British team Adidas Terrex acclimatising in Ecuador.

Unless you are living under a rock, if you are by any means a fan of adventure racing you will be aware that the AR World Championship is about to kick off in Ecuador this weekend.  If you are at all like me and keenly track the big expedition races around the world, the world championships are an exciting time as they are typically the one race each year that pit all of the world’s top teams head-to-head. Improvements in GPS technology and online reporting bring the race right to your computer screen making it ever easier to follow all the action of a race through photos, video, news reports and tracking.  Some go-to resources include the race Facebook page, Sleepmonsters and Breathe Magazine blog.

Increasingly, teams are also sharing their race experience through social media.  A quick look through the team list reveal that an incredible 32 of the 51 teams towing the start line are blogging about their race through team facebook pages.  I’ve compiled a complete list of these teams with links to their facebook pages as they often provide a unique insight into the race itself.  In the lead up to race in Ecuador, there has been a definite emphasis on acclimatisation by teams as they arrive early in Quito to prepare themselves for the rigours of racing at the altitudes that the course will throw at them in the first few days.

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BIB # TEAM NATIONALITY WORLD RANKING 1 San Juan Aventura ARGENTINA   2 Sportotal ARGENTINA 142 3 Team Litoral Rayovac ARGENTINA 97 4 Team Australia AUSTRALIA 55 5 Team Belgium BELGIUM 158 6 Advogado Aventureiro BRAZIL   7 Harpya-Advogado Aventureiro Pró BRAZIL   8 KAILASH Brou Aventuras BRAZIL   9 Raid International Gaspesie Osprey CANADA 29 10 Explorer Colombia- Bosi COLOMBIA   11 IDRD Bogotá Humana COLOMBIA 17 12 Karens Summit COLOMBIA 72 13 Seti Traxion 1 COLOMBIA   14 Seti Traxion 2 COLOMBIA   15 Fairis ECUADOR   16 FEDEME BGR ECUADOR 60 17 Finalin ECUADOR 80 18 Guambras: Biosil- Powerade ECUADOR 11 19 IdealAlambrec ECUADOR   20 Incalink ECUADOR   21 Movistar ECUADOR 16 22 Ñaupak-Pastaza ECUADOR   23 Papacara ECUADOR 72 24 Explorer Biosil ECUADOR   25 Sinche Pachamama ECUADOR   26 Terra Aventura Fybeca – Discover ECUADOR 49 27 Wari Moderna Benefit ECUADOR   28 Columbia Vidaraid SPAIN 2 29 Odyssey Adventure Racing USA 104 31 Team Bones USA 12 32 Tecnu Adventure Racing USA 7 33 Yogaslackers USA 20 34 LSN EndorphinMag FRANCE 9 35 Raidlight FRANCE 6 36 Green Caffte Costa Rica – UPS Adventure FRANCE 36 37 Vaucluse Aventures Lafuma FRANCE 33 38 Hombres De Maíz GUATEMALA   39 Irish AR IRELAND 59 40 Freemindteam ITALY   41 Montagnat New Caledonia NEW CALEDONIA 70 42 Seagate NEW ZEALAND 1 43 AR Team Polska POLAND 35 44 adidas TERREX GREAT BRITAIN 4 45 Peaklife Sport UK   46 BLACK HILL / OpavaNet CZECH REP. 27 47 salomon/Suunto-Nutrend-Sevenpoint2.com CZECH REP. 113 48 Swedish Armed Forces Adventure Team SWEDEN 26 49 Team Peak Performance SWEDEN 19 50 R’ADYS SWITZERLAND 20 52 Haglöfs Silva SWEDEN 5 54 Cuy e Iguana ECUADOR  

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The world champs in Ecuador will also represent the first time that teams will race under a single national flag.  It is exciting to see that Australia will have a team represented (team #4) for the first time at a world champs since the days of Blackheart.  Indeed, Rob Preston formerly from team Blackheart will be racing with the American team Tecnu (#32) as their lead navigator and will be sure to put in a very competitive performance.

Logistic matrix presented to teams with estimated leg lengths and times.

As far as race predictions go, it is impossible to go past Kiwi team Seagate who remain undefeated this year and are only looking stronger with the addition of experienced racer Stu Lynch.  Swedes Haglofs Silva are a very experienced line up and are surely due a win in a world championship at some stage given that they are still a relatively young team (and are my pick for second place).  Columbia Vidaraid with their Spanish speaking background and immense experience are my pick to round out the the top 3, however other class outfits such as Americans Tecnu, French team #36 and the British Adidas Terrex outfit, along with a number of local teams are sure to give the front runners a solid nudge.  Regardless of results, it is going to be some exciting racing to follow.

 

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