So exciting, we have finally matured from a blog to a website! I feel so grown-up! Please don’t desert us, follow this link and we’ll continue where we left off…
Posts Tagged ‘ultra-marathons’
Adventure Racing and its dangers
June 23, 2009Adventure Racing is one of the extreme sports that we blog about regularly, and it is best to remember that it is an extreme sport – witness the tragic death of 3 participants in the Raid du Mercantour last weekend, 21st June.
Adventure Racing is an example of how the mixture of terrain and weather conditions can catch out even the most experienced of runners and trekkers.
When I first started writing about Adventure Racing, the first thing that crossed my mind was that, whilst physically and mentally challenging, a long hike through difficult and varying terrain was a bit ‘tame’.
I apologise profusely to all Adventure Racers – and hasten to add that that thought lasted less than 10 minutes as my research broadened.
Since then I have been impressed and amazed at the antics that the sportsmen (and women) get up to, and think that, as an extreme sport, it is probably one of the best.
Don’t shoot me down in flames if you don’t agree… but Adventure Racing is quite something.
For those of you who are not too sure what Adventure Racing is all about, it’s a combination of two or more disciplines, including orienteering (if an orienting map is used) and/or navigation (when non-orienteering maps are used), cross-country running, mountain biking, paddling and 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.
You need to be superfit. You need to have a team you know well and trust. You need to have mental and physical stamina. And you need to know how to do all the above disciplines … and more.
It’s many sports all rolled into one…
The first official Adventure Race was “The Raid Gauloises”, held in New Zealand in 1989, and consisted of 400 miles of mountaineering, horseback riding, kayaking, canoeing and rafting over a two week period. The first U.S. race was the Eco Challenge, held in Utah in 1995.
Adventure Racing has become so popular that it has even had a TV series made in its honour – the Odyssey series (trainingsept ):
So why do it? Well, it has been said that Adventure Racing is one’s own personal road to self-discovery as it allows an individual to find his or her limits and push through them because the ‘Race’ often takes participants out of their comfort zone by challenging them with unfamiliar surroundings, often while sleep deprived and physically exhausted.
Anyone can become an Adventure Racer. It’s an easy crossover for cyclist, runners and water sport enthusiasts. Many former tri-athletes, marathon and ultra-marathon competitors looking to add more spice to their chosen fields have taken it up. Some sportsmen found themselves suffering recurring injuries in their sport and so turned to Adventure Racing as an alternative. Aging athletes, on the other hand, discovered that while they can no longer keep up with 20-somethings in a foot race, in a 24+ hour races, they have some competitive advantages!
As with ALL sports, accidents and tragedies DO happen.
This is the RAID season in France and there are many keen participants.
“I’m used to hiking in mountains since I’m a kid, doing a lot of alpinism, skiing, climbing…I’ve discovered adventure racing about 10 years ago and I love it!” says Carine Porret.
“I like adventure racing because I’m a racer, I like the spirit and the race parties!….” says Franck Salgues
“I’m Brasilian living in Miramas,France,in a beautiful winery,I travelled the world for the past 7 years to compete in diferents AR,” says Karina Bacha.
I could give you hundreds of quotes.
“I was born with a compass in the hand! I participate in a lots of orienteering competitions with all my family…my three daughters and my wife are like me: addicted to!….” says Michel Denaix.
But I won’t!
As I said above, this is the Grand Raid season in France, but on Sunday in the Grand Raid du Mercantour in the South of France about 80kms north of Nice, the region suffered adverse weather conditions and three runners died under tragic circumstances. It was the ‘running stage’ of the race and had already been reduced from 100kms to 80 because of the abundance of snow still around. The alarm was raised as a number of competitors had not returned by the 6pm cut-off time, and emergency services were scrambled in an attempt to locate the missing people. All 3 were in their 50’s and it is suspected that they died of hypothermia and hypoglycaemia. Our sympathies go out to their families.
This is not an extreme sport for nothing…
A quick Gobi March update…
June 17, 2009Going from one extreme endurance race to another… whilst waxing lyrical about the Mongol Derby, we mustn’t forget the Gobi March – all in the same corner of the world. Both endurance marathons beyond compare.
Yesterday, stage 3, was taken by LaHaie (United States) who was seemingly unaffected by the altitude and gradual but continual ascent. Riel Carol (France) took second place and Weichao Wei (China) third. Diana Hogan-Murphy, despite struggling with the course , was still leading the women’s division.
Stage 4 is drawing to a close as I write, this section includes a summit of Shipton’s Arch, a 3000 meter natural arch, said to be the tallest in the world. American Sean W. Abbott has come in first … more on the other placements later.
Enjoy these highlights from Day 1, courtesy of racingtheplanet.
OMG, what terrain, what scenery…
RacingThePlanet Namibia 2009 has been won by Salvador Calvo Redondo of Spain
May 28, 2009This clip from racingtheplanet is worth watching. It gives you an idea of the terrain that was covered over the last few days of the race – but does not show the rigours of the first day in the canyon.
A starkly beautiful landscape.
Salvador Calvo Redondo (Spain) has been officially awarded the prize for first overall winner with the time of 25 hours and 47 minutes.
In second place came Ryan Sandes (South Africa) who admitted that it was “hard” but joked how “Salvo made me chase him the whole way.”
Sandes was the first person to cross the finish line on the final day. He finished at 10:19:46. Next to come through was Redondo at 10:20:30, closely followed by Javier Gomez (Spain) at 10:20:34. Redondo walked up to Sandes to congratulate him, and the pair who had fought so hard for the entire race, shook hands with mutual respect. Of his incredibly fast sprint to the end Sandes said, “I was missing this all week, and I just gave it one last burn”.
“I am very grateful to Ryan for the race we had together,” Salvador replied.
The first placing woman was Lucy Hilton (United Kingdom), she gave thanks to the volunteers who “kept [her] going.”
The first placing team was Team Swana (Israel). Team spokesperson Kobi Itzchaki (Israel) gave thanks to his fellow competitors for “making it special” but also to RacingThePlanet. “for the opportunity to enjoy the challenge and beauty of Africa”.
Speaking to racingtheplanet later, Sandes had this to say about the race:
He is going to be a competitor worth watching in the future.
Extreme Sports 