on USA network at 9PM central time. It starts airing tonight and airs each night through Thursday. It repeats at 11PM tonight. There is a team made up of people who have been on reality TV shows including Ethan and Jenna Lewis of Survivor. Here's the gist of it:
Tiki gods and remote, radio-controlled checkpoints? For fans of games and adventure, this may sound more like a scenario from "Myst" than an adventure race. But the Eco Challenge is evolving and its master, founder Mark Burnett, wants to add some new twists to the format and so in this year's race in Fiji he's done just that.
In this age of reality TV, spearheaded by Burnett himself (think Survivor), the novelty of adventure racing is slowly and surely giving way to the demands for entertainment. Teams have become increasingly competitive the past few years, tearing through checkpoints at breakneck speeds and turning this expedition into a sprint. It's been all the organizers can do just to keep up with the lead teams.
Burnett thinks he has a solution, a way to slow the teams down and separate the wheat from the chaff. By slashing his 36 checkpoints (CPs) down to 18 this year, Burnett hopes to take his race back to its roots: a true expedition of navigation which demands brain power and is not simply a race around a pre-determined route.
"Team 13 is Kodak Water & Sport, composed of Anakin Skywalker himself, Hayden Christansen..."
But reducing the number of checkpoints on this 500-kilometer course isn't the only new twist in this year's event. Organizers have added several tiki charms along the course, which must be found by teams as they trek from CP to CP. By writing down the numbers or letters that appear on the tikis, teams will be able to advance later in the race. Missing a tiki will mean missing out on critical information.
Another twist to this year's race involves the maps. Rather than provide detailed maps to eams, the organizers will at times force teams to draw their own maps, thus leaving the route-finding to the navigators. The result should be less "connecting of the dots," and more distance between the teams as they get lost or disoriented in the thick jungle of Fiji.
Eighty-two teams, a full half of which are from the USA, have shown up for this year's race; the usual mix of world-class athletes and media-friendly stories. Team 81 is the Smirnoff Ice Playboy X-treme team, 'nuf said. Team 13 is Kodak Water & Sport, composed of Anakin Skywalker himself, Hayden Christansen, along with his brother and sister. And there's team 54, Mad River. This team is composed of members of Road Rules and Survivor, including Survivor Ethan Zohn.
This year's course includes all the disciplines you'd expect from an Eco-Challenge, including the bikes, boats, mud and ropes that should look great against the backdrop of spectacular Fiji.
With the new twists and challenges of this ninth running of the Eco, expect some surprises in this year's race - including a smaller field at the finishline and the wrath of little tiki gods. Check back each day for the next week and a half and we'll have all the insider information and photos you've come to expect from MountainZone.com, and maybe some surprises none of us could have expected.
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