{{no footnotes, date=November 2018 The short-lived X-Venture adventure race was a feature of

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

X-Games The X Games are an annual extreme sports event organized, produced and broadcast by ESPN. Coverage is also shown on ESPN's sister network, ABC. The inaugural X Games were held during the summer of 1995 in Providence and Newport, Rhode Island, ...

. 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 adventu ...

Maine Maine () is a U.S. state, state in the New England and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and territories of Canad ...

. 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 an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and northeast of New Yor ...

. 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

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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 Mexican state of Baja California. The city, seat of the Mexicali Municipality, has a population of 689,775, according to the 2010 census, while the Calexico–Mexicali metropolitan area is home to 1,000, ...

Mexico Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guate ...

, 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 Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

. 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
Adventure racing X Games Multisports in the United States