Moab – The course statistics are nothing short of mind-numbing. For more than 350 competitors in Primal Quest Utah, wrapping up outside of Moab today, the wish is that they were equally foot-numbing – not to mention legs, back, shoulders, stomach and arms.
The conditions competitors in Primal Quest Utah faced during the past 10 days are virtually impossible to convey on paper. Traveling upwards of 425 miles through some of the least hospitable conditions in the desert southwest two weeks after summer solstice, racers dealt with elevation swings from 3,933 feet to 10,539 and debilitating temperatures well above 100 degrees for days on end. Hydration was all but impossible, and the nourishment required to sustain the effort required to race was equally difficult.
“It’s like being in a sauna with all your clothes on, riding an exercise bicycle and stuffing your mouth full of wool,” competitor Ian Adamson of Boulder said about attempting to eat during his six days of racing.
In short, the race qualified as the Mother of All Suffering, causing even the world’s best competitors to question just what Primal Quest organizers had in mind when they designed the arduous event through a climate accurately described as deadly.
The unwritten rule in expedition adventure racing demands that each race be a little more difficult than the last. But already the Primal Quest faces an uphill battle. The race – which proudly claims status as the most arduous on Earth – was forced to take a year off in 2005 after the death of Australian Nigel Aylott in September 2004 because of a rock slide on the course in Washington state led to sponsor withdrawals and resignations by the top two Primal Quest officials.
The decision to host the return race in a summer environment best suited to rattlesnakes and scorpions has been criticized by competitors.
“It’s not adventure racing anymore. It’s adventure suffering,” said Monique Merrill of Breckenridge, Adamson’s teammate on race champion Nike/Powerblast. “It just seems like they are getting harder and harder for all the wrong reasons. The thing that got me into the sport was having to push your limits, you know, like kayaking something you couldn’t do alone and things like that. Not it’s just ‘how long can you endure,’ or ‘how much weight can you carry in 115 degrees?’ You want to be positive and have a good attitude, but it’s hard.”
The real risk of seeing another racer die on the course came closest to reality when Ryan Van Gorder of Team DART-nuun collapsed on his bike in downtown Moab after suffering heat stroke and had to be airlifted to a hospital in Grand Junction with a temperature of 105 degrees. His temperature was quickly brought under control, although he remained in intensive care through the weekend.
“I think the sport is facing a big challenge,” said Tom Giese of Chicago, whose Yamule team was forced to drop out of its first Primal Quest after one member succumbed to the effects of dehydration. “It needs to be packaged in a way people can understand it better. If all they see is people dying, I think they will be dismissive of the sport prematurely and say, ‘These people are just fools.’ They won’t consider or understand why we are so passionate about this sport.”
