"Don, Congratulations on full enrollment and best wishes for your new venture. It is fitting for you to be at the helm of adventure racing's premiere event." "Congratulations on PQ '08 selling out so fast. Everything good that's happing at PQ is definitely a result of you, Dawn & the excellent staff you've put together. You bring so much integrity and experience to the race & AR in general. Thanks for helping to keep it alive."

"This is indeed very good news. Don has more experience and history with AR than anyone else producing this type of race. It is inspires great confidence to have Primal Quest being produced by someone inside the sport rather than a businessman who is looking to make a deal."

-Tim

"The legend lives on. Thank you Don and Chris and everyone else involved for keeping it alive."

- John

"Hello, and congratulations on the tremendous response to PQ 2008! We are very excited for you, PQ, and AR."

"Excellent! We are so excited and glad your back. You two did a phenomenal job the last race. We look forward to you two heading up this race and challenging us once again to push ourselves to the limits!"

- Kim

"What date and time will your 2009 registration open? Thanks!"

- David

"Thank you for all your hard work to help keep races like these alive."

- Randall

"We commend yourself and Don for taking on this huge task, and bringing back what we consider the most influential race in our sport, especially from a North American perspective."

- Bob

"Don, congratulations on PQ '08 selling out so fast. Everything good that's happing at PQ is definitely a result of you, Dawn & the excellent staff you've put together. You bring so much integrity and experience to the race & AR in general. Thanks for help keeping it alive."

- Jay

"Congratulations on running a fantastic event! I'm in awe of how well it came off. I've run events for 3,000 people for 4 days and I have the barest inkling of what it took. Your staff was incredible!"

"I really like the staff and all the people you had working for you to have that many people come together and get along so well was truly amazing."

"I also wanted to thank you both for taking the time during the race to talk to the volunteers and update us on what was going on. It made me personally feel like I valued part of the PQ team."

"It was nicely noticed that the top staff socialized with the racers and volunteers a lot."

"Please share my gratitude with all the PQ staff and sponsors. We were amazingly well taken care of. For example, based on Merrit’s information I was expecting to sit in the airport for 3 hours until the hospitality booth opened. I was so relieved to see Sherry’s big smile and PQ shirt to welcome me and explain the process. Based on flight times she decided to open the booth early. Plus she was able to get me a ride 4+ hours earlier than I expected. That really set a great tone for me on how friendly and helpful everyone was going to be."

"You had some great logistics personnel out there, they did a great job."

"All of the attention given to the volunteers was great. We always felt welcome and knew our volunteering was appreciated and that felt really good."

"PQ 2006 was a great success. My hat is off to you and the staff."

'The Super Bowl of Adventure Racing"

- Sports Illustrated

"Congratulations on PQ '08 selling out so fast. Everything good that's happing at PQ is definitely a result of you, Dawn & the excellent staff you've put together. You bring so much integrity and experience to the race & AR in general. Thanks for help keeping it alive."

- Jay

“Tough races come and go, simply put, Primal Quest Utah was BRUTAL in epic proportions"

– Michael Tobin, Captain, Team Nike/Powerblast, 4-time Primal Quest Champion

"Everything good that's happing at PQ is definitely a result of you, Dawn & the excellent staff you've put together. You bring so much integrity and experience to the race & AR in general. Thanks for help keeping it alive."

“Don Mann is one of the pioneers of adventure racing in the US and has always supported the grass roots racers. I think PQ’s offer is awesome! Seeing the USARA National Champs get a chance to square off against the best teams in the world will be thrilling. We are excited that PQ has extended the offer and look forward to cheering on the 2007 national champions at Primal Quest.”

- Troy Farrar, USARA President

The summit of Mt. Everest is 29,026 feet, which after leaving base camp is just over 13,000 feet in elevation gain. Primal Quest 2008 will have close to 100,000 feet of climbing.

"It's great to see Primal Quest up and running again. Well done. Keep the dream alive."

- Jonathan, Australia

“The Primal Quest 2- hour CBS Sports Spectacular received 1.5 million impressions ranking higher than any other adventure race on network TV”

"Me missing PQ is a real heart-breaker this year. It's the first year in a while that I'm not cleaning out the cobwebs of the soul. Thank you for bringing back PQ. Your permanently changing the lives of so many in such a great way. PQ wakes the soul and the appreciation for a life lived. I look forward to seeing you next year."

