Surviving the Toughest Race On Earth - Hardcover

Dugard, Martin

3.95

85 ratings by Goodreads

9780070181298: Surviving the Toughest Race On Earth

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0070181292 ISBN 13: 9780070181298

Publisher: TAB Books Inc, 1998

View all copies of this ISBN edition:

Adventure, danger, and exotic places are at the heart of the most difficult race in the world. International teams battle time, the elements, and physical and emotional exhaustion in some of the wildest landscapes on the planet from the jungles of Borneo to the peaks of the Andes. Only a fraction of the competing teams are able to finish a typical adventure race, as fatigue and injuries take a continual toll. This book is a dramatic, fascinating and intensely personal story of a journalist who has been covering adventure racing from its early days, both as a reporter and a competitor.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

From the Author:

This is a book about making dreams come true
Having spent the past five years traipsing around the world covering and competing in adventure races, I wrote "Surviving the Toughest Race on Earth" (original title: Just Once) to tell the world about the sport. I think any event that demands nothing less than one-hundred percent mental, physical and emotional commitment deserves recognition. I also wanted to show that these are events for fairly average people who choose to take a flying leap outside the comfort zone three weeks out of the year. It's not a book about extreme sports. It's a book about making dreams true. The calls and letters I've received from readers tells me that point is coming through, for which I am grateful. It seems the book appeals to three sorts of readers: men and women who want to quit their corporate jobs and chase adventure; romantics who like how I write about my wife, and adventure racers looking for something to read. I'm just glad people are taking the time to read. This book has been my creative passion for a long time. There will be a sequel. It'll be about adventures and misadventures at this year's Raid, which promises to be the most competitive adventure race in history. My team will drive from Los Angeles to Quito, then compete. I call it my "heart of darkness" book, because the team dynamics are either going to flourish or be destroyed by the dual adventures. Working title is "Raid Rules." After I'm done with that I just want to stay home and coach Little League for a few years.

From the Back Cover:

"A book that goes beyond pain, into the numbing realm of adventure racing." Los Angeles Times

"A great book is one that brings you into another world the world of the characters the author is writing about. In Surviving the Toughest Race on Earth, the reader sees through Marty's eyes, feels his joy and his pain, experiences adventure racing close up. Marty shows us the human the emotional side of extreme sports." Jennifer Ciraldo, National Geographic

In 1993 Marty Dugard is lashed to the coporate wheel, pursuing a successful marketing career while his dreams of world travel and high adventure slowly face.

So he quits.

While building a new life as a freelance sports journalist, Dugard snatches the opportunity to cover the Raid Gauloises, the notorious eight- to twelve-day race across hundreds of some of the most forbidding miles on the planet. The race pits teams from around the world against hostile wilderness, extreme weather, injuries, and exhaustion. Simply reaching the finish line is a victory.

In this thrilling tale of danger and perseverance, Dugard follows racers through the withering desert heat of Madagascar and the clinging mud and leeches of Borneo, and celebrates the stunning victory of underdog Team Jura in their epic trek across the Makay Massif. We're there with Dugard when, after three years of reporting the Raid Gauloises, he organizes a team and joins the race.

Two journeys converge in Surviving the Toughest Race on Earth. One is an odyssey of change: Dugard gambling his career in pursuit of a dream. The Raid Gauloises is another kind of journey, beyond fatigue and pain to the brittle edge of human endurance.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.