Typical adventure racing teams opt for the 3 and 1 format with that including the female as the ‘mandatory equipment’. However, for this year’s RTNX, Erik Nachtrieb will be the team’s solo male as he is joined by Deb McInally, Jude Ultra, and Michelle Maislen to form Mandatory Equipment. The team will also be one the teams being followed by the production crew, New Edge Productions. Also, check out the team’s web series at the bottom. We have included the Trailer. A link at the bottom will allow you to view the rest.

Who are the team players for this year’s RTNX?

Erik Nachtrieb

Age: 41
Biggest asset to the team: Navigator, ridiculous bushwhacking, non-stop story teller and “the serious guy”.

Deb McInally

Age: 41
Biggest asset to the team: Team organization, pulls the bike train, attention to details, mechanic

Jude Ultra

Age: 28
Biggest asset to the team: The engine, keeps pace on foot, team singer/rapper, feeds the navigator

Michelle Maislen

Age: 36
Biggest asset to the team: Conflict resolution, navigation support, voice of reason
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by Pat Kinsella

With the Adventure Racing World Championships (ARWC) now just three months away, the planet’s best off-road multisport athletes are running out of chances to book their place in the sport’s biggest annual event, due to take place in Burnie, Tasmania, in October/November 2011.

In the last few weeks two additional names were added to the illustrious list of teams who are currently locked in to be on the starting line when the ARWC kicks off, when international qualifying events were run and won in Switzerland and Costa Rica.

Spain’s Columbia Spot team recently took out the 2011 Costa Rica Adventure Race when they crossed the finish line at the Hotel Almendros y Corales in Playa Manzanillo after prevailing in an intense battle with fellow Iberians, Thermocool Buff.

After negotiating the final stage – which included a 12km trek and a 27km mountain bike ride between Playa Negra and Playa Gandoca – Columbia Spot finished the 800km race with a total time of 82 hours and 30 minutes.

Difficult sea conditions and darkness meant some teams were prevented from completing the kayaking stage, which led to their times being neutralized and opened up a real scrap for third place, with home team Gropo Orosi Costa Rica eventually completing the podium.

And previously, in the alpine adventure-playground surrounds of Interlaken in Switzerland, team Silva Gerber Adventure (whose ranks now include ex-pat Kiwi Aaron Prince) won the APEX event, and promptly booked themselves a ticket to Tasmania. The race – which featured total elevation gain of around 15,000 meters – took place under the eye of the Eiger in the Jungfrau region of the viciously vertiginous country, and in the second half of the race, which took place at altitude, the weather gods turned against racers, serving them up a bitter cocktail of constant wind, rain, and snow.
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Spain’s Victor Del Corral and Switzerland’s Renata Bucher won the XTERRA France Championship in Xonrupt on Saturday, July 10. The victory marks the first XTERRA Championship ever for Del Corral, and the first of 2011 for Bucher (the four-time XTERRA European Tour Champion now has 22 career XTERRA victories).

XTERRA Managing Director “Kahuna Dave” Nicholas was on site for the race and brings us this report…

In the north of France, another great European race with twists and turns and loads of entertainment. Race morning was sunny and warm as the 400 participants in XTERRA France Decouvert (discovery) headed out exactly on time at 8:15 a.m. Next, over 100 kids from 7-13 went out in real swim-bike-run races in 3 age groups and had some exciting battles. Size and gender mean nothing to kids; the girls and smaller boys were unbelievably fast.

About an hour before the championship race start the clouds came in and the rain started. The good news is it stopped just before the 2:00pm start. A great mass of 500 stood on the shore when the “bomb” went off and the game began.

Ben Allen, an Aussie living in France and fresh off a victory at XTERRA Brazil, killed the swim leading second-place by 30 seconds. Frenchman Benoit Augeux and an Englishman living in France, Asa Shaw, were next, followed by Olivier Marceau, Ronny Dietz, Yeray Luxem and the rest of the pack.

