ARWC Ecuador – Start tomorrow

The Adventure Racing World Championships starts tomorrow (Nov 9) in Ecuador. We have starting number 52 and you can follow us on the live website, http://live.huairasinchi.com/index.cfm or on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/TeamHaglofsSilva). Andreas Strand will try to keep you updated with posts and photos. There will also be updates here on our website (www.arsweden.se).

The racecourse is 700km long and we navigate with map and compass to orienteering checkpoints along the way. All four members of our team must stay together all the time. The racecourse will be one of the most biodiverse ever. We will start in the Andes, drop down for a short visit in the Amazon, before crossing back over the Andes and down to the finish on the Pacific Coast. Part of the course are as high as 4500m, as can been seen on the race profile.

We will descend past waterfalls, climb canyons, cross native forests, Páramo highlands and pass through mangroves, lakes, rivers and estuaries from one end of the country to the other.

After the race start on Sunday the first team to reach the finish line wins. Therefore we will sleep as little as we dare and eat and drink on the run. Over the last two days we have packed food and equipment in large plastic boxes. The race organisation transport these boxes to the transition areas where we change from, for example, kayaking to MTB. In these transition areas we pick up the food, clothing and equipment we need for the next discipline, leave behind what we don’t need and continue on our way. There are ten transition zones where we can restock over the racecourse, and the winning team is expected to take approximately five days. The race will be covered by several international and Swedish media, including SVT (Swedish national TV). All teams will carry a GPS transmitter along the race course and the position of each team is supposed to be shown on the live website during the whole race, http://live.huairasinchi.com/index.cfm. Our team photographer, Andreas Strand, will try to post pictures and short reports here on our homepage and Facebook page during the race, depending on access to the outside world though… The team is strongly motivated, hopefully enough prepared for the altitude and we’re looking forward to the adventure!

The distances and disciplines included in this year’s ARWC.