Race to Shore (also known as First to Shore, One for All, Medallion of Power, and The Marooning) is a recurring opening challenge that first appeared in Survivor: Palau, and has since reappeared in Micronesia, Gabon, Nicaragua, Cambodia, Game Changers and Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers.
Occurring at the very start of the game (sometimes even before the tribes are divided), the challenge typically involves a swimming and/or foot race to locate an object of importance, such as an Immunity Necklace, a Hidden Immunity Idol, the Medallion of Power, or supplies (such as rice and fire).
Rules
Castaways must race individually to a certain marked area to find and retrieve an Immunity Necklace that will keep them safe at the first Tribal Council the person attends. In Nicaragua, the Immunity Necklace was replaced with the Medallion of Power. In Cambodia, Game Changers, and Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers the object of the challenge was to get to a reward before the other tribe.
History
In Palau, the castaways were given a choice. Either row to shore with everyone else, or jump off the boat and swim across individually to the drop-off beach where two individual Immunity Necklaces (one for each gender) were waiting. The first male and first female to wear the necklaces would win immunity. Stephenie LaGrossa and Jonathan Libby made a crucial mistake by jumping off the boat and trying to outswim it, but the boat went far ahead of them. In the end, Ian Rosenberger won the males' immunity and Jolanda Jones barely beat Jenn Lyon for the females' immunity. This immunity only lasted until the division of the tribes where the last two castaways not picked were immediately eliminated from the game, so Jolanda was not immune from the first Tribal Council and was ultimately voted out.
The challenge re-appeared in Micronesia once the Favorites were brought out. The castaways had to race across a lagoon and to the tribe boats to find the idols. Jon Dalton was the first person to locate the idols, but mistakenly grabbed the Airai tribe's idol, instead of that of his own tribe, Malakal. Yau-Man Chan saw this and beat Jon to claim Malakal's idol. Kathy Sleckman won for Airai when Yau-Man pointed out to her where it was.
In Gabon, the eighteen castaways raced through a series of marked hills to the top of a very steep slope, where an idol for each tribe was located. In addition, the first tribe to have all its members reach the top of the hill would win an extra bag of corn and beans. Marcus Lehman got the idol for Kota, and G.C. Brown got the idol for Fang. Kota got all its members to the top of the hill first and won the extra bag of food.
In Nicaragua, the twenty contestants (as yet undivided by tribe) were instructed to scour the island for the Medallion of Power, with the person who found it winning the item for their tribe. Brenda Lowe found the Medallion, and took it with her to La Flor tribe. However, the tribe chose to exchange the Medallion of Power (and thus give it to Espada) for fishing gear.
In Cambodia, when the tribes were gathering items on the boat during the marooning, several yards from the boat was a smaller boat where a large bag of rice was waiting. Kelly Wiglesworth from Ta Keo jumped into the water and swam towards the boat. Joe Anglim from Bayon then jumped into the water and quickly caught up with Kelly as she started to become exhausted. Kelly's Ta Keo tribemate, Woo Hwang, quickly jumped into the water and quickly passed Joe to get to the boat first, winning the rice for Ta Keo.
In Game Changers, several yards from the ship were two colored-coded knots that had a toolkit. Ozzy Lusth from Nuku took off and quickly swam to the knots, with no one from the Mana tribe initially contesting Ozzy due to his reputation as a strong swimmer. As Ozzy started untying the knots, Caleb Reynolds from Mana jumped into the water in an attempt to catch up, but it was too late as Ozzy had untied the knot, winning the toolkit for Nuku.
In Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers, the tribes had to collect supplies and jump into their row boats. Once they get to shore, they had to hook their boat and untie a torch, before lifting someone up high enough to ignite it with a fire pit fifteen feet above the ground. The first tribe would win a fire kit, while the second received flint. The Soko and Levu tribes quickly pulled ahead of the Yawa tribe, which was struggling in the boat portion, and finished in first and second respectively. By the time the challenge was over, the Yawa tribe still had not reached the shore.
Winners
| Episode | Challenge Type | Winner | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Palau "This Has Never Happened Before!" |
Individual Immunity |  Ian Rosenberger |
 Jolanda Jones |
| Micronesia "You Guys Are Dumber than You Look" |
Individual Immunity |  Yau-Man Chan |
 Kathy Sleckman |
| Gabon "Want to See the Elephant Dung?" |
Individual Immunity |  Marcus Lehman |
 G.C. Brown |
| Tribal Reward |         Kota | ||
| Nicaragua "Young at Heart" |
Tribal Reward |           La Flor | |
| Cambodia "Second Chance" |
Tribal Reward |           Ta Keo | |
| Game Changers "The Stakes Have Been Raised" |
Tribal Reward |           Nuku | |
| Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers "I'm Not Crazy, I'm Confident" |
Tribal Reward |       Soko | |
      Levu | |||
Gallery
Trivia
- This challenge has been the first challenge of the season every time it has appeared.
- This challenge was featured in both seasons filmed in Palau.
- Ciera Eastin, Cirie Fields, Jeff Varner, and Ozzy Lusth have competed in this challenge twice. Cirie, Jeff, and Ozzy have won once, while Ciera has never won.
- Each time a yellow tribe competed, they won.