event was held in Fiji on a course substantially the same as the 2002 event and is available on Amazon Prime. Nathan Fa’avae returned on on Team New Zealand for his second win, joining multiple winners Ian Adamson (USA 3x 1st, 2x 2nd, 1x 3rd), Mike Kloser (USA 3x 1st, 1x 2nd), John Howard (NZL 3x 1st, 1x 3rd), Keith Murray (NZL 3x 1st, 1x 3rd), Andrea Murray (NZL 2x 1st), Sarah Ballantyne (USA 2x 1st), Neil Jones (NZL 2x 1st, 1x 2nd). Second place Team Canada Adventure included Bob Miller, Scott Ford and OCR World Champions Ryan Atkins and Rea Koble. Third place team was Team Gippsland Adventure (AUS) with Rob Preston, Kathryn Preston, Tim Boote, Aaron Prince, and Patrick Howlett. Aaron Prince’s mother Vivan Prince won the 1996 Eco-Challenge on Team Eco-Internet with Ian Adamson, John Howard, Keith Murray and Robert Nagle. Full results of the 2019 race are available here.
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