I did one - the Red Bull Divide and Conquer. Unfortunately, it only lasted two years, and I only got to do it once. The divide and conquer referred both to having to conquer crossing a continental divide multiple times, and having to divide the tasks up amongst team members to conquer the race. I ran up the a mountain outside Silverton, CO to a parajumper. This “run” required the use of ropes and a helmet. Originally, we were required to have climbing gear, but enough snow melted that they could relax the rules. My teammate then jumped off the mountain and landed along the Los Animas river. (They changed the course at the last minute. It was supposed to be a two mountain leg.) Our kayaker then did 20-something miles of river, most of it class V, to our mountain biker near Durango. The mountain bikers then climbed 3000 feet in a few miles, and rode a serious trail to the finish.
The hardest part of the race may have been forming the team. Our mountain biker was the guy who found out about the race. Except he got sick. We ended up getting a professional at the last minute. He came in second in his leg. Our parajumper was to be a friend of mine, and the mountain biker’s, but he broke his leg just before the race. We ended up with one of his friends, who did not have racing gear and came in dead last. The kayaker we got on line. He was in more than he could handle, and came down in the rescue raft. I was 10th, out of 17, which I was still proud of. I was ninth to the top, and got passed coming down which I could handle. I was the first guy over 40, probably over 33.
It was fun, but it is not for the timid. My favorite memory was climbing up a steep pitch, in and out of snow at about 13000 ft, stopping to wipe sweat out my eyes because I was pushing so hard.