Posted: November 15, 2005

The Final Frontier of Endurance Sports: It's The Last Desert Footrace

From: www.ByJamesRaia.com

Ninety-nine competitors crossed the finish line of the Sahara Race 2005 on Oct. 1 at the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt. Eighteen of the finishers automatically qualified for entry in The Last Desert, a 250-kilometer footrace across the “Final Frontier” in the coldest and windiest place on Earth -- Antarctica.

The Last Desert is scheduled January 24 - February 1, 2006. Competitors will depart from Punta Arenas in Chile for a short flight to King George Island, Antarctica where they will board a private ship. Each morning, competitors will disembark from the ship on a Zodiac for a short journey to the starting line of each stage. The stages totaling 250 kilometers will take place on King George Island, Deception Island and Hope Bay, all in Antarctica.

The terrain is expected to consist of snow, ice, rocks and mud. Temperatures should average around 11 degrees but may drop to as low as minue-20 degrees. Winds are expected to be strong with an average of 20 miles per hour likely.

The group will be supported by an experienced Chilean team with 20 years’ experience in Antarctica and by RacingThePlanet, the owner and organizer of the 4 Deserts series.

Fourteen of the 18 qualifying individuals have confirmed their participation in The Last Desert in Antarctica. The include: Joel E. Burrows, 30, Illinois, United States; Vincent L. Carroll, 46, Ireland; Matthew R. Chapman, 29, Australia (residing in Singapore); Lisanne C. Dorion, 40, Vermont, United States; Nancy M. Fudacz-Burrows, 38, Illinois, United States; Derek T. Kwik, 37, Hong Kong; Masashi Hayakawa, 62, Japan; David P. Kuhnau, 36, Illinois, United States; Alasdair G. Morrison, 57, United Kingdom (residing in Hong Kong) ; B. Gunnar Nilsson, 49, Sweden; Satoru Otsuka, 65, Japan; Scott P. Smith, 49, New Mexico, United States; Charles Walker, 39, United States; and Brent J. Weigner, 56, United States.

The only team to qualify is Team Illinois consisting of Joel E. Burrows, Nancy Fudacz-Burrows and David P. Kuhnau, all residents of Illinois. Team Illinois won the team division of both the Gobi March in China and the Sahara Race in Egypt on the way to qualifying for The Last Desert.

In order to qualify for a place in The Last Desert, competitors must have successfully completed the Gobi March, a 250-kilometer footrace across the Gobi Desert in China, the Atacama Crossing, a 250-kilometer footrace across the Atacama Desert in Chile and the Sahara Race, a 250-kilometer footrace across the Sahara Desert in Egypt.

Competitors had to be self-supported throughout the events with only a ration of water and a place in a tent provided each day.

During the events, competitors faced sandstorms, salt flats, massive sand dunes, undulating grasslands, high altitude mountain crossings, cold rivers and streams and temperature extremes ranging from freezing to more than 120 degrees. The events crossed the harshest terrain and represented the hottest, coldest, windiest and driest places on Earth.

The 4 Deserts also takes competitors to some of the most beautiful and culturally interesting places in the world. Throughout the events, competitors have interacted with nomadic Mongolians, Uygurs and Kazaks in China, Atacamenos Indians in Chile and bedouins in Egypt – ancient cultures with long histories of survival in their native deserts.

International media will be following the event and RacingThePlanet plans to provide live website coverage from Antarctica with hourly breaking news, pictures and video clips. Past television coverage has included: National Geographic, BBC, NBC Sports, CCTV (China), MBC (Korea), KBS (Korea), CNN and RTE One (Ireland).

For further information, visit the website at www.racingtheplanet.com.

© Copyright 2005, James Raia

Posted with the permission of James Raia.

James Raia is a journalist, author and publisher in Sacramento, California. Sign-up for his free electronic newsletters Endurance Sports News and Tour de France Times on his web site: www.ByJamesRaia.com.