The inherent risks are part of the addictive nature of the sport. Adventure races are very much like Lays potato chips...nobody can eat just one. If you hang around the sport long enough, you rarely meet a one-race person. Everyone returns to try again, despite, or perhaps because of, the dangers.

Steve Gurney, one of New Zealand's (and therefore, one of the world's) top adventure racers, has a reasonable and healthy attitude about risk. This is what he told the adventure racing community in a recent letter to the ARA listserve: "Some responsibility must fall on the race organizers to advise athletes of the risks. We see history repeating itself with Borneo Raid, Philippines, Brazil Elf, and now Borneo Eco...We must all learn. The ultimate responsibility is on the adventure athlete, I guess, as that is what makes our sport (and life) so exciting; factor RISK..."