Did Primal Quest Jump the Shark?

10 days. $12,500 per team. And you have to bring a support crew.

Most likely it's the support that's going to kill the race for me and my mates. We've done supported and unsupported events through the years and there are two statements I can make:

1.) We've burned up most of our lead candidates for support. You can't just grab anybody to support you for up to ten days. Some people are phenomenally lucky and have the out of work friend or extremely exhuberant, supportive family member or spouse. But reality is most of us don't have that set of folks who will year-in year-out give up ten vacation days to move stinky gear about and sleep in a truck so we can go off and play. And the work for the crew ends up being physically demanding. The accomodations (TAs) end up being noisy and difficult to sleep in. That is, when there is time to sleep. Many times they end up rushing from the prior TA to the next one in order to keep pace with the team. Sometimes in the dead of night, sometimes on narrow unmarked forest roads. It's hard stuff that on the surface seems to mesh OK timewise for retired parents, etc.... They have all the time in the world, right? But physically and mentally it is a massively difficult burden to ask of someone.


2.) We actually prefer to live out of Rubbermaid Action Packers. I'm not kidding. You're on your own. You have to make careful choices about what to bring to the expedition. What are the last things you cram into the box? An extra change of warm clothes and some cash in hope that you find an open minimart or another 5000 calories of food? The 50 dgeree sleeping bag that is the size of a grapefruit or the 20 degree bag that is the size of a small watermelon? Extra padding for the whitewater swim or more bike components so you repair broken parts? It's far more interesting.

Will requiring a support crew when teams are paying $12,500 in entry fees kill this thing? Will there be 75 names on the "reserved" list on July 2nd? Admittedly a $500 penalty isn't a big number and won't deter many from signing up "on spec". But I'll be curious to see what % of the names on July 2nd, 2007 actually make it to the line June 21st, 2008 and if I'll be joining them by purchasing an orphaned entry in the aftermarket.