Scott Pleban just sent me an interesting article about adventure racing from Canada's National Post. It discusses the adventure racing world championship (ARWC) last year in New Zealand and confirms what other sources have told me: the course was excessively long and grueling. Only 6 out of the 46 teams that started the race (and representing the real cream of the AR crop!) finished the course and there is an opinion among many of the participants that the course was designed without much regard for racer safety or feasibility.
Adventure racing can certainly walk the line between challenge and true danger, but a well-designed course shouldn't put racers unnecessarily into harms way and should never do so just because it makes a great photo op (like the opening paddling leg on the Tasman Sea).