adventure club Dublin??

simonsays1

Hi,
I completed my first adventure race recently and discovered that this kind of race suits me more than any other.
I would love to travel the country and compete in adventure races and eventually do adventure races abroad.
However, I am doing this on my own and do not fancy travelling and competing solo. Is there a club in Dublin?
Can't see any online specific to adventure races.
Do I join triathlon groups?
In the Dublin 8 area.

Thanks folks.

Enduro

Just to clue you in....

What you competed in was probably a multisports race rather than an adventure race.

Multisports races are similar to triathlons in that they are solo races, usually consisting of a (extremely short) kayaking stage, a cycling stage (usually road) and a running stage (usually off-road). They usually take a few hours to complete.

Adventure races are team events (usually mixed teams of 4) usually consisting of a minimum of navigation, kayaking, mountain biking and trekking. They can also have almost any other sports involved, and often would include ropes sections, for example. They tend to take a day or so for sprint events up to 8 or 9 days for full length expedition events.

No one internationally would call multisports races Adventure races. That's just a marketing ploy in Ireland. There are very few multisports races abroad. I can only think of one other country where similar races exist (New Zealand).

There is a very wide range of international adventure races though, including the world championships and all the qualifying races for the worlds. To compete in these you're going to need to be part of a team anyway, so there is no way you could be competing solo. There is one Eurpoean championship qualifying race in Ireland (The Beast of Ballyhoura), which is a 40 hour race.

Neither sport has a governing body or any formal structure in Ireland. So there are no formal clubs. The nearest you'll get for multisports racing is a triathlon club. Training wise, they're a good fit if you want to train for multisports races.

There are a few adventure racing teams around. There are quite a few competing internationally this year. If you were interested in getting into actual adventure racing then I can make some recommendations to get you heading in the right direction.

simonsays1

Hi Enduro,

Yeah it would be the multisport events I'd be into at this stage.
Do you know if triathlon clubs attend multisport events or should I be looking more at cycling clubs possibly?
I want to attend these events away with a group rather then being stuck on my own somewhere for a weekend.

Thanks

Enduro

I've seen some Triathlon clubs head to a multisports race as a group alright. But I've no idea if any club heads there regularly as a group. Generally any groups heading to these things tend to be bunches of friends anyway, as it's not any kind of formally codified sport, and there are no multisports clubs.

Joining either a triathlon or cycling club would be as likely a way of any other of meeting other potential participants in these races, but it would be worth doing for it's own sake anyway. Having people to train with is also hugely benificial!

Excuseless

There is a club that should fit your needs Simon
It is the Get Mucked Adventure Social club

They are a good social bunch that regularly go away as a group to lots of varied events.

They, like myself as it happens, are not preoccupied about nomenclature of the races be they one, two or multiday adventure races.
They have members participating regularly in all types of AR and aligned activities like hill running, mtb, kayaking, etc.
Each has their place and the more folk that do sport events of all types the better IMHO

Good luck with the racing and the socialising - they go hand in hand I reckon

simonsays1

Thanks a mill Excuseless! I'll check it out!