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"The production aspect of the Eco-Challenge has certainly grown and become more complex," Mark Burnett said, "but the purity of the race itself has remained the same over the years, and the safety controls have multiplied tenfold. This year we provided a bona fide world championships of expedition racing, and the best teams in the world were here."
 Mark Burnett "This year we provided a bona fide world championships of expedition racing, and the best teams in the world were here." | | One of the difficulties that Burnett faces is constructing a race that is challenging and interesting for the world-class teams, while also providing an obtainable adventure experience for the rookies and less seasoned teams. "That is a real challenge for sure, and I'm working on some ways to solve the problem," he said. "One obvious solution would be to have two races, one for the elite teams and another for those less experienced."
Sabah's exotic and demanding conditions are exactly what Burnett wants in an Eco-Challenge.
"This has been an incredible experience for the racers," Burnett stressed. "The top teams raced through herds of elephants; people saw crocodiles, snakes and monkeys. It was an authentic Borneo experience. Eco-Challenge has to be in exotic, dangerous places full of jeopardy � otherwise, it's not really an expedition race. So I'm very happy with Sabah."
The jungle took its toll on the field, but Burnett noted that actually, a fairly large percentage of the field will finish compared to other Eco-Challenges.
"At the beginning of the race, I said that 80 (percent) to 100 percent of the teams could finish this race, but it was all about the human beings themselves," he said. "This was a very achievable racecourse, and the teams that didn't finish caused themselves not to finish, through their own mistakes. Even 50 percent would be much higher than normal."
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 Mark Burnett "The outdoors is a great proving ground for how people work in groups towards a goal. All expeditions in history have succeeded or failed based upon the human dynamics, and not upon physicality." |
From the beginning of the Eco-Challenge, Burnett has been fascinated by team dynamics, human interaction and problem solving under extremely stressful circumstances.
Always an innovator, Burnett added two twists to this year's Eco-Challenge, and he was pleased with the results.
"For the first time ever in an expedition race, we split the teams during the race into two groups of two: Two had to trek, navigating across an island, while the other two paddled their perahus to a PC and waited," Burnett said. "It was really, really cool, and the racers found it very interesting."
In another first, Burnett included scuba diving as one of the disciplines. "I watched the first three teams come through and do the scuba, and they all loved it," he said. "It was a totally relaxing moment for them in a beautiful place. It was great."
Burnett doesn't feel pressure to innovate for the sake of change, but he wants to make the Eco-Challenge as good as it can possibly be.
"I want it to be a major expedition with a stopwatch," he said. "The Eco-Challenge needs to stand alone as a true expedition race, unlike other things which are adventure races with no navigation."
Asked what intrigues him the most about the Eco-Challenge, Burnett was contemplative and philosophical. "All of my projects, whether it be Eco-Challenge or 'Survivor,' have to do with human beings in stressful situations working in groups to overcome adversity. The outdoors is a great proving ground for how people work in groups towards a goal. All expeditions in history have succeeded or failed based upon the human dynamics, and not upon physicality."
That makes the Eco-Challenge a metaphor for life, and Burnett thoroughly understands the analogy.
"I believe that there are huge parallels between what it takes to succeed in an Eco-Challenge and what it takes to succeed in any business, relationship, or marriage," Burnett insisted. "Eco-Challenge is really a communications seminar on the go."
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