The scene isn't New Zealand. Teams don't race through jungles and navigate flooded rivers for cash on television.

The Redbird Challenge Adventure Race will be held April 20 in the less-challenging confines of Comlara Park in northwest McLean County. But teams competing in the Illinois State University-hosted race will get a taste of the agony that leads to defeat or victory when they canoe two miles, run three miles and ride mountain bikes six miles through some of the most rugged terrain the Midwest offers. Teams of two or four must complete the course together.

They also must complete several "mystery challenges" along the way. In years past, teams had to fill coffee cans with lake water with whatever they had with them. For some contestants, that meant running back and forth with cupped hands.

"It's a great time," said Alissa Pywell, coordinator of the ISU Outdoor Program that organizes the event. "The goal is to bring the community and the university together and offer them something that's a unique recreational experience."

This will be the fourth Challenge.

Matt Stewart has taken part twice. He enjoys the event because it introduces competitors to the sport of adventure racing without mandating a trip to the emergency room.

"It's rigorous," said Stewart, who became Outdoor Adventure Programs supervisor at ISU after he graduated in December.

He's worked at the ISU outdoor recreation program several years. He first was a part-time staff member at the ISU outdoor equipment rental center. He later served as a coordinating supervisor in charge of training volunteer trip coordinators to lead about 25 outdoor adventures, mostly in the Midwest, each year.

The Redbird Challenge began in 2003. The first races were held early in the spring.

"The first year, the air temperature was 45 degrees. The water was cold. You didn't want to be in it," Stewart said.

To Sarah Musser, an adventure race newcomer and ISU senior in parks and recreation administration, the Redbird Challenge Adventure Race is another step in her program to regain fitness. She played soccer and basketball at Lincoln College. After transferring to ISU, she admitted to enjoying the university's social life a bit too much. She also smoked, a habit she's quit.

"About seven months ago, I totally changed my life around and changed my priorities," she said. "I started running 5Ks (kilometers.) I really love to run. I love being outside. This is another competitive kind of thing to keep me interested, something new. I'm in the process of adding miles. I can go about four to five right now."

Willy Hunter, an ISU chemistry professor, is a former college basketball player. He and his wife, Rebecca Houtsma, are both in their early 40s. About three years ago, they started doing sprint triathlons to boost their fitness by swimming, running and cycling. They decided to team up for the Adventure Race for the first time this year.

"It just seems kind of cool. I'm definitely a multi-tasker," Hunter said.

Stewart is primarily a cyclist.

"I have been into biking ever since I can remember. I bought my first 'real' mountain bike when I was in seventh grade, with money from detasseling. It was a Giant ATX 970, and I rode that thing everywhere…," he said.

He's taken mountain biking trips to the Adirondacks, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and New Mexico, among other places. Closer to home, he built a fixed gear bicycle - a bike with only one gear "fixed" so it does not permit coasting. He uses it to commute and to train on when he's not riding on the trails. He competed in his first ever 12-hour solo bike race last summer. He also loves to canoe. He took his first canoe trip to Boundary Waters Canoe Area in Minnesota at age 16. He kayaks and white-water rafts, too.

Running? Um, not so much.

"I'm half-heartedly training for a marathon late this coming summer," he said.

Adventure racing lets him put all of the pieces together.

"I like competition. I thrive on it. It makes you better, plain and simple. If you want to get faster on your bike, ride with someone faster than you. If you want to learn math better, challenge one of your classmates to see which of you can get the best grade on the next test. Competition is a motivator. And adventure racing has competition built in, and friendly competition, too. You're not out there beating each other up to win like football or rugby," he said.

ISU's adventure race is aptly named, he added. The key word is "challenge."

"Making your body switch from one activity to the next can be difficult. On top of that you have to do challenges along the way. You never know what might be coming up next. It's hard to prepare for that. Not like in track where you know you will run from here to there as fast as you can," he said.

Adventure racing grew in popularity thanks to coverage on television since the late 1990s, according to Stewart. But some people find it difficult to commit to longer races, he said.

"A lot of the races were big races, extreme stuff. You'd be racing for 24 hours. It wasn't something a new team could get into easily," he said.

ISU is a great alternative.

Teams usually complete the course in two- to three hours. Adventure racing has had its ups and downs. After enjoying full fields, the ISU race was canceled after failing to attract enough interest in 2007. Organizers moved the event back on the calendar and opened the race to two-person teams in addition to the former four-member teams. Teams of two can be single gender. The larger teams must be coed.

Stewart's team finished in the middle of the pack one year. Then, as they led the next year, they took a wrong turn on the bike course and wound up making three loops instead of the required two.

"I stress they shouldn't worry about the being the fastest team. It's just a good way to get out and try, it's a good way to get started (in adventure racing.) They shouldn't worry about all that," he said.

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Get the facts

Check-in: 8:00 - 8:30 a.m. April 20

Rules & Safety Briefing: 9:00 a.m.

More information: http://www.rec.ilstu.edu/redbirdchallenge