Considering entering the adventure racing arena but intimidated by the high costs associated with the sport? You should be. It's a lot more expensive than bowling, archery, or ping pong. But the yields or dividends of the sport are high: Adventure racers get to travel the world and live in week-long states of endorphin rush and sleep deprivation. They get to experience exotic cultures, amoebic dysentery, and psychological group therapy. Hey, it should cost a lot.

Sure, a team of three can race a weekend Hi-Tec for a reasonable fee, provided they live where the race is taking place. But we're talking about the biggies here, the expedition-style races that all fledglings are shooting for eventually. The Eco-Challenge, The Raid Gauloises, and the Elf Authentic Adventure. Holy Grail stuff.

Pound for pound, Eco-Challenge is actually the best bargain of the three, and comes with a serious perk: potential sponsors have heard of it. The entry for Eco-Challenge this year in Sabah, Borneo is $12,500 bucks, which includes pre- and post-race accommodation. Teams can manage the whole Eco-Challenge kit and caboodle for about $20,000, a great deal by major race standards. And, since the race is unsupported, you need only deal with the four members — not the extra crew members associated with Raid and Elf. Basically, Eco-Challenge is a 5-star adventure race: racers are provided with all transfers and ground transportation during the event, so teams need not trouble themselves with such details. And with Mark Burnett's high profile as a result of the success of the TV show "Survivor," Eco should become a household word, a sponsorship boon. And oh, yeah, minor detail: $55k for the winning team.

Downside: It's tough to get in to Eco because teams from all over the world are signing up for a finite number of spots (approximately 70 this year).

The Raid and Elf, on the other hand, those notoriously "French" events, will set you back a few. While their entry fees are relatively low (Elf is $5000.00 and the Raid about $10,000), they are complex and expensive logistical events — expeditions in the true sense of the word. Both are supported races, which means that in addition to your four to five team members, you must also bring three support crew members, and are responsible for flying them there, feeding them, housing them, and getting them around while in-country. This adds the cost of renting vans, 4x4s or other local means of transportation, hiring a driver, and sometimes hiring an interpreter. Raid and Elf, once all the kibble is added up (you must also get your bikes, and even boats like sea kayaks, to the race if they are called for in the disciplines), run anywhere from $30,000 to $50,000 per team. Makes for a pricey little holiday.

But fear not. If you are smart, enterprising and part pit bull you'll be racing with other people's money. The money is out there. Corporate America (and the international corporate world) has noticed that adventure travel and eco-tourism are in full swing, and are big business. The outdoor industry is cranking away (one trip to the annual OR Show in Salt Lake City, Utah, will show you). Never have there been more outdoor manufacturers producing more goods for more people. All of which adds up to potential in advertising sales, and in eager companies hoping to funnel some of their PR dollars into adventure sports. What this all means is that in addition to training as a multi-sports athlete, which requires a serious time commitment, at least one team member must also don the business guise and log untold phone hours doing the corporate networking gig, which is a full-time job in itself. Pick this person well. They need to be a consummate salesperson and extremely professional.

Karen Lundgren, a veteran racer from Lake Arrowhead, California, says, "Sponsorship is the absolute hardest thing about adventure racing. You have to network big time and develop strong, lasting relationships with key people. It's not just about getting a hundred resumes out to companies — you have to be in the right place at the right time, and then really nurture relationships."

Plus, Lundgren adds, you have to produce results and come in with something to offer in the first place. "It is really tough for teams or individuals with no established track records or results — there has to be something that the sponsors feel they are getting for their money. I mean, you're asking them for $20,000 to $30,000 per race." (Lundgren has struck a relationship with Hi-Tec, which has been very supportive over the last year or so.)

The good news is that there are lots of other "smaller" races cropping up — and a number of existing ones, with more reasonable price tags. The Beast of the East, the Four Winds Supreme, and The Raid the North Extreme are cheaper than the "majors." And the Southern Traverse, one of the originals and a racer favorite, is still quite affordable at approximately $1600 for the whole team. But there is a Catch-22: will sponsors be as excited about the smaller, ancillary races? It's a classic sponsorship conundrum.

Sponsorship approaches are varied. A traditional technique would have teams hitting up multiple (sometimes as many as 25-35) individual gear sponsors, hoping for everything from free swag to money. The gear folks are out there, and teams try for everything from socks to headlamps (and all that comes between). Trouble is, there is an infinite amount of work associated, a tremendous amount of time and effort. Not only do you have to develop the initial relationships and contacts (schmoozing, phone calls, networking, trade shows), but good relationships are only maintained if you provide sponsors with the proof of your worth, which means sending post-race thank you letters, press packets, photos, and all media articles must be meticulously collected, copied and sent. Any TV appearances or coverage must be tracked, recorded, and tapes mailed. Racers who want to maintain healthy, long-term relationships have to perform as professional business people, even if racing is just a sideline gig.

Another approach is to go for the singular entity with bigger pockets, a corporation wishing to join the adventure fray. This can simplify things because you are only dealing with one, rather than multiple, sponsors. In the last few years a number of teams have been going this route (Spie Battingnoles, Tactel Inspira/Dupont, and Hi-Tec are examples). Expect to see more such cooperatives and partnerships in the future, especially from innovative fabric companies, or companies hoping to gain market share and name recognition through associations with big TV events. This tactic is best reserved for those with relatively impressive existing resumes.

If your goal is to race the Cal-Eco series or the Endorphin Fix, then your task is less daunting. But most racers use these as primers to prepare them for the biggies, and they'll eventually have to deal with questions of commerce. Even though some cynics call adventure racing a sport for the elite, that isn't altogether true. Sure, there are a number of "coupon kids" in the sport, the trust funders we love to hate wherever we find them, but mostly adventure racing is comprised of regular folks who love adventure, who have "normal" jobs, respectable careers, even families. They just happen to be addicted to a really expensive sport.

And they need to feed that addiction. But taken all in all, as dependencies go, adventure racing is a pretty healthy habit.