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Adventure Racing World Series

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The Adventure Racing World Series (ARWS[1]) comprises a number of expedition-length adventure races that push the world’s best endurance athletes to their limits[2] in a season of competition that tests their skills in a range of disciplines including navigation, trekking, mountain biking, paddling and climbing.

Format

Mixed gender teams of four competitors compete in a series of up to a dozen races held in locations spread across the globe. These races culminate in the staging of the Adventure Racing World Championships, the winner of which is crowned World Champions.

The competition's format provides that each of the individual events of the World Series function as a qualifier for the World Championships. The top two finishing teams in each event secure the opportunity to compete in the World Championships. The field of event winners and second place getters is then supplemented by the reigning world champions, who are given the right to defend their title, and a selection of wild card entrants round out the number of starters.

The actual World Championship race rotates each year. One of the qualifying events is singled out and designated as the World Championship event and this event provides a dramatic conclusion to the end of the World Series racing season.

In addition to the World Championship race, points are assigned to results from each of the qualifying races in the series to determine a World Ranking. Points are allocated on a teams best two results in a calendar year over a two-year period (with heavier weighting given to World Championship results), with the ranking cycle periodically refreshed every 4–6 months.

History

The Adventure Racing World Championship was the brainchild of Geoff Hunt and Pascale Lorre, long-time adventure racers who sought to "lend badly needed structure to the sport".[3] Hunt and Lorre's vision was first brought to fruition in Switzerland in 2001 where 41 teams contested the Discovery Channel World Championship with the controversy-plagued event eventually won by Finland's Team Nokia Adventure,.[3]

After a two-year hiatus the Adventure Racing World Championships was next held in Canada in 2004 and has subsequently been held every year since.

In 2011 management of the series was passed to the Australian company Geocentric Outdoors.[4] The 2011 World Championships - won by Thule Adventure Team - were staged at the XPD Expedition Race in Tasmania, Australia, where 90 teams drawn from 21 countries made for the largest starting field in the event's history.[5] This is testament to the fact that the World Series hosts the very best teams in the world and "continues to grow and become more prominent".[6] Geocentric Outdoors also instigated a number of new initiatives for the world series, including standardized equipment lists and logistics across the races, restrictions on mixed nationality teams at the World Championship race each year as well as the introduction of the World Series ranking system. These initiatives have encouraged larger international fields at the various races by lowing the logistical barriers for participation and rewarding participation in multiple events.

In 2012 the World Championships was held at Raid in France and were won by Team Seagate from New Zealand.[7] The title of World Champion returned to the Thule Adventure Team at Costa Rica in 2013, before again being reclaimed by Team Seagate in Ecuador in 2014. Despite having never won a World Championship, Spanish team Columbia Vidaraid have consistently held the number one position in the World Series ranking through 2014 and 2015 due to their consistent string of wins in World Series qualifying races in addition to their second-place finishes in the 2013 and 2014 World Championships.

World Championship Results

Year Country Race World Champion Nationality
2001 Switzerland Discovery Channel World Championships Team Nokia Adventure Sweden
2004 Canada Raid The North Extreme Nike ACG Balance Bar USA
2005 New Zealand Southern Traverse Balance Vector New Zealand
2006 Sweden Explore Sweden Nike PowerBlast USA
2007 Scotland Wilderness ARC[8] Nike USA
2008 Brazil Ecomotion[9] Orion Health New Zealand
2009 Portugal Portugal XPD[10] Helly Hansen Prunesco Britain
2010 Spain Bimbache Extrem Buff Thermocool Spain
2011 Australia XPD Expedition Race Thule Adventure Team Sweden
2012 France Raid in France Team Seagate New Zealand
2013 Costa Rica Costa Rica AR Thule Adventure Team France
2014 Ecuador Husirasinchi Explorer Team Seagate New Zealand
2015 Brazil ARWS Brazil Team Seagate New Zealand
2016 Australia XPD Expedition Race Team Seagate New Zealand
2017 USA Cameco Cowboy Tough TBD

2015 Adventure Racing World Series

Race Country Dates Winner Nationality
GODZone Adventure Race New Zealand March 2015 Seagate New Zealand
Tierra Viva Chile April 2015 SAFAT Sweden
Raid Gallaecia Spain May 2015 Haglofs Sliva Sweden
Expedition Africa Swaziland June 2015 Merrell Adventure Addicts Republic of South Africa
Expedition Alaska USA June 2015 Tecnu USA
Cameco Cowboy Tough USA July 2015 Tecnu USA
XPD Expedition Race Australia August 2015 Mountain Designs Australia
Raid in France France September 2015 Raidlight France
ARWS Brazil Brazil November 2015 Seagate New Zealand

2016 Adventure Racing World Series

Race Country Dates Winner Nationality
Maya Mountain Adventure Challenge Belize February 2016 Team Adventure Medical Kits USA
GODZone Adventure Race New Zealand April 2016 Team Yealands Family Wines New Zealand
Tierra Viva Chile April 2016 2 DSN 74 Hoka France
Expedition Africa South Africa May 2016 Team Featherbed Painted Wolf South Africa
Expedition Guarani Paraguay July 2016 Columbia Vidaraid Brazil/Spain/UK
Cameco Cowboy Tough USA July 2016 Team Adventure Medical Kits USA
Huairasinchi Colombia August 2016 Fairis Ecuador
ITERA Expedition Race Ireland August 2016 TEAM FMR France
Raid in France France September 2016 TBD TBD
Xtrail Expedition (Demonstration Race) China September 2016 TBD TBD
XPD World Championships Australia November 2016 TBD TBD

References

  1. ^ The Free Dictionary, 2011.
  2. ^ Science Daily, 2011.
  3. ^ a b Swift, 2001.
  4. ^ Sleepmonsters, 2011.
  5. ^ AG Outdoor, 2011.
  6. ^ Adventure Junkie, 2011.
  7. ^ Explore Compete Live, 2011.
  8. ^ Scotland, 2011.
  9. ^ Xtreme Sport, 2008.
  10. ^ Xtreme Sport, 2009.

Bibliography

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