- Kiviok

"Congrats on making this happen Don! You've made a ton o' people happy with the revival of this event. Way cool."

"Go PQ! Good luck with the race, reading about the course you and your team have done and amazing job. Thanks for keeping PQ alive. May all the racers enjoy this race and come back safely to Big Sky. Congrats to you, Dawn, Chris and all the team for staging a fantastic race in challenging conditions."

- John

"I have been racing since Eco Challenge 96. Primal Quest – Montana is without doubt the greatest AR I have ever competed in. In every aspect, Primal Quest – Montana out-did any other AR!"

- Blain R.

"I have been following my friends from Texas in the race this year and just wanted to let you know how much I appreciate the website, Spot, Will's photography, team blogs, etc. I have been working during the day and thinking about getting home ASAP, so I can check the Spot map and read more blogs. I did the race in 2003 and can't wait to get back!!!!!!"

- Rodney

"Hello PQ! WE ARE ALL ADDICTED TO PQ! :-)Thank you!"

- Cheryl

"Hello, … I can certainly tell you my thoughts are all in Montana! It has been great following the race on-line and I can honestly say that this is the best web coverage (stories, leaderboard, tracking, photos) that Primal Quest has ever had. Great stuff!"

"The trek through the Crazies Mountain Range was the most beautiful hike I ever did."

- Monique (Team Nike)

"Hello, my brother, John, is on the Quixote team and I have been following the event on the internet. The web site is really great and informative. Thank you for having all the great info for people like me who couldn't make it there. The photos that were taken were beautiful. Montana is wonderful. Thanks for all you did."

- Marie

"I have been following the race on the web and wanted you both to know how impressive this race is. Nice job!!"

- Mark

"It is pure inspiration to see these teams pushing through the pain, the challenges, and the space between their team and the finish line, to reach their goals. At this point most are too tired to reply to our cheers and good wishes as we pass them on our commute - they are hell bent on achieving what they set out to accomplish!!"

- Karen Lum (Director of Events, Moonlight Basin)

"These adventure racers are for me, personally and professionally, a forceful reminder to stay the course, push through the unknown and believe at my core, we have already crossed the finish line!"

- Karen Lum (Director of Events, Moonlight Basin)

"Thank you for the opportunity to be a part of the Primal Quest Montana race course. It was an honor to witness these athletes at our resort. Although many of the breathtaking viewsheds of Lone Peak may all be a blur to the teams while racing, there is no doubt the land they are passing through on this final leg of the race is pulling them to the finish line--it has that effect."

- Karen Lum (Director of Events, Moonlight Basin)

"You guys are awesome! I can't tell you how impressed I am, once again with your endeavors. I have been all over the world in the last week and have begged, borrowed and stolen computer time to get my PQ updates. What a great event and I am so looking forward to the next one. Congrats again on setting the bar even higher."

- Bill

"Just wanted to send a big THANK YOU to you and all your staff for such an amazing time at PQ08. It was my first PQ experience, and crewing for Team GOALS was an absolute blast. Who knew that spending my vacation time cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, driving an RV down unpaved, bumpy roads, dressing the team, taping feet, and not sleeping could be so much fun?"

- Denise Mast (President, NYARA)

"(Don) It was a pleasure to finally meet you in person after reading about you for years. As a race director myself (on a much smaller scale), I am in complete awe of all that you accomplished with PQ this year, especially on a shoestring budget and a lean staff. Trust me, even my little mom and pop races experience the same issues and it was mind blowing to see how professional PQ was run from the website, to the communications, to the safety crew, etc. And, I tip my bike helmet to your volunteers - WOW!! They did such a phenomenal job and they treated the race like it was their full time job."

- Denise Mast (President, NYARA)

"So, where do you go from here? Of course rumors are swirling about locations such as British Columbia and even Europe, but no matter where PQ ends up, it is sure to be a success."

