The short-lived X-Venture adventure race was a feature of

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

X-Games The X Games are a series of action sports events founded by ESPN Inc. and aired on ESPN networks and ABC. In late 2022, ESPN sold the long-running property to MSP Sports Capital, a private equity firm co-founded by Jahm Najafi and Jeff Moor ...

. The first event, held in 1995, served as the second Eco-Challenge event after

Eco-Challenge ''Eco-Challenge: The Expedition Race'' is a multi-day expedition length adventure race in which teams of four (five in the early years) competed. It originally aired on TV from April 1995 to April 2002. Based closely on the Raid Gauloises advent ...

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

. Each X-Venture featured 15 teams. The three-person co-ed teams travelled between 300 and 500 miles. Unlike most U.S.-based events, the X-Venture race was held in stages, allowing any team that completed the stage in less than 24 hours to rest until the next stage began. Any team that was six hours or more behind the lead at the end of a stage would be eliminated from the race.

The races

1995 - New England

The 1995 event started in

and finished in

Newport, RI Newport is a seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Rhode Island, United States. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and northeast of New York City. It ...

. Team Threadbo, featuring John Jacoby, Jane Hall, Rod Hislop, Novak Thompson and Andrew Hislop, won the inaugural event. The event was presented as the second

br>
2nd - (featuring Angelika Casteneda) Twin Team. Angelina Castaneda, Adrian Crane, Whit Rambach, Marshal Ulrich, Tom Possert. 3rd - Team Eco-Internet ( Ian Adamson (adventure racer), Ian Adamson, John Howard, Keith Murray, Robert Nagle, Kathy Sassin-Smith)

1996 - New England

After a six-day, 350-mile race, the 1996 Event finished in a sprint, with Team Kobeer beating Team Eco-Internet by one second. 1st - Team Kobeer (Angelika Casteneda, John Howard, and Keith Murray)
2nd - Team Eco-Internet ( Ian Adamson (adventure racer), Ian Adamson, Robert Nagle, Viven Prince)
3rd - Team Mirage
4th - Team Borah
5th - Team Presido

1997 - Baja California, Mexico

Beginning in

Mexicali Mexicali (; ) is the capital city of the States of Mexico, Mexican state of Baja California. The city, which is the seat of the Mexicali Municipality, has a population of 689,775, according to the 2010 census, while the Calexico–Mexicali, Cale ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

, the winning team travelled six days and 311 miles before crossing the finish line in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

. Don Baker served as race directo

1st: Presidio Adventure Racing Academy (John Howard, Andrea Spitzer, and Ian Adamson (adventure racer), Ian Adamson)
2nd: Team Endeavor
3rd: Red Hot

External links

Additional information on X-Venture 1995 and the Eco-Challenge Expedition Races. Includes short video of X-Venture 1995.

Race report by Ian Adamson of 1997 event
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061007135144/http://www.coolrunning.com.au/ultra/1997029.shtml , date=2006-10-07 Adventure racing X Games Multisports in the United States