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A Combination of Disciplines: Adventure Racing Sports
September 27, 2007 |
In all actuality, adventure racing consists of a combination of either two, or maybe more, disciplines. The disciplines include navigation and orienteering, mountain biking, cross-country running, climbing and paddling as well as other rope skills that are related. Even though sprints are able to be completed in just a matter of hours, when an expedition event takes place, it can span across a period of ten days or even more.
Typically, there isn’t any dark period during the races, which can be found as irrespective in relationship to the length; the competitors competing in the races have to choose when or if they are going to rest. Historically, adventure racing required that the teams be a specific size and that they had to include both women and men; however there are many races that no longer have a restriction on the size of the team and races now include divisions of single-sex. There are even some races that include categories that are based on age.
Types of Adventure Racing
Lengths:
• Sprint: the sprint is generally a race that last anywhere from two to six hours, occasionally the sprint will involve special tests or games of cunning or agility, and the sprint features minimal navigation.
• Twelve Hour: the twelve hour is a race that lasts anywhere from six to twelve hours and it features limited orienteering and navigation.
• Twenty-Four Hour- the twenty-four hour race lasts anywhere from eighteen to thirty hours and sometimes even longer, generally it involves navigation that is UTM based. Most of the time, the twenty four hour race involves basic rope work such as rappels or traverses. Often, the longer races and the twenty four hour races require that all of the competitors employ some sort of support crew that is able to transport the gear from one place to another. There are other races that don’t permit the competitors having support crews, with all of the race organizers transporting their gear bins to the designated checkpoints for all of the racers.
• Multi-Day- this is a thirty six to forty eight hour race, which involves some route choice and advanced navigation, during this race, sleep deprivation plays a significant role.
• Expedition- This is a three to eleven day race or maybe even longer, that involves all of the challenges that are part of the multi-day race, however they are often accompanied by some additional disciplines such as horse-back riding, extensive mountaineering, unusual padding events and some rope work.
Disciplines: Most of the adventure races are going to include mountain biking, trail running, as well as a paddling event. Rope work and navigation are also featured in all of the races except for the short races; however this is only the beginning. A very important aspect of the overall appeal that adventure racing possesses is the ability to expect the unexpected. Most race directors pride themselves at challenging the racers with some unusual or unexpected tasks.
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