I’ve always been a big fan of the EcoChallenge because of the quality of the filmwork. For those that are not aware, this is the event that helped but Mark Burnett (Survivor) on the map.
Anyway, the USA Network is airing it during the evenings and it was a great watch last night. The look and feel is completely Survivor like and fun to watch.
As an added extra, one team is composed of reality television stars (Ethan from Survivor Africa).
Brutal race. I can’t see the amateurs lasting through tonight…
Anyway, just thought I would let everyone know…check it out.
Oh yeah great show! - my GF and I love to watch it on Sunday evenings, usually right after we’ve been out for groceries. Its a running joke between us that “yeah these guys are OK but they’ve never spent the day shopping in Umeda, have they?”
I also love to watch the reruns of the Brazilian team. The way the girls in the team bear out the hackneyed stereotype of ‘hotheaded latino women’ and just gang up on the guy with such ferocity, and blame him for absolutely everything that goes wrong, has me in stitches every time. LOL. C’mon, this team is a deliberate burlesque right?
My mom and I watch this together every year. The Discovery Channel shows it every night for a week, and we watch the tapes on a Saturday. I have already watched it this year, so I won’t tell you who wins, but it is an especially tough race this year, first of all the tikis they have to find, and also because they are allowing the racers to choose thier courses more.
It’s shocking how few actually cross the finish line, andhow long it takes. In previous years the winners were done by about three days in, this year the winners finish around six days in.
Some of my favorite mistakes - “Oh, I forgot to check elevation when we plotted our course, I guess we can’t go straight up this waterfall.” What navigator doesn’t check elevation? (D’OH!)
Also, the military guy who forgot the most fundamental rule of being a leader, take care of your “soldiers”. He pushed one of his guys too hard and they had to drop out of the race. Mark Burnett said it best, the military style of leadership has never worked in this race.
I would love to try my hand at adventure racing, but would need three other Canadians to participate. Sigh, none of my friends are interested.
Oh, BTW, the “toughest” year for the race (as decided by the racers) was the year they raced in BC, (1996) only 17 out of the 70 teams finished.
Did anyone watch it last year, when that one team completely froze out their “leader”?
You must’ve watched the wuss version of EcoChallenge if you saw anyone finish in 3 days. I’ve watched a bunch of these and have never seen anything less than 5 or 6 days for the winners, and twice as long (or more) for the final groups.
Great show. Burnett is a real showman though. Remember the one that had a team of Playmates? Hey, it kept me watching! I really don’t mind the gimicks, since the winners are always amazing athletes. It’s a great challenge that combines skill, intellect, and teamwork.
One of the racers I haven’t seen in awhile is John Howard (I think that’s his name…) He was a tall, bearded guy who used to race with Ian Adamson. I remember seeing the ‘up close and personal’ segment showing his life living in a trailer. He was always in the top 2 or three teams. Last time I saw him, he had trashed his feet, and had to be taken out of the race.
I watched this on the Discovery channel a couple of weeks ago. It was great! Since it sounds like some of you are in the middle of watching it, I won’t reveal any spoilers. cankerist it sounds like you may be watching last years Eco-Challenge. The Brazillian women really pounded on their male team-mate last year, but this year, it’s like he’s hardly there. Where are they racing in the one you’re watching? Last year (2001 actually, but shown on TV in 2002) was in New Zeland. This year was Fiji.
John Mace the Playmates were back again this year. There seemed to be alot of “gimmick” teams this time around. As Synthesis mentioned, there is a team of reality TV people (Ethan and Jenna from Survivor, and a couple of guys from Road Rules or something like that - I’d never seen their show, so I didn’t pay much attention). Also, there was a team with Hayden Christensen (from Star Wars:AOTC) and his brother and sister. They had a fourth guy with them, but I don’t remember them actually even saying who he was. Are there any “qualifying” adventure races to get in the Eco-Challenge, or is it for anyone with the $$ and time?
