Hooked on extreme racing

10-day Primal Quest is 500 miles long and 100,000 feet high

By DAVID ERICKSON / Whitefish Pilot

Andrew Matulionis can actually articulately explain the reasons he pushes himself to the limits of physical and emotional human capacity on a regular basis.

"It's like condensing the emotions of six months of living into one week. A lot of things get put into perspective," he said. "There's a ton of self discovery."

Matulionis is about to embark on the Primal Quest Montana, a grueling 10-day adventure race near Big Sky Resort, south of Bozeman, from June 23 to July 2.

Billed as the "World's Most Challenging Human Endurance Event," the race is famous for its scenic courses. This is the fifth edition of the Primal Quest Expedition Race, and racers this year will have to endure more than 100,000 feet of elevation gain as they run, kayak, climb, mountain bike, riverboard and navigate their way across 500 miles of extreme backcountry terrain.

The real kicker is that the racers will barely sleep for the entire 10 days of racing.

"We will probably get an average of two hours in every 24-hour period," Matulionis said. "Some days, we may just get a one-hour power nap, and other days we may take a three-hour solid rest before another big section. It accumulates. It's actually amazing how refreshing that can be. Teams are sleeping less in general now."

Matulionis will be part of a four-person team, one of more than 60 teams from around the world that have signed up to compete for more than $175,000 in cash and prizes.

His partners will be Kristen and Darin Fredericks, of Bigfork, and Thomas Etter, of Missouri. Matulionis said the actual course will not be revealed by the organizers until just before the race begins to deter people from selective preparation.

Matulionis said the elevation gain for this year's race will probably knock a lot of teams out of contention.

"It going to be brutal," he said. "To try to put it into perspective, the race this year has 100,000 feet of elevation gain. There is a race in Colorado that is called the most difficult in the world, and it has 36,000 feet of elevation gain. Half the field doesn't even finish that race. It is daunting."

The course is 500 miles long and broken into sections with checkpoints in between. Racers carry all their supplies on their backs, but they're fed a hot meal at checkpoints. They carry only a GPS unit for emergencies, and cell phone contact is forbidden. There is a fixed-ropes course, they must navigate their way down rivers on boogey boards, bike through dense forests, and literally run over mountain passes.

"A large part of the race is the navigation," he said. "We have to use only a compass and a map, and Darin and I are the navigators. We need to have two because you always have to have somebody sharp, and sometimes one person just isn't able to do it. Experience plays a big part, because a lot of the more inexperienced teams will just try to take the shortest path from point A to B, but we know that sometimes you have to go out of the way a bit so you don't get bogged down in a narrow canyon or something."

Matulionis, 43, is a single father with two young daughters, and he works as a pharmacist in Kalispell. He said his kids will stay with family.

"Finding time to train is harder now with kids," he said. "Things are a lot different."

He's competed in 28 solo ultra-running extreme races and nine team adventure races all over the world. He took first place in the 320-mile division of the 2006 Yukon Arctic Ultra and set a course record in the 1999 Iditasport Alaska 100-mile wilderness run.

He raced with his current teammates in 1995 at the Eco-Challenge Utah, where they came in a surprise sixth place.

"Experience definitely counts more than anything," he said. "Smart teams win. You have to keep it all in perspective and don't self-destruct. I've seen guys three days in crying for their mama. Some teams just are constantly arguing or not talking. The physical stress takes its toll, and you have to be able to get along with your teammates. The people I'm racing with I know well, and we do great. I was on a race in Columbia and one guy just lost it. It happens."

With almost 15 years of extreme racing under his belt, Matulionis doesn't sound like he's ready to slow down anytime soon.

"Once you get it into your blood, it's addicting," he said. "It's good for people to push their limits. As complex as the race is, it's broken down to bare survival instinct — sleeping, eating and moving. It's a unique niche of people who you don't tend to forget either. At the end, the sense of accomplishment is pretty dramatic."

For more information and race results, visit online at www.ecoprimalquest.com.