For the women, South African Carla van Huyssteen was first out of the water followed by Marion “Bubu” Lorblanchet. Lorblanchet muscled her way past the diminutive van Huyssteen leaving transition knowing that the “Swiss Miss” Renata Bucher would be strong on the bike. Bucher had what she termed a bad “sveem” and was more than three minutes behind Lorblanchet from T1 and had a lot of work to do.
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When I spoke with Masha Glanville, team captain of Dancing Pandas, she chuckled as she told us that the 4-person team has a combined age of 196 and over 40 years of expedition racing experience. Perhaps all that experience and wisdom will prove most useful at Raid the North Extreme.

Who are the team players for this year’s RTNX?

Thorlene Egerton

Age: 46
Biggest asset to the team: Navigation (one of the top navigators in Australia!), wisdom and she is one tough (and really nice) chick all around.

Peter Spagnoli

Age: 51
Biggest asset to the team: EXPERIENCE (12 years of expedition adventure racing, 30 years of ironmans/triathlons and 10 years of mountaineering), unbelievable calmness under ANY kind of pressure or stress, strength and humor

Michael Chastaine

Age: 51
Biggest asset to the team: EXPERIENCE (8 years of AR, 30 years of endurance racing – running and mountain biking), strength, navigation and humor

Masha Glanville

Age: 47
Biggest asset to the team: Experience (12 years of expedition adventure racing), strategy and head mom
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Our pre-race interview with Kyle Peter of Team Tecnu Extreme/StaphAseptic as they make final preparations for Raid the North Extreme. You can also follow them on Facebook.

Who are the team players for this year’s RTNX?

Leslie Reuter

Age: 41
Biggest asset to the team: Experience, Technical MTBing, Wisdom

Marco Amselem

Age: 26
Biggest asset to the team: Work horse, Laughter, Nutrition, CP bag spotter

Brian Schmitz

Age: 40
Biggest asset to the team: Logistics, Organization, Navigation, Pace setter

Kyle Peter

Age: 27
Biggest asset to the team: Navigation

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2011 Hardrock 100

Chorier the Executioner!

It takes a structural engineer to lay the kind of plans that allow a Frenchman to travel to the highest mountains of America and dominate the toughest race of this nation, only a day after Bastille Day. But Julien Chorier is more than an engineer; he’s an executioner who stuck to his plans over all but a few of the rugged mountain trails.

Other than getting off course in the early part of the race and losing about 20 minutes, Chorier was like clockwork, keeping right on pace with his meticulous schedule. For the final 45 miles he had the pacing company of fellow Salomon global teammates, Ryan Sandes (Capetown, South Africa) and Rickey Gates (Aspen, CO).

Chorier, who lives in the French Alps, came to acclimate in Colorado’s high country two weeks before Hardrock with teammate Nerea Martinez, from Spain. They spent a few days scouting the course but, sadly, having summited the high point of Handies Peak, over 14,000 feet above sea level, Martinez descended into the wrong basin and got lost enough almost half way into the course in third place for the women that she dropped from the race. “I am very sad but want to return to this race to do the complete beautiful course.”

Chorier finished in 25:17, the third fastest ever, finishing 1:53 ahead of the second-place finisher of Dakota Jones. Said Chorier, after his victory, “Everything here is on a different scale. It is 2x here.”

Our congratulations for Julien are also 2x!

–Adam W. Chase, Salomon US Brand Ambassador

Via Press Release

DART-Nuun-SportMulti finished 7th overall and the top American team

Team members Ryan VanGorder, Mari Chandler, Matt Hayes, and Kyle Peter competed in the APEX Expedition race in Switzerland May 25 – 29. The race covered miles of beautiful trails high in the Bernese Oberland region of the Swiss Alps. Incredible scenery, exposed ridgelines, big climbs, tough competition, and lots of vertical were all highlights of the race.

