August 22: By the numbers
By Dan Morrison

Now that the 1997 Eco-Challege is over, here are a few statistics to ponder:

The fastest team finished in 5 days, 19 hours, 46 minutes
The slowest team finished in 10 days, 4 hours, 28 minutes
48 coed teams of four competitors started the race
29 teams officially finished
4 teams finished unranked
15 teams failed to finish

Of the teams that failed to finish:

1 team withdrew voluntarily due to team dissention
1 team dropped out due to a competitor suffering from dehydration and hallucinations
4 teams dropped due to a competitor suffering a knee injury and/or exhaustion

9 teams were disqualified after being rescued at sea

But those are just numbers. The exchange that perhaps sums up the spirit and nature of the Eco-Challenge Adventure Race occurred between two competitors of separate teams after both had made the long trek down off Mount Bartle Frere.

Meeting in Camp 3 at Bramston Beach, the battered and beat competitors gave each a high five, then hugged each other, laughing like deranged survivors of some jungle epic. Which, in some ways, they were.

"Hey man!" laughed one competitor. "How did you hate it?"

Smiling back as one man to another, discussing a shared experience no one outside their elite group could possibly understand, the other competitor replied, "Ahhhh, man. It was beautiful."

Dan Morrison covered the Marathon des Sables for Outside Online.