ORLANDO, Fla. – Adventure racing is a sport in which endurance and resistence are keys to winning a competition. It's the type of sport where you'll run into some tough challenges.
"What really makes adventure racing different is it's every sporting event. The basics of the sport really deal with your ability to do endurance, team work, navigation and all the skills that go with the things that you know you're gonna be doing," Ron Eaglin, founder of Florida Xtreme Adventures said.
Teams race through the wilderness. The competitors also have to navigate, paddle a boat, ride a bike and run.
"I love to get on this mountain bike and drop into, you know, large curves and go streaming down hills," the 56-year-old man said.
Eaglin had competed for years in marathons, triathlons and iron man competitions.
"Once I got to the Iron man level I was -- I just kept thinking, there's gotta be something more challenging than this," Eaglin said.
Then in 1995 he saw an episode of the reality show "Eco-Challenge.
"The guys were these top athletes, were out there for days on end just battling through everything and I'm like, 'I have got to do that,'" Eaglin said.
Sure enough, it paved the way for his new adventure. Eaglin, alongside others interested in the sport, started creating events around Florida's wilderness. Teams have to collect points, which are orange and white flags placed throughout the course.
"When you get out there, you're carrying a little electronic dongle and as you get close to the flag, it beeps at you and it knows that you found the flag," Eaglin said about the system they use to keep track of the points.
He said a typical team has four people who each have a specific role.
"The team has a captain and typically it has a navigator, somebody whose job it is to do the map," Eaglin said.
His upcoming race is this weekend at Withlacoochee State Forest.
"Rugged outdoor game involving navigation and endurance. It's an adventure race but it's foot only and you have a time limit. You have eight hours," Eaglin said.
Adventure racing, an extreme sport that includes expedition races, which is something seen on CBS' "Survivor."
"In those races, you really do have to think about -- a lot about -- what you're doing. I mean, you've gotta manage your food, and your sleep and basically not be eaten by animals," Eaglin said.
For Eaglin, it's a hobby that's taken him all over the world.
"I see people from all over, a lot of engineers though, it's amazing how many engineers come out for this. I think the technical aspect of figuring out how to find those controls in the woods, really attracts that type of person. It's fun. I mean, it really is," Eaglin said.
Eaglin competes in a new race every month, whether it's in the country or outside the U.S.
The big race he's looking forward to this year is called La Ruta in Costa Rica. The three-day race, considered to be the world's most challenging, includes a mountain bike race where he'll have to cross the country by going up a volcano.