- Denise Mast (President, NYARA)

"As a PQ racer – wannabe, I thoroughly enjoyed the website coverage you guys had! I got absolutely no nothing done at work or at home during the 10 day race!!! THANK YOU for providing such outstanding coverage! I do have to say that I think the racers handled the 100,000 of elevation changes MUCH better than the HEAT in Utah!! Any chance of PQ ever heading back to desert like conditions again? Sure makes it for a race about SURVIVAL as opposed to keeping on moving! (Yes, I love the heat!!!)"

- Jackie (Houston, TX)

"I wanted to take a moment to thank you, PQ staff, and all the volunteers, for all your hard work over the past year to make Primal Quest an incredible experience for me and my team. We got exactly what we hoped for, an incredibly hard, truly beautiful, and deep personal test of our wills and talents. Yet you managed to give us all this and keep us reasonably safe at the same time."

- Mark

"I know you're busy with the rush of teams coming in but I just wanted to send along a quick congratulations on a great event! The buzz even as far as Billings is very positive. We've been out talking to a support crews, TA volunteers, and cheering on a few teams we could catch and (besides being exhausted) everyone was having a great experience."

- Kevin (MyTopo.com)

"The continual sponsor exposure and support was excellent. Just being a part of having the race in Montana was a great reward for us, but the "value" we received was well beyond our expectations. Again, great job to everybody involved in putting on a first-class event."

- Kevin (MyTopo.com)

"You guys are awesome! I can't tell you how impressed I am, once again with your endeavors. I have been all over the world in the last week and have begged, borrowed and stolen computer time to get my PQ updates. What a great event and I am so looking forward to the next one. Congrats again on setting the bar even higher."

- Bill

"What a fabulous race! I can’t thank you enough for such a wonderful event. Thanks so much."

- Mark

"Now that some of the PQ dust may have begun to settle, we wanted to send you a quick e-mail to congratulate you both and the entire PQ crew on a job well done! We know full well how much time and logistics go into planning an adventure race that lasts a couple of days so we can only imagine how much time and energy goes planning a 10 day race on the other side of the states! Incredible feat! Thank you for all of your time, efforts, and sacrifices in keeping the sport of adventure racing strong! We sometimes feel like being the race director is tougher on a body and mind than racing it would be, so we know you guys must be extremely worn out. Enjoy recovering!"

- Pam & Mike (HRAdventure.com)

"Congrats again for yet another amazing PQ! You guys are simply incredible!"

- Pam & Mike (HRAdventure.com)

"This was the best race and best team of my life! It is so hard to come back to reality. We are already planning for 2009 and really hope that it is going to be in a mountainous area as is rumored (pun intended). Calgary would be AWESOME!!! Thanks for everything that you do for us! The Dancing Pandas really really appreciate it!"

- Masha

"Thank you so much for bringing this amazing event and people to our little corner of the world. I can’t tell you how positive our entire resort and community has been about PQ. I have to say it was really surprising and incredibly appreciated how gracious you and the entire PQ team were at the resort. I think it was the most I have felt appreciated by any group in my 10+ year sales career. That really says a lot and means a lot to me. You really have created an amazing program and have built a fantastic team. I think how this year’s event was a success was especially incredible considering it was the first year you didn’t have the 'big sponsor' that paid for almost everything."

- Brandon (Big Sky Resort, MT)

"Thanks again and congrats on a great race!"

- Alexandra (The Wallstreet Journal)

"I wanted to take a moment to thank you, PQ staff, and all the volunteers, for all your hard work over the past year to make Primal Quest an incredible experience for me and my team. We got exactly what we hoped for, an incredibly hard, truly beautiful, and deep personal test of our wills and talents. Yet you managed to give us all this and keep us reasonably safe at the same time."

- Mark (Team Gnome Hunters)

"Wow, this year’s PQ has been the best race of our lives! It was incredibly fulfilling and memorable. Thanks so much for putting together such a great experience for us!"

- Masha

"Why do I do this? Just winning. I hate to say it, but that’s why I do it. You just kill yourself for five days, and then for the following five days you can’t do anything. It’s from one extreme to the other. And I actually hate feeling so handicapped. My feet really, really hurt, and you get a ton of edema for two days, and your body’s just trying to heal itself. And I hate that. But in the same breath, I love the racing and I love winning. So you kind of have to put up with the compromise.”

