Adventure racing is a sport predicated on the unknown: can we bushwhack through that valley? Will I fall into this crevasse and die? Is wading in bat guano with open wounds a good idea? The uncertainties of what will happen next draw many people away from the relatively pedestrian and known commodities of triathlons, marathons, and other structured multisport races. Adventure races abound in delicious ambiguity: will you find water? Will you run out of food? Will this bitch of a storm capsize your boat? Will you kill your teammate? Will you die of thirst?

Of late, there has been a rekindling of an old argument on the ARA (Adventure Racing Association) — the sometimes tedious but often informative listserv of the adventure racing community. The argument centers around whether or not adventure racing should be bridled (some would argue shackled), reined in and controlled by any number of possible governing bodies, sanctioning entities and organizations. There is even muttering about trying to qualify adventure racing as an Olympic sport.

The biggest question to answer is the most obvious: Why? What the hell for?