Mild Seven Outdoor Quest

---

Mild Seven Outdoor Quest - Moving On

Lisa de Speville / 04.11.2004

As I type, staff and participants at the 2004 Mild Seven Outdoor Quest are on airplanes, flying home after a week of intense activity. For some, they’ll only be home 30hrs after leaving the Kota Kinabalu airport. The Nexus Resort is no longer a hive of frenzied activity and the people walking down the corridors are strangers, not friends.

Looking back at this past week there are a number of things that have made Mild Seven Outdoor Quest so special:

• Phenomenal organisation: Mild Seven Outdoor Quest is known for its high standard of organisation. From route markings to a festive finish line and post-race ice creams,it\'s exceptional. And, this is definitely related to the 400-odd people who aid in making this event what it is.
  
  
• Adventure Racing legends Ian Adamson and John Howard are involved in course planning and design. An instant recipe for success.
  
  
• Luxurious accommodation at the Nexus Resort: Wonderful food, beautiful wide open beach, warm, clean ocean and comfortable rooms, it’s a pleasure returning to your room after a day of intense exertion in the sweltering heat of Sabah.
  
  
• Staged race format: Don’t be mislead ... it sounds relatively easy to cover 65-80km per day for 5-days but what is not often considered is that the pace of staged racing is fast and hard. Add to this a tough course and challenging environment and you’ve got something special.
  
  And, what makes staged racing even harder is that after a tough stage, you return to the resort, eat great food, sleep in a comfortable bed and then wake up in the morning to start the next gruelling stage with stiff and painful muscles.
  
  
• Meeting people: The pleasure of meeting new people is heightened because you actually get to really speak to each other. Breakfast and dinner were wonderful opportunities to table hop. At every meal you have the opportunity to converse with someone new.

Looking ahead

In all likelihood, this was Outdoor Quest’s last year in Sabah, which has been its home for the past 3-years. Mild Seven has been the event sponsor but with the global crunch-down on tobacco advertising and sponsorships, it’s unlikely that they’ll continue to be involved. Regardless, we’ll probably see Outdoor Quest in 2005 in a different location, with a possibly different format and a different sponsor.

I suspect too, the considering the strong anti-feelings expressed by the top adventure racing teams regarding the all-male team format rule, that we may see Outdoor Quest conforming to the standard mixed gender team composition.

Mild Seven Outdoor Quest has been an incredible experience and like the participants and crew I look forward to the event’s return.

The race will be broadcast in early 2005 on various networks including ESPN STAR, Fox Sport, Sky Sports and Outdoor Life Network. Keep an eye on the event’s website for news of show timings.See All Event Posts