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2010 Adventure Sports Week
On June 11-13, adventure racers from across the US and around the world will converge on North Idaho for a three day, 3-stage adventure race that will test athletes to their limits on some of the world’s most scenic and demanding terrain.
This year’s event will feature three completely different stages, starting with the “Midnight Ramble,” which will begin on Friday, June 11 at 6:00 p.m., with teams racing through the evening and into the wee hours of Saturday morning. Racers will kick off the “Crux” on Saturday at 8:00 am, with the teams challenging the mountains and forests around Lake Pend Oreille, and including some challenges that will be unique in the Adventure Racing world!
Saturday evening, we will celebrate with our “June Moon” party, and then bright and early Sunday morning, the racers will set off on the demanding “Crucible,” a fitting climax to three great days of racing!
“Last year was our first major event in North Idaho, and despite some “first year jitters,” the race was a great success. This year, we have set up a course that will be one of the most original, demanding and fun events on the AR calendar.,” said race director Dave Adlard. “Last year’s event was the subject of a major documentary by Outdoor Idaho, and this year’s promises to be just as exciting.”
Teams tentatively scheduled to compete include last year’s champions Team Nike, led by AR legend Mike Kloser, Primal Quest veterans the Yogaslackers, and Team Adventure Sports Week.
“The three-day-three stage format is pretty unique,” said Adlard. “We provide a lot of support for the athletes, and since the stages have a little time in between, the racing is pretty fast and frenetic.”
Racers can compete in male, female or co-ed teams of 1 to 4, and can compete in 1, 2, or all 3 of the stages. The overall championship will go to the fastest 3 or 4 person co-ed team who does all 3 stages. Teams can also qualify for the USARA nationals and earn valuable points toward their Checkpoint Tracker Adventure Racing national ranking.
For more information visit http://www.adventuresportsweek.com.
2010 Wenger Patagonian Expedition Race Course Revealed
The Wenger Patagonian Expedition Race will begin in less than 24 hours – and the organizers have unveiled a grueling route that promises to test competitors’ mental and physical endurance to their limits and solidify the race’s reputation as the wildest adventure race on the planet.
The spectacular course combines all of the extreme terrain that Chilean Patagonia is famous for, beginning with an epic 8km paddle across the straight of Magellan to the island of Tierra del Fuego, land of fire. Characterized by typical Patagonian plains, the first half of the course traverses historic estancias, forests and peat bog, a water-absorbing moss that makes trekking extremely difficult and forces racers to expend valuable energy.
Check point seven, Karukinka, marks the beginning of a dramatic landscape change in this year’s route, as the course moves into the Darwin mountain range. Fatigued racers will show their rope skills as they rappel down a slot canyon at check point nine, Valle Profundo, and use a Tyrolean Traverse to cross the Azopardo River at check point ten. The race ends with an 18km mountain biking section along the Beagle Channel at Peurto Williams, the southernmost city in the world.
Returning competitor, Druce Finlay of team Eddie Bauer, recalls “The trekking in this race is epic; all the events are done at such an extreme level in the complete wilderness. It is hard to find this type of race in the United States because of certain land conservation rules. Big ocean paddling, like some of the paddling that has to be done in the Patagonian Expedition Race, scares a lot of teams off.”
Last year’s winner, team Helly Hansen – Prunesco, has decided to take a different approach than the one that led them to victory in 2009. The team is opting to bring a few extra items for comfort and warmth, compromising the typical ultra-light adventure racing strategy.
Chris Lomas, a first-time UK competitor of team Fast and Light, is simply excited to compete on the wild and untouched Tierra del Fuego in Chilean Patagonia. “I’m most looking forward to seeing this amazing place. All the photos I’ve seen look incredible, and what better way to see a land, than to trek, bike and kayak 600km around it. We’re certainly going to see a lot of it!!! The best bit looks like the sea kayaking, amongst whales, icebergs, all the time racing against other teams from all over the world.”
With an outstanding team line-up and a route that traverses the most remote and beautiful landscapes of Chilean Patagonia, Wenger Patagonian Expedition Race 2010 promises extreme adventure.
With an outstanding team line-up and a route that traverses the most remote and beautiful landscapes of Chilean Patagonia, Wenger Patagonian Expedition Race 2010 promises extreme adventure.
Follow Checkpoint Zero’s coverage of the race at:
http://www.checkpointzero.com/wenger_patagonian_expedition_race
AdventureFit Training Program Created for Outdoor Athletes
Campbell, California (February 7th, 2010) – AdventureFit Training today announces a new training program and associated website for participants of outdoor and adventure sports. As a strength and conditioning program the goal of the training is to provide the athlete with the means to complete and possibly excel at competitive events outside the traditional gym environment.
Specifically, the training sets up a framework of consecutive daily fitness workouts. Each workout is relatively short; generally no longer than 30 minutes. AdventureFit Training relies on a strength component in conjunction with high-intensity metabolic conditioning. The goal of this style of training to be able to produce a large volume of work while simultaneously increasing the athlete’s lactate threshold. The end result is that in a race situation or during an outdoor excursion the participant can be confident that they can move quickly and efficiently despite fatigue.
