Archive for the ‘Adventure Racing,’ Category

WEDNESDAY: 1st September – entries open for THE MONGOL RALLY 2011 at 2p.m. British time.

10,000 miles in a tiny car all on behalf of charity

If you have read our articles on this mad and crazy and very extreme adventure, and if you have followed the links through to The Adventurists even madder, crazier and more extreme website – you will know that this is an escapade that you DO NOT want to miss.

But places sell out terrifyingly fast… don’t hesitate. Go to The Adventurists SIGN-UP now… or click on the above picture.

And then of course you get to tell your grandchildren about the time you were held at gun point by a member of the Russian maffia, got away by offering him a water melon, ended up best friends and married his daughter, their grandmother.

18 international teams arrived in Costa Rica to compete on a 500km course starting 22nd August – a race which covers more than half the width of the country.

It was the attraction of Costa Rica’s incredibly varied terrain, equatorial climate and welcoming multisport culture which drew such an international field to this inaugural event, now part of the  nine Adventure Race World Series events that are held around the world.

The race covers a wide variety of landscapes, beaches, warm ocean, dry forests, rain forests, cloud forest, volcanoes, lakes, rivers, whitewater and a traditional local sport was to be  the surprise element in this fantastic race. The race course was carefully designed and scouted by de la Rosa and Baker: “We guarantee the racers to have a great time during the race. They won’t be bored with the same scenario, and the scenery changes constantly as you proceed the course,” they said.

Some of the most experienced racers in the world, like Bruno Rey and Jim Mandelli, have taken the chance to race in this new and exiting venue, adding to their list of racing destinations. Others, like Team Explore (Sweden) and Quechua (France), are perhaps looking for the win and a free place on the start line of the World Champs in Spain next month, but it’s a risk because with only a month to go to ARWC they are risking injury or fatigue. However, nothing ventured nothing gained, even the World Championship race director, Antonio de la Rosa, is there taking part!

The conditions have been difficult right from the start – rain, extreme humidity and heat. By the end of the first day the team from Finland (Finland Multisport.fi – team 2) had had to withdraw although two of the team members have carried on, now unranked.

Adventure racing is a really exciting sport which is as much determined by the elements as by the stamina and teeth gritting endurance of the athletes. And they are supreme athletes, adventure racers. To remind you as to what adventure racing is about, here’s a quick snyopsis from Wikipedia:

Adventure racing is a combination of two or more endurance disciplines, including orienteering (if an orienteering map is used) and/or navigation (when non-orienteering maps are used), cross-country running, mountain biking, paddling, climbing and related rope skills. An expedition event can span ten days or more while sprints can be completed in a matter of hours. There is typically no dark period during races, irrespective of length; competitors must choose if or when to rest.

This video is not Costa Rica – just a look at this supreme extreme sport (SilverBullet1999):

Part of the appeal of adventure racing is expecting the unexpected and race directors pride themselves at challenging racers with unexpected or unusual tasks.

What race directors cannot take into account is what nature is going to throw at the athletes and in Costa Rica the unexpected has been thrown at them in bucketloads.  The extremely high humidity and heat takes an early toll on competitors, but landslides caused by the heavy rains was definitely unexpected causing Team Quechua (France), currently running second to the Swedish team, to seek an alternative route which cost them precious time.

Torrential rains have persisted causing many teams to have to assemble their bikes for the 171 km ride in pouring water.

To the delight of the locals, team Costa Rica Coastal Challenge was lying 4th in the final stages. Sweden’s Explore, France’s Quechua, and Colombia’s Bossi were lying in 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. They are into the final stretch… The race ends today and first place is still up for grabs. It’s anyone’s race…

Whilst I’m on the subject of Adventure Racing please remember that entries for the 500 km Extreme Arctic Race in Greenland close AT THE END OF AUGUST. The race itself is scheduled for May 2011. If you want to take part jump around now and follow this link to the Greenland Ice Cap Challenge!

Two riders, Justin Nelzen a former US Marine…

and Saskia van Heeren of South Africa…

had a thrilling gallop to the finish where Justin just pipped Saskia past the post…

Gracious to the end, Justin said “It was a team effort, two horses travel faster than one. Saskia deserves this victory as much as I do, she’s been with me the whole time. We’ve been riding 8 days and we’ve had a lot of fun. When times were tough we motivated each other- and told each other to ’suck it up’ a few times! You have to be tough waking up with aches and pains and facing another 12 or 14 hours in the saddle. But it couldn’t have been a better experience.”

