Carys Evans has a reputation as one of the best riders on the shore. For a few years you didn't see anything published about the North Shore without a Carys mention. Her skill as a bike pilot and her effervescent personality landed her a spot on the Rocky Mountain Froriders - perhaps the most talented group of freeriders on the planet. More recently Carys has been keeping a lower profile. The filming environment that often pushes people beyond their limits, not for the pure thrill of it, but for publicitiy, has become less attractive for her.

Expedition racing is what Carys is up to now. She was accidentally caught up in the sport. A co-worker at Mountain Equipment Co-op asked if she was interested when a teammate had to bow out. "Yup - say yes first and ask questions later" was how she described her response. Her vision of the scene was skewed by a night spent in a Whistler Hotel, trying to get some rest before a Canada Cup race. "There were all of these Yahoos yelling and keeping us up all night and it turned out they were ecochallengers so I though it was for the super rich and that you spent every night in a hotel." With this as her only knowledge of the Eco Challenge she threw in her hat. "Sign me up" she thought imagining gold plated perks and hobnobbing with the caviar crowd. The only female on a 4 person team, the queen of the North Shore got a taste of what it's about in May at "Adrenaline Rush 2000" in Northern Ireland, a sort of dry run for the big event in August.

At her first meeting with Bob, one of her team-mates, Carys probed for info, while trying to conceal her ignorance of the sport. "So what will this particular eco challenge entail?" she asked. The answer; 350 miles through the jungles of Sabah in Malaysian Borneo, travelling 22 hours a day by foot, bicycle and Sampan canoe. There is also a scuba segment, paddling and sailing the South China Sea in Perahu outrigger canoes and a stint that involves caving with the creepiest crawlies imaginable. All of this in a steamy, seething, primordial locale nicknamed "the lost world."

In Ireland Carys was a hit. Her team finished 2nd out of 23 teams, only 10 of which finished the race. The course took much longer than organizers anticipated and included 20 peaks, many with no trails to the summit. The competition will be much stiffer in Borneo with 74 world class teams vying for the 55 G US first prize (including Playboy Extreme - a team that includes 2 former centrefold girls). The divine Miss E. trained for the event by cycling from Vancouver to Mexico solo, covering 180 k a day (that's 110 miles for our Southern neighbours) so she should be physically ready for everything, except perhaps the leeches. Rocky Mountain has been "super supportive" of Carys latest hobby, building her a custom Blizzard for Borneo so her equipment will be up to the task as well.

The Eco Challenge is not an adrenaline sport in Carys' view. "For me the biggest challenge is keeping my brain occupied - it can seem like a death march unless I take on some alternate personality - like that of a sniper pegging off the other teams" she says with a mischievous snicker.

I'll be sitting down with Carys after the race to talk about the race over a few beers ( a scarce commodity in Malaysia). Kick some ass for Canada Carys!

The race began Aug. 20th 6 days in team Advil is currently in 22nd place - up 8 positions from yesterday.

For more info about what is happening in the race check out http://www.exn.ca/eco/2000/ or http://www.ecochallenge.com.

Article by Cam McRae