– Robyn Benincasa

"The [climbing] section was pretty nuts. It was 1,200 feet long. You were on these thin rock spires just trying to navigate around these while it's pitch black at midnight. It took us six to eight hours to finish the ropes section. Wiped out, no water, on the rock face. Primal Quest – Montana was the hardest AR I've done to date just because of the remoteness and the challenging nature of really the Montana landscape. The mountains were gigantic, the rivers were raging, the scree fields, the snowfields. The diversity of terrain was pretty amazing. There were plenty of moments where you're out there thinking, "What am I doing out here?" This course was the most remote challenging course that I've been on just in terms of being in the backcountry, the weather conditions we experienced and just the terrain of Montana."

– Team Goals ARA

"There were feelings of relief that we actually finished it and pride because we finished the whole course." "It was probably one of the most incredible experiences I've ever had," said Hughes. "I felt like I saw the entire state of Montana over the period of 10 days. We saw two black bears, bald eagles, moose and osprey."

– Team Active Racing

"Greetings from Denver. Wow, what an incredible race you and the team put on. Blown away by EVERYTHING. Can't thank you enough. Kudos also to managing this event without any major injuries, etc. That was a huge relief to us all!"

– The Druid Pack

"It has been great following the race on-line and I can honestly say that this is the best web coverage (stories, leaderboard, tracking, photos) that Primal Quest has ever had. Great stuff!"

- Dave P.

"The simple description of Primal Quest is that it is an extreme test of human endurance in the form of an expedition adventure race. The race acts like a huge hammer; each leg of the race is a smashing stroke against the willpower and bodies of the individual racers. Every single leg of this race, most as long as a full adventure race themselves– can and will exhaust your strength, break down your body, and test your resolve."

– Team Blue

"Our entire lives have been about Primal Quest for the last year,". "We’re glad we did it. There is a sense of accomplishment and now a huge amount of freedom."

- Team Lucky

"It was an emotional journey. I went to the celebration party last time, but it wasn’t the same. Now I could enjoy it. And this PQ was a lot harder than the first one I tried, and on much deadlier terrain."

- Kim D.

"Primal Quest definitely was a life changing experience. I was told that would happen. I thought it would hit me out on the race course, but boy it seems like each day I have been home is when it is all happening! I have made lifelong friends and will have these memories forever. Thank you for that!"

- Mary (Team Number Twenty Nine)

"…and just like that, another Primal Quest is history, with truly epic visions of Montana eternally etched into our oxygen-depleted memories."

- Team NIKE ACG

"Wow! The numbers are still a bit too staggering to wrap our heads around (550+ miles traveled, 8 total hours of sleep, 38 degree whitewater, 5 *real* bears encountered, 40,000 calories consumed daily (and that’s just Mike’s portion!), 2100 vertical feet of dizzying, straight-up, technical rock ascending, etc.,.)."

- Team NIKE ACG

"It was a Primal Quest to the very core, and the life-altering lessons we will carry with us forever. There are no numbers, or pictures or words that can capture the sense of accomplishment we gained from this week of experiences in the Montana wilderness."

- Team NIKE ACG

"Thanks again for a great race. Me and team truly enjoyed every moment of it and are quite pleased to have been part of Primal Quest Montana. Since my return, I have been stopped in hallways, emailed and called by people that I had never heard of to congratulate me and to ask question about this bizarre sport that is AR."

- Dominique Drouin (Team Blue)

"Thanks for all your dedication in putting on a very tough Primal Quest. It was the hardest one I’ve competed in yet! Thanks again for all your support and hard work into making the race successful. I know Mother Nature threw a curveball to the race organization and you all responded admirably!"

- Chad Markle

"Don, I was so very impressed with the entire organization - especially after you spent so much time with us at the lodge just chatting like you had absolutely nothing better to do. We were feeling so bad taking up so much of your time and you were so gracious and accommodating with us and for this I thank you. With our early exit being one of the most disappointing experiences of my entire life, you made that day a whole lot more bearable. My experiences with PQ, both as a media volunteer in Moab and as a competitor in Montana, have been so memorable and that is directly attributed to you and your team. Thank you once again, not only for the courtesy shown to me and my team, but for all that you do for AR."

"The entire racing community is indebted to you for pulling off a fantastic event. I am somehow a better person having participated in your event. It was a reward to see Don at the finish when our team completed the course at 5am. Our team was skeptical of PQ's future heading into this event and couldn't have been more impressed. You guys rock."