The last four riders have now crossed the finish line and this year’s Mongol Derby, on its second run, has been another enormous success.

The Mongol Derby is probably the world’s longest and toughest horse race – the first of its kind and very likely a Guinness World Record (TM). It’s a 1000-kilometre multi horse race across the wild Mongolian Steppe. 25 riders from around the world compete in the race and apart from taking part in the race of a lifetime, they also hopefully raise huge sums of money for charity projects in Mongolia.

Saskia van Heeren couldn’t have praised the Mongolians more highly: “Mongolian people are the nicest on the planet- so friendly and so giving. They made a huge effort for us, and it’s an honour to be with them and stay with them, and a privilege that they lend their magnificent horses for us.”

Yes of course, a race of this kind, and run in Mongolia, can only spring from the hallucinogenic imagination of The Adventurists – inventors of the just completed Mongol Rally and the equally crazy rickshaw runs. Chinggis Khaan helped to add his bit too of course. The race follows his legendary postal system which could relay messages thousands of miles in a matter of days. Like the mighty Khaan’s system the Mongol Derby relies on a network of horse stations (Morin Urtuu in Mongolian) stretching mile after mile across the Mongolian steppe.

This race, although billed the toughest horse race in the world, is not so much a test of the horse’s speed as of the rider’s skill and endurance. Each horse only completes 40 kms and 1000 horses are used in stages throughout the competition – outnumbering people 7 to 1. The Mongol horses are a tough and hardy little beast, spending their entire lives out on the Mongolian steppes. Although smaller than other breeds, Mongolian horses are more than capable of carrying these riders.

If you happen to be an ardent animal lover and your concern immediately concentrates on ‘the horses’, please be assured that animal welfare is of paramount importance. All the Mongol Derby horses are carefully selected and checked by vets before ever taking part. During the event the horses are treated to an extensive vet support system who respond quickly to any problems. Their first concern is the health of the horses.

Is this the sort of race you’d want to do? Me? Oh yes, like a shot. It’s right up my street, but read for yourself some of The Adventurists’ spiel:

We’re not normally a selective bunch. All sorts of snaggle-toothed and navigationally-challenged pretenders line up for our suite of fine Adventurist Adventurings every year. But this is an adventure of a different magnitude, and because the horse power is from real horses, it’s rather more serious. Only a good horseman, in fine fettle, with Herculean reserves of pluck and verve should consider this challenge. If you’re considering applying it’s important that you read and understand this warning.

You need to be able to survive this! These horses are small and semi-wild, and the terrain is massive and fully-wild.

Still want to do it?

Take me to the form

One final bit of information. You need to be able to afford this! Like Marco Polo said of Chinggis’ Morin Urtuu system:“The thing is on a scale so wonderful and costly that it is hard to bring oneself to describe it”. Well, describe it we shall, it’s going to cost $9800 to enter. Start saving now!

Need further incentive? Watch this (rupertdaysown)…

1st August, 2010: “we’ve arrived at the most northern point of mainland europe, from here we actually head towards Mongolia” said Neil of Team Yorkshire Terriers clocking in from North Cape, Norway.

6th August, 2010: “entered border at 10ish. Left at 1. On road to moscow. Looking for place to stay…” Yorkshire Terriers again on entering the Russian Federation.

8th August, 2010: “lost in a field in Russia where the road has massive holes running from 1 side to the other making driving on it damn near impossible and now speaking to the locals who say Nicks leading us the wrong way and we need to turn” – team Catch Me If You Khan

10th August, 2010: “Been stuck at the border all day. It could be worse. They even have a duty free!” said Dan of team Mary Poppin’s Magic Carpet Bag… bet that bag got filled up!

10th August, 2010: “Finish Line” said the happy Eweland Baacar team.

Mary Poppins’ magic Carpet reached Ulaanbataar on the 11th, whereas poor old Road Warrior had this to say about the finish line: “10th Aug. Heading home Thats me in Ullan Bator getting ready to head home. A wee bit gutted my wee car didn’t manage the last 400 miles. The rear suspension had bottomed out, springs looked like a pile of noodles and my petrol tank was damaged and leaking, sitting about an inch from the road which isn’t great when the roads are so bad. Also loud grinding noise from the rear of the car, not to mention all the other problems on-route just thought it wasn’t worth the risk, as i am on my own…”

Other teams are still out there drawing ever closer to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia and keeping in touch with sms’:

12th August, 2010: “bad roads and stuck 2h at rail crossing. 6h to do 180km ” bemoaned team Biscuits and Orange Juice from the Province of Irkutsk in the Russian Federation.

