Fulda Challenge Selection Begins

News Release / 22.03.2005

The search for the 2006 UK Fulda Challenge team has begun. Application forms for the extreme arctic adventure were given out at the Royal Marine Commando stand at The Outdoors Show last weekend and applicants can now apply online.

Just a couple of months after the Italian team won the 2005 event, budding athletes, adventure racers and triathletes are being encouraged to submit an entry for next year’s challenge. It’s an adventure that requires only the highest levels of stamina and fitness.

One of the world’s toughest winter sports endurance competitions, the Fulda Challenge takes place early each year in the Yukon Territory of Canada. After touching down in the Yukon’s capital of Whitehorse, the demanding schedule for the weeklong event sees the teams cover 2,000km surrounded by spectacular frozen scenery.

Renowned for its top quality winter sports facilities, the Yukon is Canada’s northern frontier and is already preparing to host the 2007 Canada Winter Games.

The selected UK competitors will face tough competition from teams all over Europe, Canada and USA. The teams, constituting one man and one woman, will drive in a convoy of Toyota Rav4s to combat testing winter driving conditions.
During the challenge they will travel north to Dawson City, the heart of the Klondike Gold Rush, where they will battle temperatures as low as -50°C. From there they will continue up the Dempster Highway to Eagle Plains and the Arctic Circle. For some of the events the teams may also move south and cross the Canadian border to Skagway, Alaska, USA.

The teams will compete in several exhausting daily challenges. They will face a range of endurance and technical events, including mountain running, half-marathon to the Arctic Circle, mountain biking, biathlon, 4x4 driving, ski-doo racing and husky sledding.

Short-listed applicants will be invited to attend an initial selection event, which will be held at the Commando Training Centre Royal Marines in Lympstone, Devon. The PT Instructors will put the applicants through their paces over the weekend of 18-19 June 2005.

Up to five men and five women will be selected to compete in the final Fulda Challenge elimination event, which takes place in Sulden, Italy in late September/early October 2005. Here the UK team will be chosen to compete in the Fulda Challenge, which takes place in January/February 2006.

Apply online now at www.fulda-tyres.co.uk.