It's hard to catch a white-water kayaking competition on network television - even during the Olympics.

And mountain biking?

The popular recreation sport almost never receives television coverage or major viewership of any kind in the United States.

The same can be said for rock climbing, trail running, adventure racing and rafting.

Bring them all together, though, and all of a sudden NBC and VH1 show up, ready to catch the wave of popularity that seems to come when disparate fringe sports unite under one banner.

No, this isn't the X Games (although there is certainly an X-Games feel to what will be happening in Vail on June 3-6), it's the Teva Mountain Games - a multisport weekend of competition and entertainment that's meant to give lesser-known outdoor sports the kind of spotlight they crave but generally don't receive.

The Teva Mountain Games have caught on to the trend of bringing multiple, interrelated events together to create a three-ring-circus kind of atmosphere. Add a dose of national headline bands and spectator-oriented entertainment, and suddenly there's the potential for crowds in the thousands - not the hundreds. Almost 10,000 spectators are expected to fill Vail's streets for the Games.

Then it snowballs from there. The bigger crowds, television crews and major corporate sponsorship raise all boats, so to speak, for each event.

The world's top pro kayakers, for example, want to head to events such as the Teva Mountain Games because they know they'll get the crowds and exposure they miss in their often remote competition locations. The bigger draw means better competition and more excitement - and it becomes possible for young events such as the Mountain Games (only three years old this year) to become world-renown in outdoor sporting circles.

"You have people from South Africa, New Zealand and Europe coming to this event because it's the signature white-water event in the kayaking industry," said Tanya Shuman, a globe-trotting, Virginia-based professional kayaker. "That's what generates a lot of excitement with this competition - it's not just kayaking. You have other sports that have evolved into it."

And white-water competition certainly was the genesis of this competition.

Vail put itself on the white-water map with an annual Whitewater Championship Series in the 1980s, when long boats and slalom racing were the style of the day.

The sport has radically changed - and so has Vail's annual introduction to the summer. What once was the Whitewater Championships has morphed into the Mountain Games, undergoing a kind of extreme makeover inspired by the success of the X Games.

The white-water portion of the event offers a Class V creekin' competition (down the bone-crunching Homestake Creek in nearby Red Cliff)and a white-water rodeo (featuring aerial and inverted tricks in Gore Creek in the center of the Vail Village).

But even with new kayaking events and rafting races down Dowd Chute (just west of Vail on the Eagle River), the white-water element of the yearly competition probably would not have enough appeal to sustain a viable crowd and the sponsorship that comes with it.

So an upstart publicity company, Untraditional Marketing, grabbed hold of the white-water competition three years ago and added climbing, mountain biking, trail running and (new this year) adventure racing.

But there is meaning behind the conglomeration of sports at the Mountain Games. While the summer X Games focus on urban sports such as skateboarding and in-line skating, the Games focus on the mountain lifestyle.

The sports hosted at the Mountain Games are the sports that people living in the mountains often love the most. Pro kayakers might spend 350 days a year on the river, but the average recreational mountain athlete will do it all (pedaling, paddling, hiking, jogging, climbing and rafting) over the course of a summer.

And the same formula applies to visitors. According to a recently released survey from the Northwest Colorado Council of Governments, recreational activities were No. 1 on the list of reasons why people live in the mountains part-time.

As Shuman said: "These sports are the way we get out and enjoy the water, the air, the mountains and the places we live. This is how we get out and enjoy places like Vail."

Adventure for dummies

There's another unusual element to the Mountain Games - a high level of amateur participation.

The people that run the event (Joel Heath, Billy Mattison, Mike Ortiz, Ian Anderson and others) also live in the valley where the event happens.

They remember the relaxed atmosphere of the smaller competitions, and they have launched a radio, newspaper and television blitz locally to encourage amateurs from the valley (and beyond) to compete alongside with the pros.

They also have included multiple categories in each sport so the average Joes can compete next to the big-name athletes and still have a chance at some of the prize money.

And there's plenty of prize money to go around. A total of 568 athletes will compete for $50,000 - big bucks in the world of adventure sports.

Everett Green, a climber from San Diego, says he's making the trip to Vail to try to get a grip on some of the climbing competition's cash.

"The prize money is certainly very attractive," said Everett, who competes in several national climbing series each year. "Even big events like the Phoenix Bouldering Blast (the nation's largest outdoor climbing competition) can't compete money-wise with the Teva Games."

Despite the amount of prize money, entry fees are relatively low. The $10,000 prize purse in the Adventure Racing series, for example, comes with a three-person team entry fee of $250. Adventure races typically cost upwards of $700.

Mattison, who won the Eco Challenge with Team Vail in 1998, will be directing the new event, which will include mountain biking, trekking, navigating, rappelling and one amusing leg of the trek: inner-tubing down Gore Creek.

