RAID TÉMISCAMINGUE - Endurance Aventure

Family Adventures at the Raid Temiscamingue

Press Release / 17.09.2021

Ville-Marie, September 11th 2021 - Unknown factors, surprises, prompt decisions, turnovers and a whole lot of emotions: Raid Temiscamingue’s first edition offered plenty of twists and turns, on Saturday, for every one of the 11 participating pairs. Above all, every family has shown perseverance and mutual support to take on and complete the race course starting in Ville-Marie and finishing in Opemican National Park.

In the end it was a win for the Mallory’s family, who completed the 70km course of Raid Temiscamingue in the fastest time. The Ontario racers Dan and Daniel Mallory took 5:07:57 to complete a swim, a mountain bike route, a race section, a canoe stage, and some rope activities. This accomplishment counts as just one more challenge they’ve completed, such as climbing up to the summit of Mount Everest as a team!

The 11 registered teams on the Raid succeeded in completing the challenge within 11 hours. This unique experience brought something special for everyone, even if those people were quite used to embark on different types of challenges. Pairs coming from all over Quebec and Ontario were given the race course map the night prior to race day.  Participants had to be part of the same family to be allowed to enter the challenge. The event was initially going to be held last year, but was postponed due to the pandemic and its restrictions.

"We created this Raid concept in 2020, when the only option to gather a team was to invite participants issued from the same family », said Jean-Thomas Boily,  Cofounder and Director of Operations at Endurance Aventure. « We wanted people to have the opportunity to experience a unique challenge in a very rich environment such as Temiscamigue and its National Park. We’re proud to have made it in developing this project, which is completely aligned with our mission, involving collaboration with local communities."

Every family of this Raid Temiscamingue has its own background, but its members were connected by a special thread: the desire for adventure and a strong calling for the challenge. Every team had quite a strong background, previous to this adventure, such as triathlons, long distance challenges or even a year on a sail boat!

"We were impressed to witness, once again, a contagious outdoor fever for every family involved in the challenge. They are passionate and it’s pretty amazing to see this passion going from parents to children! One of our participants has even registered for three of our 2021 events with one of his three children for every one of them!  Despite feeling tired everyone kept smiling and it was impressive to witness the satisfaction that Raid Temiscamingue brought to life."

A Unique Course

The race course presented many surprises to the team members, asking them to switch, repeatedly from one gear to another, from the starting point, in Ville-Marie, to the finish line, at Opemican National Park point.. Changing weather conditions were also part of the challenge.

"We couldn’t wait to see our participants take on the adventure,", said Bastien Michaud, Race Director of Endurance Aventure. "Every race, every challenge is built in a unique design to promote an exceptional adventure. Our goal is to prepare and offer challenges with a unique signature which will offer a very special experience to the racers. We do not intend it to be easy! We want our participants to push themselves and regarding the Raid Temiscamingue’ expérience, every team member had to maintain a great connexion to make it to the end of the race course."

Accross the 70 km challenge, the participants had to use maps and compass to find their way in the exceptional wild of Temiscamingue. Every team had the support of a crew, composed of one or two members, to help with the transitions, feeding zones, transportation, equipment and emotional support.

Raid Temiscamingue 2021 was held with the partnership of MRC Temiscamingue and Temiscamingue Tourism Office, with the collaboration of Development Society of Temiscamingue and Opemican National Park. The goal is to facilitate the discovery of a vast and rich territory for every outdoor lover and adventurer.

About Endurance Aventure

Leaders in outdoor and adventure, preparing and structuring international competitions, out of the ordinary experiences  for the past 20 years, Endurance Aventure has produced more than 250 events on 24 countries accross the Globe.. A passion for sports, outdoors, adventure or strong emotions are characteristics of every member of the Endurance Aventure team. Endurance Aventure had put on, in 2021, the GBC 500 (Gravel Bikepacking Challenge), the Raid Temiscamingue