UCF Engineering professor, Ron Eaglin, completed a 10-day adventure race with three teammates.
This race, called Primal Quest, is considered to be "the most challenging human endurance competition in the world," according to the director of the event, Don Mann. This fifth edition of Primal Quest took place in Montana from June 21 until July 2.
During a race like Primal Quest, the racers challenge their bodies to the extreme.
"To complete any portion of the race is an amazing accomplishment," said Dawn Taylor Mann, Primal Quest's director of operation.
Eaglin and his team, Team Blue, raced through about 550 miles by hiking, running, biking and climbing.
"[It was] a distance equivalent to the distance from Orlando to Atlanta," Eaglin said.
This edition of Primal Quest was unique. According to the director of operations, "the course had 100,000 feet of elevation gain; teams experienced different types of extreme weather, wildlife encounters, and flood levels on rivers that were already treacherous."
In 10 days, Team Blue slept 20 hours. "We tried doing 48-hour days and get four hours of sleep in between that," Eaglin explained. Yet, he confessed that before the last day they were too excited to finish - they slept only one hour that night.
Eaglin's team was composed of four members; the other three were Dominique Drouin, Kent Ryhorchuk and Julie Ardoin.
"It will be too dangerous to do this alone," Eaglin said. For example, the team had to walk on ice bridges and snow packs. "You don't know what to expect," Eaglin said.
Nonetheless, the team agrees that they could not have done it without each other.
"Our team, composed of individuals acting with one mind and one focus, successfully completed the course," Ardoin said.
"You really get to know each other," Eaglin said, "when you share something that intense, of course you bond."
Ryhorchuk said, "There are connections with people and nature that you discover through mutual dependence."
This dependence also births physical and mental strength.
"We derived strength just from the presence and determination of each other," Eaglin said. "Everyone did everything possible, both physically and mentally to get to the [finish] line," Drouin added.
Eaglin assures completing the race was a team effort.
"When I needed my team, boy, they were there for me," he said. "When I passed out once Kent gave up his Red Bull for me."
Eaglin remembers each of them with appreciation.
"Kent helped me physically a lot when I was really hurting from the tendonitis; Dom always seemed to have a great joke or story right when you needed it to lift your spirits and these had a great impact; Julie always kept the team mood positive and her experience and strength was motivating," Eaglin said.
About an hour before the race started, Eaglin, who was the navigator of the team, was given maps. No route was given to the teams, only some reaching points, and they had to figure out the faster and easier routes to reach those points on the map.
Eaglin said that getting on a bike was actually a great break. They had to paddle in rivers with whitewater through Class Five waves, along with having to dodge strainers. The water was 36 degrees Fahrenheit all the time. He said that the adrenaline helped not feeling the cold as much.
They also did some river boarding where all they had to do was stay buoyant. But that was not easy.
"It's like being in charge of a roller coaster," he said. "If you are an adrenaline junkie, you can't beat it."
The team also climbed and hiked mountains.
"Crossing the Crazy Mountains was a gorgeous experience," he said. "And the Bridger Mountains were brutal and relentless."
Eaglin said that on the last two days of the race, all that was on his mind was the finish line.
"All I thought was 'must move,'" he said. "Finishing the race felt so good."
For a race like this, competitors take years to prepare.
"The penalty for not getting ready for this is too high: death," Eaglin said. "And that has happened before."
Eaglin spent four years preparing to compete in Primal Quest. He worked out four hours a day, every day.
"I would keep moving until I could not do it anymore, and I ate as much as I could," he said.
Often he worked weights out on a balance beam, with extra weight on a backpack.
Eaglin also said that the race, in its most extreme difficult conditions, is only 50 percent physical; the other 50 percent is mental.
"The course designers are there to prove wrong whoever thought they were prepared enough," Eaglin said.
For someone that is interested in racing on Primal Quest, Eaglin suggests: "doing tough races, and conditioning and challenging your body to the extreme during workouts."
Eaglin was extremely hard on himself during preparation.
"When I ran until I could not do it anymore, I would make myself double the time of my workout because it would help me mentally," he said.
During the preparation and the race, Eaglin had support from his family.
"My wife was incredibly supportive," he said. "She was just there all the time."
The day Eaglin crossed the finish line, his wife Linda told him, "you are going to be looking for your next challenge in a week," indicating the incessant competitive spirit that Eaglin has. Eaglin loves outdoor sports and started adventure racing 10 years ago.
Every day, Eaglin also bikes to and from UCF where he teaches in the College of Engineering. That is 10 miles each way.
"Everybody should do it," he said.
Now, Eaglin is still recuperating from tendonitis, adrenaline exhaustion and the loss of 12 pounds. Eaglin has been a UCF faculty member since 1991. To learn more about Eaglin's adventure racing, visit his blog at http://eaglinar.blogspot.com. For more information on Primal Quest, please visit www.ecoprimalquest.com.
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