Eco-Challenge (Courtesy Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Eco-Challenge: The Expedition Race was a multi-day expedition length adventure race competed by teams of four.

Eco-Challenge was created by Mark Burnett, inspired by an L.A. Times article about Gerald Fusil's Raid Gauloises adventure race in Costa Rica. After purchasing the rights from Fusil, Burnett launched the Eco-Challenge with the goal of becoming the world's premiere adventure race.

Each team comprised of a mandatory mix of both men and women, raced non-stop, 24-hours a day, over a rugged 300-mile (500km) course, participating in such disciplines as trekking, whitewater canoeing, horseback riding, sea kayaking, scuba diving, mountaineering and mountain biking. Teams orginally consisted of five members, but the team size was reduced to four members early in the event's history.

The first Eco-Challenge was held on April 25, 1995 in the Utah desert and was held each year in a new locale until 2002. Burnett recently noted that he did not intend to hold another Eco-Challenge, but had considered selling the rights to it. In contrast, other expedition-length races, including Primal Quest continue to be held.

Each Eco-Challenge was broadcast on cable television. The 1995 Utah race was shown as a 45 minute feature, produced by and broadcast on MTV. The 1995 Maine/New England event was broadcast in segments as part of the X-Games broadcast on ESPN. Starting in 1996, Eco-Challenge was recorded on film rather than video, and each the production enjoyed a significantly expanded budget. The 1996 British Columbia production, broadcast on the Discovery Channel won an Emmy Award. In 2001, the USA Network agreed to a two year contract to broadcast the Eco-Challenge. USA declined to renew the show after the 2002 Fiji race.

Although long out of print, the 1996 through 2001 Eco-Challenge races were released on VHS. Utah, Maine and Fiji were never officially released in the United States. Copies of the races are occasionally available on auction websites such as eBay . Copies of the episodes not commercially released may be found on commercial websites such as iOffer .

Eco-Challenge Events

• 1995 Utah
• 1995 Maine/New England (as part of the X-Games X-Venture adventure race)
• 1996 British Columbia
• 1997 Australia
• 1998 Morocco
• 1999 Argentina
• 2000 Sabah, on the island of Borneo
• 2001 New Zealand
• 2002 Fiji

Trivia

• The first Eco-Challenge took place in 1995. 53 teams entered and only 17 complete teams finished. First place HP and Second place Team Nike completed the nearly 250 mile course in just over 7 days. In 2006, the Primal Quest adventure race returned to Utah, following a similar course; Nike won the event, covering nearly twice the distance in the time as required to complete the 1995 event.

• Hayden Christensen, his brother Tove and his sister Hejsa competed in the last Eco-Challenge in Fiji. They were in last place for most of the five days they were in the race and then dropped out.

• Two teams of Playboy Playmates competed in the Eco-Challenges in Sabah and Fiji. Both times, the team included Playboy models Danelle Folta and Kalin Olson.

• A team of reality stars also competed as a team in Fiji. Team Mad River included Tim Beggy (Road Rules season 2), Adam Larson (Road Rules season 10), Jenna Lewis (Survivor: Borneo), and Ethan Zohn (Survivor: Africa)

• The Navy Seals had to be rescued soon after the Playboy Playmates in the Eco-Challenge Sabah. They were in a flotation raft and had to be rescued in the water.

Sources

• This article incorporates text from Eco-Challenge.us released under the GFDL license

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