Coloradans compete in “Race to the Center of the Earth” for $1M

On Monday, Episode 2 of the premier season of National Geographic’s “Race to the Center of the Earth” debuts, featuring four teams in an ultimate adventure race for $1 million. From the creators of the “Amazing Race,” the seven-part series features the four teams around the world embarking on their own quests in hopes of beating the others to a buoy in the middle of the ocean — on which the $1 million prize is stashed.

David Bacon, founder of BW Bacon Group in Denver, has a second home in West Vail and is on one of the teams of three with his co-workers Paul Montague Jr. and Mindy Murphy, who has her second home in East Vail.

Filmed in October 2019, Bacon and his team have been keeping the results secret — even from their coworkers and families.

“We’ve been harboring this kind of dirty little secret for 17 months,” Bacon said after the first episode premiered last month. “It’s cool. Especially now where we’ve been going through this pandemic, it’s like we’re opening up this time capsule of this experience that feels like it was from another era.”

The race is a two-week challenge with each team having to conquer one of four brutal courses designed, tested and timed by expedition experts. Every day follows a predetermined path of GPS waypoints, and the goal is to end the day faster than the experts’ pace. While each course is different — teams are in South America, Russia, Southeast Asia and North America — each course has been vetted for fairness. Nearly every form of transportation imagined is teased in the season preview, and racers are made up of amateur athletes from all walks of life looking for an adventure.

Bacon and his team were given the North American route, a route that goes more than 3,000 miles through Canadian wilderness, starting in Quebec and ending in Vancouver.

Their course features navigating ice cold wetlands, the vast badlands of Alberta and reaching the summit of Mount Norquay as well as spending a night on The Big Wall on Cape Trinity.

“We’re like reliving this experience that we had back in 2019 with millions of viewers now,” Bacon said, adding that his family is on the edge of their seats each week as well. “None of them know. I promise you.”