THE ECO CHALLENGE IS NOT MAKING THE LIST
Cindy Maddera
Chris and I were still living in that weird house apartment in Chickasha when we discovered the Eco Challenge. We were instantly hooked and watched it every year as long as it was aired on TV. Over the years, we became attached to various team members. We had our favorites that would return every year and if one didn’t show up we would worry about them. We were captivated by their stories and the reasons for doing this grueling challenge. One year, we rooted for Team Couch Potato, an American team made up of four out of shape and inexperienced racers. They had all watched previous races and just decided to give it a try. We cheered every time they made a check point minutes before the cutoff time. In 2000, the race was in Borneo. That race ended up being the most brutal of races. We cried as we watched as some of our favorite racers had to give up due to injuries and I roared as Robyn Benincasa led her team to victory that year.
I sat on the couch and cried my way through the entire Fiji 2019 race on Sunday. Amazon has re-booted the Eco Challenge with Bear Grylls as the host. There were new teams and new stories, but some of the old teams were back too. Those were the stories that reached into my heart and squeezed the hardest. Many of those older racers where now doing this race with their grown children and the pride and joy in the voices of the older racers as they talked about how much it means to them to be back and doing this race with their kids, filled me up. The story of Mark Macy and his son wrecked me. Mark Macy has been adventure racing his entire life. We watched him race in Australia, Argentina, and the wretched Borneo race. Mark Macy had planned to run Fiji 2019 with the same group he’d done all of those other races with, but a year before the race, he was diagnosed with Alzheimers. Mark’s son had planned to run the race on his own team, but after his dad’s diagnosis, they decided to do the race together. It was awe inspiring but brutal. Alzheimers not only takes away memory. It also messes with balance and even a tight rope walker would have struggled with their balance in this environment. There came a moment during the race when they had to decide to call it. Watching Mark Macy struggle with the decision to quit was gut wrenching. He looked at the camera and said “If I’m not adventure racing, I don’t know who I am.” Just typing that brought me to tears.
Every year when Chris and I would watch the Eco Challenge, we would talk about what it would be like to do that race. Could we get ourselves in shape enough to complete the Eco Challenge? I mean, we couldn’t do any worse than Team Couch Potato. As I watched the Fiji race, I found myself contemplating that same question once again. That evening, Michael and I went on a short bike ride. I struggled to keep up with him and I kept reminding myself that our bikes are different. His was made for speed. Mine was made for tooling. Still, it was disheartening. Forget the Eco Challenge. I need to get myself fit enough to not struggle on a simple bike ride. I can do that and really, I could probably get myself fit enough for the Eco Challenge. In fact, I want to get myself fit enough for those things, but I don’t actually want to do the challenge. Fiji did a number on those racers’ bodies. Injuries, infections, running on little sleep. Mud so thick, it clogged up mountain bike wheels. One section of the race put everyone in danger of hypothermia. None of that sounds appealing to me. The next Eco Challenge is in Patagonia and the altitude alone is probably going to kill some people.
That’s why the Eco Challenge is not making my Life List. The idea of that kind of torture does not spark any kind of joy. Though, I will tell you that number 23 is ‘slow dance with Andrew Bird’. So I better start training now for that one.