The race started with a 4 stage prologue in Interlaken consisting of two orienteering loops, a trotti-bike (scooter) section, and whitewater rafting. With 30 teams that were well rested and ready to race, the prologue was very competitive. With each section taking about 1 hour, there was a bit of rest time between stages. Each orienteering loop consisted of a couple checkpoints in some flat hay fields around the airport and then a climb and descent on a trail system on the mountains to the south of Interlaken. The trotti-bike section included four loops around the airport roads with teammates alternating loops in pairs. Whitewater rafting included about 10 minutes of whitewater (untimed) and about 20 minutes of paddling on a calmer section of the river. The temperature reached 85 deg F during the day, and with 20-20 hindsight I think many teams, including ours, would have lowered the pace a notch or two.

The race re-start had us on a short run through Interlaken to the first paddle section on Thunersee (Lake Thun). An out and back section on the west end of the lake let everyone see where they stood after a few hours of paddling.

After the paddle, we began an all night bike ride up the Kander valley where we had a short run up to the Oeschinenseee lake, and a good downhill back down the valley. We then rode higher in the mountains through numerous communities, farms, and ranches. The fast pace and heat of the first day hit Matt hard on this stretch. The team towed throughout the night, but it wasn’t until a few rest stops, including a breakfast recovery buffet at a hotel and a Nuun rehydration session that he began to recover and feel better. The end of ride traveled up the Lauterbrunnen valley, which had amazing shear rock walls lining both sides and numerous waterfalls from the cliffs.
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Frontier Adventure Challenge: April 30, 2011
By Wanda Prochazka

Speed Bunnies went out on there first Adventure Race together. The race was put on by Frontier Adventure Racing and held in Huntsville, Ontario.

Amazing race conditions and a great, fun post race atmosphere. Where we could all enjoy, chat and relax after a fun day.

As for the race. It was a fun course but there were some challenges. With ear and power bunny rings in tow we run up some great hills to CP1. Then back down to start the paddle section.

Even though I swore to myself that no matter how hot I was I would put my waterproofs on for the paddle, I didn’t…again. And paid the price. We had a slow unsynchronized paddle to the CP3. With 1L barking “Stroke” to try and synch me, the monkey in the middle, up. Then we were told we didn’t make the cut-off for the advanced paddle. I didn’t want to do it anyway as I was chattering fiercely at this point. However, I was upset because we were actually within the 1 hr 15min cut-off. Having started the race at 10:04, we had until 11:19. We left the CP3 paddle at 11:17. 2 Minutes.

So we paddled back. Finally in a great groove and passed at least 4 teams that made the advanced paddle cut-off. Umph!

Then on the bikes. Fun road ride to close to Dyer Memorial, where Amber and I switched into trek shoes. 1L didn’t, which was bad as the distances were further than she originally thought.

CP6 was a fun hike through the forest along the river, on a nutty off camber trail. Lots of scrambling.
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SPROUTE Adventure Race: June 15
By Stacy L. Drew

So bummed to have missed out on last week’s Tsali Xterra battle w/ my compadres….

1/2 mile swim, 5 mile run, 10 mile bike in 2 hours …??

*@#% yer pretty little Xterra….

8-10 miles of trekking and bushwhacking, 30 miles of mtn. biking, 6 miles of paddling…

and its only hour 10.

Two more hours and about 9 more miles of mtn. biking to go.

Lightning cracks and thunder rumbles…sending all the day visitors to the state park fleeing from the grounds like patrons flying from a burning building. We hop on our bikes and dodge the racing cars out of the parking lot to head into the trails. The thunder rolls closer, enormous pine trees swaying back and forth…leaves and branches begin to sprinkle the trail.

Storm clouds cover the sunlight…

I forgot my lights…

*@#% me.

Wind picks up…thunder rolls closer. Is that noise the breeze in the trees or the beginnings of rain? Who knows…we’ve got checkpoints to find.

We roll on down into the single track…

Gettin’ even darker..wind picks up.

It begins to sprinkle, then heavy sprinkles…i can hear it before I see it.
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With only four-weeks to go before the race begins, Atmosphere Raid the North Extreme Race Director Geoff Langford offers a preview of top teams to watch.

