Primal Quest

Fixing a sail to the kayak just before the start of Primal Quest 2003.

Primal Quest is North America's Premier Expedition adventure race that has been called one of the most difficult athletic events in the world and was cited as the most prestigious expedition event in North America.[1] Co-ed teams of four trail run, mountain bike, kayak, climb, rappel and mountaineer all while navigating all under their own power. The race has been successfully revived after a short hiatus. Each race lasts up to ten days, with winning teams completing the course in approximately six-eight days.The race once featured the largest prize purse in adventure racing.[2]

Each team is required to carry a GPS monitoring device (without offering navigational assistance) which allows race organizers and spectators to track each team real-time via the Internet on the Primal Quest website primalquest.org.

Race history

The first Primal Quest was held in 2002 in Telluride, Colorado. In 2003, the race moved to Lake Tahoe and 2004 featured a course on Orcas Island, in the State of Washington. CBS broadcast highlights of the race in 2003 and 2004 with a full feature episodic series on OLN. Primal Quest was the first expedition adventure race to be featured on major network television.

In June 2006 Primal Quest was hosted in the Utah desert . Disciplines included mountain biking, trekking, horseback riding, technical rope skills, mountaineering, kayaking and white water swimming. Primal Quest Utah was broadcast internationally as four one-hour episodes on ESPN2 and a one hour recap and finale on ABC Sports. Subsequent races took place in 2008, Montana and 2009, South Dakota with episodes on Outside Television.

2015 Primal Quest returned to beautiful Lake Tahoe and featured again on Outside Television. The 2017 edition will take place for the first time in Canada - British Columbia.

Previous races

2001 Telluride

  1. SoBe/SmartWool - became Nike ACG/Balance Bar in 2003
  2. Team Montrail
  3. Team GoLite

2002 Lake Tahoe

  1. Nike ACG/Balance Bar
  2. AROC
  3. Team Seagate

2004 Orcas Island

  1. (tie) Seagate; Nike ACG/Balance Bar
  2. Holofiber

2006 Moab Utah

  1. Nike PowerBlast
  2. GoLite/Timberland
  3. Merrell/Wigwam Adventure

2008 Montana

  1. Nike
  2. Merrell/Zanfel Adventure
  3. Bones

2009 Badlands South Dakota

  1. OrionHealth.com
  2. Salomon/Crested Butte
  3. Merrell/Zanfel Adventure

2015 Lake Tahoe California

  1. GODZone
  2. Bones
  3. Journey

External links

Notes

  1. Leadership in the Wild, Forbes, June 26, 2006, p. 37
  2. Primal Quest to return in '06, possibly through Colorado; Adventure racing's premier event could bring unprecedented TV deal, Summit Daily News, August 4, 2005, P. C1
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