专注于合作精神的探险式赛跑受欢迎程度大幅提高，并在全国掀起一阵旋风。Ragnar接力系列赛属于众多通宵团体接力赛之一，赛事联合创始人谭纳•贝尔称：“我们把这项比赛想象为一份兼职，而不是我们的正职。我们并不清楚这个比赛未来的发展方向。”它的发展方向就是向前、向前、向前： Ragnar现在是这个快速发展领域中规模最大的接力系列赛。2012年，大约有20万人参加了接力赛。

    尽管没有组织机构专门追踪团队接力赛的年度参与情况（Running USA表示，虽然拥有数据，但尚未能够进行收集并提供调查结果），Ragnar去年拥有7.2万参与者，Hood to Coast拥有2万，Reach the Beach拥有7,600；此外还有数十个规模较小的接力赛，每项通常都能有2,000参与者。网站Relay Guide列出了美国59个不同的接力型比赛，这些比赛的距离从25英里到200多英里不等。美国体育与健身行业（Sports & Fitness Industry of America,SFIA）表示，在2011年120万人参加了“探险赛跑”。它的定义是任何“极端温度或者非传统环境”下的赛跑，包括泥浆赛跑和障碍赛跑。

    贝尔及其大学室友丹•希尔（Dan Hill）2004年提出了Ragnar比赛的设想，当时两人正在杨百翰大学（Brigham Young University）读大三。希尔的父亲曾参加Hood to Coast。这是一项每年8月在俄勒冈州举办的团体接力赛，要求从胡德山跑到海边小城海滨镇。这项赛事始于1982年，是2011年一部深受好评的纪实电影的主题。“这是一项非常优秀的比赛，”贝尔说。“我们开始考虑在犹他州也举办一个属于我们自己的比赛。”

    虽然希尔和贝尔举办的比赛直接模仿了Hood to Coast——两项赛事的距离都超过200英里，通宵进行，并且专为12人团队设计——但仍然取得了蓬勃的发展。有鉴于此，现在仍然存在容纳更多类似比赛的空间，不论是完全原创，还是推陈出新。

    2013年6月是Ragnar的第一场比赛Wasatch Back诞生10周年的日子。这站比赛全程在犹他州内举行，起点在洛根，终点在帕克城。自此之后，这个系列赛从2010年的12站赛事发展之2011年和2012年的15站。今年，该项比赛将提供21至25站赛事【其中6至8站采用一种新形式“追逐系列赛”（Trail series），是与户外品牌萨洛蒙（Salomon）共同推出的】，举办地点包括麻萨诸塞州科德角、亚利桑那州坦佩、威斯康辛州麦迪逊以及加拿大安大略省尼亚加拉瀑布城。Wasatch Back举办的第一年共有264名参赛者，2012年已经达到1.2万（至于2013年，Ragnar为这项赛事额外增加了一天，因此最终有17.5万参赛者）。其他比赛的规模也有所扩大：Ragnar的佛罗里达礁岛群站比赛的参赛者在两年内翻了一番，在同一时间拉斯维加斯站比赛的参赛者人数增长了两倍。

    一切似乎欣欣向荣。Brooks跑鞋公司首席执行官吉姆•韦伯说：“现在，赛跑方面令人兴奋的消息是，每一种类型的赛事都在发展——障碍赛、追逐赛、团体接力赛，各种不同的形式。”据Running USA数据显示，Tough Mudder、Spartan Beast和Warrior Dash 等“泥浆赛跑”已经达到最快的增长速度，现在每年可吸引约100万名参与者。“极限”赛跑也保持着增长。它并不是团体比赛，而且采用非常消耗体力的路线，有时候完全处于黑暗中，且没有地图。

    Camaraderie-focused, adventure-style races have exploded in popularity and are taking the country by storm (or, in many cases, by mud). "We imagined this as a side gig, not our main job," says Tanner Bell, co-founder of Ragnar Relay Series, one of many overnight team relays. "We didn't have any idea where it was going to go." Where it has gone is up, up, up: Ragnar is now the largest relay series among a field that has grown quickly. Some 200,000 people likely ran in a relay in 2012.