“We have a competitor field with lots of depth and experience this year,” he says. “In adventure racing there are many game-changing variables that can alter the outcome of the race. Nevertheless, I think we can safely say that WildernessTraverse.com, WEDALI and DART-nuun-SportMulti will figure among the strongest teams.”

WildernessTraverse.com is captained by Bob Miller, 36 of Unionville, Ontario and includes Jakob Van Dorp, 27, of Wiarton, Ontario as well as Sarah Cromwell, 33 and Gordon Blythen, 36, both of New Zealand. With more than 10 years of experience in adventure racing, which includes acting as Chair of the Canadian Adventure Racing Association, Miller is expected to push his team to top standings at the finish line.

The all-American team WEDALI is also strong competitor in the field. They are the reigning champions of the United States Adventure Racing Championships in 2010 and have already won several smaller adventure races in 2011. Justin Bakken, 31, of Minneapolis, a member of WEDALI since it launched in 2003, leads the team.

Team DART-nuun-SportMulti, is another physically powerful US-based team, headed by 40-year-old Cyril Jay-Rayon of Seattle, Washington. The crew is made up of elite athletes who each have an extensive list of participation in long-distance events including triathlons and expedition-style adventure races like Atmosphere Raid the North Extreme.

Other teams who will likely show up on the leader board include Atmosphere MOMAR, Checkpoint Zero/Tech4o, Gear Junkie/YogaSlackers and Odyssey Adventure Racing – ImONPoint.org. But with a challenging racecourse and the elevated level of athleticism, it would be impossible to predict the first place winner.

To read more about all the teams competing in this year’s race, visit RaidTheNorthExtreme.com.

COSTA RICA ADVENTURE RACE
Locals from Grupo Orosi earn third place overall

• Nissan Ecuador reached the finish line in fourth position.
• They also began to reach Manzanillo teams Sub Category.
• Columbia Spot from Spain won last night crossing finish line at 9:59 pm. Second place went to Buff Thermocool of Spain and Finland, they arrived at 11:30 pm

Grupo Orosi Costa Rica Spirit ended this afternoon more than 500 miles from Costa Rica Adventure Race 2011 and left the third place overall in this event after Columbia Spot and Buff Thermocool Columbia this Thursday night ended their participation in the first and second place.

The home team, wearing the number 12 and led by Álvaro Sáenz with Ivannia Chinchilla, Pablo Leiva, Marco Mendez, fought relentlessly to maintain their difference and so they got from 5:15 am Thursday when the competition resumed with 8 km of kayak, after the organization decided to neutralize the times during the night in Puerto Vargas.

Although Orosi lost some ground against the North Face team during the day, the efforts of the rivals were not sufficient to achieve the wide diversity and were kept constant in the mountain biking sections between Playa Negra and Playa Gandoca and trekking to arrived at Hotel Almendros y Corales in Manzanillo, make the Canopy to cross the official finish at 3:03 pm.

After they made their entry into the official target Nissan Team Ecuador at 3:12 pm, they wear number 18 and leded by Santiago Miño.

They have also made their arrival several teams of Sub Category, like Paradofobia from Brazil, Toyota Costa Rica and Tierra Viva Argentina and Brazil. Also arrived at Hotel Almendras y Corales Atenas from Colombia and Aerodiva, this two teams received assistance to get close competition.

In the coming hours we will send the final report of the race and new pictures.

Let’s try to catch everyone up with what is going on in the world of adventure racing.

Le Grand Raid concluded last weekend in France. Congratulations to Thule Adventure Team for their second big win this year. Their first was at the Huairsinchi race in Ecuador back in February. Looks to be some strong competition heading towards the AR World Championship race in Tasmania this November.

After only having one AR World Series event on North American soil in 2010, racers have 2 options this year. Raid the North Extreme which will be kicking off in less than a month from now and the Gold Rush Mother Lode in September. RTNX has announced that it has a new title sponsor, Atmosphere, a Canadian gear retailer.

