Archive for May, 2009

As you know, if you are an avid reader of our blog (!!!), extreme sports, called by some – ‘dangerous pastimes’ – are booming.

The latest one I’ve heard about is ‘coasteering’. Ever heard of it?

It’s an extreme sport that is a physical activity that encompasses movement along the intertidal zone of a rocky coastline on foot or by swimming. It requires no boats, no ropes – just skill, fine judgement and bravery. A defining factor of coasteering is the opportunity provided by the marine coastline for moving in the “impact zone” where water, waves, rocks, gullies, caves etc, come together to provide a very high energy environment.

Wearing wetsuits, gloves and helmets, participants of this sport swim along the base of cliffs on coastlines, climb the rock faces, dive into the sea or into caves. This is where the fine judgement comes in, not least the bravery, as with waves crashing in and the tide swelling and ebbing, this can be a highly risky enterprise.

Learning can be physically exhausting as shown here by paulnod.

But also fun – ankleshock100.

Each extreme sport has its own fraternity. And among them is an hierarchy: most coasteerers, like experienced mountaineers, regard zorbers or bungee jumpers as dilettantes out for a quick thrill. “We take risks,” says Tom Fox, an experienced coasteer, “but we take them from a place of safety. We’re fit, we train and it’s not all about getting a quick fix of adrenaline. When we master our fears, the reward is huge. Everything is heightened and I feel good for days.”

So what is the psychology behind the urge to do an extreme sport? Is it the adrenaline pumping thrill we are after or are we just reacting against mollycoddling?

In the past this search for thrill was not necessary. There were enough wars and strife in people’s lives to keep that thirst at bay. But nowadays, for most of us, life has become pretty mundane and it’s not surprising that people are on the search for something to inspire them with the thrill to live – and live dangerously, if only for a few hours a week. As 35-year old teacher, Martin Ollerenshaw, a surfer, says, “If I don’t do it for a while, I feel prickly. I need to take those risks to feel fully human, fully alive. It’s about joy and intensity – it’s an escape from the mundane and the routine.”

When you consider the steady erosion of children’s freedom such as handstands, skipping ropes and conkers being banned from the playground, you shouldn’t be surprised at the surge of interest in extreme sports.

Adrenaline holidays are moving from a niche market to a mainstream one:

A Mintel survey of the adventure travel industry last April found that activity holidays had increased by 17.2% over 4 years, far more than the overall market – 2.8%. Tour operator Thomson, for example, has 20 dedicated brands serving 400,000 customers a year. Danger is an international industry.

And age is no barrier, though Mintel did find that participants are most likely to be between the ages of 20 to 44. However, plenty of over-40’s have a taste for danger too.

When you compare the danger element in extreme sports to day-to-day living – it compares quite favourably. For example, in England 150 Britons die every year taking part in adventure sports (and remember, they know the risks undertaken when doing their chosen sport), whereas accidents on the roads and in the home kill 6,000.

Quite something that, isn’t it?!

Times are slowly beginning to change though and the world is slowly beginning to wake up to the fact that governance has over-mollycoddled the populace. There are signs that the tide is finally beginning to turn. As Ken Way, a sports psychologist, says: “If we remove risk from our lives we never find out our strengths and weaknesses. We stagnate.” Simon Barnes, a sportswriter, agrees. He says “some people think it’s got something to do with a death wish (extreme sports). It’s not. LIFE wish, more like.”

We couldn’t say it better than that…

We’ll end with a video from extremityTV highlighting the never-ending search for a challenge – and also highlighting what we love to write about.

Here’s another one for our extreme sports personalities – Ranulph Fiennes, or, more correctly, Sir Ranulph Twistleton-Wykeham-Fiennes – a British explorer extroadinaire and the holder of several endurance records. According to the Guinness Book of Records he is the greatest living adventurer.

This is what this extroadinary man has accomplished in his 65 years:

• 1969 Travels the length of the White Nile by hovercraft
• 1970 Traverses Norway’s Jostedalsbreen Glacier
• 1979 to 1982 Travels globe on its polar axis by land transport
• 1992 Discovers lost city of Ubar
• 1993 Attempts to cross the Antarctic unaided
• 2000 On solo walk to North Pole his sleds fall through ice
• 2003 Four months after double heart bypass, he does seven marathons in seven days
• 2005 Attempt on Everest ends when he has a heart attack
• 2007 Climbs north face of Eiger
• 2008 Exhaustion ends a second attempt on Everest
• 2009 Reaches Everest summit

He attempted Everest 3 times. The first time, in 2005, he had a heart attack 300m from the summit. The second time he was forced back at 8,400 metres, suffering from exhaustion. Afterwards he declared: “I won’t be returning to Everest.”

But defeat is simply not in his vocabulary, and despite everything he set off again. Just before 1 a.m. Thursday, 21st May, he became the oldest Briton and first UK pensioner to climb the 8,850 metre peak.

It is hard to believe, after his conquest of Everest and the north face of the Eiger, that this is a man who is morbidly afraid of heights.

Fiennes continues to compete in UK based endurance events and has seen recent success in the Veteran categories of some Mountain marathon races. His training nowadays consists of regular two hour runs around Exmoor.

He’s also an accomplished author. If you’re looking for a REALLY good read, try ‘The Feathermen’ – it’ll keep you spellbound.

We trust no one will be upset by cycle polo which from our research would appear to be gathering an increasing number of players, supporters and countries that play the game. Having said that we have not been able to find anything about the 2009 tournaments and so we would be delighted to hear from enthusiasts of the sport of what is happening, when and where, so we can post a blog and keep people informed.

Traditional bicycle polo is played in a rectangular grass field, 150 meters by 100 meters officially, unofficially whatever field is big enough or whatever surface is smooth enough. Moreover, official dimensions can vary between 120 and 150 meters in length on 80 to 100 meters in width.

