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American Morning

Winners Discuss Eco-Challenge Borneo, Part I

Aired April 05, 2001 - 11:35   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: This week, USA Networks has been airing a special on this grueling race, the Eco-Challenge Borneo: 76 teams made up of four people each had to travel through the wilds of Borneo, day and night, with little sleep. This 320-mile long race course covered all sorts of rugged terrain, from ancient headhunter trails to leech-infested jungles.

We now have the pleasure of meeting the winning team.

In Denver, joining us are Robyn Benincasa and Mike Kloser.

And in Salt Lake City, we've got Isaac Wilson with us.

And in Seattle, we have team captain Ian Adamson.

Is Ian with us?

I guess we don't have Ian. We only have the three of you guys with us.

Thanks much for coming in and talking to us today. It's good to see all three of you. And Ian -- congratulations in absentia, today.

First off, guys, I want to apologize, because a little while ago this morning, I said what you guys did was not a sport. Actually, I think it's more than a sport, because I don't know too many sports where you can actually lose your life in doing something.

Did any of you get to a point you didn't think you would make it?

MIKE KLOSER, WINNING TEAM MEMBER: Oh, boy, myself, I was, definitely, focusing on the finish, and I didn't really think there would be a point we wouldn't make it to the finish, but it was definitely touch and go whether we would win the race.

HARRIS: Congratulations on it. How did it feel when you guys finally pulled this one off -- Robyn.

ROBYN BENINCASA, WINNING TEAM MEMBER: We didn't really let ourselves believe that we were winning it until we actually saw the lights of the city. And then we, actually, turned around and congratulated each other and talked about how incredible it was to complete this lifelong achievement of winning the Eco-Challenge. I know we've all been trying and training and looking forward to this for the last five or six years.

HARRIS: I look at your backgrounds: a firefighter, a schoolteacher, a resort director from Vail. How did you guys all come together and put this team together?

KLOSER: Isaac?

HARRIS: You take this one, Isaac.

ISAAC WILSON, WINNING TEAM MEMBER: We all have raced against each other for many years and respected each other's ability, and we've had many, many good battles before we ever decided to race with each other. Mike and I raced together, and the guy was just a machine. Robyn and I raced against each other and then with each other, and she just floored me with how strong she was.

I was lucky to get on the team, to be honest with you, but we were all really good friends, most of all, and respect each other's ability. This was a long process; this team was a long evolution of coming together.

HARRIS: For those of us who are uninitiated in these kinds of things, what kind of races have you been competing in against each other?

KLOSER: Typically, there's the big adventure race, like the Eco- Challenge, and then there are these smaller races that are one- or two-day events that we'll maybe go and do. Last year, we raced in Aspen together as kind of a warm-up for the Eco-Challenge.

That was my first race with the Eco-Internet team here. It was a great experience. Unfortunately, we took second: 23 hours by a matter of 40 seconds. So it was a bit disappointing, but it gave us that motivation to go to Borneo and try to achieve a victory.

BENINCASA: Mike hates to lose. Mike never loses.

HARRIS: Is that right?

BENINCASA: This is why we always want him on our team.

HARRIS: So Mike's the ringer?

WILSON: Every team needs a driver, and Mike is our driver. The guy is absolutely out of control.

HARRIS: So there's a circuit that you guys compete in regularly, then. That's fascinating.

WILSON: Yes, we'll do probably six or seven races a year, varying in length from one day to seven days of racing.

HARRIS: We're looking at some of the challenge video, from the Borneo challenge. I assume it takes a long time for your bodies to recuperate in between races of this nature, correct? BENINCASA: Yes, it can take up to three or four months to start feeling really good again. But within the race, you just have so much power, especially if you are winning, you almost feel superhuman. And this race for all of us was pretty magical, the way it went.

HARRIS: It's always easier when you're winning.

BENINCASA: Heck, yes.

HARRIS: You kind of get a momentum going with that.

How did you train for this, Isaac?

WILSON: To be honest with you, I really don't train anymore. When I was a cyclist, I used to train a lot. Now I just play at a pretty high level all the time. I'm really kind of a professional player. I just enjoy mucking around in the woods.

HARRIS: I bet you enjoy hearing that, right, Mike?

KLOSER: That's right. I live in a great place for training for these things. I live up in Vail -- Beaver Creek, Colorado -- and we've got the mountain, the rivers, the lakes. We don't have the ocean, unfortunately, like Robyn here does, over in the Los Angeles or San Diego area. But we've got a great environment.

I used to race with Team Vail, and we won the Morocco Eco- Challenge. We had a great environment to train in -- we would just go out of our back door, and we were on the mountains.

HARRIS: You know, we're going to have to take a break and come back and talk to you guys a little bit later on.

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