In other AR World Series news, the 2011 edition of the Costa Rica Adventure Race is well under way. Stay tuned for updates on our site from the race organization.

Registration opened at midnight on July 1st for the 2011 Checkpoint Tracker Adventure Racing Championship to be held in Kentucky on October 21. The 100+ mile course has been designed by Jason Elsenraat at Bonk Hard Racing and vetted by AR legend, Ian Adamson. To qualify to compete in the championship race, you must have already competed in at least one Checkpoint Tracker event.

The current rankings for Checkpoint Tracker show the top 3 positions held by:
• Checkpoint Zero/Tech4o
• Odyssey Adventure Racing-ImONPoint.org
• Tecnu Extreme/StaphAseptic

Less than 100 points separate the 1st and 5th place teams. Still plenty of racing left this season. Stay tuned.

Congrats to Team Tecnu Extreme/StaphAseptic for their win last weekend at the Odyssey Endorphin Fix race in West Virginia. This 2-day event has been a staple event in the eastern part of the country for racers and is a good race to sign up for if you are looking to make the leap to longer races.

And finally, Untamed New England hasn’t released all of the details but have announced that they will be returning next year (June 2012) to the wilderness of Maine for what they promise to be an epic 4-day race.

COSTA RICA ADVENTURE RACE 2011
Columbia Spot could become the winner tonight

• Organization estimates that the winner could get between 7 and 8 pm
• Orosi team still struggling to maintain the third position

The Columbia Spot team of Spain managed to maintain and increase their advantage over the Buff Thermocool, from Finland and Spain, and if they don’t have any problems in the next few hours, they could become winner of the Costa Rica Adventure Race 2011 at Playa Manzanillo Limón.

Spot Columbia ended the 32 km of Coastering at 12:48 pm, at Transition 11 (T11) in Puerto Vargas. In 6 minutes they were prepared and took the exit to another part of Kayak for 8 kms to reach the Hotel Perla Negra at Playa Negra, where they arrived at 2:17 pm. 10 minutes later, theyleft again to face 27 km of mountain biking in the direction of Playa Gandoca.

Buff team, world champions in 2010, remain in second place. They ended the segment Coastering Puerto Vargas at 1:12 pm and went kayaking at 1:22 pm. They finished the 8 km of kayaking in Playa Negra at 2:46 pm and at 3:06 left on a bicycle to Gandoca.

The Grupo Orosi Costa Rica Spirit is fighting despite the problems. They maintain the third place overall and performed fairly quickly T10, saving minutes to avoid losing very important time in this stretch. The leader Alvaro Saenz was treated for foot problems.

Close to them is Nissan Ecuador, who came in fourth place in the T10, Gonzalo Calixto, a member of this team, dislocated his shoulder during the kayak at the end was reviewed and decided to compete despite the injury.

5 minutes behind Nissan Ecuador is the local team Agricenter Caribe, and the team who lost ground during the evening was The North Face Costa Rica, and closes the top 6.

After completing the 27 km of mountain biking, they will reach Gandoca beach for 12 km of trekking to the finish line in the Almendras y Corales Hotel in Manzanillo, the last test there will be a very short Canopi.

The organizers expect that the winning team will be gettinh finish line between 7 pm and 8 pm.

In sub-category Patagonia Chile team remains in first place, second place is shared by Brazil Paradofobia and Toyota Costa Rica, while a little further back, we report the presence of Xtres Toledo from Argentina and Uruguay.

They are out of competition the team Issy Adventure France, Ara Goals from U.S. and Daredevils of Denmark, one of the strongest teams at the start of competition.

Via Press Release

The East Coast Adventure Racing Series is well under way and here are the most recent point standings for the coed division! Click here to see all the rankings.

Raid the North Extreme (RTNX) is pleased to have the expertise and experience of BC Search and Rescue at this year’s event.

