Racer hesitated to R.O.A.M. around the world
By Dan Morrison

Andy Petranek wasn't invited to this year's Eco-Challenge in Cairns, Australia, and even when he discovered he had earned the right to go, he wasn't sure he'd make the trip.

One of the notable changes in this year's event is, unlike the previous events in which any team that could pony up the entry fee could compete, this year's event is by invitation only.

Forty-seven teams were officially invited to compete, based, at least in part, on their past record of adventure racing. The race organizers left three spots open for teams who would have to earn the right to join the others in North Queensland.

On April 13, a qualifying race was held in Malibu, California, to determine who those three teams would be. It was a mini-Eco of sorts, an 80-mile course instead of a full-blown 350-miler, but still a multi-discipline race: kayaking, trail running, rope work, and mountain biking. The top team, Team R.O.A.M., finished in 20 hours and 24 minutes, 90 minutes ahead of the closest competition.

R.O.A.M. is an acronym of the team members' first names: Rebecca Rusch, Owen Shea, Andy Petranek, and Mike Hobbs. Except now the team name should be Team R.P.A.M., as Owen Shea has been replaced by Pat Csizmazia, but "roam" sounds better rolling off the tongue than the staccato "repam."

The 'A' in R.O.A.M., Andy Petranek, is a 30-year-old nutrition consultant, massage therapist, and personal trainer at Gold's Gym in Venice, California. Petranek is the team captain, and has entered two previous Eco-Challenge races, the '96 race in British Columbia and the '95 race in Utah. But he wasn't going to enter this year's event.

"I wasn't planning on racing at all this year," says Petranek. "Both my races in Utah and B.C. were disappointments. I was, each time, the strongest member of the team. In Utah I did finish, my team didn't finish, but I did. In British Columbia we all stayed together, but we didn't finish. We stopped at the end of the canoe leg. It was really frustrating for me."

And because adventure racing by its very nature demands significant personal sacrifices, Petranek was going to take a hiatus until he heard about the Malibu event.

"To me racing is fun, but there is a lot more to life," Petranek relates. "So I was thinking of not doing anything this year. And then I heard about the qualifying race, and I thought that would be a lot of fun, just to go out and have a good time. I called three of my good friends. Two of them are whitewater kayaking paddlers, and one was Rebecca, she's a climber."

Much to their surprise, they won the event.

"The team that came in last place did it in about 36 hours. It took us 20 hours." And with that victory came an invitation, albeit belated, to compete in Australia. "We hadn't even talked about going to Australia when we entered the Malibu qualifying race," admits Petranek. "We had no plans of winning or of even going to Australia. We just entered to have a good time. It was really a shock. I told them when I accepted the award that we didn't even know if we could go." In fact, one team member couldn't go.

"One of my teammates that competed with us in the Malibu race is Dr. Owen Shea. He has a huge board exam in September, and his wife was expecting a baby the last week of July." So although Dr. Shea was part of the winning team, he wouldn't be going Down Under, and he was replaced with Pat Csizmazia, who was a member of Team Hi-Tec in last year's race. "Pat didn't have a team, and after the Malibu race I called him."

Such substitutions of team members are common, but it raises a question now that teams compete in the event by invitation only. How many of the original members of the team must remain on the team for the team to be the same team?

"I think a lot of what makes a team is the team captain and the majority of the experience of the team," says Petranek. "If you count the number of years of racing and races they've done, if you get a rookie on the team they'll do well."

And although team members Rebecca Rusch and Mike Hobbs have never competed in an adventure race before, this will be Petranek's third Eco, and Pat Csimzmazia's bio is rather impressive: second-place finish in the '96 B.C. Eco-Challenge, first place in the '96 Xtreme Games, first place in the '95-'96 Survival of the Fittest National Championship, '96 International Gladiators World Champ, and '96 National Gladiators Champ.

