the hARz Adventure Race 2015
Entries Open for the hARz 2015
News Release / 30.10.2014
European Adventure racers have had to wait a year but the next edition of the hARz Adventure Race is scheduled for the last weekend of April 2015.
In the last few years the hARz has become the largest 24+ race in Northern Europe hosting teams from numerous countries. Adventure Racer and organizer Winfried Bats started the race in 2009 with 20 teams from nine countries with 22 and 40 hour category. In 2013 nearly ninety teams from all over the world came to race the North German race and meanwhile the race had been adjusted to approximately 32 hours PRO category and 32 hours CHALLENGER category including an obligatory 4-6 hours rest. Teams from many different countries such as Brazil, Russia, the States, Switzerland, Denmark and of course the Netherlands – Winfried’s country of residence enjoyed the wonderful nature of the Harz region.
After many visit´s to the neighbouring country Winfried thought the famous German area and it´s national park would be excellent for racing. “Although the area contains many lakes most of them are water reserves for drinking and therefore not fit for outdoor sports. So it´s quite unique the 2015 has a 10 kilometre canoeing section planned. But on the other hand the lack of a water section made the race even tougher, forcing the racers to race longer on foot and with no time to settle down for a nice paddle stroke. Because of the national park and the many nature reserves it’s not easy to organize the race every year. We are very pleased our good friend Thomas Trautmann of the Harz Sport Association helps us with all the permits so we can do what we do best: planning a good race”.
“There are hardly any races up in the North of Europe with enough ascending and descending meters and longer than 24 hours. Racing in the Harz is very popular in Denmark and the Netherlands. Being Dutch and knowing the Dutch racing community helps to reach the Dutch racers. I’m still surprised hardly any German team visits the race. It’s likely to have more Polish than German teams. The German teams who visit us mostly have raced with us from the start in 2009”.
The next edition of the hARz adventure race will be challenging right from the start. After a short orienteering stage on foot the teams will start with a challenging mountain biking section in which they will need to carry and push their bicycle. The long trek right after will spread the teams before they start canoeing, for almost all teams in the dark. After leaving the water a run & bike section will follow, and more mountain biking and city orienteering.
“In 2013 we thought it couldn’t get any better but now we’re not sure about that. It’s a challenging and hard race again with beautiful scenery and many up’s and down’s, both in altitude as from a mental point of view. We can’t wait to see all those teams anxious to race and see them push themselves hard to their own personal limits. It’s great to see all these races from different levels having so much fun and finishing with smiles on their faces”.
There will be a new and unique category in 2015: the ESTARFETTE. A few four person Dutch teams, including a one-(wo)man support crew, will be allowed to enter the special business category. Two racers will be on the racetrack while the others prepare for the next stage. They will use gps including the route but where the cp’s are missed out. The teams have to promote themselves to the organisers and tell them why they should be the ones who will receive a free admission ticket worth 2000 € (including guidance by a personal coach, a video documentary etc.)
The team will be guided by an outdoor coach and a video documentary will be made, to be used for promotion of this new business event category. “We believe many people love the idea of adventure racing but think its way out of their reach. We want to challenge these people and offer them the opportunity of discovering their limits as a team and having that feeling of being proud as a team when finishing. Especially teams within the business will be able to grow as well as a team as individually, and find that problems they encounter in the business life can be solved when everyone works together. This will be an interesting moment for these teams as well as for us,” Winfried explains.
If you’re in to some tough international racing at an event that has earned its good name you should really start of the 2015 race season at the hARz in Northern Germany.
More info: www.thehARz.com
Race: Friday April 24th – Sunday April 26th. Start of race: Saturday April 25th
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