Members of Nelson Search and Rescue, Columbia Search and Rescue, Kaslo Search and Rescue, Rossland Search and Rescue as well as other volunteers will assist with technical aspects of the race as competitors travel through the West Kootenay region. In the past, Nelson SAR has worked on 36-hour Raid the North adventure races in Revelstoke and Nelson.

“We’re thrilled to work with SAR once again and will benefit from their enthusiasm and experience,” says Geoff Langford, Race Director for RTNX. “Their participation will not only showcase the high level of skill of Kootenay-based SAR groups but enhance their recognition as some of best in the country.”

The event gives SAR volunteers the opportunity to consult on safety and communications, do live training with water, swiftwater and rope rescue teams, and build complicated rope systems they would rarely have the chance to build otherwise.

“Search and rescue and adventure racing have a lot in common including the need for intimate knowledge of our backcountry terrain and the ability to organize and track large groups of people in backcountry environments,” says Chris Armstrong, Director and Regional Representative (West Kootenay) for the BC Search and Rescue Association. There are many synergies between SAR and adventure racing that make them good partners,” he adds. “We get to be part of a great event like Raid the North Extreme with like-minded outdoor adventurers.”
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It’s that time – five weeks until the start of Raid the North Extreme in BC’s West Kootenay. Shaping up to be the memorable race of 2011, the level of training and commitment for this AR World Series qualifier is taking its toll on teams.

Teams are contacting us regularly looking for replacement members – male or female, competitive or fun, experienced or new, sponsored or not, from all corners of North America.

RTNX organizers have launched an improved Team Finder tool at http://raidthenorth.com/teamFinder.php.

If you’re tempted to be part of this epic event, post yourself on the Team Finder, and reply to me at this email. We’ll try to make some connections!

Alpine Expedition Switzerland (APEX) just finished up last week and we finally had the opportunity to catch up with Assistant Race Director, Grant Killian for a little Q&A about his thoughts on this year’s inaugural event. The event was also an race on the AR World Series calendar and from all indications, it has set the bar pretty high in terms of epic race locations.

What were your thoughts on the inaugural event?

It was a lot of fun; a successful multi-day experiment in Switzerland. There’s a lot of potential for the APEX moving forward. Putting together compelling video and photo promotions will be easy with all the terrific footage collected over the 2011 APEX course! I also noticed how the average caliber of team competing in Europe is higher than in North America. I know that may not make me popular with Canadian and American readers, but it’s the truth. European teams are quicker, maybe they train more; maybe they train more effectively; maybe it’s because they compete against eachother they are pushed to higher levels of fitness. Darwin’s theory for adventure racing.

What was the highlight at this year’s event?

Hard to pick just a single highlight; the gorgeous Swiss Alps, the setting for the race, have to be the star of the show if I can pick only one.

Anything you would have done differently?

There are always things you might do differently, but since this race is really Staffan’s in terms of the big picture I don’t want to undermine any of what he has done. I kid Staffan about this, but I think the APEX went too easy on the racers this year in some regards (constant gear bin access, all roads/trails for navigation, and others). One thing I might look at differently: the race prologue was 6 hours and drained a lot of teams before the real race even started . . . I might look at scaling that back (or not having a Prologue at all) in the future. The Prologue originally came about as a way to have the racers in and around Interlaken, to bring the city into the race, but we ended up (due to permits) not being able to travel very freely through the main Interlaken village and so the whole Prologue was done out at Interlaken’s airfield location — a good mile or two away from the main town. What was supposed to be spectator-friendly ended up attracting zero spectators and really trashing some of the teams as they competed with such high intensity through the Prologue.

I know that you have personally raced some great locations, how would you rate the venue of APEX against other race locations you have seen?

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Raid the North Extreme (RTNX) is seeking volunteers to assist with Canada’s premiere expedition adventure race.

