Welcome to the new European Series in Adventure Racing

Jan Smolík / 23.03.2009

Who is the best adventure racing team in Europe? This question will be resolved soon. Seven European adventure races have joined to create a European Series in Adventure Racing -- to be known as AREuroSeries. They also support establishing of AR European Championships.

The AREuroSeries is a set of races, all over 48 hours in length, for 4-member mixed teams. Participating teams will be able to start in six countries – Ukraine, Sweden, Slovenia, Poland, Czech Republic and Russia. Their three best results will count towards the cup ranking, and at the end of the season the AREuroSeries champions will be announced.

The host for the Adventure Racing European Championships for 2009 will be announced next week.

There will be further cooperation between the races. Organizers will try to find a way to coordinate the annual race calendar - although this will be difficult, as many races have their dates fixed for various reasons. There will be also a discussion forum to help adventure race organizers to share their experience, mainly concerning race rules.

Participating teams are supposed to register, but we will try to include even unregistered ones. The most difficult task is to distinguish what is a team, as members and names often changes. The rule is simple. In each race (except of the first one) a team can only introduce two new members. The other two must have raced in the team previously.

The AREuroSeries organizers are currently negotiating with AR World Series about possibility that the AREuroSeries cup and European Championships will serve as qualifiers for the World Championships.
More details can be found on www.areuroseries.com. We welcome other races to join our efforts.

The following races are included in the series:
Ferrino Extreme Marathon (Ukraine) is, at 100-hour time limit, the longest of the AREuroSeries races. For only 150 Euros it will show you beauty of the Ukrainian Carpathians. Participants will traverse from between middle spring with light green leafs and bird songs at lower elevations, through to early spring conditions with snowdrop fields, and into late winter with snow & even light frosts on high parts of mountains. The race will take place from April 27 to May 3.
Tieto Adventure Race (Sweden) is the most seasoned of the races. It is also the oldest and most legendary Adventure Race in Sweden – declared as the Open Nordic Adventure Championship. It started in 1998 as “Le Grand Tour” and in 2009 it will be held for the 12th time! It\'s still getting better and better! The winning time is expected to be about 52 hours, taking up to 85 hours for the last heroic teams. The race will take place from May 20 to May 24.
Starting in 1999 Adventure Trophy (Poland) is the second oldest among AREuroSeries races. It is also the oldest long race in central Europe that inspired many to start with expedition-style adventure racing. This year\'s edition is scheduled for June 10 to 14.
Red Fox Adventure Race (Russia) is the shortest. Taking place in Leningradskaya oblast near the border with Finland it will take you to really wild areas rarely seen in Europe. Forty-eight hours for a mere 150 Euros is a great way to help celebrate Russian independence day. The race takes place from June 12 to 14.
The southernmost event, Adventure Race Slovenia is located on the sunny side of the Alps. The race is 270 kilometers in length, but it is important not to underestimate it. This country is only composed of mountains so the racers will find themselves climbing up and going down again. It takes a good 50 hours to cover this short distance. The race is scheduled for June 18 to 21.
Czech Adventure Race aims to create a race that is tough for fast teams but still manageable for weaker ones. With 360 kilometers, it takes around 50 hours for the fastest teams to finish. As the limit is 75 hours, even beginners have a good chance to complete the course in time. This year’s edition will take place around Cheb, both in the Czech Republic and Germany, and is scheduled for August 18 to 23.
Last but not least is Adventure Racing Poland Championships. It is another race from the workshop of Pavel Fafarek, organizer of the Bergson Winter Challenge. It is one of our few autumn races, and it will be held from September 21 to 27.