Raid Series Dates for 2004

Rob / 05.12.2003

The dates for next year’s X-adventure Raid Series have now been announced and the finale at the Raid World Championship in Argentina is a little later in the year than originally expected. It’s to be held from November 29th to December 5th, with the move back from the provisional October date dictated by the weather.

South America is a hot-bed of racing right now, the sport may be growing there faster than anywhere else, so the venue for the first Raid World Championships is a good one. The race will be held in the vicinity of San Martin de los Andes, around the lakes and rivers of Patagonia and across the peaks and extinct volcanoes of The Cordillera de los Andes – so it’s going to be a spectacular setting for the 30 top teams who reach the start line.

To do that they will have to qualify through 4 other races, on 4 different continents, starting in Morocco’s Atlas mountains on May 8/9th. The next two races, in North America and Europe, will be very hotly contested as the battle for places gets tougher. Minutes, maybe seconds, will matter as there are only 5 places in the final available to teams from North and South America. (There are a total of 19 allocated around Europe.)

The North American race will be over the weekend of June 12/13th, and it’s always a showdown with the top European teams (which they lost this year). Round 3 takes place from July 9 to 11th, and is in the Alps, back to the familiar venue of the famous ARCS mountain resort for a physically demolishing crossing of the daunting Mont Blanc massif. The last stage before the final is in Australia, from September 17-19th, though there are no more details yet – just that it will be “in the middle of the Australian outback”.

Then the points will be added up, places allocated, and will be there is a 10 week gap before the final in Argentina. Keep up with all the news on www.raidseries.com .