To qualify, each competitor on the team must be a current resident of South Dakota, and the team must submit an essay documenting their qualifications and goals for the Primal Quest Badlands race. In that essay they should explain why they would be good representatives for South Dakota in Primal Quest 2009.

A host team in Primal Quest has never completed the race, and event organizers are hoping to change that. The team will need to obviously be in good physical condition, but should also be highly motivated, focused, and have a great team dynamic.

To learn more about this sponsorship opportunity, click here and scroll down the page a bit to find the section on PQ. You can also learn a bit more from the audio clips on this page at KOTA Radio. For further inquiries, contact Rick Emerson at emersric@rapidnet.com

Photo by Will Ramos

First, we have this story from the Rapid City Journal, that takes a brief look at the history of PQ and adventure racing in general. The story is a nice introduction to the race and gives a few insights into what new fans of the sport can expect when teams arrive in South Dakota next August.

The second story, found here, was released by the Associated Press, and also serves as a brief introduction to Primal Quest, calling the race a “sufferfest” for the teams. The 600-mile course through the Badlands and Black Hills will undoubtedly live up to that moniker.

Photo by Wouter Kingma

The first story is a brief overview on the history of Primal Quest and adventure racing in general, while the second article gives a preview of Primal Quest Badlands and what teams can expect in South Dakota next August. The final story is an interview with mother-daughter racing team of Kathy Roche-Wallace and Melissa Hughes who competed in Montana in 2008.

The Bare Essentials web interface is a slick and easy to use, with plenty of content to read. It’s easy to page through the virtual edition, or jump directly to any article you like by typing it in at the top of the page. Thee are also tools for zooming in on the page or printing the stories that you like. 

Thank you to Bare Essentials for this outstanding coverage for Primal Quest fans down under.

Photo by Andres Vargas

In the interview, Rick gives an introduction to what adventure racing is all about, talks about the course itself, and Primal Quest coming to the Badlands, amongst other things.

Great interview Rick!

Photo by Andres Vargas

Photo by Mike Hedge

The first 75 registration applications accompanied by the $2500 USD deposit will be accepted and added to the official Primal Quest Badlands team roster.

The next edition of Primal Quest will take place in the Badlands and Black Hill of South Dakota from August 15-24, 2009.

The Primal Quest staff has received confirmation from the top three teams from PQ Montana that they are committed to returning in 2009 to defend their podium positions. Teams Nike, Merrell/Zanfel Adventure and Bones all say they’ll be back for the next edition of the “World’s Most Challenging Human Endurance Competition”.

Mike Kloser, captain of Nike, says “Count us in!”, while Robyn Benincasa of Merrell adds “We’re there baby!” Roy Malone, the captain of Team Bones, said “We wouldn’t miss it”, when confirming his team’s return to Primal Quest, and underscores the fact that PQ Badlands will have the deepest, most experienced field of racers in the history of adventure racing.

PIERRE, S.D. - Don Mann Productions and the South Dakota Department of Tourism and State Development announced today that next summer the state will host Primal Quest Badlands presented by SPOT. South Dakota’s unique environments will offer competitors in the “World’s Most Challenging Human Endurance Competition” stunning new landscapes to explore and daunting athletic challenges to face.

“This is the 6th edition of the Primal Quest 10-day expedition adventure race, and at 600 miles - the longest,” said Don Mann, Director of Primal Quest. “We believe next year’s race in South Dakota is going to be a historic event, which will offer the world’s most talented adventure athletes a premier course unlike any other in the sport. We’re especially excited to have teams experience the Badlands, as there is truly no place like this in the world.”

Next summer, just after the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, co-ed teams of four will race, without support crews, through the Badlands and Black Hills of South Dakota from August 15^th - 24^th. The traditional adventure racing disciplines of trekking, mountain biking, orienteering, swimming, and paddling will be well represented, but competitors can expect new challenges as well. Athletes will spelunk in cave systems deep beneath the Black Hills, and will test their climbing abilities while ascending and rappelling from majestic towering spires. Navigation will play a much larger role than in previous Primal Quests and racers will traverse many miles of single track in the mountain biking sections. Teams will run with herds of buffalo and share the trail with deer, prairie dogs, turkeys, elk and big horn sheep. They will pass abandoned gold mines and historic western forts, while bald eagles soar overhead.

“South Dakota is proud to be the location chosen by Don Mann and Primal Quest for their race next summer,” said Richard Benda, Secretary of the Department of Tourism and State Development. “We have so much to offer for an event like this and we will make this a great experience for the racers, their families and for the communities of the Black Hills region.”

