UK Racing – No Change for Now

Rob Howard / 28.11.2007

A recent meeting of the majority of the adventure and multi-sport race organisers in the UK discussed whether there was a need to move towards official recognition of AR as a sport or to establish a national association. After a wide-ranging discussion the strong consensus was that it best not to do so, but to meet again in the future to keep the situation under review.

Although it may not be widely known UK Race Directors do meet from time to time, and keep in touch to try and ensure there are no scheduling conflicts in the calendar. (In this respect the UK race organisers are more cooperative than in most other countries in the world.)

The impetus for a bigger meeting came initially from Phil Humphreys (the founder of ACE Races) who had previously looked into how to get recognition of AR as a sport in its own right, and possibly funding, from Sport England. James Thurlow of Open Adventure followed up on this and arranged the meeting, which was chaired by Phil, acting as an independent voice now he is no longer involved in the sport.

All the UK Race Directors were invited and the majority attended, with some others sending in their comments on the issues likely to arise. Rob Howard from SleepMonsters was also at the meeting and an equal number of experienced and prominent racers were invited, although the majority never attended.

James Thurlow and Jonathan Mayne prepared a briefing paper in advance looking at the possible options and their pros and cons, and some information on race organisation in other countries was circulated. The results of the survey carried out by ACE Races and SleepMonsters, which asked if racers would support a national association and ranking scheme, were also considered.

By the end of the discussions there was a surprising degree of consensus which can best be summarised as a feeling that Adventure Racing in the UK is growing and prospering, and things are fine as they are!

The majority of the races are well subscribed or full, and there is an exceptionally varied choice of races to take part in. Given this situation there was a reluctance to introduce a greater level bureaucracy into the sport, which could increase costs and limit the imagination and freedom with which races are currently organised in the UK. There was also a concern that moving forward with any plans for an association might create divisions in the sport between those for and against.

In short, British Adventure Racing is prospering and for the moment at least is happy to stay as it is.