Both British teams in this year's event finished successfully but 'the problem is too much race and not enough adventure ' says the race founder
Brits Team
9feet.com finished a great seventh place in the 2001 Eco
Challenge in New Zealand won by the Americans Team
Salomon/Eco-Internet.
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Top Brits - Team
9feet.com
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The 9feet.com web site may no longer exist - it's now amalgamated
with Cotswold Outdoors - but the team that still bears their name
marches on, though it seems likely that they'll be looking for a new
sponsor for next year.
Meanwhile, the only other British team competing, Team
Microsoft/Asite/Maritz, which featured On The Hill Magazine's
news and gear editor Steve Watkins, crossed the line in 41st
position. That may not sound earth shattering, but in a race this
hard, it's still pretty good going and we say well done Steve and the
rest of the team.
Best quote of the race came from runners-up Team PureNZ.com member
Nathan Fa'avae describing the effects of sleep deprivation: "I went
through the Dark Side and saw Darth Vader himself...a nightmare."
Finally, race founder and director Mark Burnett is reportedly
rethinking the race format for the future, telling a group of
journalists that the emphasis on brute speed over the course has made
the race "a little clinical for me," he said, becoming too much like
"a crazy off-road triathlon."
He is apparently concerned that producing a course that will
challenge the current crop of top teams will result in an event that
very few others are capable of even completing.
The result may be a format where teams are put in situations
calling for more decision making and practical problem solving
perhaps with raft-building elements or more varied route finding in
contrast to the present point-to-point course, where teams follow the
same trails.
Meanwhile members of some of the top teams were complaining that
the race has been neutered by safety measures introduced to protect
less experienced teams. "We're losing a sense of adventure to protect
less experienced teams," said Michael Tobin of the race-winning team,
Salomon/Eco-Internet of the United States.
"The problem is too much race and not enough adventure," concluded
Burnett, so expect to see some changes for next year. Some might surmise that the pendulum has swung back too far after last year's Indonesian event in Sabah, which left many competitors at risk from unpleasant tropical infections and was thought to be one of the reasons behind the choice of New Zealand as the venue for this year's event.
For more information on this year's race, see the official Eco
Challenge web site.
