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Photo: Tommy Baynard
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With these basic ingredients, Mark Burnett – executive producer of the television hit, 'Survivor' – has created the toughest expedition race on Earth, the Eco-Challenge®.
This year's race takes place between August 20 and September 1 in the remote jungles of Sabah, Malaysian Borneo.
But the spirit of this arduous event goes beyond the simple notion of winning and losing.
"Eco-Challenge is so much more than a competition about who gets to the finish line first," said Burnett.
"The philosophy is about working together and overcoming huge team-dynamic-based problems as a group – in harmony, and reaching the goal together."
Though he preaches peace, Burnett shows no sympathy when addressing this year's Eco-Challenge participants,
who have paid $12,500 per team to enter the race.
"There is no excuse for showing up in Sabah with team dynamic problems, the wrong shoes, a 70-lb pack,
poor navigation skills or inadequate gear," he wrote in a pre-race letter. "Use your resources and be prepared to race."
Because they cannot rely upon outside assistance, competitors must comply with an official mandatory equipment list,
which includes medical supplies and climbing gear.
Most teams estimate the supplies necessary to seriously compete in the Eco-Challenge cost at least $30,000.
But organizers have had no trouble attracting participants in record numbers for Eco-Challenge 2000,
the seventh in the race's six-year history. For the first time in three years, officials allowed open registration to any team.
The allotted first-come, first-served spots for US teams were filled in 59 seconds;
international teams filled theirs in just two hours.
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