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t makes a marathon look like a unch of fifth graders out at recess. 1998 Discovery Channel Eco-Challenge adventure ce was run through 300 miles of Morocco's prisingly diverse land. The course included camel ing across the desert, kayaking 20-foot rogue waves the coast and climbing to 13,000 feet in the High Mountains. The multi-sport event also included canyoneering, mountain biking and horseback riding. And as if that weren't enough, teams were required to complete all of these stages in ten days or less. The adventure race, held last October, drew 55 teams from 27 countries. But in the end, only 37 of the four-person, co-ed teams completed the race within the allotted time frame. According to the race regulations, all four members of a team must finish the course together. Several teams were knocked-out of competition by altitude sickness and gastro-i ntestinal infections that swept the field of competitors before the race even started. The Discovery Channel, the majority owner of the Eco Challenge, will broadcast the thrill of victory and the agony of gastro enteritis in a four-hour mini-series starting on April 11. With big-time corporate sponsors and made-for-TV drama, adventure racing has entered the mainstream of sports. The original Eco Challenge was held in Utah in 1995, as an alternative to the French- owned Raid Gauloises. Now in its fifth year, Eco is considered one of the premiere events on the adventure racing circuit and draws some of the best adventure athletes in the world. "I went to Morocco with a big head and thought, 'no problem, these guys are not really athletes: " says Sara Ballantyne, a member of the Colorado-based Team Vail, and a former pro mountain-bike racer. "But I was totally blown away by the level of competition. Everybody there has a record in some sport." Team Vail won the race in six days and 22 hours-just seven hours ahead of the second place finishers from Australia. With the addition of camel riding to the course, the event took on a distinctly Moroccan feel. Weighing 1,500 pounds each and hitting 12 miles per hour at full gal lop, the camels were a challenge for most racers and forced some teams to try new training methods. "We rented the video of and there are some camels at the Denver Zoo, but that was all the training we had, " said Ballantyne. -Michael Rey The two-part Discovery Channel Eco-Challenge airs on Monday, April 11 from 9-11 PM EST and Tuesday, April 12 from 9-11 PM EST. Lawrence of Arabia two days before leaving