- Tom

"Congratulations on a fantastic event. You had me glued to the coverage all week – I dedicated my desktop computer to watching the SPOT tracking, the blog, the photo gallery and Checkpoint Zero’s blog. But kudos on great coverage, a great course, great weather (!), and a great shot in the arm for the sport."

- Geoff

"Thanks a bunch Will, and I must say I am really impressed by the job you and your team of photographers did during the race. Great composition, great colors and great sharpness. Very impressive. These pictures is of great value for us over here to be able to market the race for the media. Adventure Racing is still a small upcoming sport in Norway."

- Vigleik

"Don, I am really happy to see PQ growing under your leadership, you have definitely paid your dues. There are not many of us left around from the early days or AR. I am really happy to see PQ growing and was excited by all of the great feedback we received from the 2008 PQ."

- Troy Farrar (President, USARA)

"Thanks for a great race. Having done four 10-day adventure races as a support crew, this race was great because your SPOT tracking helped keep us up to date with our teams out in the field. It takes away some of that stress."

- Robin Bushaw (Team Base Camp)

"You were so helpful with my emails before the race, and then all the question during the race. It was a treat to see the beautiful country of Montana. And a treat to have such great support, both with our team as well as with the PQ organizers. Thanks again for all your hard work and patience. It truly was appreciated by us, and I'm sure by every other team out there to test their limits. Looking forward to 2009."

- Mona (Team Nike)

"First and foremost, congrats on an incredible race and organization. You took us through some amazing landscape. The climbing section was original and excellent and the treks were out of this world! All the best for the 09 preparation and thanks again for your amazing hard work in 08! The entire AR community is grateful!"

- Cyril

"I had such a respect for this race, but I have a whole new respect for this race, There was nothing easy about it. It was long and brutal. At one point, my team did not eat for 36 hours and did not bathe for 10 days, except for the occasional rinsing off. We had to compete amidst all the creatures that live in Montana, including elk and black bears."

– Mary M

"I wanted to take a moment to thank you, PQ staff, and all the volunteers, for all your hard work over the past year to make Primal Quest an incredible experience for me and my team. We got exactly what we hoped for, an incredibly hard, truly beautiful, and deep personal test of our wills and talents. Yet you managed to give us all this and keep us reasonably safe at the same time."

"I am moved to write you and tell you how inspiring these Primal Quest race teams are. It is pure inspiration to see these teams pushing through the pain, the challenges, and the space between their team and the finish line, to reach their goals. At this point most are too tired to reply to our cheers and good wishes as we pass them on our commute - they are hell bent on achieving what they set out to accomplish!! These adventure racers are for me, personally and professionally, a forceful reminder to stay the course, push through the unknown and believe at my core, we have already crossed the finish line!"

- Karen Lum (Moonlight Basin)

"Thank you for the opportunity to be a part of the Primal Quest Montana race course. It was an honor to witness these athletes at our resort. Although many of the breathtaking viewsheds of Lone Peak may all be a blur to the teams while racing, there is no doubt the land they are passing through on this final leg of the race is pulling them to the finish line--it has that effect."

- Karen Lum (Moonlight Basin)

"You guys are awesome! I can't tell you how impressed I am, once again with your endeavors. I have been all over the world in the last week and have begged, borrowed and stolen computer time to get my PQ updates. What a great event and I am so looking forward to the next one. Congrats again on setting the bar even higher."

- Bill

"We really appreciate all that you and your PQ team do. You do something that a handful of people in the world can do...and you do it well."

- Kevin

“Looking back at our experience in Montana, what left an indelible mark was the sheer beauty of the landscape we traversed. The race was truly of epic proportions and has provided us with a lifetime of memories. Well done PQ! Your organization was first class and we look forward to the next edition in the Badlands of South Dakota.”

- Cyril Jay-Rayon, Captain, DART-nuun

“Dawn, I wish you and Don could have been sitting in our living room with Melissa, Eric and I watching the PQ movie for the first time. We were laughing and crying re-living our experience while watching the race. I am truly at a loss for words (and not because of sleep deprivation) as how to thank all of you for this once in a life time experience.”

- Kathy W.