|
 © Discovery Channel |
Founder, Eco-Challenge
| You need a FREE media player to hear the audio |
Most people would think environmental awareness or physical fitness or some other great cause would have been the singular catalyst for the start of the renowned Eco-Challenge expedition competition. But, this was only one facet, there was an aside — the concept of the competition as a full-on, right brained business plan.
"I had two goals in mind when I founded Eco-Challenge," Eco-founder Mark
Burnett says, "one was obviously very commercial. It's a for profit
business and I hoped to make excellent returns on my investment.
Number two, I'd hoped to have a really good time making that money."
 click for [Audio and Transcript] |
And so it was in 1992 that Burnett's dream of starting a fun, yet profitable business came to fruition in the form of Eco-Challenge Lifestyles, Inc. Based on the success of multi-discipline adventure racing in New Zealand, Burnett set out to incorporate the "business plan" with responsible use of backcountry terrain while promoting environmental awareness.
This philosophy resulted from market research Burnett did in early '90s,
from which he learned that "smart business in the '90s and beyond was
about three things...health and fitness, ecology and growth — personal
growth through unconventional experiences."
| click for [Audio and Transcript] |
It wasn't until 1995 that television brought this type of racing to North
America when Burnett produced both the Utah Eco-Challenge for MTV and
the New England Eco-Challenge at the 1995 Extreme Games for ESPN.
And in 1996, Burnett signed a multi-year agreement with Discovery Channel to produce an annual Eco-Challenge expedition competition and a television documentary featuring the event. He has now done this twice, in British Columbia, Canada in 1996 and in Queensland, Australia in August, 1997.
"The television show explains the rules of the race where teams are
pretty cool people but they're not so cool that they don't care and
leave trash behind...all teams carry out their trash," he says.
| click for [Audio and Transcript] |
Before each Eco-Challenge, Burnett organizes a service project at the
selected site. In Utah, 70 tons of recyclable metals in an illegal dumpsite was cleaned up. In British Colombia, a tributary important to
spawning salmon was cleaned and in Australia, over 1700 indigenous trees
were planted in order to re-forest an eroded river bank.
| click for [Audio and Transcript] |
Burnett is now in Morocco, site of the 1998 Eco-Challenge which will include sea kayaking, trekking, canyoneering, mountain biking, mountaineering, climbing, horseback riding and, in its debut, camel riding. Although the course route is still confidential (the first leg will be released to the media on Oct. 4 and the rest on Oct. 6 when competitors will have no chance of seeing it), the terrain includes: ocean along the Moroccan coastline, slot canyons, cliffs, desert and the High Atlas Mountains.
He jokes that he "throws a dart" to select the sites for the races, huge endeavors that require not only terrain varied enough to include all the elements of a great endurance race but that can also handle hundreds of racers, organizers, support people, etc., not to mention the $12 million.
"There is a lot at stake," Burnett says, "you can't just show up in the
middle of the Gobi desert. It would cost $25 million to the race if you
had to fly everything in on 747s, I mean, it's not possible."
| click for [Audio and Transcript] |
It's also super important to know what you're dealing with and Burnett
recalls some of the most dramatic moments of the past three
Eco-Challenges, but the clincher has to be the crocodiles in Australia.
Just a few weeks before the start of the race, after having been assured
of the safety, Burnett had a final survey done of the canyons waters in
which competitors would be swimming.
| click for [Audio and Transcript] |
"We found five 20-foot crocodiles lurking in those rivers... It just shows me that you never know," he said.
As important as the site are the competitors. Unlike skiing or mountain biking, in which the year prior to the championships there are qualifying events, there is no such formula for endurance racers. Burnett says there really is no established formula at this point, but he definitely looks for more than, say, sheer strength. The last thing he wants is for Eco to become like the Ironman, "because it then becomes like a bunch of machines," he says.
"It's a matter of resumes and if they seem on the face of their resumes
like a) they have the appropriate skills and b) they seem to be
interesting, that they seem to have some sort of story about them —
of why they're doing this," Burnett says.
| click for [Audio and Transcript] |
Burnett looks forward to the start of the Morocco race. It will be
different than previous races in that, aside from the "extreme
heat and lack of water," the course will also be reaching elevations of 13,000
feet. With 250 competitors, some are bound to get altitude sickness.
| click for [Audio and Transcript] |
If not already a household name, "Eco-Challenge" continues to gain
momentum. From representatives of six countries in Utah, to 16 or so
countries in British Colombia, to an amazing 27 countries represented
this year, Eco-Challenge continues to grow at an extremely high rate and
it will be no surprise if, in the 1999 Eco-Challenge, Burnett's goal of
teams representing 50 countries is easily met, if not exceeded. It seems
it can be as big as he wants.
| click for [Audio and Transcript] |
 |  |  |
[Eco Home] [Eco People Talk] [MountainZone.com Home]
 © Copyright 1998 The Zone Networkall rights reserved |