Wulong Mountain Quest Adventure Race Begins In Asia

The Wulong Mountain Quest adventure race got under way today in Wulong Park, China. The four-day event hosts some of the best adventure racing teams from across the globe competing against one another on foot, bike and kayak. This race is always one of the best events in Asia each year and this year looks to be no different.

My friends on the Thule Adventure Team are competing in the event this week and are posting blog updates as the action unfolds. This morning they took part in the prologue, which was hampered a bit by rain but seemed like great fun with a variety of short stages to test their legs early only. The prologue began with an intense uphill run, which was followed by three team members carrying the fourth in a sedan-chair. Eventually they transitioned to a biathlon section, where they managed to make up some ground before finishing third. That will be a good place to be heading into tomorrow's first stage.

The Wulong Quest is a staged race and over the next four days the teams will be competing against one another with a definitive start and end to each day. This is quite a bit different from expedition races that run non-stop and makes for a much better spectator experience. I know a lot of teams have grown to really enjoy the stage-race atmosphere as it allows them to interact with the other teams they are racing against as well as fans of the sport. It is also a better format for capturing the spirit of the race on video for sharing with a television audience. With that in mind, the Thule team will have a professional filmmaker following them on the race and I'm told we'll get video from the event each day. That should prove very interesting for fans of adventure racing.

Watch the Thule Adventure Team blog for more updates over the next few days and to catch their videos as well.

Diana Nyad Completes Cuba To Florida Swim

It has been big news – especially here in the U.S. – since yesterday but I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Diana Nyad's amazing swim here on the Adventure Blog. On Monday, the 64-year old Nyad became the first person to complete a swim from Cuba to Florida, covering the 110-miles of open ocean in about 53 hours. The epic endeavor began on Saturday at the seawall on Hemingway Harbor in Havana and ended yesterday on the beach in Key West, Florida, where she was greeted by a crowd of onlookers who had gathered to welcome her.

Obviously this is an amazing display of human endurance but in more ways than you might imagine. Swimming for 53 hours straight is incredibly demanding to say the least, as Nyad never left the water once she got underway. She did stop from time to time to get food and water, but for the most part she just kept on pushing forward. But if you know anything about her story, you know that is the way Diana operates. She has been pursuing the dream of swimming from Cuba to the U.S. for 35 years, first making the attempt back in 1978. That attempt was a failure but the idea of completing this challenge never strayed far from her thoughts. In 2011 she revived her plan for making the swim and over the past two years she tried three more times before finally finding success yesterday.

Diana can be an inspiration to us all on a number of levels. Obviously she is quite the endurance athlete and her focus on completing this swim tells us a lot about her determination and toughness. But her ability to grab onto a dream and pursue it until it is done is another aspect of her personality that I find amazing. The Cuba-to-Florida swim was her Everest and she didn't give up on reaching the summit. There is a lesson in that for all of us for sure.

Congratulations to Diana on finally reaching her goal. What an amazing achievement.