By presenting different scaling levels this new training program will be accessible to both beginner, intermediate and elite athletes. The equipment the program calls for includes kettle bells, sandbags, TRX suspension straps, dumbbells, medicine balls and Olympic lifting equipment utilized in a functional manner. It is understood that AdventureFit athletes will occasionally train with
sport-specific equipment such as backpacks, kayaks, and bicycles. The program also encourages participants to train in sport-specific conditions: outdoors and on the trail.
For more information please visit the AdventureFit Training website at http://www.adventurefittraining.com.
2010 Wenger Patagonian Expedition Race Preview Video
Checkpoint Zero’s race coverage will include daily updates, photos, audio reports and updates from race management via Twitter.
Australia to Host Adventure Racing World Championship in 2011
XPD Edition 2, Tasmania -- photo by Owen Hughes
NGAR, The Toughest Race in Georgia
After taking several years off, one of the toughest races in Georgia made it’s return this winter. Boasting teams from across the USA, this early season race is a favorite among those who like to suffer the best terrain and worst weather race director Tony Berwald can come up with.
Checkpoint Zero/MPGear.com -- photo by Robert Milks
The Berwald curse, as it is affectionately known as, assures that no matter what weekend the race is held, it will be the worst weather of the season. Past races have had freezing temperatures with snow, unseasonably warm weather, and this year, rain…light, heavy, sideways, cold, it was all there.
Everyone on the team wanted to do this race, so we sent two squads and loaned Jenn out to nuun Feed the Machine. They gave us a cow and 10 bushels of corn. We knew there would be a little extra competition there, but the rest of us hoped the rocks we put in her pack would slow her down enough that we could keep ahead.
Right out of the starting gate the pace was fast, not that we didn’t expect it, but it’s always a rough wakeup call after an over indulgent holiday season. However, being the team captain meant I had the authority, much to his dismay, to send Paul Cox on the prologue run. Huffing and puffing up the hill, Paul came in about 10th and we didn’t waste any time getting into boats and valiantly paddled as hard as we could to keep the leaders in sight. Throughout the paddle we slowly fell back, trailing by about 30 minutes by the time we got back to the TA.
Our transition was made easier by the fact the other Checkpoint Zero squad was exceptionally fast on the water and was gone before we got in. That meant our support crew was able to devote their efforts to kicking us out of there as fast as they could. Jumping on our bikes, we sped off in hot pursuit of the teams ahead of us. Along the way to Fort Mountain we had one flat tire which was somewhat disappointing as it was road the entire way, but that’s how things go sometimes.
Upon reaching Fort Mountain, we said hello to our crew again before heading off on our bikes onto the single track through the park. We elected to take the shorter route heading south and west, dropping down the insane power line descent and winding around the mountain clockwise to collect out points before heading off to the first trek.
As we rolled into the trek TA we were greeted by our teammates Paul (the Kiwi version), Allen and Michele where they sat us down, stripped off our shoes and stuffed hot noodles in our faces. This assistance greatly sped up the transition and got us on our feet quickly. The ensuing trek was largely straightforward, with the exception of CP14. This was one of those points one knew from the beginning might be hard to find, and could end up making or breaking the race. Turns out we nailed it on the first attempt and made a quiet exit as we saw other teams scouring the mountain side in search of the flag.
Getting back to the TA, we were pleased to know we had kept our time gap to the leaders about the same, and made haste to get back on the bikes to ride back to Fort Mountain by way of Mulberry Gap. The folks at Mulberry Gap were extremely generous, supplying us with fresh water and hot soup, before sending us back out into the cold wet night where we were to make our race killing blunder.
It couldn’t have happened at an easier spot. We simply had to ride (push) our bikes up the Pinhoti trail, cross highway 52, and connect back into the same trail we took to Fort Mountain the first time. I’d run the same section of trail a month earlier, and didn’t anticipate how hard it would be for us to find the connection. We lost at least 45 minutes exploring every road and trail before finding the sign markers showing us the proper way. We figured we weren’t the only ones to have trouble there, but it really put a damper on our spirits as we knew we’d be hard pressed to gain back any of that lost time.
We finally made it back to Fort Mountain and put on what few dry clothes we had left for the final trek. We opted for a counter-clockwise attack, starting to the south to get what we figured were the toughest points out of the way first. Little did we know this was a good move because we moved much slower than predicted. The route allowed us to skip the furthest out point but still make it back before the cutoff. We finished 5th in the co-ed category with our fellow CPZ mates finishing just ahead of us.
If this race had been held just one day earlier, or one day later the weather for most of the race would have been beautiful. As it was, the Berwald curse held true for yet another year. In spite of the weather the race was an excellent showcase of how tough north Georgia can be and a worthy installment of the NGAR races. About a week later, all the bad memories have faded and I’m ready to go out and do it again, and that’s what it’s all about, right?
Wenger Patagonian Expedition Race
The Wenger Patagonian Expedition Race returns for its eighth edition next month (February) with the reigning champions taking on the biggest field in history on a course that will create the toughest and most southerly adventure race ever run.