    Though no organization specifically tracks annual participation in team relays (Running USA says it has data but hasn't yet been able to collect it and present findings), Ragnar had 72,000 participants last year, Hood to Coast had 20,000, and Reach the Beach had 7,600; then there are scores of smaller relays that tend to get 2,000 people each. The web site Relay Guide lists 59 different relay-type events in the U.S., ranging in distance from 25 miles to over 200, and SFIA (Sports & Fitness Industry of America) says 1.2 million people in 2011 participated in "adventure racing," which it defines as any kind of racing "in extreme temperatures or unconventional settings," including mud runs and obstacle races.

    Bell and his college roommate Dan Hill came up with the idea for Ragnar when they were juniors at Brigham Young University in 2004. Hill's father had participated in Hood to Coast, a team relay held every August in Oregon that runs from Mt. Hood to the coastal town of Seaside. The race began in 1982 and was the subject of a well-reviewed 2011 documentary film. "It was such a great event," says Bell, "we started to have visions of doing a race of our own in Utah."

    Considering that Hill and Bell directly modeled their event after Hood to Coast—both are 200+ miles long, continue overnight, and are tailored for teams of 12—the fact that it is thriving suggests that, for now, there is room for more of these events, no matter whether wholly original or derivative.

    June 2013 marks the 10th anniversary of Ragnar's first race, the Wasatch Back, which is run in Utah from from Logan to Park City. Since then the series has grown from 12 races in 2010 to 15 in 2011 and in 2012. This year, it will offer 21-25 races (6-8 of them under a new format, the "Trail series," which it launched in partnership with Salomon) in locations including Cape Cod, Mass., Tempe, Ariz., Madison, Wis., and Niagara Falls in Ontario. The Wasatch Back had 264 runners registered in its first year. It had 12,000 in 2012 (for 2013, Ragnar has added an extra day to the race and will thus end up with 17,500 participants). Other events have also grown: Ragnar's Florida Keys race nearly doubled in participation in two years, and its Las Vegas event tripled participation in the same time frame.

    It appears to be a rising tide. "The exciting thing about running right now is that every single type of event is growing—obstacles, trail, team relays, every single variety," says Jim Weber, CEO of running shoe company Brooks. According to Running USA, "mud runs" like Tough Mudder, Spartan Beast, and Warrior Dash have grown the fastest and now attract some 1 million participants each year. Also continuing to grow are "ultra" races that are not for teams, and are run on physically ruinous courses, sometimes in full darkness and without a map.

    尽管泥浆障碍比赛最受关注【2012年《户外》（Outside）杂志有篇封面故事，称障碍赛跑是“全国最快速增长的运动”】，Ragnar、Reach the Beach、Blue Ridge Relay、Bourbon Chase等其他较为传统的比赛正受益于各种类型户外跑步运动的爆炸式增长。

    Hood to Coast负责商业开发的副总裁丹•弗洛伊德推测说，目前的政治情绪起到了推波助澜的效果。“一直以来全国都在关注身心健康，”他说。“尽管这些通宵赛跑较为艰难，赛跑总的来说是向各种能力级别的人开放的。简单的5公里赛跑实际上也在迅猛发展。”伯克希尔哈撒韦旗下的跑鞋公司Brooks将在今年的股东大会之后立即于奥马哈举行5公里赛跑（沃伦•巴菲特将打响发令枪）。

    接下来还有一个关于赛跑运动的好消息——这项运动以及整个产业都将受益，对美国的肥胖病也是个好兆头，这就是障碍赛跑以及团队接力赛都吸引了忠实粉丝之外的人士参与。

    刚大学毕业的本•亨德利就是这样的参与者。他在Facebook上通过一位朋友了解到了Ragnar，而且在没有深入了解的情况下就同意加入她的团队。他的第一棒赛程直到下午5点才开始，大约要跑10英里。凌晨3点30分，他开始跑第二棒。“对我来说，参与这个比赛是很不正常的，”亨德利说。“赛跑本身并不困难，但却非常极限，因为缺乏睡眠，并且在部分路段是陡坡。”

