The 2007 Adventure Racing World Championship hit Scotland 24th May to 2nd June. Sixty of the world's top adventure racing teams from 22 countries are currently gearing up for the Wilderness ARC, the 2007 Adventure Racing World Championship. It is a major event in the Highland 2007 event programme, Scotland's Year of Highland Culture, and is guaranteed to be the most spectacular and demanding multi-discipline, expedition-style endurance event ever staged in the UK.
Taking place from 24 May until 3 June (race starts 26 May) in Fort William and Lochaber, in the Scottish Highlands, The Wilderness ARC will mark the climax of the prestigious Adventure Race World Series, with a course covering over 500 kilometres of rugged and varied terrain, including 25,000 metres of ascent. Designed to test the limit of mind, body and spirit of some of the fittest, toughest and most determined athletes on the planet, this roller-coaster of rugged sporting disciplines promises to be an adventure of epic proportions.
Competitors will be guaranteed a mix of challenges involving navigation, mountain biking, mountain running, kayaking, abseiling, mountaineering, river crossing and both gorge and open water swimming. Dedicated team-work, meticulous planning and cunning strategy, coupled with awesome mental and physical stamina and the ability to keep going through extreme sleep depravation, are all vital to success.
The mixed-sex teams of four, who faced a rigorous selection process before gaining entry to the event, will come from a diversity of countries around the world, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Trinidad, South Africa, Sweden and the United States. Alongside 20 powerful UK squads they will battle it out for the coveted title of World Adventure Racing Champions 2007. We'll be receiving race reports from Alli Northcott of the North Face team (who came second in last year's Wilderness ARC) , you can read about her introduction to Adventure Racing here!
The British Adventure Racing Champions, Team Aberdeen Asset Management, who have won the Wilderness ARC race for the past two years and who boast a spectacular international track record, are aiming for the hat trick in the face of fierce competition. They will compete alongside hot favourites Team NIKE (USA), whose iconic Ian Adamson is the seven-times adventure racing world champion, and the awesome Team Adventure Sport (NZ); in addition to other strong contenders like Team SOLE (USA), Team Merrell Wigwam (NZ), Team Buff Cookmax (Spain) and Team Lundhags (SWE).
Other British teams expected to present tough competition are Team The North Face (who came second in last year's Wilderness ARC) and Superfeet / Life Is Good, the predominantly Scottish team (who came third in 2006).
As in previous years there is intense speculation about the course, although it is a closely guarded secret until the eve of the race. Course designer Gary Tompsett, said: 'I have been visualizing and planning this championship course over the past three years during the development of the previous Wilderness ARC races staged in 2005 and 2006 and can reveal that it will contain more unique, truly dramatic and strenuous challenges than ever before. It takes competitors into the heart of sensational and sometimes unexpected territory of Scotland - Europe's Adventure Capital - and will draw on the superlatives of Lochaber and beyond. It's a monster of a route.'
Athletes are likely to tackle the UK's highest and roughest mountains and ridges, stunning deep glens, deep cold lochs, wild remote moorland, forests and peninsulas, mystical islands, open sea crossings; in ever-changing weather, always with the possibility of heavy rain, high winds, sleet and even snow. Check back soon for race reports and interviews from these crazy athletes!
For full details go to the official world championships website www.arwc2007.com
Radders
