|  The Sweet Satan Rides Again
Don Mann's Course Drawing Raves
June 28, 2006
Genesis of an Adventure
By Ken White
Memories are long in Utah, so when Rich Brazeau and Don Mann first opened conversations with land managers around Moab about bringing Primal Quest to Utah, the first question they heard was (Mark Burnett alert!): “Are you like Eco Challenge?”
Seems the first expedition race in Utah, held in 1995, had left a less-than-favorable impression of less-than-diplomatic relations.
“And I said, ‘No, we don’t want to do anything you don’t want us to do,’ ” Course Director Don Mann recalls. “We want to work with you to create a low-impact course.”
Mann, who recently sold his own highly successful adventure racing company, was lured out of retirement by the challenge of creating PQ. “I thought about it for maybe a second,” recalls Mann.
With the land managers on board and AR legend John Howard joining as Technical Designer, the next challenge was how to plan a course and obtain all the required permits without tipping off the ever-inquisitive adventure racing community on the race location.
Adventure racers tend toward obsessiveness and geekiness, so Mann & Co. knew that racers would scour the Internet, hoping to piece together enough clues to scout the course and build an invaluable knowledge base in advance.
So Mann created an innocuous-sounding organization (“United States Recreational Travel”), and applied for each permit separately. BLM and other land managers filed the required public notices, but the dense bureaucratese camoflagued PQ from web-crawling competitors.
Mann’s subterfuge proved justifiable when BLM released information on June 4th identifying PQ by name. The next day, Mann got a call from Nike Power Surge’s Ian Adamson saying he had discovered the info.
Of course, many adventure racers have trained and played in Moab’s recreational paradise. Combine that with PQ’s desire to minimize environmental impact by using established trails, and some racers would inevitably be familiar with parts of the course. But on such short notice, and with the actual course details kept secret until just four hours before the race start, there isn’t much of a “home field advantage” for teams with local knowledge.
With the location set and the general parameters established, Mann and Howard (and the specialists for each discipline) set out to create a course that would challenge the pros without overwhelming the newbies. “Think of Nike PowerBlast,” Mann says. “We don’t want a ten-day course that they can do in three. But we also would like to have 50 percent of teams cross the finish line.”
Rather than “dumb down” the course, Mann’s team constructed a challenging route that includes pre-planned time cutoffs, where slower-moving teams can smoothly bypass entire sections of the course (and concurrently move into a different race category along with other “short course” teams).
“That puts those teams right back into the mix, so they’re once again racing alongside the top teams…on a shortened course,” Mann explains.
This “modular” approach eases race logistics and reduces impact. Checkpoints (and checkpoint volunteers) are in place for shorter periods of time; racers are not strung out over as large an area; and race officials can better monitor the action.
The course design team purposely kept race highlights (like the whitewater swimming and Gemini Bridges) on the short course, and put some of the more technically demanding segments (like orienteering) on the “bypass” list. “
Mann and Co. also took into account the battered psyches of racers on a long, unsupported race. “Unsupported works better for permitting, logistics, and impact—it reduces the impact from trash, parking, traffic, and so on,” Mann explained.
Shuttling teams’ pre-packed gear and food boxes around the course eliminates the logistical need for a support crew—but not the emotional need. Racers look forward to a familiar face, a hug, or a special treat like a cold drink after grueling sections—none of which can be stored in a forlorn plastic bin baking in the desert sun.
Mann’s smile turns mischievious. “We make the course really hard, but I tell the checkpoint and TA people to be as nice and helpful as possible. They’re the racers’ friends and families out there. So while the racers are doing something terribly difficult, they can look forward to a little extra support when they need it most.”
That’s why they call Mann “The Sweet Satan.”
For more information about PQ or to have Don Mann direct your next race, contact him at DDM@USFrogMann.com.
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