Raid the North Extreme, the six-day, non-stop expedition race will take place from July 23 to 31st, 2011 in the West Kootenay region of British Columbia. It will feature four-person co-ed teams from around the world as they navigate more than 500 kilometres of unmarked terrain through the Selkirk, Purcell and Monashee mountains. Teams will face extreme challenges including a rugged wilderness, team dynamics, sleep deprivation and gear failure as they bike, trek, paddle and use ropes to navigate the course.

“Volunteers are critical to the success of the event,” said Geoff Langford, president of RTNX. “Without their energy, enthusiasm and ideas, we wouldn’t have the capacity to make this great race happen. From their perspective, it’s a great way to experience the event from the inside, meet new people and discover new parts of the West Kootenay.”

In the past, RTNX events have had volunteers come as far as South Africa, Australia and the UK though the majority are local people. To date, 60 volunteers have signed up to help with the West Kootenay event but the race demands 120-150 people to help staff checkpoint and transition areas, work on the medical team or search and rescue, drive gear trucks, move gear for the teams, provide assistance to the media teams and work at base camp. RTNX is also looking to fill the all-important roles of Race Staff Buddies. This involves accompanying staff for 8-12 hours as they work to make the event run smoothly and efficiently.

Volunteers are able to choose how little or how much they want to devote to the race – from a few hours to all six days – and in return, will receive cool race shirts, thank you gifts, tickets to pre- and post-race dinners and invitations to all parties and events.

For information and to register as a volunteer, visit raidthenorthextreme.com.
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Raid the North Extreme (RTNX), Canada’s premiere expedition adventure race, is proud to announce that the 2011 event will be broadcast in an hour-long high-definition documentary across Canada and the USA.

Raid the North Extreme, the six-day, non-stop expedition race will take place from July 23 to 31st, 2011 in the West Kootenay region of British Columbia. It will feature co-ed teams of four from around the world as they navigate more than 500 kilometres of unmarked terrain through the Selkirk, Purcell and Monashee mountains. Teams will face extreme challenges including a rugged wilderness, team dynamics, sleep deprivation and gear failure as they bike, trek, paddle and use ropes to navigate the course.

The country’s top adventure race organizer, Frontier Adventure Sport and Training (FAST), in partnership with New Edge Entertainment of Vancouver, are focused to take adventure racing to new heights on Canadian television. The broadcast is the first airing of a five-year agreement with New Edge Entertainment. Plans are for the 2011 broadcast to air with Global TV in December and on Public Broadcasting Stations in the USA in 2012. It is anticipated that 60 to 100 PBS outlets could pick up the feed in the USA. In addition, the feature will be released for international distribution in at the MIPTV convention in Cannes France on April 1, 2012.

“We are happy to partner with producer John Lovelace and New Edge Entertainment once again,” said Geoff Langford, president of FAST and RTNX. “We worked with John and his team for our 2007 Raid the North Extreme event held in Prince Rupert and Haida Gwaii. The level of exposure they brought to the race was exceptional and this has allowed us to continue promoting adventure racing for the exciting sport that it is.”

The film crews will capture the action, drama and emotion of the teams in High Definition (HD) as they navigate the rugged course in the West Kootenay region.

“It’s good to be back working with Geoff and the gang at Raid the North,” said New Edge Executive Producer John Lovelace. “The 2007 broadcast got excellent ratings on Global Prime Time airing and it looks like we will get the same Saturday night time slot this year.”

Raid the North Extreme is already approaching sold-out status of 50 teams from around the world including Canada, the U.S., Australia, Mexico, Ireland, Switzerland and St Maarten.
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American novelist Earnest Hemingway wrote that “Switzerland is a small, steep country; much more up and down than sideways.” The Apex racers have spent four days proving Hemingway’s assertion. They have the blisters and swolen joints to prove it!

