I trust you've all seen the fantastic documentary Joel Perrella created from the 2015 event, if not have a peak at this link. This year Joel and his team want to step up the production a few more notches and create something even more memorable. To that end we've started a Kickstarter campaign called Traversing Wild in order to generate more funding for the video production surrounding the event. Joel describes things best:
"Traversing Wild is about passing through the unknown to reach a greater understanding. It is a documentary about seemingly normal people that, for 24 hours, succumb to the unknown and let themselves be swallowed up by the wilderness as they desperately try to make it through, in a race against time, and their own limitations.
Set in Parry Sound, Ontario, just outside of the rugged and rocky shores of Georgian Bay, a select number of teams have prepared to navigate through 120 kilometres of backcountry; biking, running and paddling, in a true expedition-style, point to point race, with nothing but a few weary souls and a wooden carving of a beaver waiting for them at the finish.
Most of these athletes are unknown outside of their small community, participating in a sport the rest of the world struggles to comprehend, not so much for the concept, but for the intentions behind competing. Over the duration of the race these athletes will push themselves to exhaustion, get lost, bleed, cry, fight, and pull each other through a landscape that is as unforgiving as it is revealing. The most difficult point of the traverse being in the dead of night, where straying a few degrees from the compass needle can mean kilometres away from anything remotely civilized.
But for that short time lost in the wilderness, these few will have lived a lifetime of experience, have pulled each other through victory and defeat, and know what it’s like to be in a place no one else goes, quiet to the rest of the world. And when it’s done, they will go back to their lives, their families, and their careers, knowing that what they have achieved will stay with them. Heroes to only the small community that supports what they do.
With our film we want to go beyond the race and look at the individuals that compete. To discover what drives them, what makes them heroes, and what the rest of the world thinks of them as they challenge each other to traverse the wild in themselves."
Help us capture and tell the story of your race for all the world to see and hopefully grasp a better understanding of why we choose to take part in these gruelling competitions.