Top UK Adventure Races ... if you are a Runner’s World Reader!

Rob Howard / 14.01.2012

In our recent review of the year we highlighted the way in which the term ‘adventure racing’ has becoming by default a catch-all for unusual events, even if they are not endurance or multisport races.

So it should come as no surprise to find that the readers of the UK Runner’s World Website have their own ideas when it come to selecting the top races of the past year under the category ‘adventure races’. And the winner is ... a 250m wife carrying race, with 10m of ascent! To be specific the winner is the Trionium Wife Carrying Race, held in Dorking, Surrey.

Second is the Sodbury Slog an 8.5km muddy romp in South Gloucestershire, which was first in the vote for the ‘other distances’ category last year ... this was the first year of the runners version of the ‘adventure racing’ category. Third was ‘Race the Train’, a 14 mile cross country against the Talyllyn Railway line steam engine on the West coast of Wales, with the Brooks Hellrunner coming in 4th.

So there you have it UK runners think Adventure Racing is wife carrying (in mud), cross-country in mud and trying to beat the time of a toy train. Sadly, there may be more athletes in the UK who think this is the case, than there are genuine adventure racers.

You can read the full article on the Runner’s World site at; http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/event-editorial/races-of-the-year-2011-adventure-races/7862.html