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In This Section No Greater Outrage Go Chicken-Free Today! Be a Sport with Dan Shannon Fight Kentucky Fried Cruelty   See Also: TeamPETA.com

Team PETA Goes for the Eco-Challenge

The Eco-Challenge is the mother of all endurance races. Competitors race nonstop for more than a week, kayaking, biking, swimming, mountainclimbing and whacking their way through jungle underbrush. This year, Team PETA entered in the Fiji race, marking the first time in the event's eight-year history that an all-vegan team competed. The PETA racers carried vegan energy bars in their backpacks and got special permission from race organizers to wear nonleather rappelling gloves.

Team captain and PETA youth marketing manager Marci Hansen tells of wading for 24 solid hours through a river, swinging down cliffs on vines like Tarzan, wading through knee-deep mud after three days of monsoonlike rain and racing for six straight days with just a few hours' sleep. While climbing over rocks, she almost put her hand on a giant furry spider the size of her palm, which frightened Marci almost as much as it did the spider.

Out of 81 teams starting the race, the field was down to just 29 when dozens of teams, including Team PETA, were told that they must call it quits after heavy rains had washed out the trail. How did a bunch of rookies training only on weekends and evenings manage to be competitive with elite Eco-Challenge veterans? "It's just a matter of being so healthy and strong from veganism." said Marci in an interview with Sports Illustrated for Women, noting that competing in the grueling event was worth all the hard work since it enabled PETA to reach millions of people with the animal rights and vegan message.

Keep your eyes peeled for Team PETA when the race is broadcast on the USA Network in May.

Left to right: Paul Chetirkin, Team captain Marci Hansen and Travis Vaughan (Not pictured: Don Moden)

Hard Work Pays Off The first-ever vegan team in Eco-Challenge history proved irresistible to the media, including Oxygen Magazine, Sports Illustrated for Women, Sweat Magazine and TV stations and newspapers in the team members' hometowns. Team PETA was sponsored by Roxanne's vegan living foods restaurant in Larkspur, California.

Veggie Dogs a Hit With Baseball Fans
Baseball fans are cheering for veggie options being offered at stadiums all over the country. Oakland A's fans line up to order veggie dogs at concession stands at Network Associates Coliseum—and meatless options are right at home with Dodgers, Astros, Giants, White Sox and Marlins fans, as well as with spectators at the AAA's Norfolk Tides games.

Ask your local stadium to serve healthy, humane veggie hot dogs.