Once there are set distances and disciplines, then you really have what amounts to an off-road triathlon, not an adventure race.

Says Robyn Benincasa, member of the Eco-Challenge Sabah 2000 winning team and winner of the 1998 Raid Gauloises in Ecuador: "It would be really cool to win a medal, but not every sport needs to be in the Olympics to justify its existence or to make it 'a real sport.' Also, there is no way to standardize an adventure race to make it fair and equitable to everyone in the world. And if it were the same exact course every time, it would really ruin the adventure of it. It's kind of nice that each year a given race favors a different team in some way. That's why it is so hard to win twice."

Who wants equity, anyway? Who wants uniformity?