Living the adventure

A former Moose Jaw resident may have hit the big time when Global Television features a documentary of wilderness adventure races he runs.
The one-hour broadcast Saturday is the culmination of 10 years adventure racing promotion by Geoff Langford.
"For five years now I've been trying out different production companies," said Langford, who used to do wilderness races before making frontier adventure racing his career in 1998.
"We've been on television but on cable sports networks in the middle of the night and stuff like that," said Langford.
"Finally this year we got a great production company - ATV Productions of Vancouver - and we got a great arrangement with Global in primetime."
The show is 9 p.m. local time Saturday across Canada on the Global network.
"(Wilderness adventure racing should have general interest) because it's a sport but it's as much a personal challenge and the drama of a team trying to work together and overcome their perceived boundaries," Langford said.
The race is essentially a team triathlon involving mountain biking, paddling and trekking over a 500-kilometre course in the wild.
The firm's annual June marquee event, Raid the North Extreme in the Prince Rupert, B.C., mainland and coastal area, was filmed for the show.
Twenty-six teams of four members, mostly North Americans, plus some from Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and South America, were followed by the cameras on a gruelling six-day, nonstop adventure.
Competitors' ages ranged from 17 to 58 but "primarily we get white-collar male professionals in their mid-30s." About half are repeat customers.
Almost 18 months of planning went down the river two weeks before the race when the Skeena River flooded, landslides cut off the route and avalanches threatened.
"Suddenly our entire course was unsafe and unacceptable," said Langford.
The Haida First Nations agreed to host almost four days of racing on the Queen Charlotte Islands, over which the First Nations have authority.
The chain of islands is known locally as Haida Gwaii.
The race would never have happened without the Haida.
"Their welcome was incredible. They put on salmon bakes for us . . . invited us to stay in their homes."
Twenty cars, five teams, support crews and safety gear were moved around the course ending at Prince Rupert.
Teams carry radios so they can be rescued by helicopter or boat.
"We had a lot of trouble on this course. In this one event we had more helicopter and boat rescues than in the entire 10 years of putting on these events."
A combination of support teams, local emergency medical services and military helicopters extracted teams in trouble. All competitors must have extraction insurance.
Some viewers may equate the race to shows like Survivor or The Amazing Race, but Langford says this event is different.
Most of his competitors take part for "the experience, seeing places they'd never get to and the challenge of pushing themselves to see if they can do it," not the prizes.
A University of Regina journalism graduate, Langford credits his career to a one-year Rotary International exchange tour to Australia in 1988.
"That made me really curious about the world and what else is out there and the things that really make me passionate," he said
"I really love exposing people to it and helping them have those experiences."
Langford actually had to put up some money for the filming and hopes interest generated by the show will build his adventure business.

Ron Walter can be reached at 691-1264.

For more, see Wednesday's Times-Herald.