The Quest to Qualify for the 2008 Adventure Racing World Championship
Thursday 5 June 2008, 3:50AM
By ARWorld Series
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The countdown is on as teams race through the events in the northern hemisphere summer with a chance to win a coveted spot to compete in the Adventure Racing World Championship in Brazil during the first week of November.
Each team who wins a ARWorld Series race gains automatic and free entry to the World Championship. Some of the events in the ARWorld Series which act as qualifiers to this years championship have already been contested. In Australia the XPD Australia, The Raid in France, the Ecomotion Brazil '07 and the Portugal XPD have all produced winners. They are joined this year by the champions of the Bergson Winter Challenge in Poland, the Baja Traversia in Mexico, the Southern Traverse in New Zealand and the Bimbache Extrem in Spain.
Already the winners of these events reads like a who's who in the adventure racing world. From the 'spiritual home' of adventure racing in New Zealand, Orionhealth.com and Team NZ (the Richard Ussher lead team) will face the might of Europe's best with Arcs Qechua, the powerful Swiss/ French team, Teva-La Pinilla from Spain and Navigator Suunto Poldim from Poland.
From America the winners of the Baja Traversia Dart/nuun will be on the start line in Brazil
The next event in the Series is the new Irish event The Turas which has attracted a stellar field with it's 150,000 euros prize money. This is followed in August by the Bull of Africa with a huge field of 54 teams is set to line up for the challenge in the Eastern Cape. The last chance to qualify for the championship this year will be the Explore Sweden race in September
This will be the chance for the always strong Swedish teams to make their mark on the AR Series this year. However already teams like Explore Sweden and Bjurfors Adventure Racing Team have confirmed their entry to the Championship.
The ARWorld Series continues to grow steadily with 372 teams starting a ARWorld Series event during the '07 racing season with 276 teams finishing and qualifying to apply for a position in the ARWorld Champs.
These qualified teams represent 29 countries including Australia, Brazil, Colombia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Holland, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Poland, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland, Sweden, United Kingdom, USA, Uruguay and Ukraine.
Other countries represented by teams competing included Croatia, Denmark, Latvia, New Caledonia, Japan, Papua New Guinea and Turkey.
The final line up in Brazil in October/November will include just 50 of these teams and represent the best multisport athletes in the world
The preparations are now well advanced in Brazil for the Championship race which will be held in the Northeast provinces. During the 700 kilometres race the competitors will experience the full range of landscapes from the coastal tropical beaches, rain forest, savannahs, mangroves, open sea delta's and desert.
Disciplines in the event this year include the standard 'traditional' events of Mountain Bike, Trekking/mountaineering, Paddling, and rope works but the Brazilian organisers have a couple of surprise disciplines in mind as well.
The race, held over the week of October 30th - November 9th, hosted and organised by Said Aiach Neto with the assistance of Tiago Valois, will be a highlight of the adventure racing year.
Qualifying Events for ARWORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2008
XPD Australia................................ .. Aug 20-31st '07
Raid in France ................................. Sept '07
Ecomotion.........................................Oct '07
Portugal XPD Race ............................Dec 6-9th '07
Bergson Winter Challenge...................Feb 25-2nd March '08
Baja Traversia ..................................March 22-29th '08
Southern Traverse..............................April 11-13th '08
Bimbache Extrem ............................. May 8-15th
An Turas Mor ................................... June 14-21st
Bull of Africa .....................................Aug 9-16th '08
Explore Sweden................................ Sept 5-10th '08
ARWORLD CHAMPIONSHIP '08..... ECOMOTION.......Oct 30th- Nov 9th '08
For a direct link to the ARWorld Series http://www.arworldseries.com