Despite the torture and extra-hard rigours of five days in the Fijian jungle, three members of Bermuda's four-person Eco-Challenge team would try the event again - on one condition: that organisers reduce the course's difficulty.

Now back home in what would be considered absolute comfort compared to their Eco-Challenge environment, Kim Mason, Lee Harrison and Kevin Pearson said they would consider an encore in the world's premier expedition race which was apparently more difficult than any of its previous eight editions.

"If they brought the format back down to half-way between what it was this time and what it used to be, then I wouldn't mind having another go but, if they are going to put it beyond people's reach, then I think it's a bit silly. This one was overly hard," said Mason who captained the team that also included Jim Butterfield.

Only 23 out of the 81 squads that started the race completed the 19-stage, multi-terrain course that took competitors across 300 miles of Fiji's natural habitat, including rivers, waterfalls and steep mountains.

The Bermudians were forced to quit after first Butterfield and then Harrison suffered sore, swollen, blistered feet. They pulled out after four stages and, by the sixth checkpoint, 54 teams had followed suit. Bermuda finished 75th overall.

"Our result was somewhat disappointing but when I look at the overall results - and the fact that nearly 60 out of the 81 teams dropped out - we really didn't do that badly," said Pearson.

"Most teams stopped by about two days after we did.

"I'd say that for any of the previous Eco-Challenges - which were normal Eco-Challenges - we were more than adequately prepared. We certainly did our homework but for this particular Eco-Challenge none of the amateur teams were anywhere near the top. All those that finished were pro athletes.

"I think they realise they made it too hard this time so they'll back off a bit in some aspects so more teams can finish. If that happens then I would definitely love to do it again but I wouldn't go back unless I saw that more teams were able to finish.

"If it becomes a race pretty much for professionals - I am not a professional - it wouldn't make sense for me to do it."

Harrison, 45, noted that organiser Mark Burnett warned this year's race would be harder and delivered on that promise.

While expressing disappointment at not going further in the event, the group agreed their decision to stop was for the best. Harrison suffered "foot rot" which was compounded by "a bit of fungus and grit".

"I could have gone on a bit more but once Jim stopped there wasn't much point in suffering anymore. A lot of people were suffering from the same thing because we were constantly on the move in water. That accounted for the high drop-out rate," he noted.

Pearson, the team's navigator, found an ironic positive to their early demise. Having the responsibility of charting their course, he admitted they got lost a few times because of "the classic error" of following others instead of sticking to their map. However, the tougher navigational sections came after they quit.

"So I guess I got lucky," he quipped, chuckling.

For Mason the toughest assignment was mountain-biking in the dark - and downhill at that!

"That was pretty hairy - going down hills with rocks. Then we had to push our bikes up some hills and it was muddy. That made it even more horrible," recalled the 46-year-old.

Though having enjoyed the landmark experience, there were moments when she wondered "what the hell am I doing here?"

In Harrison's case, building the billi billi (a Fijian bamboo raft) and pushing it down the river was "hard work".

"That's something we had never done before. It's really tough trying to get all that weight down the river."

He was dejected not to reach the kayaking and rope-climbing stages as the team had trained diligently for those disciplines.

"We never got to do any of that. That would've been a very good section. I was looking forward to it," he said.

As for his assessment of what was toughest, 37-year-old Pearson replied: "To be honest, everything was tough. Nothing was easy. Perhaps that was part of the challenge. It just never got easy - never. It simply got more and more difficult. Even before the start we had to travel by bus from 10 p.m. until 7 a.m. to get to the starting line.

"So imagine, we're at the start not having had much sleep the night before and looking at another ten or so nights of sleep deprivation. So right from the get-go that was tough."

Butterfield, who said he would not "touch the event again with a barge pole", noted that the television adaptation of Eco-Challenge was deceptive.

"The way they dramatise it, people like us think we can do it but we can't. When you get out there reality hits in," said the 52-year-old, adding that bitter competitiveness caused friction in some teams.

One guy, he disclosed, was being coerced by his team captain to continue despite breaking a finger.

In that regard, the Bermudians succeeded in their mission: to start and finish as friends.