The Oldest Endurance Adventure Race
Sept. 19 - Oct. 2, 1998
From the Pacific Ocean to the Andes, the ninth Raid Gauloises in Ecuador will take competitors on a physical and mental journey from the tropical sea to the glaciers, from the Amazon to Antisana, from sea level to 6,000 meters over 10 days.

The Raid, started by journalist Gerard Fusil in 1989, is the grandaddy of all adventure races. Taking place in New Zealand, the first Raid course forced participants over 500 km — through the rainforest, the high mountain peaks and varying terrain in between.

River Crossing in Costa Rica [click] Photo:Nathan Bilow

"We got the idea to create a race to take people out of the city and spectator stadiums and come back to nature," said Nelly Fusil-Martin, also a founder of the Raid. "The concept is all about respect and discovery; respect for nature, discovery of another country and discovery of other people."

Raid Gauloises means "French Race." France was formerly known as "La Gaule" and was made up of Gaules (men) and Gauloises (women). The founders of the Raid decided to name it Gauloises because the meaning of the word Gaules has changed from what it used to be.

"When you say, 'he's such a Gaule,' it means he's rude, drinking a lot of wine and chasing women. So we named it Gauloises because it's a bit nicer and there is a one-woman minimum per team," explained Fusil-Martin.

ABOUT ECUADOR AREA: 283,561 sq. km. (roughly the size of Colorado) CAPITOL: Quito POPULATION: 12 million LANGUAGE: Spanish and other indigenous tongues TERRAIN: Coastal plain, Andean highlands (the Sierra), eastern rainforest plain and Galapagos Islands. COASTLINE: 2,237km HIGHEST POINT: Chimborazo, 6,267m CURRENCY: Sucre RELIGION: Roman Catholic LITERACY: 90%

This ninth Raid may prove more difficult than previous races as it adds, for the first time, the element of high altitude. Never before has the Raid been in a location that adds the unique factor of extreme acclimatization to an already difficult format.

Teams will progress by sea kayaking/canoeing, glacier trekking, rappeling, orienteering, horseback and camel riding — and possibly even rock climbing, mountain biking and skydiving. The competitors do not know what the course will demand until the day before beginning the race, so they must be prepared to encounter whatever they may face.

This Raid marks veteran competitor Sylvie Goyet's fifth race. She has spent most of the year preparing for the adventure through her own regimen, and also with her teammates, in the French Alps. Here they add the altitude and glacier elements to their training in preparation for the elevations they will encounter in Ecuador.

"I've never been up to 6,000 meters," said Goyet. "The French Alps don't go that high. I've been to the Mont Blanc, which is 4,808, which is the highest point in Europe. They tell us that 6,000 meters in Ecuador is a bit similar to the 4,800 [elevation] of Mont Blanc because of the latitude difference. I don't know. We'll see, but still, 6,000 meters is a hell of a way to go."

PAST RAID GAULOISES NEW ZEALAND 1989 COSTA RICA 1990 NEW CALEDONIA 1991 OMAN 1992 MADAGASCAR 1993 BORNEO 1994 PATAGONIA 1995 SOUTH AFRICA 1997

Ecuador is located on the equator, which runs through the northern half of the country (thus its name) and is less than 20 miles from the capitol city of Quito. In contrast, Switzerland lies north of the Tropic of Cancer, between the 46th and 47th parallels.

For the 1997 Raid in South Africa, Goyet stepped back from the competition and joined a support team. Being on the outside looking in gave her a different perspective.

"When you compete, you don't realize everything that goes on with it," explained Goyet. "You're just so focused on putting one foot after the other that you don't really understand and realize that whole thing that goes on beside [the competition], and the nightmares that some of the assistance team and some of the organization go through to make sure that all the logistics are there."

New Friends in Patagonia [click] Photo:Nathan Bilow

Teamwork is a fundamental factor in the Raid. According to Goyet, it's no surprise that mountaineer types seem to adapt most naturally. You need to have a cohesive team with members willing to help each other.

"You can see from the team if it's socially well structured and sticks together. If you have a bunch of disassociated individuals that don't really glue together, then again, it makes things more difficult," she said.

And individually, it takes strong people, both mentally and physically, to make up the team. "I think physically, endurance is the key word," said Goyet. "For the mental side of it, to me, you need very balanced people, very calm and mature, very humble people. People boasting around ... usually don't get very far. So [it takes] very humble people, a lot of determination and a lot of will."

Above all, Goyet and her teammates plan to have fun. Sylvie will be filing a race report from Ecuador with The Mountain Zone at the conclusion of the race.

— Michelle Quigley, Mountain Zone Staff