'The Nevada Passage' Made-for-TV Adventure Competition Gets Underway in Las Vegas

'The Nevada Passage' Made-for-TV Adventure Competition Gets Underway in Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS, May 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Twenty athletes from 11 states have converged in Nevada to participate in The Nevada Passage, a made-for-television, multi-sport adventure competition that begins in Las Vegas Thursday and travels across the state over six days, concluding in Reno on May 24.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20040114/NEVTOURLOGO)
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20030710/NEVADA)

The amateur athletes, paired into 10 male-female teams by profession will compete in six outdoor athletic challenges in six days at six different locations. Their experiences will be filmed and then edited into a one-hour reality television program to be syndicated and broadcast in more than 80 U.S. markets between Aug. 1, 2005, and Feb. 28, 2006. The program will air primarily daytimes during weekends, when sports program viewership typically is highest.

The Nevada Commission on Tourism (NCOT), which initiated the event, expects the program to reach at least 2 million television viewers, showing them a ruggedly beautiful landscape made for adventure, Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt, NCOT chair, said.

"The Nevada Passage will reshape many travelers' perceptions about Nevada by demonstrating that our diverse outdoor landscapes are just as awe-inspiring as our famous 24-hour cities," Hunt said. "Viewers will see places in Nevada they may never have known existed and be able to picture themselves experiencing their own adventures."

The Nevada Passage program, still in the early stages of the syndication process, already is confirmed to air in 54 areas across the country, including key Nevada travel markets such as Sacramento, Calif., Salt Lake City and Palm Springs, Calif.

The Nevada Passage begins with rock climbing in Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area and jet skiing on Lake Mead, both near Las Vegas; four-wheel driving in the high desert near Ely, biking in Lamoille Canyon near Elko, sandboarding at Sand Mountain near Fallon and kayaking on the Truckee River Whitewater Park in downtown Reno. After each day of competition, the teams will travel to the site of the next day's event.

"Televising The Nevada Passage will broaden our appeal to potential visitors and outdoor enthusiasts and help brand the state as an adventure destination," Bruce Bommarito, NCOT executive director, said. "The three Nevada athletes know that this state is a premier location for outdoor adventure, but we expect that the wide variety of adventure attractions will come as a surprise to many of the visiting athletes and TV viewers."

Each team will compete in all six sports, and the team with the most points will receive a trophy from the Lt. Governor during an awards ceremony at downtown Reno's Wingfield Park Amphitheater at approximately 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 24.

Three Nevada residents are among the athletes that TEAM Unlimited, the Hawaii-based company that is producing The Nevada Passage, selected for the competition: Tom Lyons and Kent Robison, both lifelong residents of Reno, and Susan Hughes of Incline Village. Other states represented in The Nevada Passage are Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Maryland, New York, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. The roster of confirmed athletes, which is subject to change, is posted on www.nevadapassage.com under the "competitors" button.

To emphasize that Nevada's adventures are accessible to people of different ages and interests, TEAM Unlimited selected athletes age 25 to 57 representing a variety of professions, including bartending, finance, law, aviation, medicine, news media, firefighting, and business.

The following 54 stations are confirmed to air The Nevada Passage television program between August 2005 and February 2006. More stations will be added to the roster and updates will be posted regularly on www.nevadapassage.com.

