Huairasinchi - The 2014 Adventure Racing World Championships

The Secret is Out, the Route is Revealed

Rob Howard / 08.11.2014

The opening ceremonies for the race took place in the plaza outside the San Franciso Church in the historic old town of Quito. (There are a huge number of ornate and imposing churches in the area, so the race was really spoilt for choice.)

Here the teams listened to speeches from race officials and local dignitaries and watched a dance performance and the plan was that they would then line up for a parade under their national flags lead by Ecuadorians in a range of local costumes. Sadly the weather intervened and just as everyone was gathering a huge rain and hail storm hit, flooding the streets and covering them in a carpet of hail stones.

As the storm hit the parade broke up and everyone raced for cover and then took shelter to wait it out. It was a dramatic warning of the unpredictable weather in Ecuador as when the teams had first gathered in the plaza they were looking for shade from the hot sun.

Eventually everyone reached the Teatro Sucre, Quito’s oldest and most ornate theatre, and here the race briefing took place. This included introductions to the key race staff and briefings on safety and medical cover, as well as an environment briefing.  Ecuador is the first country to recognise the rights of nature in its constitution and the route passes through many sensitive areas, national parks and private reserves.

Of course, what the teams wanted to know most of all was the race route, and this was revealed with a google maps flyover and then a brief, stage by stage run down. You can see the full route breakdown on the live race website shortly. There were no real surprises as much of the outline of the route was already known and teams were issued with all 22 race maps. They get one copy each ... so they have to look after their maps carefully!

The whole presentation was ‘brisk and business like’ and was interspersed with traditional dance and music performances.

There were some general organisational points which will affect all the teams. One is that teams will be issued with cameras and will have to take pictures of themselves at certain checkpoints to prove they have been there. 

Another, which caused most of the discussion afterwards was that teams must take a total of 8 hours of rest (discharge) time at prescribed Transition areas.  This must all be completed before leaving TA8, but it is up to the teams to chose which points they rest at and for how long. They don’t have to sleep, just tell the marshals and get their race passport punched for each full hour they take.

There are also some cut-offs and teams missing them will be short coursed by driving them forward along the route. (As it is a linear route there is no other option really.)  On the river paddle there is also a dark zone from 18.30 to 05.30 and it is mandatory to carry a tent to sleep in (mainly for protection from mosquitoes.)

Teams will also have YB Satellite trackers and teams were told to check these twice a day to see if the organisation had sent them any messages. (They can also send messages if they need to.) You will be able to follow the position of all the teams live on the race website through the tracking system.

Other key points to come out were the need to always use ropes for river crossings, stages where there is little water available,and confirmation that the Amazon jungle trek will be in an unmapped area and teams will navigate by GPS alone. Relieved teams were also told the estuary paddle will not be like the infamous one in Costa Rica last year. If the tide stops them they will be on sandbanks rather than mud, though they were warned to wear shoes to avoid being stung by rays.

As soon as the presentations were over the teams hustled off as fast as possible to study the route and their maps, ready for their early start in the morning.

You can follow the race live at http://live.huairasinchi.com/index.cfm

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