You guys need to get Dana Brown involved. I think that is the guys name anyway. He did an awesome documentery on the Baja 1000 called "Dust to Glory"
Check out his other movie "Step Into Liquid". His dad did the Endless Summer surf documentaries. He would be great for a cat distance race. I think a movie format would be the way to go for these types of races since another reality tv show would probably just get lost in the shuffle of the other million reality shows on cable these days.