One thing that ticked me off about the Discovery Channel’s coverage last year is that they revealed who the winner was ahead of time, without any warning! The way they organize the coverage is a 1/2 hour or hour long show about the Canadian teams, and then right after that an episode of the “regular” coverage. Well on the last day it was being aired, during the Canadian team show, they casually mention that Team XXXX is pulling into the finish line as [Canadian Team] is starting some task. So this year I didn’t watch any of the Canadian team coverage at all.
I kind of watch some years, I did watch last night. Is there way more navigation this year? I don’t remember that much time with a map in previous years.
Quick question, are there 3 or 4 people on a team…because for some, there are clearly 4. But then, for some (e.g., the guy from star wars’ team and the team with the first time navigator) there only seems to be 3 people on the team…
what’s the deal?
This year, there didn’t seem to show any amateur clueless people (or maybe I was filling the washing machine when they did). There are the playmates and the reality show team, but they’re gimmicks. I didn’t see any people off the street who have almost no clue, but thought it would be cool to try groups. I love watching them. They (and a whole lot of money) are what stops me from thinking “I could do that.”
I like the way Burnet allowed the Playmates to continue in the race last time even though they either missed a checkpoint deadline or skipped one of the legs (I think it was the latter). Can’t remember which. Gotta keep the cameras on them!
John Mace - My mistake, 2001 the top three finished in four days, not three
1 63 Team Salomon/Eco-Internet USA 4 days 05 hrs 34 mins
2 29 Team PureNZ.com New Zealand 4 days 05 hrs 55 mins
3 16 Team Spie France 4 days 10 hrs 16 mins
Yes, they seem to have alot more choice this year about what routes to take to get to a checkpoint, so there is alot more navigation. In one section Ian (from team Golite I think - I can’t remember his last name, but he’s one of the best adventure racers around) decided rather than take a long path to one checkpoint, his team would cut straight through the jungle. Now that’s navigating.
There are four people per team. This year seems to have been bad for profiling a team, but ignoring one team member (the Brazilian women who have one man on the team and team “Skywalker” are two examples that spring to mind).
Team Go was featured again this year. They’re self-confessed couch potatoes who last year finished way (like days) behind everyone else. However, they’re very charismatic, which I’m sure is the reason they get featured. The Survivor team were also total novices. The Playboy team were I think all rookies, except for their male team member, who they mentioned was a seasoned adventure racer from Alaska I think.
John Mace, this year, the rules seemed alot stricter about teams not falling too far behind. Many teams had to pull out because they couldn’t make their checkpoints in the required time. I remember one of the teams ended up with something like 8-10 hours to do a bike leg that took the top teams almost 20 hours.
And I want to add for anyone who’s in the middle of watching this year’s competition, the final episode is very exciting, so don’t miss it!
I really don’t like the “Survivorfication” of this race since it moved to USA Network. Cripes, they’ve even got a “Reality Team” this year! Next thing you know, they’ll be seeking out route markers to do silly tasks like sell 5 plates of snails in ten minutes or something like that.
I’ve enjoyed how they have focused on some key people. It has helped to personalize the race more for me.
Also, I’m enjoying the “confessionals” that are strewn in.
Little too much of Mark Burnett, but I can deal with it as long as he doesn’t try to stick his face in every episode of Survivor.
We have a great night of television folks (something I almost never get excited about):
Survivor for an hour and then two hours of the EcoChallenge.
What the HELL was up with that [sub]product placement[/sub] truck ride [sub]buy a Chevy![/sub] down to the beach??? They even had a couple racers say, “Ooh, what a smooth ride…” I don’t know what made me more nauseous, that or the festering foot wounds…
Some cool Medivac’s this year, though I question how serious any of them really were, considering how the show played up such things (like Ian Anderson getting lost at sea when he’s really wandering around on the beach like a nimrod…)
Ya evilhomer, I was burned by the Canadian coverage last year as well.
And the year before by the website! They advertised the website for “extra” features and coverage. So I went to the site and they had the race results on the splash page! Fuq!
With this years EcoChallenge, what was up with the tiki statues at each CP?
MB said they had to get the numbers off each one because they were needed at the end of the race. Were the numbers just to verify that the team found them? Or did they have some other use?