The game was invented by an Irishman, Richard J. Mecredy, in 1891 and has seen a sharp spike in interest since the turn of this century and new teams are sprouting up across the world.

Today there is organized cycle polo being played in Argentina, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, India, Ireland, Malaysia, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland and USA.

The 1980s saw the rise of two new powers in cycle polo, India and USA. The Cycle Polo Association of India was officially created in 1966 and the Bicycle Polo Association of America was created in 1994.

International cycle polo matches staged a comeback in the 1990s with the first world championship organized in 1996 in the USA. Teams from India, USA and Canada participated with India winning the title.

Today the game has become more urban and is played on tennis courts and the like where a hard surface presents a fast and exciting game.

See the video below from cleancut62 of some action from a recent game which demonstrates there is more than just a little skill in riding a bike required – the crashes are pretty hard but it looks a lot of fun.

The final installment of this trilogy will be about Segway polo….stay tuned!

We said earlier in the week that our research into the game of polo had turned up some weird and wonderful variants of the game which could only be described as extreme. Well the first such extreme of polo is played on elephants.

Elephant polo is a variant of polo played whilst riding elephants. Although elephant polo was first played in India at the beginning of the twentieth century, the modern game originated in Nepal where it is played in an annual tournament organised by the World Elephant Polo Association at Tiger Tops in Nepal.

It is also played in Sri Lanka, Rajasthan in India and in Thailand.

The pitch is three-quarters of the length of a standard polo pitch, due to the slower speed of the elephants. Two people ride each elephant – the polo player and the mahout who controls the elephant. A polo stick is used, which depending on the size of your elephant can be 5 to 9 feet long, to try to hit the ball and score a goal. Due to the cumbersome elephants the ball can disappear under their great bulks for long peroids sometimes only emerging as a flattened relic more akin to a frisbee.

It is not surprising to learn that the game has attracted stern criticism from animal rights organisers who consider the game to be no more than the expoitation of animals for the amusement of man.

The WEPA are holding their next tournament from November 29th to December 5th and although it is not announced we presume the location will be Tiger Tops in Nepal.

Below is a journeymanpictures video of elephant polo in Jaipur, India.

Another variant which does not attract the negative criticism from the animal rights hoodies is cycle polo and we will post a blog on this form of the sport in the next few days.

You might remember that I did an article on the ‘Ultramarathon – The Four Deserts’ (Atacama, Gobi, Sahara, and Antartica) the other day… the Atacama Crossing has already happened, but now it’s the turn of the Gobi March.

The Gobi Desert is in China and is known as the windiest desert in the world. It is also a cold desert, and it is not uncommon to see frost and occasionally snow on its dunes. It is in a rain shadow created by the Himalayas. It is the 5th largest desert in the world.

The race this year will be located around Kashgar in an area called Kizilsu Kirghiz Autonomous Prefecture. It will be the 6th time this race has been held along the old silk route and it has become the largest international sporting event in Western China.

The host city for the Gobi March (China) 2009 will be Kashgar or ‘Kashi’ as it is known by the locals. Kashgar is in the extreme West of China, the Southwest extreme of Xinjiang, at a junction between two branches of the old Silk Road.

It is a colourful region with an historically important background. Kashgar has been an important trading centre since the days of the Silk Road, and it still is today. The population is a mixture of Ugyurs, Han Chinese, Kyrgizs, Tajiks and Uzbeks. Together with central-Asian merchants visiting the markets and workshops, the city boasts a colourful ethnic variety. The city is said to have the largest bazaar in Asia – something fun for those not participating in the race.

The Kashgar oasis is where both the northern and southern routes from China, around the Gobi and Taklamakan deserts, converge. It is also almost directly north of Tashkurgan through which traffic passed from Gandhara, in what is now northern Pakistan, and Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan. The famed Karakorum highway, the highest paved road in the world, links Islamabad, Pakistan with Kashgar over the Khunjerab Pass.

The majority of the area where the Gobi March will be held is closed to tourists, requiring special permits. The course is expected to reach an altitude of 3,000m (9,800 ft).

Some interesting facts about the starting field:

This year’s field will contain roughly 150 people from about 30 countries. The youngest competitor is 19 years old (from the United States). The largest contingent of competitors is expected to come from the United Kingdom and the largest contingent of competitors from Asia will come from Hong Kong.80% of the competitors are expected to be male and 20 percent female.The average age of competitors will be around 38.5 years of age. Four of the competitors in the Gobi March 2009 have summitted Mt. Everest…

Feast your eyes on last year’s Gobi March and you’ll get a very good idea of what these competitors are letting themselves in for…

A very quick run-down as Day 3 draws to a close with thanks to RacingThePlanet for sending us the information:

Andrew Strachan (United Kingdom), Philipp Mosimann (Switzerland), Gordon Shaw (United Kingdom) and Alex Howarth ran in together to the finish line looking strong and happy, despite the heat.

Strachan reported that he had seen a zebra carcass, “but by that time I was about ready to eat it,” he said.

There was wildlife aplenty in Stage 3, a springbok, “something with horns” and potentially, “some sort of cat,” were sighted. Rob Bolton (United Kingdom) didn’t waste an opportunity to take his shirt off and, “get his guns out,” he said when he finished the grueling stage, somewhat delirious having narrowly escaping a nasty encounter with a viper.

Rachel Farley (United Kingdom) and Joseph Osha (United States) discussed how it, “is better to run slowly than to walk fast.”

A mistake has been made regarding Mark Jaget’s (United States) withdrawal. There must have been a number mix-up. Jaget is still running strong and is placed 22nd overall.

Now you really are up to date…