2006 AR World Championship Report from Robyn Benincasa

Ok, so this is a couple weeks old at this point, and I know I haven't exactly been on the ball with some of these blog updates recently, but this one falls under the "better late than never" category. Adventure Racer Robyn Benincasa updated her blog, aptly titled "The Dirt", over at CPZ a few weeks back with a report on the 2006 AR World Championships which were recently run in Sweden. It's a great read with some nice behind the scenes insights into the race, and why her team, Merrell Wigwam Adventures, were forced to pull out, even when they were racing so well. I'll let you read the article, but lets just say that there is a lesson to be learned here for all of us.

By the way, for anyone who isn't familiar with Robyn, she's one of the toughest, most experienced, and well conditioned adventure racers competing today. She's got a resume a mile lone, having competed in, and won, most of the major races around the world. She is an amazing racer, and tough competitor. Good luck at the Ironman Kona, and Eco-Motion Robyn!

2007 AR World Championship Website Goes Live

We've barely closed the books on the 2006 Adventure Racing World Championship and preparations are already well underway for the 2007 version. The Official Website went live this morning with some teasers of what to expect out of next year's race, which will be held in Scotland. The Championship will start on May 26 and run through June 2, so it's starting a few months earlier, but promises to be quite the event once more. Start training now, as May will be here before you know it!

AR World Championship: How did the other teams do?

I reported earlier in the day that Team Nike Powerblast had won the 2006 Adventure Racing World Championship, but hadn't reported on how the other teams have fared. At the moment, we have four teams across the finish line, with Team Finland coming in second about four hours back from Nike. Third place goes to Lundhags who raced a very good race and lead for a large chunk of the way. Fourth goes to GoLite/Timberland in an outstanding show for another American team. Orion Health, Team Spyder, and Buff Coolmax are all out on the course and vying for fifth place at the moment. It appears that Merrell/Wigwam Adventure have withdrawn due to sore feet, which is too bad considering how well they were doing.

Still haven't gottent enough news and info on the AR World Championship? Good, then head on over to Check Point Zero for their race report on the Nike victory. Of particular interest to me is the night time kayak stage in which the sky was aglow with the Aurora Borealis, and the team was accompanied by a company of whales for several hours. How awesome does that sound?

Nike Powerblast Wins AR World Championships!

A quick look at the 2006 AR World Championships website this morning reveals that Nike Powerblast has crossed the finishline claiming the crown as this years Adventure Racing World Champions. I'm sure we'll hear more details on this later in the day, but for now, huge congratulations to Ian and the rest of the team. Great work once again.

Update: Nike has made an update on their website with the news that they have won the World Championship. While it's a short article, it does have some nice pictures, and gives some insight on how the race went.

AR World Championship Sunday Update!

It's Sunday at the Adventure Racing World Championship and here comes Nike. A quick check of the leaderboard shows that they have erased Team Finland's lead, and taken one of their own. As of now, Nike is just a couple of minutes ahead of Finland, followed by Lundhags in third. Merrell/Wigwam and GoLite Timberland are fourth and fifth respectively, making it a strong showing for the American teams at the moment. Hang on to your hats, it looks like it's going to come right dwn to the wire.

AR World Championship Google Earth Course Map!

It may be a little late into the race, but it's new to me, and I thought I'd share. If you've got Google Earth installed on your computer ( and why wouldn't you?) you can check out the course of the race, with current team positions, right in the program. Just go here and download the map. You'll have to be running Google Earth 4 to get it to work though. Very cool!

AR World Championship Day Four!

It's Day Four over in Sweden, and the top of the leaderboard has seen some changes. If you check the live listing you'll see that Team Finland now leads the race, with Nike Powerblast making their move back into second, but still two hours behind the leaders. In their place is up and coming team GoLite/Timberland, who have raced well throughout the year. Team Lundhags, who have led much of the race, have fallen back into fourth place. With about another day or racing yet to go, it'll come down to who has banked the most sleep, and who can move the fastest over what remains of the course. After you've finished looking over the leaderboard, head over to Check Point Zero to read their latest race report.

Update: It's been a few hours since I posted the above message, and since that time it seems that Nike has closed the gap on Team Finland, whose lead is now under an hour. Nike is considered the best adventure racing team in the world by many observers of the sport, and it looks like they're not going to go down easy in this race. GoLite/Timberland is about a half hour back in third place, with Lundhags in fourth and losing ground.

AR World Championship Day 3!

CheckPointZero.com has posted another update from the AR World Championship this morning. We're now more than two days in, and the teams have begun to splinter into groups with the real contenders leading the way at the top of the leaderboard. As it stands right now Lundhags is in first place, with nearly a two hour lead over second place team Findland. Nike Powerblast has moved back into third place, but are still some distance behind first and second place. Team Spyder is currently in 7th place and the only other American team, Merrel/Wigwam is in 13th. There is still plenty of racing to go, but it looks like it may be tough to catch the top teams at the moment.

AR World Championship Update!

After a brief outage yesterday Check Point Zero is back today, and they have an update from the AR World Championship currently going on in Sweden. As of this writing, Team Lundhags is leading the way followed by FJS, and GoLite/Timberland in second and third respectively. Perennial powerhouse Nike/Powerblast is currently in 7th after leading for much of yesterday. As always, you can follow the race online at the Official Site's Leaderboard.

AR World Championship Off and Running!

The AR World Championship is off and running today in Sweden, and you can track the race online here. At the moment, Nike-Powerblast is in the lead, by a few mintues followed closely by Bjurfors, Team Finland, and Merrell/Wigwam. At this point we're a mere four hours into a five day race that should be fun and competitive to follow. It should be noted that Team Nike, who are legends in the sport, are racing without Mike Kloser and Michael Tobin this time out. The two Mikes are stalwarts on this team, so it'll be interesting to see if they can win with the other members of the team.

AR World Championship Course Revealed

With the Adventure Racing World Championship just a day away now, CheckPointZero.com is now reporting that the course has been revealed to the racers. The race kicks off tomorrow at 11 AM local time (Sweden), and the rest of today will be spent by the teams pouring over the maps, plotting their courses, and eagerly anticipating the trail ahead. Hopefully we'll get a fun, competitive race, but I'm positive it will be an amazingly beautiful course for all the teams involved.