    意外的是，跑步运动的受欢迎度在经济低迷期间大幅提高。这项运动成本较低，是推动因素之一：只需买一双鞋子，支付参赛费。Running USA的莱恩•拉姆帕表示，团体赛跑比赛的参加人数在过去15年里每年都有所增长。Brooks的韦伯说：“我们经历了经济大衰退，大家都受到了影响，但是跑步鞋的销售仍然较为疯狂。赛跑运动脱颖而出。”韦伯曾尝试过参加Ragnar，他对该比赛大加赞赏。“整个赛段途中，Ragnar在高中设立了前哨站，可以在那里冲个澡，”他说。“它就像五星级的接力赛。”本地的私募股权公司也赞同这个观点——犹他州私募股权公司海豚资本集团（Dolphin Capital Group）在2006年进行投资，当时Ragnar只提供一站比赛。该公司现在拥有Ragnar的75%股权，海豚资本的合伙人克里斯•英弗齐亚在2009年成为该项比赛的首席执行官。在2008年至2012年，Ragnar的营收以年均64%的速度增长。根据收费和特许商品销售，其年度营收可能介于1,000万美元至1,500万美元之间。不过这家公司并没有确认这些数字。

    并不是所有人都喜欢这项最知名的接力系列赛。保罗•范德海登是Roads Less Traveled系列赛（去年吸引2,000人参加）的运营者，他认为Ragnar的道德存在问题。2011年，他发表了一篇博客文章，抱怨称Ragnar抄袭了其他接力赛的路线，而且把比赛时间安排在与竞争者同一天。他说：“Ragnar现在是大家伙了，使得小规模赛跑比赛面临停赛的风险。”Hood to Coast的弗洛伊德并不认为Ragnar存在问题，高兴地说：“大家都是模仿者，我们实际上都在做同样的东西，只是尝试尽最大的努力，并且提供良好的赛跑比赛。”企业赞助商方面， Hood to Coast拥有赛格威（Safeway）和耐克（Nike）这样的“黄金赞助商”。它去年的冠名赞助商是办公用品供应商OfficeMax。Ragnar的主赞助商包括Clif Bar和Petzl。Reach the Beach的冠名赞助商则是纽巴伦（New Balance）。

    对于这些业务，一个潜在的障碍可能是视频游戏玩家所称的“重玩价值”。参加了Ragnar 或者Tough Mudder这样的比赛后，还有多少人愿意再次参加？对很多人来说，这些比赛的吸引力只是坚持一次。亨德利确认说：“需要很大的理由才能让我再参加一次，因为我感觉这几乎是一种一生只有一次的体验。”（Ragnar表示，15%的参与者在同一年参加多站Ragnar比赛。）

    Although the muddy obstacle events are receiving the most attention (a 2012 Outside Magazine cover story called obstacle races "the country's fastest-growing sport"), the more traditional relays like Ragnar, Reach the Beach, Blue Ridge Relay, Bourbon Chase and others are benefitting from the explosion in outdoor running of all kinds.

    Dan Floyd, VP of business development for Hood to Coast, theorizes that current political sentiments have helped. "There has been a national focus on health and wellness," he says. "And although the overnight relays are tough, running in general is open to people of all abilities. Simple 5Ks are really exploding too." Brooks, which is owned by Berkshire Hathaway, will put on a 5K in Omaha immediately after this year's shareholder meeting. (Warren Buffett will fire the starting gun.)

    Here's additional good news for running—both the sport and the industry—that bodes well for the country's obesity epidemic: obstacle races and team relays are both attracting more than just die-hards.

    Graduate student Ben Hundley is one such participant. He heard about Ragnar on Facebook from a friend, and agreed, without much knowledge ahead of time, to join her team. His first leg of the race didn't start until 5 p.m. and was about 10 miles long. At 3:30 in the morning, he ran a second leg. "Doing this was pretty much an anomaly for me," he says. "It wasn't the running that was hard, because I run regularly, but it was extreme because of the lack of sleep, and the steep inclines in some parts."

