I’m nearly finished with the preview of the AR World Series events for 2010; I’ve now moved on to the late August race in the Lake District of the UK called the adidas Terrex race.

The Lake District, or Cumbria, is along England’s Western coast; nestled between Wales and Scotland, the Lake District is a popular tourist destination and home to all  of England’s tallest mountains.  The Terrex organizers have been planning races for 5 years and know this region intimately, so the event should be an exceptional 3-4 day tour (August 27-30) of all the area can offer.

The story behind the organization in the UK is that they’ve primarily held “score” events, or “rogaines.”  This Terrex race, learning from the experience of the 2009 World Championship course in Portugal, will deliver a mostly linear course that allows slower teams to skip points and incur a time penalty.  In an email with race organizer James Thurlow, I asked about the race format for Terrex and he explained:

“It is our expectation (and I say that carefully after Portugal) that for the top teams there will not be any question they will have to visit all of the controls – the penalty will be too punitive.  However it does mean slower teams can still be ranked and get around.”

This should make for a fun race that is accessible in ways that the Portugal event was (with teams racing clustered together within a few hours of eachother), but not make it too confusing so that elite teams constantly debate which points to visit and which to skip . . . in Terrex, the elite teams can focus on getting every checkpoint and winning the race, while slower teams can consider bypassing points and just staying in the race.

Besides trekking, paddling, ropes, and biking, the race hints at some stages that “competitors in the UK have never done before” — I don’t know the UK racing scene well, but I wonder if this means the official “carving vehicles” of Trikke are making an appearance or if stand-up surfing is coming to Cumbria?  Fun to speculate… Continue Reading

Adventurer Lei Wang departs in less than 2 weeks to make an attempt on Everest. Born in Beijing, she says that she grew up as a typical city girl. She graduated with a B.S degree in Computer Science from Tsinghua University in Beijing followed by an M.S. degree in Computer Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. After working in the IT field for several years, she decided to pursue her M.B.A. degree at Wharton. It was there that she was first introduced to ice climbing and mountaineering and climbed her first glacier mountain in Ecuador (Cotopaxi). Upon graduation, she traveled to Africa where she reached the summit of Kilimanjaro.

She begin pursuing her dream of the Seven Summits and Two Poles in 2004. She has successfully climbed six of the seven summits and has skied to both the North and South Poles. We caught up with Lei with just days before her departure and got the chance to interview her about her current and past expeditions along with her motivation and inspiration.

What made you decide to do this series of expeditions?

It’s funny how life drops a few curveballs into your lap. These coincidences are what make life interesting! If it wasn’t for me seeing the movies “Touching the Void”, or “Women of K2”, I would probably have never discovered my passion for adventures!!

Likewise, as part of a MBA school program at Wharton I was first introduced to ice climbing and mountaineering, and climbed my first glacier mountain, Cotopaxi in Ecuador. When I graduated, I decided to head out to Africa and climb Kilimanjaro.. It was during that climb, I realized how challenging it was for me and how my lack of fitness almost made me fail. I love challenges and overcoming them. Remembering what happened in the two movies, I realized that I wanted to be one of them. A spark was ignited, a passion to accomplish what had previously seemed invisible or impossible. Without knowing “how”, I decided I “would” and show the world that others can do it to.

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From the folks that bring us the Untamed New England event, Untamed Switzerland is a 3-day alpine stage race. The race combines orienteering, trekking and snowshoeing through the heart of the Alps and is open to solo competitors or teams of 2, 3 or 4 people. The dates for this year’s event are April 9-11. The slideshow below is from the 2009 event.

The Poland Winter Challenge, Eastern Europe’s AR World Series event, is 3-4 days of skiing, mountain biking, orienteering, and rope challenges.  It’s hallmark is lots of snow and creative special rope tests (traverses, ascents, etc).  This year, the snow levels were less than expected but it’s proven a challenging race none-the-less.  The 2010 edition is  just wrapping up and the winning teams have arrived to the finish line:

1. It took 70 hours and 8 minutes for the Craft Ukraine team to win the race.  Congratulations to the winners!
2. 2nd place goes to AR World Series regulars AlpinePro Nutrend/Merida Czech Adventure Team, after 71 hours and 21 minutes
3. 3rd place has gone to Polish team Rakiety.pl (sponsored by a Polish outdoor shop — from what I can tell) 

This winter race had a decidedly spring feel as some of the cross-country ski sections saw teams carrying their skis instead of racing on them — a warm batch of weather prior to the race melted some of the snowy reaches of the southern Polish mountains.  This played in Craft Ukraine’s favor, apparently, as they confessed that they aren’t the strongest skiing team in the race.  Craft Ukraine earns the entry into the Adventure Racing World Championships, held in Spain in October 2010.

Complete results will trickle in over the next few days, so keep an eye on the Poland Winter Challenge website for more details and photos.  They also have some nice course profiles and English commentary about the race on their site, so check it out if you’re curious.

Additionally, they’ve just posted some YouTube videos and this one has an English interview with the Finnish team Omjakon about 4 minutes into it.  Anyone who has raced for a few days on very little sleep can relate to the quality of the conversation and the Finns sound like a team ready to reach the the . . . “finish” line.  Couldn’t help myself with that pun!
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Professional and amateur adventure racing teams from around the world will converge on Nord-Pas de Calais, a picturesque region in the North of France for five days of competitive stage racing from June 23rd through 27th. Organized by adventure racing legend Karine Baillet, Le Grand Raid features the standard AR disciplines in accessible format with a reasonable entry fee. A considerable cash purse has attracted top international teams to commit ahead of time, and the racing is sure to be competitive.

Registration and other information are available at www.legrandraid.org.

Thanks to Travis Macy for the heads up on this event.

I just got this race announcement and I have to say that this looks to be one of the hardest events we have posted.

World Record Holder Captain Will De Laszlo and Adventurer Oliver Dudley are re-launching in June of this year the Sir Ranulph Fiennes describes the race: -
“The circumnavigation of UK coastal waters, non-stop in a 4 man ocean going rowing boat is an epic adventure that will only be completed by a few intrepid oarsmen. They will need to be strong and determined individuals, yet outstanding as a team – and be able to work the weather and tides to their advantage. I wish the Anglo American Boat Race: GB Row 2010 every success – it truly is the ultimate endurance challenge and an event I shall be tracking closely as it develops throughout June. Good luck to all who take part.”

Sir Richard Branson also wishes the Anglo-American Boat Race every success.

The prize money for the winner is £30,000 and an additional £30,000 is up for grabs if the winning boat breaks Will’s 2005 World record of 26 days, 21 hours and 14 minutes.

Anyone wishing to enter should log on to