13th August, 2010: “hours behind us. The boys have done amazing to catch up like they have. Kazakhstan is very hot, we stopped for a sleep not far after the border and woke up desperate to hit the road and find a shower,” Catch Us If You Khan getting closer to their goal.

13th August, 2010: Claire-Bear of Pandemonium said, “ran into a road block on a mountain pass yesterday, luckly some fine Georgian men got out & helped along with offering us some of their finest homemade cognac & rice wine. yum. welcome to georgia.”

Fun, rivalry, challenge, and bucketloads of adventure are being and have been had by one and all. Tragically there has been one fatal car accident with 2 people still in hospital. The warning on The Adventurists website is very clear: These adventures are genuinely dangerous things to do. The website is written in a light-hearted fashion but you cannot underestimate the risks involved in undertaking this kind of adventure. Your chance of dying can be very high, some past teams have been seriously injured. These adventures are not a glorified holiday. They are an adventure and so by their very nature extremely risky. You really are on your own.

Everyone knows that and understands the risks involved in an adventure like this one. It is always desperately sad when things go badly awry  - but the participants are grown-ups, sort-of. They know what they are doing and so adventures like this will continue…

Our deepest sympathy goes to the family involved.

The Adventurists use their mad crazy extreme adventures to raise money for charities in the country’s that they hold their adventures in. They have, to date, raised Pounds Sterling 384,265.00

Another challenging extreme adventure race to keep an eye on… The Red Bull X-Alps (redbull). Thirty of the world’s best endurance athletes and paragliding pilots, specially selected for their skills, stamina and guts will be invited to take part in the 2011 event.

The race begins in Salzberg, Austria and finishes in Monaco in the South of France – from the mountains to the Med.

In between are eight turnpoints in Austria, Italy, Switzerland and France that force the participants through 864km of treacherous mountain terrain.

The athletes can either fly with their paraglider or hike, carrying their equipment with them. The race goes on day and night, sun or snow, until the first pilot reaches goal.

Motorised transport is absolutely forbidden apart from a back-up supporter (only one) who can help provide food, equipment and information. However, your paraglider, harness, rescue parachute, helmet, emergency signal rocket, reflector belt and tracking device stays with you  at all times and are not  allowed to hitch a ride with your supporter!

There are a few more rules and regulations that competitors need to be aware of:

• Athletes may chose any route they like, but must pass all turnpoints.
  

• Each athlete has only one supporter to look after them.
  

• Travel through tunnels that connect valleys are prohibited.
  

• International Visual Flight Rules (VFR) air regulations must be obeyed.
  

• The race stops 48 hours after the winner arrives in goal.

Chrigel Maurer and supporter Thomas Theurillat (Team SUI3) made an unbeatable team in the 2009 event taking the lead early on and completing the race in under 10 days. They will undoubtably be the team to beat in 2011. Although Chrigel claims that it was a rather nice relaxed adventure for he and his supporter he did admit that “we have never been as exhausted as during the final days of the race and we had to learn to deal with that.”

On July 27th 2010 applications for the world’s toughest adventure race opened, and budding athletes have until September 30th (2010) to register their intent to participate. The Red Bull X-Alps 2011 will be the fifth edition.

Potential athletes must prove to a selection committee that they have outstanding paragliding skills, top-level endurance and extensive Alpine experience. Only 30 athletes will be chosen to participate in the 864km race, which begins in Salzburg on July 17, 2011.

Applications must be made via the newly re-launched official website, www.redbullxalps.com.

Good luck with your applications… We’d love to know if you were successful.

If any of you have been enthused with my articles about the Mongol Rally and are hoping to take part in it yourself one day, then you might like to know that D-Day is tomorrow, Sunday 25th July.

Teams from everywhere are converging on their respective FESTIVAL OF SLOW locations ready to embark on the mighty Mongol Rally – 10,000kms of the world’s worst driving terrain in under-powered tiny cars.

The Festival of Slow will take place at Goodwood Motorcircuit UK, Barcelona Spain and Milan Italy and you can follow the shannigans by clicking on the Adventurists link.

And here’s a little more on a previous competitor’s car (mayoisms):

… could you too be seeking adventure? what are you waiting for then – get onto the Adventurists site and book your place next year!