INSIGHT RACE ACROSS AMERICA
THE WORLD'S TOUGHEST RACE
Robert Langley
What do we do when we try to define or make sense of something really big? How do we explain and communicate to others something that they have no real context for? Well, we chunk it up, we try to make it smaller, we look at the minutia in the hope that we can reduce it to something we can hold, that we can weigh or measure in order to relate to. In other words to steal a phrase, How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.
The Insight Race Across America is just such an elephant. So vast, so expansive, so unfathomable that when those who have witnessed it, participated in it, try to convey it they are at a loss for words and instead lean towards conveying it one bite at a time in statistics, measurements, spreadsheets, and fun facts. And, there are enough of them: total miles (3,043), number of days (8-10), vertical feet climbed (110,000), average speed (12 mph –15 mph), top speed (70 mph), highest temperature (120 degrees), lowest temperature (below zero), average speed decay (7 mph), calories consumed (10-15000 per day), hours slept (2hrs per day), time zones crossed (4), number of states crossed (14), attrition % (50%).
Reach out and try and fathom some of them; try and gain a context to relate to. Reach into the ether and begin to try and grasp RAAM through numbers and statistics and measurements and you will fail.
Still the numbers are provocative and set ones mind to churning and when the churning is done and the initial disbelief lingers, we start trying to grasp for perspective. So we do as Outdoor Magazine did in 1993, we make comparisons to find relativity. Outside Magazine, the biggest and most popular magazine on outdoor sports, commissioned a panel of experts to rank the world’s toughest events. Using such criteria as the “Mule Factor”—the distances involved; the “Forum”—how tough the course is; the “Anguish Index”—how hard the competitors have to work to convince themselves that what they’re doing is only mildly insane and self-destructive; and the “O Factor”—a combination of the cost to do the event and the drop out rate. Given these criteria, as judged by a number of multi-sport athletes and observers, the ranking came out as follows:
- Race Across America - 676.2 points
- Vendee Globe Around-the-World Sailing Race - 675.0 points
- Iditarod Sled Dog Race - 417.5 points
- U.S. Army’s Best Ranger Competition - 402.5 points
- Raid Gauloises Wilderness Competition - 399.0 points
- La Traversee Internationale (25-mile swim) - 301.4 points
- Badwater 146-Mile Cross Country Run - 113.4 points
- Hawaii Ironman Triathlon - 67.2 points
It makes for good copy, however, the bravado in comparisons smacks of egotism and creates barriers. It doesn’t bring us closer to a connection with RAAM or to each other. Let’s face it, all of the challenges on the list are formidable and worth celebrating and are not served justice at the bottom of any list.
When we know the numbers and we’ve made our top ten lists and we’ve described the challenges and the tests and all the ways RAAM can get you, we are still left grappling. In the end we discover that the statistics, reduce RAAM to numbers, the comparisons to ego, the brutality of sleep deprivation, hallucinations and physical pain makes us question it outright. For all these vantage points have us missing the point all together.
To understand RAAM, to capture its essence, we must recognize that RAAM speaks to our souls not our heads. It speaks to the desire in all of us to Quest, to seek and explore ourselves, to respond to our inner yearnings, to have a cause active in our lives, to seek something sacred in ourselves. RAAM provides us an opportunity to step into the unknown in faith and hope. To test ourselves and to discover the truth that challenge is an opportunity and not punishment and that ease and comfort can take us only so far. We want to be challenged and tested because we want to discover who we are and how far we can go. In the end understanding RAAM is to understand our own humanity.
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Post Race Reports/Articles
Read post race articles from Oliver Moore of the Globe and Mail, Danny Chew of RaceAcrossAmerica.org, and Race Crew commentary. Read More.
A Note From Kevin on Day 6
I must say I am both humbled and appreciative of each of your comments. They mean so much to me providing much needed energy to myself and my team. Read More.
Dedications
As the endless miles attack Kevin's legs and soul, he'll draw strength from
thoughts of these eight courageous women. Read More.
Kevin's Message
I would like to thank my friends that are not on my crew during the race but have been part of the crew in preparation. Read More.
The Quest
Team Race makes it official. Our intent is to break the Mens SOLO RAAM record. Read More.
Kevin's Gear List
I am packing some last minute items on the eve of flying out to start line and I am overwhelmed with gratitude. Read More.
Kevin's Reflection from RAAM 2004
To compete in Race Across America (RAAM) was a dream come true. Read More.
The World's Toughest Race
Still the numbers are provocative and set ones mind to churning, and when the churning is done and the initial disbelief lingers. Read More.
RAAM DNF - The Noble Defeat
Today we will explore some of the DNF Dragons that have seduced, cajoled, and downright wrestled past RAAM riders to give up. Read More.
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