Athlete • Speaker • Guide 
Athlete • Speaker • Guide Date: 27th August 2010
The Heptathlon is an eight-sport track and field event. A friend and I were out for some heavy breathing (that sounds more exciting than it was) the other day and got into what sports would define a “mountain heptathlon.” The scoring on a Heptathlon is interesting because it’s based on an athlete’s performance against a list of standard times (which look pretty tough to reach). This “scored against a standard” system is interesting because it allows comparison across a wide range of venues and athletes. That comparison would be harder to do with mountain sports, but it’s interesting if you’re interested in that sort of thing…
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Doesn't what you're suggesting sound at least a little similar to adventure races? And also the http://www.redbulldivideandconquer.com/teams.php expect that one person does all the events…
Sounds really cool though.
*except*
how about instead of mountain biking and the undecided road biking, come up with a course for a cyclocross bike. last year i raced a cyclocross omnium in Montana that included an uphill time trial. it may have been some of the toughtest 10 minutes of my life. there was a a tough fire road fire road climb and some fast singletrack along with some barriers and 2 run-ups. plus, i live at sea level and the race went from 7000'-8000'- an interesting twist to lots of mountain sports…
Just an FYI, a heptathlon is 7 events. 8 would be an octathlon. =)
Will, I have to say that I'm suspicious about turning "mountain sports" into games. Then we have a lot of viewers rather than doers. It's contrary to what I think these "sports" are all about.
Best, Kim
Adventure races are contrived exercises in group suffering and sleep deprivation, I'm talking about sport skill vs. self-abuse skill (which is a skill, great, have at it, ha ha!). I always wanted to do the Divide and Conquer and do all the events, I did the running (my worst event!) once…
Cyclocross riders wear Lycra. Any "sport" involving Lycra is not a sport. Back when I wore Lycra climbing it briefly stopped being a sport Good luck with the cyclocross, it's a rad sport sarcasm aside.
Hepta, Octa, sheesh, some people actually remember what they learned in school? Thanks.
Kim, just 'cause a sport is watched doesn't mean it loses its sport status. I fully agree that doing kicks ass on watching, but sometimes watching is cool too. I like watching rally car racing, probably better for me to watch that than do it, ha ha!
"just 'cause a sport is watched doesn't mean it loses its sport status." It does for the viewer. The viewer takes no risk. For them it's a game. And that, I think, is a problem for all of us who are doing it. That said, I like to watch as much as anyone. I'm still trying to figure that one out.
Best, Kim
All sports are games–whether or not there are spectators.
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