ITERA

A Gathering of the Adventure Racing Clan for ITERA

Rob Howard / 08.08.2025

There was a relaxed start to ITERA 2025 as teams arrived at the Badaguish Outdoor Centre in the Cairngorm Mountains for the first day of registration.  

It’s a big centre, set in pine forest on the edge of the Cairngorm Mountains and many teams are staying in the lodges on the site.  They have travelled from all over the UK and around the world, and the race was running collection shuttles to the nearby Inverness Airport during the day.

The lodges can accommodate several teams and have ample space to spread out and store bike boxes ... and teams are filling the space with an explosion of clothing, food and equipment.  In lodge 7 today three teams were in residence with an international mix of racers. 

Team Nav4 Thrash Pigs from the UK are joined by Israeli racer Carin Goldblatt, and in the same lodge are Team Rib Mountain Racing from the USA, and Polish team On-Sight Navigatoria, who have Indian racer Lipi Kalita with them.

Kalita races with the Skyrunners team in India and met team captain Rafel Adametz at La Routa race in the Philippines in 2022.  That was a 3 day race, and now she is stepping up to her first expedition and has travelled a long way to race with her experienced Polish teammates. It was a blustery and chilly day today (for mid-summer) and she was worried how cold she might get on the race!  The weather and terrain on the race will be unlike anything she has experienced before.

The same could said for Rib Mountain Racing and Tim Buchholz said, “The race has been on our bucket list for a long time and as soon as it returned to Scotland we entered and we can’t wait to explore the mountains, lochs and castles!”  He was very impressed with the detailed maps in the UK and busy trying to get used to the many symbols. 

Two of this team, Kevin Leedham and JJ Jehangir, are also on their first expedition race.  They are aiming for a full course finish and on the wall was a print out of their estimated schedule but they know they may have to compromise.  “If we see cut-offs close to our estimated times then we might have to make hard choices,” said Buchholz.  This is true for all of the teams and dot watchers can expect a variety of route choices taken by team, perhaps from as early as day one.

These teams all registered in the afternoon, and there was a stringent check of climbing equipment which was catching out some teams.  Race safety staff were checking the age of harnesses, slings and helmets to make sure they hadn’t exceeded the manufacturers end-of-life date.  Quite a few teams were sent into Aviemore to buy new equipment.

Teams received their bibs at registration, and this race has a unique system of colour coding.  Three bibs were light blue, one was white (for the captain), and they carry an extra black bib.  If the teams goes onto a short course the captain has to put on the black bib in place of the white one, so race staff know that they are a short-course team.

Registration was quiet until the final hour, when lots of teams arrived at once, but half of the teams still have to register tomorrow between 10.00 and 12.00 and it will be busy.  Then in the afternoon the race briefings will take place and the much discussed course will be revealed.