What is Adventure racing ?

 

Adventure racing is the new endurance sport of the millennium. Just as the 1970's brought the green flash trainers and the marathon and the 1980s the Ironman Triathlon, since the 1990's the fastest growing endurance sport event has been 'Adventure' or 'Expedition' Racing.

The sport consists of a series of consecutive outdoor endurance challenges (trail running, mountain biking, kayaking etc) that require mixed teams to navigate an unmarked course from start to finish. The races are on a non stop basis encouraging teams to forego sleep in order to move along the course as quickly as possible. Competitive teams in a multi day race may not sleep at all!

Race routes are interspersed by control points that racers must navigate between in order to progress along the race course during the event. Usually checkpoints are kept secret until just before race, or in some events until just after the race has started. Teams are required to combine physical endurance and more importantly mental toughness with outdoor savvy and technical skills across a variety of disciplines such as mountain biking, kayaking and rope work. While superb fitness is a prerequisite, successful adventure racers are those with the ability to contend with rigors of nonstop racing including, sleep deprivation, unpredictable weather, blisters, and general fatigue while still working effectively as a team.

So you want to be an adventure racer ? then just read this document