"It's going to have real adventure in it - real navigating, rappelling and, yes, inner-tubing," Mattison said. "But we went out and did it the other night, and it's not easy."

The adventure race is like a Games within a Games, combining multiple sports for one venue and taking on many of the greater characteristics of the larger event.

For example, amateurs and spectators will be able to rub elbows with pros.

Mike Kloser, the most successful adventure racer in the world, will be on hand. As will Daniel Weiland, one of the sport's up-and-comers.

"Everybody's really friendly, talking to the teams and stuff, it's a great time to ask questions and learn about it," Mattison said. "Adventure racing is, though, a really gnarly sport. You've got to be the kind of person who likes to hike up in the mountains and ski, or ride long, muddy mountain-bike rides. That's the kind of person that's going to do well."

While Kloser and Weiland are competing in the adventure race, the world's top female trail runner in history, Anita Ortiz, will be quietly chugging up and down Vail Mountain in the trail running race.

"This is fun in part because it's such a large event, and it's a fun weekend in addition to just the running race," Ortiz said. "People like to go where there's a lot of things to do - if you're going to drive somewhere for a race, you want to go where there's other things going on."

And there will be plenty going on - climbers will be leaping and jumping on climbing walls, kayakers will be flipping around in the river, rafters will be racing down the river, hired outdoor speakers will be holding conference on the banks of Gore Creek, a photo contest will be under way, music will fill the night, and somewhere, during all of this, VH1 will be doing a live version of their top-20 countdown.

If you go

• What: Teva Mountain Games

• Where: Vail

• When: June 3-6

• More info: www.teva mountaingames. com

Events

• Kayaking

• Rafting

• Biking

• Climbing

• Trail running

• Adventure race

• Mountain dog competition

• Photo competition

Teva Mountain Games schedule of events:

THURSDAY

At Dowd Chute

• 7 a.m. Registration opens

• 9 a.m. Dowd Chute raft paddle cross time-trial qualifiers

• 9:45 a.m. Dagger open time-trial qualifiers

• 11 a.m. Course closed

• Noon Dowd Chute raft paddle cross rounds begin

• 12:30 p.m. Dagger open paddlers rounds begin

• 1:30 p.m. Dowd Chute raft paddle cross finals

• 2 p.m. Dagger open paddle cross finals

At Vail Village

• 5 p.m. East vs. West amateur qualifier - Western Slope kayak qualifier. Top two men and one woman advance to Saturday's finals .

• 6 p.m. Mountain life photography competition VIP party

• 7:30 p.m. Hackensaw Boys free concert in Vail Village

• 10 p.m. New Reign film premier at 8150

FRIDAY

• 9 a.m. Paddler Magazine Extreme Creek Race

• Noon SI Adventure Gear Town opens; speed bouldering practice

• 2:30 p.m. Speed bouldering qualifier

• 3 p.m. Teva pro kayak rodeo qualifier

• 5 p.m. Speed trials qualifier

• 5:30 p.m. Awards for Paddler Magazine Homestake Creek race - International Bridge

• 6:30 p.m. Jurassic 5 concert at Ford amphitheater

• 10 p.m. Teva Present Project Happi film premier at 8150

SATURDAY, JUNE 5

• 7:30 a.m. Registration opens

• 9 a.m. SI Adventure Gear Town opens; dyno freestyle practice

• 9:30 a.m. TMG spring runoff as the GORE-TEX 2004 USA 10-kilometer Trail Championships

• 11 a.m. Speed trials semifinals

• 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Clinics and adventure speakers on Gore Creek Promenade

• 11:30 a.m. Teva pro kayak rodeo semifinals; dyno freestyle qualifiers

• 2 p.m. East vs. West final

• 2:45 p.m. Speed trial finals

• 3:15 p.m. Teva pro kayak rodeo finals

• 3:45 p.m. Mountain bike cross country competition

• 4:15 p.m. Speed bouldering finals

• 5 p.m. Award ceremony on International Bridge in Vail Village;

American Whitewater 50th anniversary fund-raising dinner - Lodge at Vail

• 9 p.m. Mountain ball at the Tap Room

SUNDAY, JUNE 6

• 7 a.m. Registration opens

• 8 a.m. GNC adventure sprint race

• 9 a.m. SI Adventure Gear Town opens; bouldering competition (advanced/open)

• 10 a.m. Vail Pass hill climb

• 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Clinics and adventure speakers on Gore Creek Promenade

• 11 a.m. "8" ball sprint qualifier

• Noon Boulder competition (recreational/intermediate)

• 1 p.m. Mountain dog competition

• 2 p.m. "8" ball sprint finals

• 2:30 p.m. Gore Creek fly fisherman casting competition

• 3 p.m. Freestyle dyno finals

• 6 p.m. Live concert featuring Gov't Mule at Ford Amphitheater

• Awards ceremony to follow each event at the International Bridge in Vail Village

Source: tevamountaingames.com

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