Seven weeks and counting!

As we all move into high gear for the final weeks before Primal Quest Badlands Presented by SPOT there are several important items to attend to.

Team captains are responsible for ensuring that each team member receives and digests this final Competitor Newsletter. There are several “Action Items” included in this document and we ask that you complete each task by the due date so that our pre-event planning goes smoothly.

We also ask that you honor our generous Partners by perusing their ads at the end of the newsletter. Their involvement has made it possible for us all to “play” in South Dakota this August.

Thank you for your continued enthusiasm and we look forward to seeing you soon!

Dawn Taylor Mann
Competitor Relations Director/Director of Operations
dawn.mann@ecoprimalquest.com

Hello Badlands Team Captains!

We’re pleased to provide you with the April Competitor Newsletter, which includes a great deal of valuable information as we move closer to the race in August.  Please ensure each of your team members reads the newsletter in its entirety.  I’m available to answer any questions you might have.

Enjoy your spring training and racing, and we look forward to seeing you in just three and a half months!

Dawn Taylor Mann
Primal Quest Competitor Relations/Operations Director
Dawn.mann@ecoprimalquest.com

Follow the world’s most extreme endurance athletes as they race in teams of four along a grueling 500-mile journey, experiencing wild adventure and intensely emotional highs and lows. Live the excitement as they mountain bike, river board, kayak climb, rappel and trek through spectacular Montana backcountry in the epic 5th edition of Primal Quest Expedition Adventure Race!

The DVD features four 26-minute episodes that were filmed in the highest quality HD format and created by the renowned team of:

• Tim Powell, Supervising Producer (Eco Challenge FIJI Islands, Eco Challenge New Zealand, Eco Challenge British Columbia, National Geographic Explorer, Eco Challenge Borneo, and Raid Gauloises – Race Across The Himalayas)
• Brian Catalina, Editor (The Alaska Experiment. Deadliest Catch, Survivor. Eco-Challenge Fiji Islands, Eco Challenge New Zealand, Eco Challenge Borneo , Raid Gauloises – Race Across the Himalayas, and Raid Gauloises – Race Across Ecuador)
• Bruce Hanifan, Composer (The Alaska Experiment, Ax Men, Ice Road Truckers , Deadliest Catch, Eco Challenge Fiji Islands, Raid Gauloises -Race Across the Himalayas)

Additional features include promos from Broadcast Partner RUSH HD, Presenting Partner SPOT, and State Partner Travel Montana.

The eagerly anticipated Primal Quest 2008 DVD can be ordered now from the online  PQ Store and will be shipped beginning April 15. Cost is $24.99 plus shipping/handling.

Also, stay tuned for a soon-to-be released message about where and when you can view all four episodes AND videos of previous Primal Quest races on television.

Well, another Elk Mountain Grand Traverse has come and gone.  This backcountry ski race requires teams of two to traverse 40 miles and 8,0000′ vertical from Crested Butte to Aspen.  The race started at midnight on Friday night.  Once again, the course proved as heinous as ever with 0 degree temperatures and 50 m.p.h. winds on top of Star and Taylor passes.  Faces and fingers were frozen, eating and speaking nearly impossible.

My partner, Bryan “Wick” Wickenhauser, and I ended up 4^th place after 9 hours 35 minutes of racing.  Jon Brown and Brian Smith ended up 7^th and Jari Kirkland and Tucker brought home 2^nd in the co-ed division.  Mike Kloser and Jay Henry won the race.  It was a decent showing for Team Salomon/Crested Butte in one of the toughest races we do all year.  Teammate Travis Macy opted for a summer option and won the solo division at the 12-Hour Adventure Xstream Moab race.

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PIERRE, S.D. – Training for an adventure race is never easy, and training for one like Primal Quest requires more than just time and energy.

“Training for a race like Primal Quest goes beyond following a detailed schedule. The training requires a mind set to achieving a dream that was never thought possible and that dream becomes paramount,” said Don Mann, Director of Primal Quest. “Orienteering is one skill racers competing in Primal Quest Badlands Presented by SPOT will need to brush up on as there will be more navigational choices than in past races.”

Team South Dakota includes four state residents. Team leader, Paulette Kirby, had much to say about how their training for the event was going, “This is our first experience with Primal Quest and our training is going well. We do as much as we can to train so we enjoy and finish the race. We all understand that we will suffer, but the challenges faced will be as rewarding as ever. We believe we are doing everything possible to meet the challenge and are looking forward to competing against the other teams in August.”

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Primal Quest Montana Presented by SPOT will soon begin airing in 35 countries worldwide on the VOOM Network. In the meantime, you can take a sneak peek at all four of these amazing episodes by clicking here.

Primal Quest 2008 was filmed, edited, and produced by the most experienced adventure sports television production crew of all time, and the quality is revealed in these episodes. The PQ management team is still negotiating with several broadcast partners in the United States, and we will be making an announcement soon about US and international scheduling.

Additionally, this spring you’ll be able to take “The World’s Most Challenging Human Endurance Competition” home when the entire television series is released on DVD.

Enjoy the preview videos and prepare to return to Big Sky Country with the full episodes soon!