Primal Quest: The heated race continues

 

Primal Quest Utah has now entered its third day.  Over the race's first two days, the 365 athletes from 20 nations have competed in temperatures reaching 104 degrees, riding horses, mountain bikes, and riverboards in the Green River, trekking across the desert, and hiking through Utah's notorious slot canyons.  The lead teams have covered roughly 200 miles; the teams at the back of the field are more than 75 miles behind. Gordon Wright sends us this from the race course.

This year's Primal Quest is so hot, so hard, and so long that race organizers have been largely concerned with what could go wrong. While heat stroke, dehydration and horseback riding injuries are relatively rare in most adventure races, they are real concerns in this one, as well as the more common issues such as injuries, exhaustion and logistical challenges.

This anxiety has been largely mitigated by the fitness of the competitors and the planning of the race staff.  Astonishingly, only two teams have dropped out: Team Utah and Team xxTreme US.  Both drop-outs bring surprises: Team Utah would seem to have a home-town advantage, but quit due to blisters and exhaustion.  Team xxTreme US is largely comprised of Navy SEALs — notably hard men who were undone by injury.

"I don't think you could reasonably take 400 people off the streets — or even out of a gym — stick them in the desert for two days and expect them to survive," said Primal Quest Course Director Don Mann.  "But these athletes are so fit they're not only surviving but making good progress."

Amid all the concern over the extraordinary heat and the capriciousness of the horses, a race broke out.  Four teams ran and paddled neck and neck all throughout Day Two, never getting separated by more than twelve minutes.  Among the leaders is Team Nike/Powerblast, the odds-on favorite led by defending champions Mike Kloser and Ian Adamson. Two teams led by women are also among the leaders: Team Merrill/Wigwam, captained by Robyn Benincasa and Team Spyder, captained by Danelle Ballangee.

What makes that top grouping interesting isn't just that they're led by women, but that Benincasa and Ballangee are former teammates of Kloser and Adamson.  The reasons for Ballangee and Benincasa leaving their male teammates and starting their own teams are many, and while the racers proffer respect, hard feelings remain.

There is still more than 200 miles of racing to go - and the lead teams have logged only four to six hours sleep in more than three days.  But what is clear is that the ghosts of teammates past are dogging Team Nike, and it doesn't look like they're going away any time soon.

Farther back in the pack, the pace was more stately, and the camaraderie much more present.  Team Pedro's Boulders was preparing to launch its kayaks into the Green River for 35-mile paddling leg when field correspondent Bob Heady caught up to them.

Iona MacKenzie was stuffing her backpack into her kayak's hatch and painfully recalling Sunday's horseback section. Her horse stepped on her foot and broke a toe; she didn't realize the seriousness of the injury until the beginning of the eight-mile riverboarding segment.  She was 108 miles into the race, and she couldn't pull her swim fin on.

MacKenzie's teammate Charlie Kharsa gave her one of his fins, which was a couple of sizes bigger, and that "solved" MacKenzie's problem. 

Kharsa now had one fin that was two sizes smaller than his foot, but if anyone in the race could shrug it off, it's Kharsa, who several years ago completed a riverboard voyage down the length of the Grand Canyon on the Colorado River.

Team Semper Fi was also transitioning from riverboard to kayak.  A group of U.S. Marine officers, the team has already made a large impression on the race.  Blowing away stereotypes, the Marines are far from taciturn and decidedly not buttoned-up.  In fact, they seem to be having a blast amid all the misery.  One of the team members entered the riverboarding segment by tossing his board into the Green, sprinting down the beach, and hopping onto it for an impressive display of skim-boarding.

Brian Chontosh, who was awarded the Navy Cross for valor in

Iraq in 2003, is reveling in a challenge that doesn't involve being shot at.  Chontosh and teammate Kevin Saunders are both captains, and therefore lower-ranked than married team members Majors Sarah Fullwood and James Fullwood.  When asked whether or not he and Saunders were getting along with their superiors, Chontosh joked, "We don't want to be anywhere near them — Kevin and I paddle together and plot against them."

This joking, fun-loving attitude has become a trademark for a group of competitors who, despite the gravity of their occupation, do not take themselves seriously. Chontosh also asked Heady to send a message to front-running Team Nike/Powerblast, "We've been taking it easy for a couple of days — and we're about to put the hammer down."

The merry Marines paddled away, 62 miles behind Nike, but with tremendous spirit. 

Semper Fi.

Stay with Adventure Beat for the latest from somewhere in Utah's desert stretches.