You’ve heard of the Eco-Challenge.You know, that insane endurance race where competitors race nonstop for more than a week, kayaking, biking, swimming, mountain climbing, and whacking their way through jungle underbrush?

Last October, PETA competed in Fiji—the first all-vegan team in the event’s eight-year history. Thanks to months of training on weekends and after work—not to mention their ultra-healthy vegan diets!—our gang held their own with full-time professional athletes from around the world.

Team captain Marci Hansen tells of wading for 24 solid hours through a river, swinging down cliffs on vines Tarzan-style, wading through kneedeep mud after three straight days of Monsoon-like rain, and racing for six days with just a few hours’ sleep.While climbing over rocks, she almost put her hand on a giant furry spider the size of her palm! Which scared Marci almost as much as it did the spider.

Out of 81 teams starting the race, the field was down to just 29 when most of the teams, including Team PETA, were told that they had to call it quits after heavy rains washed out the trail. Says Marci, “We were still raring to go, but the race officials were getting nervous —if we had gone on until the finish, we might have gotten lost in the jungle and never found!”

Look for a glimpse of Team PETA when the race is broadcast on the USA Network in May.