2011 Adventure Races - Recommendations?

Adventurer10

alanpryan wrote: »

Waterford adventure race has been confirmed for 21st May 2011, I did it last year, it was great. Website is www.waterfordadventurerace.com and Id recommend it big time

I'm going to do this one, do you know much about the kayak stage, what is the river blackwater like, is there much flow any rapids on that section of Blackwater?

alanpryan

There is a very gentle flow. the river is wide and shallow with no rapids. It is very safe, so no thrills with fast flowing rapids, it can be tidal in the last half km of it so if the tide is going out it makes the final bit of it even easier, if the tide is coming in it kind of cancels out the flow downstream so you are paddling a bit more to get to the finish.

Adi CkonSh

Anyone do the Nokia Scotland Coast to Coast Adventure Race last year, or going to it this year? Thinking of doing the 2 day Challenger class.

Causeway

Adi CkonSh wrote: »

Anyone do the Nokia Scotland Coast to Coast Adventure Race last year, or going to it this year? Thinking of doing the 2 day Challenger class.

Why would you by pass Ireland's own Coast to Coast multisport race.

http://www.coasttocoast.ie/

Did this last year and can say it's a great event, just not fit enough for it this time round.

Adi CkonSh

Causeway wrote: »

Why would you by pass Ireland's own Coast to Coast multisport race.

http://www.coasttocoast.ie/

Did this last year and can say it's a great event, just not fit enough for it this time round.

Unfortunately I'm not a kayaker and there's way too much of it in the Ireland one, 26.5k you wouldn't be doing that on a sit on top, did have a look at it though. Plus it's self supporting which the Scotland one isn't. Also it's a chance to go trying adventure racing in another country, but with a race I think I can probably finish (hopefully) and a big enough distance that it's worth the travel.

Enduro

Adi,

Any real adventure race is more than likely going to have plenty of kayaking. Along with trail running/walking and mountain biking its one of the 3 core sports of adventure racing. If you're not a kayaker then you're not an adventure racer. When I started adventure racing I was a very poor kayaker. The solution isn't to hide away by hunting out soft races, but rather to get better at kayaking. It's well worth doing, as its a very enjoyable sport in itself. Last night I was out kayak training with 9 or 10 other (real) adventure racers in a fantastic setting on a beautiful evening. It's something to be embraced. By not doing so you're severely limiting yourself.

Adi CkonSh

Enduro,

I've never called myself a "REAL" adventure racer. To be honest I'm quite happy with the "soft" race option, I find them a massive challenge and getting the training done to be able to complete them almost as big a challenge. Even the 2k kayak in WAR yesterday was hard for me, so I think attaining the fitness and skills to do 26.5k in the Ireland Coast to Coast is beyond me this year. But I love the races I do and the sense of achievment I get from completeing them. We don't all have the same goals, I strive to improve my times and increase the distances I race and my placing but I'm certainly not going to be a top level competitor. Nor would I sign up for something which I don't believe I could complete within the cutoffs. As for limiting the number of races by going soft, I'm struggling to fit in all the ones I want to do this year, so it's not going to be a problem for me. I think those of you who are top of the game are amazing and the willingness those with experience have to share their tips and advice on here makes it much easier for us beginners to get the most out of this sport.

ocnoc

Adi CkonSh wrote: »

Nor would I sign up for something which I don't believe I could complete within the cutoffs.

All teams are chasing the cuts off and making decisions on what sections to do and what sections to drop to make the cut offs. Thats one element of AR that is lost on the "soft" races. Also, in the "soft" races, there is no team element. AR is as much about Nav and pushing yourself as it is racing with a team

The Bad Pawn

Enduro wrote: »

"If you're not a kayaker then you're not an adventure racer."

"Last night I was out kayak training with 9 or 10 other (real) adventure racers."

Tell me your being sarcastic? Because you do know you've just made a huge sweeping comment about what is by its' very definition a varied sport which can invlove any combination of any sporting disciplines........

The idea that somebody has such a closed mind as to tell people that they are not a 'REAL' adventure racer is laughable and belongs in a playground.

Adi, Adventure Racing like many other sports is for everybody. Stick to the races which include the disciplines you enjoy and if you feel like it, use AR as an opportunity to pick up new skills. Yes its true that Kayaking is involved in alot of events but so what if your happy with the events you do.

I wouldn't put too much stock in narrow definitions of what an adventure racer is or isn't..