The Rapid City Convention and Visitors Bureau along with its partners have been instrumental in seeking out Primal Quest and bringing them into South Dakota. Primal Quest Badlands presented by SPOT will showcase Rapid City and the surrounding communities to a worldwide audience. It will also show the drama and intensity of expedition racing at its finest with all the action being broadcasted in the fall of 2009 on Rush HD. With the majority of teams from 2008 committed to returning in 2009, and even more teams expected to join them, the field will be as deep and competitive as ever.

Primal Quest is excited to welcome back our amazing partners from 2008. MyTopo.com, TATE, Mind Quest, along with Peak Assurance. Each of them has played an integral role in the success of the race, and we are proud to have them as sponsors for Primal Quest Badlands.

MEDIA NOTES:

• Click here to download the Primal Quest 2009 Media/Sponsor Package. (Adobe PDF format).
• For more information, visit EcoPrimalQuest.com and SDVisit.com.
• South Dakota Contact: Wanda Goodman at 605-773-3301 or Wanda.Goodman@state.sd.us
• Primal Quest Contact: Kraig Becker at Kraig.Becker@ecoprimalquest.com

“How do I prepare for Primal Quest?”

This is a common question we’ve been getting a lot lately. Racers, fans, and even the media all want to know what it takes to compete in the “Superbowl of Adventure Racing”.  We figured who better to answer that question than the men and women who train for and compete in Primal Quest.

We’d like to hear from all Primal Quest veterans with their tips for success. Tell us about your training schedule, favorite foods while racing, unique approach to competing, or any other items that you think could be helpful to adventure racers aspiring to compete in Primal Quest.

Submit your best tips to us in an e-mail, along with a short bio, and we’ll compile them and post them to the PQ website. This new page will be called “AR Tips” and will serve as a great reference point for new and experienced athletes alike.

Send your best tips to: info@ecoprimalquest.com

Check back often for updates!

Photo by Andres Vargas

On August 15th, 2009, Primal Quest Badlands will get underway in South Dakota. The best teams in adventure racing will set out to trek, peddle, navigate, and paddle their way through the Badlands and Black Hills, competing in the World’s Most Challenging Human Endurance Competition.

Don’t miss your opportunity to join us in South Dakota for the biggest, longest, and most challenging Primal Quest yet!

The host location always has a direct impact on the race itself, helping to define the nature and character of the event. Past locations, such as Colorado, Utah, and Montana, have all directly contributed to the success of Primal Quest with their scenic beauty and rugged terrain. However, the race has also had a direct and positive effect on those places as well, particularly in an economic sense.

For instance, in 2008, Primal Quest was held in the state of Montana, in the U.S.A. The race itself ran for 10 days, but the staff and volunteers began arriving well before that, and over the course of the entire event, the teams, staff, and volunteers contributed nearly $600,000 directly to the economy of the region. That money went to the hotels, restaurants, and shops in the region, giving it a boost to the economy there.

The money spent in Montana was just the beginning however, as the media exposure that the race generated was worth millions of dollars more. During the 2008 Primal Quest, more than 50 articles appeared in traditional media outlets leading up to, during, and following the race. Those articles not only reported on the race itself, and the athletes that competed in it, but also the locations that they were trekking, biking, and paddling through, thus greatly increasing the awareness of the region. Most of those articles were accompanied with photographs of the course, further highlighting the spectacular wilderness areas that hosted the event.

In addition, during the race, the Primal Quest website (ecoprimalquest.com) averaged more than 2 million hits per day, as fans of the sport searched for updates on their favorite teams. Each day the site was updated multiple times with stories, images, and video from the course, bringing the sights and sounds of Montana onto computer screens all over the world.

Traditional media and the Primal Quest website are not the only sources of coverage for the event however, as adventure racing websites, Internet forums, and countless blogs also covered the event. Those new media outlets provide millions more impressions, and extend the Primal Quest brand even further.

The coverage doesn’t end there however, as Primal Quest has a three-year television contract, with the Rush HD network, that will bring even more exposure to the race and it’s location. An experienced and talented camera crew accompanies the racers on the course, capturing all the intensity and excitement of world-class adventure racing, with the incredibly beautiful and remote scenery making a dramatic backdrop. Rush HD is committed to producing multiple episodes each year, and airing those episodes dozens of times, in stunning High Definition. This partnership raises the profile of Primal Quest even higher, and exposes the race, as well as it’s partners, to an entirely new audience.

As a host location for Primal Quest, you would receive all of this media attention delivered directly to an eager, adventurous audience. The fans of adventure racing fall into a young, active demographic that spends their time and money in pursuit of outdoor adventures and are willing to travel to experience the remote places highlighted in the race.

The partnership between Primal Quest and its host location has always been a healthy, successful, and mutually beneficial one. We hope to continue that in the future by offering an unprecedented level of exposure and creating even more public awareness.