What is Adventure Racing?

Imagine yourself in a race with 2 to 3 of your friends running, hiking, biking, and canoeing/kayaking on lakes and rivers, in day and night with nothing guiding you to the finish line but a topographical map and a compass. Then mix in 20 to 50 other teams trying to get to the finish line before you and your teammates do. You don’t sleep for 24 to 36 hours. You fuel yourself on water, sports drinks, and whatever food you can carry in your backpack as well as a lot of teamwork. That’s the recipe of an Adventure Race.

The sport of Adventure Racing is sweeping the nation at a phenomenal rate. The challenges presented to adventure racers have caused the sport to grow by leaps and bounds. Adventure Racing is one of the few sports where just completing the event is often considered a victory. Another driving factor in Adventure Racing is the emphasis that is placed on teamwork, rather than individual achievement.

Adventure Racing offers an easy crossover for cyclists, runners, and water sport enthusiasts, just to mention a few. Adventure Races vary in distance and team formats.

Popular race distances range from 3 – 12 hour sprints, 24 - 48 hour weekend challenges to the 5 - 7 day expeditionary lengths. The disciplines can also vary from race to race. Adventure Racing core disciplines include navigation with map and compass from point to point utilizing a combination of paddling, biking and trekking. Other legs of a race may include: rappelling, traversing or climbing natural rock formations. Horseback riding, scootering, and white-water swimming, along with mental tests are also popular additions.

Combined, these challenges offer an extreme test of physical and mental endurance. Add in the element of competing against other teams and you have a recipe for a sport that offers the human spirit an ultimate test like no other competition. With the exception of the few nationally recognized teams that obtain large corporate sponsorship most adventure racers earn little more than the pride of winning or evening finishing a race. Some races that are sanctioned by the United States Adventure Racing Association (USARA) do reward its winners with a free entry to the annual National championships and cash prizes are very rare.