    Surprisingly, running's popularity may have thrived during the down economy. It helps that the activity is low-cost; you spend only on shoes and the race fee. Ryan Lamppa of Running USA posits that participation in group-running events has gone up every year for the past 15. Weber, of Brooks, says, "We had this great recession and everybody sort of pulled in, and yet… running shoes were still selling like crazy. Running made the cut." Weber has tried a Ragnar and gives them a lot of credit. "All along the course, Ragnar had set up outposts at high schools, where you could shower," he says "It was like five-star relay racing." Local private equity has agreed: Utah PE firm Dolphin Capital Group invested in 2006, when Ragnar offered only one race. It now has a 75% stake in Ragnar and in 2009, Dolphin partner Chris Infurchia became CEO. Ragnar's revenue grew by an average of 64% per year between 2008 and 2012. And based on fees and merchandise, its annual revenue is likely between $10 and $15 million, though the company would not confirm.

    Not everyone is a fan of the top-dog relay outfit. Paul Vanderheiden, who runs the Roads Less Traveled series (which pulled in 2,000 people last year), takes issue with Ragnar's ethics. In 2011 he wrote a blog post complaining that Ragnar had copied the routes of other relays and scheduled races on the same days as competitors. "Ragnar is the big guy now, putting small races at risk of going out of business," he says. Floyd, of Hood to Coast, has no issue with Ragnar and says happily, "It's all really kind of copycat, we all do similar things and just try to do it best and offer a great race." As for corporate sponsors, Hood to Coast has Safeway and Nike as "gold sponsors," and its title sponsor last year was OfficeMax. Ragnar's main sponsors include Clif Bar and Petzl. Reach the Beach has New Balance as its title sponsor.

    One potential roadblock for these businesses might be what video-gamers call "replay value." How many people, after doing an event like Ragnar or Tough Mudder, feel an inclination to do it again? The appeal of these, for many, is to simply survive it once. Hundley confirms: "it would take a lot to get me to do this again, because I feel like it was almost a once-in-a-lifetime experience." (Ragnar says 15% of participants do more than one Ragnar in the same year.)

    接力比赛公司面临的另一项明显的挑战包括：同类比赛竞争。随着越来越多比赛涌现，已经形成了一个拥挤的市场。部分比赛已经倒闭。去年7月，曾标榜自己是“让你腹部绞痛、肌肉紧绷、难忍呕吐感”的障碍风格比赛的Metro Dash向参加者发邮件表示，公司已经停业。

    要避免Metro Dash这样的命运，关键可能是引入著名品牌。但是对于那些没有足够资源支持的企业，重要的是真正地在社交媒体形成影响力。Ragnar在Facebook上拥有接近12万名关注者——超过了波士顿马拉松或者纽约马拉松的关注者人数，这个事实可能令部分人感到震惊。此外，Tough Mudder的关注者也接近300万。拉姆帕说：“泥浆、啤酒和火焰。与这些东西相关的事情更具吸引力。”200英里接力赛仍然有望保持增长，尽管增速可能赶不上泥浆赛跑、火焰障碍赛。（财富中文网）

    译者：成鹏

    The other obvious challenge for relay companies: each other. As more and more begin popping up, it creates a crowded market. Some have already been killed off. In July, Metro Dash, which billed itself as a "gut-wrenching, muscle-pounding, make you wanna throw up" obstacle-style race, e-mailed runners to say it had gone out of business.

    The key for avoiding Metro Dash's fate may be to pull in big-name brands but also, for those without the resources to do that, to truly rock social media. Ragnar has nearly 120,000 likes on Facebook; that's more than the Boston or New York Marathon, which may seem shocking to some. Tough Mudder, meanwhile, has almost 3 million. "Mud, beer, and fire," says Lamppa. "Something about all that is just more appealing to people." Look for the 200-mile team relays to keep growing, though maybe not as fast yet as the muddy, fiery obstacle races.