Good luck

Enduro

Adi CkonSh wrote: »

Enduro,

I've never called myself a "REAL" adventure racer. To be honest I'm quite happy with the "soft" race option, I find them a massive challenge and getting the training done to be able to complete them almost as big a challenge. Even the 2k kayak in WAR yesterday was hard for me, so I think attaining the fitness and skills to do 26.5k in the Ireland Coast to Coast is beyond me this year. But I love the races I do and the sense of achievment I get from completeing them. We don't all have the same goals, I strive to improve my times and increase the distances I race and my placing but I'm certainly not going to be a top level competitor. Nor would I sign up for something which I don't believe I could complete within the cutoffs. As for limiting the number of races by going soft, I'm struggling to fit in all the ones I want to do this year, so it's not going to be a problem for me. I think those of you who are top of the game are amazing and the willingness those with experience have to share their tips and advice on here makes it much easier for us beginners to get the most out of this sport.

Hey Adi,

I know my last post probably sounded harsh, but I'm aiming to encourage you in a better direction. AR for most people is about surviving the challenge first and foremost (and the longer the race, the more this applies), even for the top teams. You're not alone there, believe me. Like I say, there was a time when I would have found any kayak distance to be a hell of a challenge, including the WAR. But if you want to do well in AR its more important to train your weaknesses rather than your strenghts, which is what I had to do to address that (and still do).

If there is one message I'd love to get across in this thread its that the proper adventure races are far more rewarding to do for many reasons. In a lot of ways they are easier as well. The likes of the WAR, GF, ROAR etc are out and out sprints in AR terms. They're relatively joyless in comparison to the real thing. Road biking is just a pure fitness slog, whereas mountain biking is all about having fun. The longer races like the Beast, the Cooley Raid etc can also be easier since you're not going at full speed all the time. They have to be done at a more relaxed pace. Working with teammates is way more fun that slogging it out on your own. Navigation adds a very rewarding mental challenge that is badly missing from the multi-sports challenges, once that is usually one of the most talked about aspects of any given race.

Enduro

The Bad Pawn wrote: »

Tell me your being sarcastic? Because you do know you've just made a huge sweeping comment about what is by its' very definition a varied sport which can invlove any combination of any sporting disciplines........

The idea that somebody has such a closed mind as to tell people that they are not a 'REAL' adventure racer is laughable and belongs in a playground.

Adi, Adventure Racing like many other sports is for everybody. Stick to the races which include the disciplines you enjoy and if you feel like it, use AR as an opportunity to pick up new skills. Yes its true that Kayaking is involved in alot of events but so what if your happy with the events you do.

I wouldn't put too much stock in narrow definitions of what an adventure racer is or isn't..

Good luck

I'm not being at all sarcastic.

Calling the no-nav, road bike, little or no kayak races Adventure Races would akin to the calling something like the Mini Marathon a Marathon (Is that another Irihs thing, or does it happen in other countries too?), or calling a HIM or standard distance triathalon an Iron-Man. Sure they all have the words in the title, but that doesn't make them the real thing. Would you call someone closed minded if they thought that someone who runs a mini-marathon isn't a marathon runner, or someone who completes a half Iron-man isn't an Iron Man? Would you think that kind of sweeping comment would belong in the playground? Do you agree with the narrow definitions of what a marathon and an Ironman are? AR is the same. Just because someone calls their race an Adventure Race doesn't make it so.

Wikipedia's definition of AR is pretty good, and would be well recognised internationally as such. The likes of the WAR, GF, ROARs, and the growing number of copycat races don't fit in to that.

The Bad Pawn

Hi Enduro,

I disagree with your comparison to the arguments regarding HIM v's Ironman & Mini M v's Marathon.
Why? .. because you're talking about something completely different and therefore not directly comparable.

For instance:
i) Somebody who completes a Half Ironman is not an Ironman but they are still a Triathlete
ii) Somebody who completes a mini marathon is not a Marathon Runner but is still a Runner
and iii) somebody who completes an Adventure Race may not be a Primal Quest Finisher... but there are still an Adventure Racer - the opposite of what you stated in your previous post.

I really do get where your coming from but I think that in your efforts to motivate you're being unintentionally exclusive.

Somebody asked me recently how painful/tough a 10k is in comparison to an Ironman. The truth is that it all depends how hard your pushing yourself. IM is hell at times but your working over a long period of time. A foot to the floor 10Km is Raw pain all the way.It's horses for courses.

Is the guy who comes first in a 5 Hour AR invloving all the disciplines you mentioned, not a Adventure Racer?

Also anyone can post anything on Wikipedia;)

ocnoc

The Bad Pawn wrote: »

Hi Enduro,

I disagree with your comparison to the arguments regarding HIM v's Ironman & Mini M v's Marathon.
Why? .. because you're talking about something completely different and therefore not directly comparable.

For instance:
i) Somebody who completes a Half Ironman is not an Ironman but they are still a Triathlete
ii) Somebody who completes a mini marathon is not a Marathon Runner but is still a Runner
and iii) somebody who completes an Adventure Race may not be a Primal Quest Finisher... but there are still an Adventure Racer - the opposite of what you stated in your previous post.

I really do get where your coming from but I think that in your efforts to motivate you're being unintentionally exclusive.

