Eco Challenge Hits Fiji, So Does Keith...

A quick reminder that this year's Eco Challenge in Fiji begins this Friday, October 11 with 75 teams battling it out over 500 kilometers of wilderness terrain.

Competitors will be 'bushwhacking through dense jungles, mountain biking on rugged trails, paddling down jungle rivers, trekking on ancient pig hunting trails to remote villages, climbing fixed ropes up raging waterfalls and exploring the uninhabited islands' it says here.

Among them will be Team The North Face Kona including TNF's very own marketing manager Keith Byrne as well as Aero Engineer Pete James, Arborist Normon Dunroy and full-time adventure racer and freelance journalist Anna McCormack, who was only just not quite tough enough for the SAS.

Never one to miss the chance of a soundbite, Team Captain Byrne commented: "The North Face views adventure racing as the Formula 1 of the great outdoors and gives us the opportunity to test product prototypes from our Spring 2004 collection and pass on our feedback to the designers".

Come on Keith! We know that in reality it's just your idea of a good holiday. Six to twelve days of yomping through the jungle without sleep? It's a beach...

If you want to know what's happening over in Fiji, you'll be able to follow the action on adventure race web site Sleepmonsters. Meanwhile we're reliably informed that you're able to not only follow the race live on the official Eco Challenge web site, but you can also send messages direct to the teams involved which will be read out to them as they race...

Frankly the mind boggles, but we've got a challenge, think of a truly inspirational message for Keith and The North Face boys and girl and we'll send it to them from OUTDOORSmagic...