Yeah, kinda like that, only ditch the leg shaving, the skin-tight Lycra and trade in the humming bird heart beat for something to support a somewhat slower muscle-twitch, like that of a sloth, because an expedition adventure race will take 10 to 20 times longer than an Ironman Triathlon...
...now, add a 35lb overnight pack, 'cause your leaving civilization for another 24+ hour of some off-trail discipline in the deep wilderness and your going to have to carry all your own food and water and emergency provisions and rescue/tracking beacons and bear spray...Yeah, you're gonna need the bear spray, but hopefully not the rescue beacon...
...and ditch the 12 lb bike with the aero-bars, 'cause you're going to want full-suspension for that rugged 100 mile, ass-busting ride. Better also devise a way to carry your bike, 'cause you'll encounter un-ridable sections of snow, dead fall, heavy brush, cliff bands and the like...
...and you're going to have to lug around a pile of climbing gear for at least one of the 7-10 days you will hobbling around on badly blistered feet. 'Cause the evil race organizers have devised a menacing ropes course to turn your mushy sleep-deprived, oxygen-depleted brain inside-out, and waste any remaining muscle-twitches to produce sewing-machine leg.
...in the case of Primal Quest - Montana, chief ropes mastermind, Jay, has had a vision of racers scaling a 2100 vertical collection of rock fins resembling a gigantic Stegosaurus standing on its tail. Oh, they'll throw down a few ropes along the cascade of plates and spines and then call it "protection", then they'll come up with friendly terms to describe the discipline, like "Ridge Running". But words like "protection" and "running" have no place here, because you're still lugging your 35 lb boat anchor, and you've slept one hour in the last 3 days, and your blisters have all popped to reveal the underlying flesh to the grating layer of dirt-filled shoes...
...how about a little cleansing dip in the river? The PQ legion of doom readily obliges. Lets take a deep raving full of gigantic boulders and flood it with 38F snow melt. Just for kicks, they'll issue the racers glorified boogie boards or drift wood, called "River Boards" and send them merrily on their way down the Class 4+ (means risk to swimmers is moderately high) rapids. Oh, the younger viewing audience will love it!
...make sure the race is long enough and has enough quad-destroying vertical that we can compare it to the length of the Missouri River and "X" times up and down Mount Everest.
...Sorry, what was the question? ...Oh, Yeah, its kinda like a long triathlon...only with 3 teammates that would give you their last morsel of food, offer you their last swallow of water, carry you on their back or tow you on a short line if necessary to get you across the finish line as a single entity, a team.
That's the biggest difference.