Somebody asked me recently how painful/tough a 10k is in comparison to an Ironman. The truth is that it all depends how hard your pushing yourself. IM is hell at times but your working over a long period of time. A foot to the floor 10Km is Raw pain all the way.It's horses for courses.

Is the guy who comes first in a 5 Hour AR invloving all the disciplines you mentioned, not a Adventure Racer?

Also anyone can post anything on Wikipedia;)

Going by your comparisons, no they are not Adventure racers, they are Multi sport racers :P

5hrs = sprint... or they just dropped out

dapope

ocnoc wrote: »

Going by your comparisons, no they are not Adventure racers, they are Multi sport racers :P

Hallelujah! Exactly. Nail on the head. 100% Couldn't agree more

jeffontour

This reminds me of a recent discussion about ultras. True, anything over marathon distance classifies as an ultra but it's not as simple as using the distance to classify a race in my opinion.

I think with ultra running & AR there's an element of the spirit of the event that helps define them, I know how wishywashy that sounds before anyone points it out!

I wouldn't class myself as an ARer but I've done one true AR event and a few of the other multi sport events. After over 4 hours in a kayak as the 1st stage of the race, with zero kayak training in advance my wrist was in bits for a week after. But it didn't stop me completing the next 26 hours of the race.

"real" AR is built to allow(sorry, is designed to force!) you deal with these kinds of set backs, you can push as hard as you want at the front end of the field or skip optional sections and just complete the minimum.

The multisport races mostly spoken of in this thread are a great introduction to the skills required to transition to the multiday, team events that others on here would like everyone to aspire to. The number of people progressing to "real" AR is probably about right as it takes a special kind of loonball to decide to spend 24 hours minimum out in the wilds with 3 other loonballs.

To get back to Adi. Enjoy the Scottish race if you go. I love the place and have a mild addiction with a race or two over there. And maybe you'll find yourself closer to transitioning to fully fledged loonball after it instead of your current half loonball status.

nerraw1111

I agree with Enduro's comments on what an adventure race/racer is.

I don't think that takes away from the likes of WAR/ROAR etc which are tough races in themselves. I've never done an adventure race but have done plenty of races such as War, GF etc and would be very reluctant to call myself an adventure racer given they only take 5 hours on a marked course compared to the multi day races lasting a week or longer.

It is a bit like running a mini marathon and then saying you're a marathon runner. It doesn't take away from what you've achieved but its not really an adventure race.

I'm not particuarly bothered about what the races are called. I do plan to do the Beast or Cooley Raid later in the year based on the numerous recommendations on boards.ie.

Be great to see WAR/ROAR put on a true AR race in Ireland

Dunebuggy

nerraw1111 wrote: »

I agree with Enduro's comments on what an adventure race/racer is. (+1)
Be great to see WAR/ROAR put on a true AR race in Ireland

Jesus we have to learn roller-blading for an Adventure race in Slovenia,
I don't think a cone helmut is going to help me here :-) But thats part of the difference with these adventure races, its what they throw at you.You don't know the route. Will it be 15km up hill down hill ??! You don't get to wear cone helmets but you do get to shop in TK MAXX !! Multi-sport racers shop in Cycle Super Store.

"TEAR" is a true AR race in wicklow, has some of the Roar team involved(the rest are racing in it).....It was an awesome race this year, really caters for all levels and there is lots of help for those who want to get into adventure racing - again this year was 1 minute 38secs between the 1st two teams ,some great tales of Navigation responsible... CCAR just had a great season of races and back on the 13th of August with another cracker I am sure.

I hope that those who do the multi-sport races get stuck into the Adventure Races, (Just to give Ivan more stress). Get on to a team that has a Navigator and give it a try, its great crack!!!

Registered for Monster Mac, (Roar team plus a local lass) nice thing about these races - is you get to race new places, new people, should be a great race.

LaHaine

Elitist, petty argument. Why put down people if they want to call these races an adventure race.

Same as all the people who run any distance race and call it a marathon. Its amusing if you ask me.

But what harm is it?

dapope

LaHaine wrote: »

Elitist, petty argument. Why put down people if they want to call these races an adventure race.

Same as all the people who run any distance race and call it a marathon. Its amusing if you ask me.

But what harm is it?

It is easy to mistake it as a "elitist, petty argument" given the tone of some posts within this thread.

Still the fact remains that events such as WAR, Gaelforce, ROAR etc. are Multisport events. The Beast, The Cooley Raid, The Total Experience AR are Adventure Races and are different to Multi sport events in many ways. Both have their positive and negative points but this boils down to personal preference. I'm not saying that one is better than the other or that people who take part in one are better than people who take part in the other.

I hope I am not putting anyone down by these statements. I would encourage anyone who feels they may be interested to give it a go. Personally I love Adventure Racing

If you think I'm elitest you should see the state of me trying to rollerblade these days!