| Type | Privately held |
|---|---|
| Industry | Endurance and rough country sporting events and outdoor gear retail |
| Founded | Hong Kong, (2002) |
| Founder(s) | Mary K Gadams |
| Headquarters | Hong Kong |
| Area served | Global |
| Key people | Mary K Gadams, CEO; Samantha Fanshawe, Vice President; Kathy Lau, Vice President, Eric Lahaie, Vice President |
| Products | RacingThePlanet, 4 Deserts, The Outdoor Store |
| Divisions | RacingThePlanet, The Outdoor Store |
| Subsidiaries | RacingThePlanet (UK) Limited, Expedition Foods |
| Website | www.racingtheplanet.com |
RacingThePlanet is a privately held company that is one of the pioneers in the development of off-trail or rough-country endurance foot-racing.[1] They are the organizers of several series of endurance races including the 4 Deserts (Named as the leading endurance foot-race competition in the world by TIME),[2] and RacingThePlanet.
The company also owns the online retail store, RacingThePlanet, The Outdoor Store, which specializes in selling apparel, equipment, nutrition, footwear and accessories for a variety of outdoor activities including endurance racing, mountaineering, polar expeditions, adventure travel, hiking, trail running, camping and triathlon.
Contents |
RacingThePlanet was founded in 2002 by American Mary K Gadams in Hong Kong. The first race under its banner was the Gobi March held in September 2003 near Dunhuang, China, and introduced trail running races to the Mainland.
The next race to be added was the Atacama Crossing in Chile which took place in July 2004 followed by the first Sahara Race in Egypt in September 2005, while The Last Desert in Antarctica was inaugurated in January 2006. These races combined to create the now annually held 4 Deserts series.
In 2007, RacingThePlanet became a case study for the Harvard Business School and is one of the few case studies to be repeated yearly.[3]
In February 2008, a fifth event was added to the annual RacingThePlanet calendar. This race, of similar format to the 4 Deserts, moves to a different location each year, with the first event, RacingThePlanet: Vietnam 2008, held amongst the rice terraces of Sapa in the northwest of the country, and the second, RacingThePlanet: Namibia 2009, in the Fish River Canyon and Skeleton Coast, and the third RacingThePlanet: Australia 2010 was run in the Outback of Western Australia's Kimberley region. The 2011 event will be RacingThePlanet: Nepal 2011, and will take place in the environs of Pokhara.
In 2009 RacingThePlanet launched an online retail store specializing in selling the outdoor apparel, equipment and nutritional products required for endurance racing. By 2010 the store had grown to stock a much larger variety of products for all Outdoors pursuits. Later in the year, The Outdoor Store became the largest online outdoor gear store in Asia and had distribution hubs in Hong Kong and the United Kingdom allowing global distribution.
Originally launched in English, in 2011 the Outdoor Store is also available in Traditional and Simplified Chinese, as well as French, Spanish and Italian.
RacingThePlanet has currently organised 32 races in total. The events are split into two categories, but with all of them sharing certain characteristics.
Those characteristics are that each race is held in a remote but historically or culturally rich location; that the races are rough-country i.e. they take place in wilderness environments across a variety of terrains, mostly off-trail; that competitors must race self-supported carrying all their own food, fluids and equipment for the race; and that the number of competitors accepted on each race is limited to ensure that the pristine environments remain that way, and so that competitors do not feel that they are part of so large a group that they do not get the opportunity to experience the solitude of the location.[4]
There is no prize money at any of the events, but those who successfully complete the race are presented with a medal at the finish line.
The current categories of races include:
RacingThePlanet
| Year | 4 Deserts | RacingThePlanet | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Gobi March 2003 | ||
| 2004 | Atacama Crossing 2004 | ||
| 2005 | Gobi March 2005, Sahara Race 2005 | ||
| 2006 | Atacama Crossing 2006, Gobi March 2006, Sahara Race 2006, The Last Desert (Antarctica) 2006 | ||
| 2007 | Atacama Crossing 2007, Gobi March 2007, Sahara Race 2007, The Last Desert (Antarctica) 2007 | ||
| 2008 | Atacama Crossing 2008, Gobi March 2008, Sahara Race 2008, The Last Desert (Antarctica) 2008 | RacingThePlanet: Vietnam 2008 | |
| 2009 | Atacama Crossing 2009, Gobi March 2009, Sahara Race 2009 | RacingThePlanet: Namibia 2009 | |
| 2010 | Atacama Crossing 2010, Gobi March 2010, Sahara Race 2010, The Last Desert (Antarctica) 2010 | RacingThePlanet: Australia 2010 | |
| 2011 | Atacama Crossing 2011, Gobi March 2011, Sahara Race 2011 | RacingThePlanet: Nepal 2011 |
RacingThePlanet, The Outdoor Store
By 2009, RacingThePlanet had built up a wealth of experience, knowledge about the equipment, apparel and nutrition needed to participate in endurance racing and also needed to organize expeditions into wilderness locations of this nature. As RacingThePlanet's global competitor base grew, they received more enquiries asking for help in choosing and sourcing the best gear for events. RacingThePlanet decided to launch an online retail store with global reach stocking the brands and models of equipment, clothing, footwear and nutrition that they knew were best for endurance racing.
