Team Ecuador Explorer Win Huairasinchi,

ARWS / 18.02.2013

The first race in the 2013 Adventure Racing World Series (ARWS) took place last week in the diverse and challenging landscapes of Ecuador at the 11th edition of ‘Huairasinchi’. The race title means ‘Spirit of the Wind’ and before the 51 teams started the race they formed the race logo for a photo to be taken from a helicopter above them.

The favourites in the elite category were ‘Team Ecuador Explorer’, who had won on home soil last year and were defending their title. Last year they won a free place at the World Championships in the Southern Alps of France and this time they were racing against 9 other elite teams on a 411km course, hoping to win a place in the next World Championships in Costa Rica in December.

The race began with several high altitude stages beginning with a trekking stage from the start at Al Arenal and passing the snow-capped slopes of Mount Chimborazo. During the trek the teams were racing through the snow themselves, and dealing with cold conditions and the debilitating effect of the lack of oxygen at high altitude.

All the elite teams were racing together as mixed sex teams of four, and they had to complete all the race disciplines and finish together. For this race they also had a support crew to meet them at checkpoints along the route, which is rare in expedition adventure racing these days.

The route was divided into 11 stages, including trekking, mountain biking, kayaking and ropes activities, including an abseil of 100m from overhanging cliffs high in the mountains. 
From early in the race Team Ecuador Explorer were racing at the front, using their experience and strength to establish a lead on the high altitude stages.

After the 105km mountain bike stage to checkpoint 4 all the teams were given a medical check-over to ensure their safety to continue at altitude. (There were also some pressurised Hyperbaric Chambers available for teams to rest in which simulate lower altitudes.)

After checkpoint 4 teams undertook another high altitude trek through the lakes of Atillo and Ozogoche, passing through the ‘paramo’ (high altitude Andean grasslands) of the Sangay National Park and ending with a hike between 2 of Ozogoche’s 45 lakes.

The second half of the route took the teams to lower altitudes and warmer climates, and this diversity of terrain, climate and ecology is one of the great attractions of racing an expedition length course in Ecuador. Alternating trekking and mountain biking stages took teams through checkpoints at the towns of Bolivia and Miraflores, and from a height of 3400m to the coast.

The only kayaking stage of the race came on the last but one stage, with a 33km paddle along the Rio San Antonio, and by this stage ‘Ecuador Explorer’ were a full 2 stages ahead of their nearest rivals. They completed the paddle and the final mountain biking stage to cross the line at 10.00 pm as convincing winners to retain their title and had a full night’s sleep before the second placed team arrived next morning.

After the race it was announced that in 2014 Huairasinchi will be the hosts of the Adventure Racing World Championships, welcoming teams from around the world who have participated in the AR World Series.

The next AR World Series race will be the Godzone Adventure Race, held between March 8th-16th in New Zealand.

For full details of the AR World Series see www.arworldseries.com and for information on Huariasinchi see www.proyectoaventura.com/6_203_home.html.

For further information and free for publication images please contact louise@arworldseries.com