Since winning the first ever major adventure race held in the world, the Raid Gauloises in 1989, he went on to win every significant race in the sport, including Eco-Challenge (three times), the Raid Gauloises (three times), the Elf Authentique, the ESPN X-Games (twice) and the Southern Traverse.
At the Raids Gauloises in Borneo in 1994, he revolutionised the way teams approached adventure races such as the Eco-Challenge and Raid Gauloises by taking the bare minimum of equipment, including food and water, between checkpoints, and wearing shorts, a T-shirt and running shoes, and carrying a microscopic backpack.
This gave Howard and his team a huge advantage and they blitzed the course, winning an expected eight-day race in five.
Ian Adamson, considered by many the Michael Jordan of the sport, describes Howard as, "... a unique individual.
On 20 August 2005, Primal Quest announced that John Howard was joining the world's premier adventure race as Technical Director.