Pat Harper, formerly of Bellevue, currently residing in McCall, has been involved with the fringe sport of adventure racing for years.
Before discovering this hobby, Harper grew up in the Wood River Valley as a Nordic skier and later as a river guide. He has spent the majority of his time on earth racing across snow, water, and rock.
Harper has competed for over five years as an adventure racer, often alongside Ketchum resident Rebecca Rusch.
The two are members of the elite Team Montrail, winners of nonstop weeklong adventure races, including the 2003 Raid World Championships in Kyrgyzstan, the "world's toughest race."
Through his involvement with these punishing, sleepless races, Harper has also designed a number of courses. Orienteering is one of his strongest skills on Team Montrail; challenging the navigation skills of others came naturally.
In 2003, he drew the course for Idaho's first adventure race, the Solomon-Saab Raid Series in Stanley. This year, though, he is mapping a race "that is definitely the hardest," he has ever conceived before.
The Red Bull Divide and Conquer in Colorado is the company's first foray into American adventure races and with Harper as their man, racers are guaranteed a memorably grueling experience.
On Sunday, June 19, a silver nugget signifying southern Colorado's mining past will act as the baton, passing between racers on each leg of the extreme relay.
The race starts near Durango, Colo. with a 13-mile trail run that crosses the Continental Divide and gains 6,000 feet in elevation. This section, by most assumptions the simplest, features six roped sections to aid in footing as racers scurry across snowfields.
"It's not for the everyday trail runner," Harper said.
From there, the silver nugget passes to a paraglider who hikes 600 feet to a perch before descending over 4,000 feet to the town of Silverton, Colo. and the banks of the Animus River.
A kayaker then takes on 27 miles of class IV and V rapids through the notoriously gnarly Rockwood Gorge. The nugget is passed again to a mountain biker who races to the finish at the base of Durango Mountain Resort. With most of the biking consisting in climbs at over 10,000 feet above sea level, Harper is setting up a mountainous challenge.
Unlike most adventure races, where teams race together, the Red Bull Divide and Conquer leaves each leg in the hands of an individual.
"It will be the hardest thing you do in a day," said Harper, adding "I think athletes will be overwhelmed by how difficult it is."
Currently, Harper is busied by the miles of red tape that must be cleared before staging such an ambitious event. The race spans two south Colorado counties; it requires safety crews and search and rescue teams from San Juan and La Plata counties as well as permits from the U.S. Forest Service, the BLM, and the counties.
Harper takes the leg work in stride though, confident that it's all worth it in the end.
"There's not another event like this in the U.S.," Harper said.
In the meantime, Harper trains most days, preparing for the late summer race season.
Harper and Rusch will reconnoiter with Team Montrail for Raid World Cup qualifying races in Bend, Ore. and the south of France. This year's Raid World Championships will be held in the French Alps in September.