Csizmazia was asked to be on the team because of his skills. Petranek invited Rusch and Hobbs because of their friendship. "I think one of the things that makes our team unique this year is that we are four, or at least three, super good friends," according to Petranek. "It makes it a lot more fun and enjoyable. I think it's possible to make up a team with people you've never met, people who are just good top athletes. But for me, I do it more than just to win. I do it because I have a good time doing it. And I have the best time when I'm with my friends."

In the past, many friendships have faltered and even failed under the pressure of adventure racing, especially when the team is having difficulty, as Petranek's did last year.

"I couldn't believe it. We had trouble in British Columbia on the first leg with one of our guys. I was furious. I never really came out and said anything, but I felt it."

He remains friendly with a couple of his former teammates, but is no longer close.

There are those who suggest teams should be required to have both male and female members in order to introduce a little something extra to the rigors of team dynamics. Not everyone is comfortable with the co-ed situation.

Petranek, however, thinks it is beneficial. "I think it's an advantage to have a woman on your team," he says. "In fact, I wouldn't want to do the race without a woman on my team. I think they offer a whole different perspective on team cohesiveness, on problems that the team may encounter."

And what of the critics who point out the women sometimes have a difficult time carrying the heavy packs?

"I know that usually the woman on the team can't carry as much weight as the guys. And I'm prepared to carry that additional weight. I think the trade-off comes in emotional and mental support."

In Petranek's view, adventure racing is mind over matter.

"I think it's all in your mind. I would trade a strong mind and a strong will for a strong body anytime. And I think women can handle more than men, can endure more pain, can endure more hardship than men."

And what kind of pain and hardship does Petranek expect during this year's event? "Navigational skills are going to play a major role," Petranek believes, "more than the previous two races. In tropical rainforest and in desert, where there are no hills and no terrain features to navigate from, you have to rely on your compass, you rely on your pace count, it becomes a lot more difficult to know where you are."

And this year's maps aren't all that great, either. "The map scale that we are going to get is going to be a lot worse than last year. Last year we were using 1 to 24,000 scale, and this year it will be 1 to 100,000 scale maps."

Petranek's experience as a Marine Corps officer may help.

"I'm the team navigator as well as team captain. So my military experience in the Marine Corps is invaluable. I spent hours and hours and hours and hours and hours by myself in the woods of Virginia, learning about navigation. Nothing can take the place of spending time alone in the backcountry."

Oddly enough, in past races teams made up entirely of military personnel don't do well. Petranek offers his opinion why.

"There's a huge ego with these guys," he says. "And military guys have a very difficult time accepting help, discussing it, talking about and saying, 'Hey guys, I'm having trouble.' Or 'Hey, I need to stop to put a bandage on my blister.' They say, 'No, I'm going to keep going, I'm going to Go! Go! Go! Go! I'm not going to be the weak link on the team!' And that's absolutely the wrong attitude to have when you're adventure racing. If you're weak, tell everybody you're weak. Get them to take your pack. In this race, if you don't speak up when you're hurting, you hurt the team."

Factors that hurt teams in Utah were heat and sand, in B.C. it was the cold and snow. This year it may come in the form of vipers.

"The snakes definitely cause me concern," admits Petranek, "but there's nothing I can do about it. If we get bit by a snake, we get bit by a snake."

He doesn't articulate the obvious fact that if a competitor gets bit by a snake, that person will very quickly find him or herself in the hospital and the team will be out of the race.

"If I dwelled on what could happen when I'm out in the bush," Petranek continues, "I'd never go out in the bush. I'd never leave my house for fear of being hit by a car. I hate snakes and I hate spiders, and I hope I don't get bit, but I think if you respect the natural resources and the animals in the jungle, you have less chance of encountering them, or being attacked."

It is, of course, all part of the challenge of adventure racing, which in the case of the Eco-Challenge, appears to intensify with each subsequent event. To Petranek, that's good.

"The greater the challenge," he says, "the greater the reward. It feels incredible when you finish one of these things. There's no experience I've ever had like it."

Dan Morrison covered the Marathon des Sables for Outside Online.