Is This Any Way to Make a Living? (Cont.)

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Outside Magazine January 2003

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Is This Any Way to Make a Living? (Cont.)

ON DAY EIGHT, Barger choppered up in search of Team Fred, which had been holding on to last place for several days. It wasn't that Fred was lost, he said; it's just nice to know where they are.

After he found the squad nearing Bridal Veil Falls, he returned to Mountain Village to mingle with press and athletes. Barger looked visibly relaxed for the first time in days. Nobody had been killed, despite a few close calls. Stryker's Kim Bear had taken a watermelon-size boulder in her back, but her pack had cushioned the blow. And Ian Adamson had nearly met his end on a rappel when a rope sheath tore off. "They were using old ropes," Adamson fumed. Still, Primal Quest could be called a success, and Barger cautiously began talking about next year.

While he had a renewable agreement to stage the race in Telluride again, it would be moving on, given the locals' angsty response. The 2003 Primal Quest will take place in South Lake Tahoe, from September 6 to 15. Subaru has agreed to return as title sponsor, and ESPN is considering the TV rights, despite the fact that OLN's October broadcast scored slightly below average for its Wednesday-night time slot.

In 2004, Barger plans to introduce a four-race qualifying series, with the ten top finishers winning slots in Primal Quest—establishing it as a kind of de facto North American championship. The 40 remaining entries will be distributed by lottery, ensuring that the Freds of the sport will always have a chance to do Primal Quest. The race's everyman appeal could make it the next Ironman, and that level of success would be just fine.

Barger's cell phone rang: Team Fred had just finished the rappel at Bridal Veil Falls. I hopped into the gondola and caught them entering town, four shambling figures clad in very dirty clothes. Team Fred was a revolving crew of mostly rookies, shepherded by Marc Bender, a 48-year-old deputy sheriff from Southern California, as its personification and permanent leader. "He races solely to get new people into the sport," said an admiring Barger. Two of this race's Freds, Bernice Pierson and Alberto Flores, had never done an expedition race, and many other racers got their start on Team Fred.

With his stringy gray braided ponytail and ample gut, Bender looked more like an aging hippie drug dealer than an endurance athlete. Twelve years ago, he was a "burned-out dope cop" with a pack-a-day habit and a thirst for booze. Then he met and later married multisport athlete Carla Conti, 41. She got him into running, and he did his first 5k at age 37. They started adventure racing together three years ago; now they race separately, because she wants to be competitive and he could care less. As Montrail's Shane Sigle said before the start of Primal Quest, "For the top teams, it's a race. For the rest, it's an adventure."

The adventure was a bit more arduous for Team Fred. Bender said he really felt good only once, on his bike. "I was flying up hills, thinking, God, I feel so powerful!" Turns out he'd forgotten his backpack. Usually, their packs are heavy with supplies, because part of being a Fred is knowing it's going to be a while before you reach the next checkpoint. The hundred-mile bike leg took them two full days. In the mountaineering section, they coached along another team that was struggling on the scree slopes. After dark, they all bivouacked at 12,000 feet, seven people crammed "ass to face" in a small tent, as the wind howled. When they ran out of water, they filled their hydration packs with snow, which was delicious and cold.

At last they hit the homestretch. A small crowd was waiting at the gondola station, Checkpoint 27: Bender's wife, Carla, and Marley, their eight-year-old daughter, were there—Carla's team had finished more than 36 hours earlier—with a few friends and a cameraman from ESPN. First Marley came running down the road, wearing her Primal Quest kerchief as a tube top, squealing excitedly. Her dad gave her a kiss, and she ran back up the road. When Bender reached the top, with just a short downhill hike to the finish and a cold Corona and a shower, his beautiful Carla grabbed him in a clench so full of pride and love that even the cameraman got teary.

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