The company's staff continually test new products at every race and a survey is taken at each event to record and analyze the gear that competitors use. These practices inform the procurement decisions of the company.
By 2011, RacingThePlanet, The Outdoor Store has grown to become Asia's largest online store in the sector, and serves customers worldwide from their distribution hubs in Hong Kong and the United Kingdom. The multilingual website is currently available in English, French, Spanish, Italian and Traditional and Simplified Chinese.
Product Development
Since 2004, RacingThePlanet has developed a number of their own products and merchandise for use in endurance racing.[5] These include gaiters,[6] to help keep sand, dust and dirt from entering shoes; Tablet Towels - lightweight and compact dehydrated cotton mesh towelettes in tablet form that become a useful wet wipe once rehydrated with just a drop of water;[7] and the 4 Deserts blister kit,[8] a package that contains all the necessary products and advice to prevent and treat the foot blisters that are such a common problem for endurance competitors developed in collaboration with the event Medical Directors.
The CEO is Mary K Gadams, who is also the company's founder. RacingThePlanet is headquartered in Hong Kong where they also have a showroom for The Outdoor Store. There is a second distribution centre and office in Yorkshire in the United Kingdom, which also has a showroom.[9]
There are 16 country managers who represent the company in Belgium, Brazil, Chile, China, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, South Africa, Taiwan and Spain.[10]
About half of the competitors at RacingThePlanet events are supporting charitable causes through their participation. RacingThePlanet puts no limits on the type of causes that are supported.
Because of the remote locations of many of the races RacingThePlanet choose to support a specific charity at almost every event, that provides support to the local community in which the event takes place. The company has a long-running partnership with Operation Smile,[11] and has raised over US$500,000 for the charity for projects in Vietnam, China and Egypt, often funding missions and surgeries in the local communities through which competitors race.[12][13][14][15][16]
The company has donated books and sports equipments to schools in Xinjiang province where the Gobi March is held through the Esquel Y. L. Yang Education Fund who they have also supported for a number of years.[17][18]
In 2008, the Gobi March took place just one month after the devastating earthquake in Sichuan Province on 12 May, so that year RacingThePlanet put together a special auction whereby friends and families of competitors could bid to buy a hot shower for three competitors at the end of the 90 km Stage 5 of the event. An unheard of and never-to-be-repeated luxury. The auction raised almost US$30,000 for the Red Cross disaster fund.[19]
Again in 2010 another horrific earthquake affected a country that plays host to a 4 Deserts race. The Chilean earthquake of 27 February occurred just one week before the start of the Atacama Crossing. RacingThePlanet and the community of competitors and friends raised US$15,000 for Habitat for Humanity in the weeks to follow.[20]
The company has strong links with a number of companies and takes part in the field testing of their products. The hostile environments and extreme climates that the races take place in makes them the ideal proving grounds for rugged technology products and apparel in particular.
One long-running partnership is with Intel. Since 2007, the company has provided a number of their Intel powered Classmate PC's to the event for use by staff for managing the race operations and media communications and for competitors to read messages and write their blogs. The Classmate PC is a low cost, rugged laptop meant for use in rural schools in developing countries and the feedback from staff and competitors has helped improve each iteration of the product over the past 4 years.[21]
RacingThePlanet has also tested a number of products for PowerTraveller.[22]
For more information on the 4 Deserts visit the dedicated page 4 Deserts.
The 4 Deserts is recognized as the world's leading series of rough-country endurance footraces as named by TIME magazine in 2009 and 2010,.[23] The 250 km races take place over 7 days and 6 stages. A campsite is raised each night for competitors where they are provided with a place in a tent to sleep, access to hot water, a campfire, medical assistance and the CyberTent where they can view and send messages to family and friends and update their race blog. Competitors race from campsite to campsite each day through a series of checkpoints where they collect drinking water and can seek medical treatment.
