The Four Winds of Change

Rob / 13.07.2003

There was a bit of discussion recently about the oldest, and the longest US multi-day race, the Four Winds USA Supreme, which takes place this year in Utah. Keith Byrne chipped in to say The North Face team which won Adrenalin Rush will be going (with Helen Jackson replacing Nicola MacLeod), which is not surprising as the main sponsors this year are TNF.

The race has also just announced a deal with GPS company Magellan and this is tied in with the impressive race coverage they have planned. The idea is to use GPS tracking for each team and present the information on the website coverage, so you can see if they get lost and go round circles in the desert! To do this they say they are ‘taking technology to the edge’, so let’s hope they don’t ‘fall over’.

In fact, it’s been done before, 18 months ago at Raid Ukatak in Canada. (I remember ‘watching’ Team Ford Ranger go walkabout!) That system worked quite well, though many said it was over complex and hard to use.

Earlier this year we also reported the inclusion of powered parachuting in the race, which is a first for AR, even if the inclusion of a motor is a bit ethically dodgy! There is also some in-line skating (just think of those long, straight desert roads), lots of Mtb and a significant amount of swimming is expected.

It all sounds like an exceptional event is coming in August and The North Face have a few more things planned which we can’t tell you about just yet. There’s also over $60,000 of prize cash and gear goodies and if you fancy heading for Utah for the start on August 13th entries are still open … see the race web site.