Day #4, Saturday, saw Silva Gerber Adventure cross the finish line first to win the race in impressive fashion. They did the final trek of scenic valleys and forests, concluding with one racer dramatically paragliding down to Interlaken while the rest of their team ran down the mountain. Reunited at the landing field, the team had a final short trek to the finish line. The Silva team only slept for 1 hour 40 minutes throughout the entire event, and raced without making any significant mistakes; their experience and teamwork powered them to the victory, finishing 4 hours in front of the Swiss team R’Adys Black Diamond. R’Adys attracted a good crowd of supporters for their final trek through Interlaken town, and they waved the Swiss and Canton Bern flags as they jogged under the finishing archway. For a team with 2 novice expedition racers, 2nd place is an amazing result and may indicate the resurgance of elite Swiss adventure racing on the world scene (the Salomon Suisse team was consistently one of the best in the world, but had disbanded several years ago).

A close battle for 3rd place developed almost right from the start of the race; for the Swedish “Sweco Adventure Team” and French “PowerBar Lozere Sport Nature” teams, it has been a sustained back-and-forth contest between these two European rivals. Ultimately, Sweco Adventure claimed third place crossing the finish line 1 hour and 50 minutes ahead of PowerBar Lozere Sport.

All the race finishers thus far have commented about the taxing elevation gain (15,000 meters is a figure most teams agree on based on their route selections) and phenomenal natural beauty of the course. Some have called it the most scenic race ever. From the scorching hot prologue to the freezing Alpine storm on the Schilthorn trek, from the crystal clear paddle on the Thunersee to the canyoneering at rocky Grimsel canyon . . . this race has showcased the Swiss landscape in all its many wonderful shapes and sizes.

There are still many teams racing, all on the final trekking leg that took the race leaders over 12 hours to complete. The weather is clear overnight and temperatures moderate, so the stage is set for teams to have a strong push to the finish line.

The official top 5 teams are:

1. Silva Gerber Adventure (Sweden)
2. R’Adys Black Diamond (Switzerland) — 4 hours, 1 minute behind the leaders
3. Sweco Adventure Team (Sweden) — 5 hours, 50 minutes behind the leaders
4. PowerBar Lozere Sport Nature (France) — 7 hours, 40 minutes behind the leaders
5. Accom/Nutrend/Merida (Czech Republic) — 11 hours behind the leaders

For up-to-the second details on the race, please visit http://www.TheApexRace.com

The APEX : Alpine Expedition Switzerland has entered day #4. Day #3 has showed the nastier side of Swiss weather, with almost constant wind, rain, and snow in the higher reaches of the course. Teams completed a fun canyoneering activity despite the weather conditions; racers really enjoyed the ropes, pools, and swims (and their thick wetsuits!).

The race leaders continued quickly into the Brienzer Rothorn trekking leg, which is an exposed series of ridge trails at high altitude over the scenic Brienzersee (Lake Brienz). Conditions on the ridges deteriorated as the day wore on, and race organizers wisely re-routed the trek into lower elevations more safe for the slower teams who would take this section on at night. Many teams, however, have elected to sleep a few hours at a transition area further up the valley from the Brienzer Rothorn trek . . . replenishing their energy for the final push to the finish line either tomorrow or Sunday morning.

The race leaders, Silva Gerber and R’Adys Black Diamond, ended the day with less than 30 minutes separating them. Silva must feel like they have a shadow! Both teams are on the final paddling leg as we write this, and the final push to the finish line tomorrow will be one to remember!

The race for 3rd place right now is shared between the Swedish “Sweco Adventure Team” and French “PowerBar Lozere Sport Nature” team; less than 15 minutes stands between 3rd and 4th place, and 5th place isn’t far from them, meaning we will have more than 1 sprint to the finish to follow.

The top 5 at this point in the race are:

1. Silva Gerber Adventure (Sweden)
2. R’Adys Black Diamond (Switzerland) — 13 minutes behind the leaders
3. Sweco Adventure Team (Sweden) — 7 hours behind the leaders
4. PowerBar Lozere Sport Nature (France) — 7 hours, 10 minutes behind the leaders
5. Accom/Nutrend/Merida (Czech Republic) — 7 hours, 45 minutes behind the leaders

For up-to-the second details on the race, please visit http://www.TheApexRace.com