The results of the race are based on the cumulative time taken for the competitor to complete all the stages, and a competitor must successfully pass through every checkpoint in order to collect a finisher's medal.
The 4 Deserts series comprises the Atacama Crossing (Chile), the Gobi March (China), the Sahara Race (Egypt) and The Last Desert (Antarctica). If a competitor completes the series they gain membership to the 4 Deserts Club. There are currently 87 members of the 4 Deserts Club. The man and woman with the cumulative highest ranks across the four races at the finish line of each edition of The Last Desert (Antarctica) is crowned the 4 Deserts Champion. The 2010 4 Deserts Champions are Ryan Sandes of South Africa and Mirjana Pellizzer of Croatia.
A new phenomenon was started by competitors in 2008 now called the 4 Deserts Grand Slam. This refers to competitors attempting to complete all four of the races in a calendar year. Only nine competitors—6 men and 3 women—have so far managed to complete the 4 Deserts Grand Slam.
The annual roving race is called RacingThePlanet. It follows the same format as the 4 Deserts events, but moves to a different location every year. Spaniard Salvador Calvo Redondo has set a record by winning all three editions of RacingThePlanet.
The first roving race took place in the far northwest of Vietnam in the area renowned for its indigenous hill tribes. The event got underway in Si Ma Cai after an overnight train ride from Hanoi. Competitors faced a 100 km course on Stage 1. Record floods and cold had hit the area turning the race into the greenest, muddiest and wettest to date. The area was full of hill tribes from the Flower H'Mong and the Red Dao to the Black H'Mong. Competitors stumbled upon a large festival at the last campsite making the inaugural RacingThePlanet event one of the most colorful ever.
Statistics
Date: February 2008
Men's winner - Salvador Calvo Redondo, Spain, 28 hours, 17 mins 50 secs Women's winner - Stephanie Case, USA, 32 hours 53 mins 22 secs (3rd overall)
54 competitors began the event, 47 competitors finished, and 20 countries were represented.
The second race was in southern Namibia starting on the edge of the Fish River Canyon and ending in the town of Luderitz along the Skeleton Coast.
The event featured specially built ladders to climb out of the Fish River Canyon, the second deepest canyon in the world, and a 100 km "Long March". Competitors spent their last night of the event on the Skeleton Coast, in an area which had been off limits to visitors for many years. The champion was Spain's Salvador Redondo Calvo who handed South Africa's Ryan Sandes, the previous 4 Deserts Champion, his only defeat in a RacingThePlanet event - Ryan finished in second place. Famed Italian runner Marco Olmo finished third. Lucy Hilton of the United Kingdom won the women's division in a time of 29:17:45. The team division was won by an Israeli team. Blind athlete Kyoung Tae Song of Korea finished last in a time of 78:21:40.
The Namibia course is considered by those competitors who have completed the 4 Deserts and the other roving races as the most challenging. Renowned British mountaineer and adventurer Annabelle Bond took part in the race.
Statistics
Date: May 2009
Men's winner - Salvador Calvo Redondo, Spain, 25 hours 47 mins 32 secs Women's winner - Lucy Hilton, United Kingdom, 29 hours, 17 mins 45 secs (4th overall)
214 competitors began the event, 167 competitors finished, and 38 countries were represented.
The third edition of the roving race took place in Western Australia, in the Kimberley region between Kununurra, the Gibb River Road, Emma Gorge and El Questro. Permission was sought to enter and race across aboriginal lands, as well as through El Questro's wilderness reserves. The logistical challenges of holding the race were many, including having to helicopter in all the equipment and water for one campsite that was completely inaccessible by any other way. Late flooding had meant that certain parts of the course had to changed and the Gibb River Road was unpassable for certain stretches, again adding to the logistical challenges.
The week before the race the Icelandic volcano eruptions ruined the travel plans of many European competitor, with a number unable to get to Australia. The climate was much more humid than many competitors were used to and a number of very experienced endurance athletes struggled with the conditions on Stage 1. Once again Salvador Calvo Redondo won every stage of the race.
Statistics
Date: April 2010
Men's winner - Salvador Calvo Redondo, Spain, 31 hours 25 mins 00 secs Women's winner - Lia Farley, United States, 32 hours, 34 mins 18 secs (3rd overall)
185 competitors began the event, 117 competitors finished, and 35 countries were represented.