EnviroSports

"Sierra Racers Run Into Trouble" screamed the front page of the San Francisco Chronicle in July 1999, with an appropriately ominous and enormous color photograph.

The Race Across California was our first client in the adventure/outdoor category, and it had gone terribly wrong. As one of the first multi-day, multi-sport races in California, it attracted athletes with only a nodding acquaintance with a map and compass and on the first day, just hours after the start, it became apparent that many – actually, most – of the field had gotten horribly, horribly lost.

Of course, if a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, you don't get calls on your cell phone from the Associated Press. We had approached the race organizers months before, in hopes of getting the account (or at least a free entry). No dummies, they noted our complete lack of experience and paid us about what we were worth (nothing).

But our learning curve paid off, as we had attracted a healthy sampling of California and national press to the event. Little did we know that our very success would briefly make the race a national sensation. The simple fact of having reporters from the Associated Press and the Chronicle at the race led ultimately to appearing on CNN, in literally hundreds of newspapers in as far away as Europe, and onto most major-market news telecasts.

All turned out well. The racers were found, the race organizers reaped untold publicity, and the rest of the race went off without a hitch. And Outside PR had had its baptism by fire. We learned valuable lessons that day: knowing when to spin and when not to spin; keeping a cool head is vastly important; always have a Plan B; and pack some water in your backpack. And if at all in doubt, sit down and look at your map for a while before charging off into the wilderness.

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