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BARC 2004 Launched

Rob / 03.12.2003

All the details of the British Championship Series for 2004 were unveiled at the official launch at the Snow and Rock store in Covent Garden, London yesterday (Dec. 3rd). There are lots of new developments for next year, and some significant changes, but the principal of combining the best of British races into one national series remains the same.

There was an impressive turn out of press and racers for the launch, which was organised by 1090 Communications, who will be managing the marketing and media relations for the series. All of the Race Directors spoke about their events and Helen Jackson of Team Saab Salomon and Keith Byrne of The North Face spoke about racing from a competitor’s perspective. Then they abseiled off the 5 storey building for a photo opportunity! The new series web site was also launched and the charity SPARKS, who will be entering fundraising teams in the series, was introduced. It was a busy morning!

There will be 6 races in the series, with the introduction of a winter event, ‘The North Face XX’ in February, and the first urban race in the UK, ‘The Rat Race’ which will take place in Edinburgh in July. This is being organised by Jim Mee, who staged the ‘Red Bull Northern Exposure’ in 2001, with Gary Tompsett as the Course Director.

The 2-day ACE Race in April is included, as is the popular Salomon GB X-adventure and the last race of the Irish series, organised by Brian Elliot, is back as well, but it’s now called the ‘X-terminator’. Perhaps the biggest change is that the BARC Final is no more – it’s been replaced by the ‘Terminator X2’, which will have a non-stop, unsupported 27 hour format. This means all the races in the series are now weekend events.