Last year’s event, won by British team (and newly crowned Adventure Race World Champions) Helly Hansen-Prunesco, proved its reputation as the wildest race in the world when American Team Calleva became lost and had to be rescued after surviving on berries for four days.
This year the event will mark Chile’s Bicentenary with 600km-plus of trekking, kayaking, climbing and cycling in the footsteps of explorers Ferdinand Magellan and Charles Darwin through the stunning Tierra del Fuego region of Chilean Patagonia.
Race organizer Stjepan Pavicic said: “Every year we explore new areas of Chilean Patagonia to make the race as scenic, wild and unexplored as possible, always at the limit of the possible. The historic average of teams crossing the finish line is below 50%, last year’s race edition it was as low as 30% – so this year is going to be interesting!
“We have tried to develop a route with historical significance and one that will give competitors the best – and most challenging – experience of the most remote and pristine area of Chilean Patagonia.
“But the value of this race is not only in the physical and mental challenge; it is also in spreading a message to preserve this region. This year that message will be even stronger as the race will pass through Wildlife Conservation Society’s reserve ‘Karukinka’, the conservation area we collaborate to preserve and develop in a sustainable manner.”
Team Helly Hansen-Prunesco will lead a 60-strong field of men and women that includes teams from 12 nations all battling for the pride of victory. The ‘Land of Fire’ will provide competitors with challenging terrain of white-capped mountains in the Darwin Range, freezing glacier-fed waters in the legendary Beagle Channel and unpredictable sinking moss, known as peatbog, widely found in Patagonia.
The race, which is supported by the Chilean government and is the only adventure race partnered with an Olympic Committee, will donate all funds generated beyond the operating budget to conservation projects in the region. This year the event will be widely broadcast around the world thanks to a new partnership with broadcaster Hatch TV and distributor Quattro Media.
SOG Sponsors Checkpoint Tracker
Checkpoint Zero, LLC is very happy to announce the latest addition to a growing list of exceptional outdoor brands lending their support to the 2010 Checkpoint Tracker adventure racing season. Given the unmatched quality of their products, SOG Specialty Knives & Tools have been named the Official Knives & Tools of Checkpoint Tracker.
SOG will be providing support in a variety of ways, most notably by awarding Checkpoint Tracker branded SOG knives to the winning team in each division at the 2010 Checkpoint Tracker National Championship, which is set for October 29th in the Rocky Mountain Region. These limited edition SOG knives will feature the Checkpoint Tracker logo engraved on the blade. The only way to get your hands on one will be beat all challengers in head to head competition.
SOG recently formed TeamSOG, a group of accomplished edurance athletes competing in a variety of endurance sports, including adventure racing, across the US and around the world. It’s sponsorship of Checkpoint Tracker further increases it’s commitment to supporting the growth and promotion of the sport of adventure racing.
“For a brand like SOG Specialty Knives and Tools, which is devoted to the highest-quality gear that can be depended upon in the harshest of conditions, affiliation with endurance athletes such as those that compete in adventure racing is crucial,” says Spencer Frazer, chief executive officer and founder of SOG. “Participants and fans of adventure racing know the degree to which these athletes depend on their gear. They wouldn’t affiliate with a sponsor if their products did not meet their standards. It provides important confirmation of our product’s quality and of our understanding as to what the needs of such athletes are. It greatly helps enhance the image of authenticity that we enjoy.”
To provide all adventure racers the opportunity to own a SOG knife or specialty tool, the company is offering a 25% discount on any SOG product. Use coupon code TMSG when you check out at http://www.sogknives.com.
Checkpoint Tracker race this weekend, Big Chill Adventure Race
12 teams, all from Texas, are racing in Bistrop for 100 points in the 2nd Adventure length race of the 2010 Checkpoint Tracker adventure racing season.
Online coverage of the Big Chill includes a continuously updated micro-blog called Race Central and a Leaderboard that tracks each teams progress from checkpoint to checkpoint.
Checkpoint Tracker is a year long, nationwide adventure racing series made up of nearly 80 events produced by 35 of the country’s most successful event promoters.
Thanks to the support of our partners, including MPGear.com, Ultimate XC, MyTopo.com, Breathe Magazine, Numa Sport Optics, Swiftwick, nuun and SportMulti and Axis Gear, Checkpoint Zero, in partnership with Gravity Play Sports, will be producing the Checkpoint Tracker National Championship on October 29th in the Rocky Mountain Region.
SOG Specialty Knives & Tools gets serious about adventure racing
“For a brand like SOG Specialty Knives and Tools, which is devoted to the highest-quality gear that can be depended upon in the harshest of conditions, affiliation with endurance athletes such as those that compete in adventure racing is crucial,” says Spencer Frazer, chief executive officer and founder of SOG. “Participants and fans of adventure racing know the degree to which these athletes depend on their gear. They wouldn’t affiliate with a sponsor if their products did not meet their standards. It provides important confirmation of our product’s quality and of our understanding as to what the needs of such athletes are. It greatly helps enhance the image of authenticity that we enjoy.”
For more information visit http://www.sogknives.com and http://sogknives.com/store/team_sog.html