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Borneo race
sickening for
isle lifeguard

Mike Trisler, 32, was
hospitalized for potentially
deadly leptospirosis

---

By Helen Altonn
Star-Bulletin

Mike Trisler said he "was fine, doing great" during a 500-mile race involving swimming, paddling, scuba diving, biking, caving and hiking through Malaysian Borneo's rivers, mountains and jungles.

The Hawaii lifeguard's troubles began after he arrived home Aug. 27.

Two days later, he broke a leg doing stunts on the "Windtalkers" movie set.

Then he was hospitalized about 10 days with leptospirosis, a bacterial illness transmitted to humans through water contaminated with urine from infected animals.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is investigating leptospirosis cases among the 155 Americans who participated in the Eco-Challenge Sabah 2000 Expedition Race Aug. 20-Sept. 3. Trisler, 32, was released from Kapiolani Medical Center at Pali Momi Tuesday and contacted yesterday by the CDC.

Without proper treatment, the disease can cause kidney damage, meningitis, liver failure, breathing problems and even death.

"At least it happened to me after I got back in the States," Trisler said today, explaining that some athletes stayed in Borneo for the award ceremony and became ill there.

He was not officially diagnosed with leptospirosis. His doctor thought he might have had malaria or dengue fever, he said. However, his symptoms were the same as other Eco-Challenge participants identified with leptospirosis.

"I had been home about six days. I got extreme headaches and severe fevers with 103-degree temperatures, real bad body aches," he said.

"I didn't know what the hell it was. I knew I was very sick ... and I never get sick and I never, ever get headaches. These headaches were so intense.

"It would kind of come and go, last six or eight hours, then disappear four hours, then all of a sudden whack you again like a freight train."

As far as he knows, Trisler said the disease has not affected his three fellow Team EarthLink members in California.

His team was in 10th place but dropped out on the seventh day, about 50 miles from the end, because two members had bloody feet and could not wear shoes, he said. Many of the 80 teams quit after one or two days, and only about a dozen did the entire course, he said.

Trisler knew what to expect. It was his fourth Eco-Challenge Race.

"You go to the most remote, uninhabited areas of the planet to travel 500 miles with a map and a compass. No one is holding your hand. No one is watching you. You're absolutely in the middle of nowhere, on your own resources to get you through it.

"It's the toughest competition in the world," added Trisler, a swimmer, paddler and water polo player who has been competing in races since he was 6 years old.

"You're battling just excessive wet, excessive heat, critters and leaches everywhere biting you, and rashes everywhere from things you don't even want to know. Mosquitoes, flies and hornets, snakes everywhere, crocodiles, elephants and monkeys."

The teams had to do a lot of swimming between islands and from point to point, including three hours "in a raging jungle river with rapids," he said. Navigating the 500-mile course was one of the most difficult things, he said.

Trisler's mother came from Indiana to help take care of him, and he's "just taking it easy now" and trying to catch up.

Despite his bout with leptospirosis, he is looking forward to the next Eco-Challenge Race, possibly in South Africa or Tasmania.

Why do it?

"Just to win," says Trisler. "The personal satisfaction and prize money ($55,000 for the winning team). It's the most intense physical race there is."