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The Race Across America, or RAAM, has established itself as a new and dramatic American tradition, respected worldwide for the sheer magnitude of its challenge. RAAM is the most recognized and longest endurance annual cycling event in our world today. Competitors must travel over 3,052 miles in 9 days to be competitive. They do so by racing approximately 22 hours a day over mountains, across deserts and through the manifestation of pain and doubt the likes of which are unparalleled in almost any other athletic endeavor on earth.
In 1993 Outside magazine, the biggest and most popular magazine on outdoor sports, commissioned a panel of experts to rank the world's toughest events. Using such criteria as the “Mule Factor”—the distances involved; the “Forum”—how tough the course is; the “Anguish Index”—how hard the competitors “have to work to convince themselves that what they're doing is only mildly inane and self-destructive;” and the “O Factor”—a combination of the cost to do the event and the drop out rate. Given these criteria, as judged by a number of multi-sport athletes and observers, the ranking came out as follows:
1. Race Across America - 676.2 points
2. Vendee Globe Around-the-World Sailing Race - 675.0 points
3. Iditarod Sled Dog Race - 417.5 points
4. U.S. Army's Best Ranger Competition - 402.5 points
5. Raid Gauloises Wilderness Competition - 399.0 points
6. La Traversee Internationale (25-mile swim) - 301.4 points
7. Badwater 146-Mile Cross Country Run - 113.4 points
8. Hawaii Ironman Triathlon - 67.2 points
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