Amarillo, Texas -- KAMR (NBC)
Anchorage, Ala. -- KTVA (CBS)
Binghamton, N.Y. -- WITV (ABC) or WBGH (NBC)
Buffalo, N.Y. -- WUTV (FOX)
Cedar Rapids, Iowa -- KCRG (ABC)
Champaign, Ill. -- WRSP (FOX)
Chico/Redding, Calif. -- KRCR (ABC)
Colorado Springs, Colo. -- KXTU (UPN)
Dayton, Ohio -- WHIO (CBS) and/or UPN 17-6
Detroit, Mich. -- WWJ (CBS) and WKBD (UPN)
Elmira, N.Y. -- WETM (NBC)
Eureka, Calif. -- KAEF (ABC)
Flint, Mich. -- WNEM (CBS)
Fort Myers, Fla. -- WZVN (ABC) or WBBH (NBC)
Fresno, Calif. -- KFSN (ABC)
Grand Junction, Colo. -- KJCT (ABC)
Grand Rapids, Mich. -- WOOD (NBC) or WOTV (ABC)
Greensboro, N.C. -- WGSR (IND/CBS)
Greenville, Ga. -- WNEG (CBS)
Idaho Falls, Idaho -- KIFI (ABC)
Indianapolis -- WISH (CBS)
Jacksonville, Fla. -- WJXX (ABC) and WTLV (NBC)
Las Vegas -- KLAS (CBS)
Macon, Ga. -- WGXA (FOX)
Madison, Wis. -- WMTV (NBC)
Minneapolis, Minn. -- KSTP (ABC) and KSTC (IND)
Monterey/Salinas, Calif. -- KCBA (FOX) and/or KION (CBS)
New York -- Fox Sports
Omaha, Neb. -- KETV (ABC)
Palm Springs, Calif. -- KESQ (ABC)
Peoria, Ill. -- WHOI (ABC)
Phoenix -- KPNX (NBC)
Philadelphia -- WCAU (NBC)
Pittsburgh, Pa. -- WBGN (IND)
Portland, Maine -- WMTW (ABC)
Raleigh, N.C. -- WNCN (NBC)
Reno, Nev. -- KOLO (ABC)
Sacramento, Calif. -- KXTV (ABC)
Salisbury, Md. -- WMDT (ABC)
Salt Lake City -- KSL (NBC)
San Francisco -- KGO (ABC)
Savannah, Ga. -- WSAV (NBC)
South Lake Tahoe, Calif. -- RSN
Syracuse, N.Y. -- WIXT (ABC)
Tampa, Fla. -- WTSP (CBS)
Traverse City, Mich. -- WGTU (ABC)
Tri Cities (Tenn. and Va.) -- WCYB (NBC) and WB4 (WB)
Tucson, Ariz. -- KOLD (CBS)
Tulsa, Okla. -- KOKI (FOX)
Tyler, Texas -- KFXK (FOX) or KLPN (UPN)
Waco, Texas -- KBTX (CBS)
Watertown, N.Y. -- WWTI (ABC)
W. Palm Beach, Fla. -- WPEC (CBS)
Wichita, Kan. -- KWCV (WB)

NCOT is sponsoring The Nevada Passage along with Nissan, Paul Mitchell, XTERRA Gear, XTERRA Wetsuits, K2 Sports, Kawasaki, Stearns, Atlas Snow-Shoe Company and Zorrel. TEAM Unlimited and R&R Partners, an integrated marketing communications firm based in Las Vegas, created the six-day race to showcase Nevada's dramatic landscape and adventure opportunities.

Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20040114/NEVTOURLOGO
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20030710/NEVADA
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
Source: The Nevada Commission on Tourism

CONTACT: Chris Chrystal of Nevada Commission on Tourism,
+1-775-687-4322, or Mobile, +1-775-721-1570, cchrystal@travelnevada.com

Web site: http://www.nevadapassage.com/

Note to Editors: Specific times for airing the program is confirmed in 14 cities: Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Colorado Springs, Colo.; Detroit, Mich.; Fresno, Calif.; Madison, Wis.; Minneapolis, Minn.; Palm Springs, Calif.; Peoria, Ill.; Portland, Maine; Raleigh, N.C.; Savannah, Ga.; Tri Cities (Tenn. and Va.); Tucson, Ariz., and Waco, Texas. Dates and times are available by contacting Chris Chrystal, at 775-687-4322 or cell on weekends and after 5 p.m. PDT, 775-721-1570, cchrystal@travelnevada.com.

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