Team Mountain Hardwear Interview - The Dark Zone

In September 2012, Team Mountain Hardwear travelled to L'Argentière-la-Bessée in the Hautes-Alpes region of Southeast France. They were there to take on the final event in the Adventure Racing World Series, the Raid In France.

Teams were expected to take between 5 and 7 days to complete the multi-discipline course which included trekking, mountain biking, running, abseiling, canyoning, via ferrata and glacier crossing.

Being experienced adventure athletes and having completed a range of long distance events the team were positive about completing the course in good time. It was early in the race however that what may have seemed like an inconsequential decision meant the event turned out to be a test of the whole team's ability to carry on through the pain barrier.

I was asked to produce a short documentary on the team for the adidas TERREX Endurance night of the 2012 Kendal Mountain Festival, the interviews in the film give a taste of what the athletes go through mentally and of 'The Dark Zone' that creeps up on all competitors in endurance races. 

The planetFear Adventure Racing channel is supported by Haglofs