Adventure races are for those who are fond of pushing their physical limits (as in our post about Charity challenges), yet are bored with the challenge presented by everyday sports and tests of physical endurance (e.g. marathons – yep, for some marathons just aren’t tough enough).
They’re competitive (often team) races involving multiple disciplines such as running, mountain biking and canoeing. Most last a few hours, or perhaps a day. Events lasting longer than a day are classed as endurance or expedition races.
Anyone brave enough – and in possession of some map-reading skills – can enter. Check out these top UK adventure races. Our featured image is by brado1.
For more information on the sport see the UK Adventure Racing website.
- The challenge: freestyle navigate your way to as many points (controls) on an OS map within five hours (at least one control must be visited using each displace)
- Disciplines: running and mountain bike
- Locations: Pentlands, South Downs, North York Moors, South West, Yorkshire Dales, Lake District, Shropshire Hills
- Categories: male solo, female solo and mixed pairs
- Entry fee: around £35 per person
- The challenge: navigate a pre-determined course, checking in at various checkpoints along the way
- Disciplines: Questars Trio – trail running, mountain biking and kayaking; Questars Duo trail running and mountain biking
- Locations: New Forest, Exmoor, Isle of Purbeck, The Chilterns, Brecon Beacons, South Downs
- Categories: teams of 1, 2, 3 or 4, with no restrictions on the numbers of males or females who makeup the team
- Entry fee: “Trio” events £44 per person; “Duo” events £36 per person
- The challenge: a set course that takes around three to five hours to complete by running for more than 10km, biking for up to 25km and kayaking around 1km
- Disciplines: running, mountain biking and kayaking
- Locations: Hawley Lake, Cannock Chase, Longmoor Camp, Grizdale Forest
- Categories: teams of three
- Entry fee: £145 per team
- The challenge: endurance races lasting between two and five days where competitors must navigate their way between checkpoints along a course (200-500km in length) – racers eat and sleep when they choose out on the course. NB: the adidas TERREX event is not running in 2013, but there will be a coast-to-coast event and another expedition event in 2014.
- Disciplines: mix of trekking, mountain biking and kayaking
- Locations: Stirling and Settle (Yorkshire)
- Categories: four person mixed teams (must include both sexes)
- Entry fee: £1,200-2,400 per team
Written by insider city guide series Hg2 | A Hedonist’s guide to…
