Subaru Primal Quest

At the pre-race briefing of the Cal-Eco 24 Hour Adventure Race, Outside PR president Gordon Wright listened intently as race director Dan Barger outlined the dangers of the course, which included Class III white water, 118-degree weather and unusually high numbers of rattlesnakes on the trails around Kernville, California.

While the lecture was sobering, it was not nearly as explosive as what Barger had to say as we got up to leave. "I have one more announcement", he said as the racers began to mill about. "Next year (2002), we are organizing a major adventure race. The prize purse will be $250,000, it will be held in the western United States and the ten best teams in the world have already committed to competing".

This was scintillating stuff, and after managing to finish the race, Gordon drove home, went to work the next morning and tapped out an email to the editor of Sports Illustrated Adventure entitled, "Major New Adventure Race".

The race turned out to be the Subaru Primal Quest, Sports Illustrated Adventure had a scoop, and Outside PR had a new client. Since then, Outside PR has worked with the Subaru Primal Quest to create a public awareness that far exceeds the expectations of a new race.

The work is multivariate and intense: we have developed the race's environmental ethos, managed local media needs, courted and secured wide international coverage, hosted and managed the on-site press, given extensive interviews for print and electronic media, written press materials and acres of content for its award-winning web site and nailed down high-profile media coverage.

Among the media outlets that have covered the race due to our efforts are: Sports Illustrated, USA Today, the San Francisco Chronicle, Sports Business Daily, Penthouse, BBC Worldwide and Runner's World. Even Outside Magazine, heretofore violently opposed to covering adventure racing, graced us with a nine-page feature article.

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