A Winter Race in the Cyprus Sun

Rob / 13.09.2002

With few winter races in the UK the new Cyprus Adventure Odyssey offers the chance to escape to warmer weather and race in February. It’s the idea of David Ogden, the British team manager of International Adventurers, who lives in Cyprus and he’s got backing from the Paphos Chamber of Commerce to stage the island’s first race.

The dates are February 15th-21st and the race will be an unsupported ‘expedition style’ event for 4 person mixed teams over about 500km of the beautiful Cyprus countryside and coastline. It will be a 3–5 day race including trekking, mountain biking, coasteering, sea kayaking, rope work and ‘some surprises’. The entry fee isn’t set yet but David is expecting an international field and entries are limited to 50 teams with a closing date in December.

It’s an appealing idea as the climate in Cyprus at that time of year is mild, an average of around 17C during the day falling to 3C at night on the hills. (The sea temperature is about 16C.) We asked David how plans for the race were progressing and here’s what he had to say:

” I’ve nearly completed a full survey of the course which is over 500K - at the cost of three punctures and one new tyre on my Landrover Discovery together with drowning of my GPS whilst coasteering this week.”

” Navigation will be difficult with only 1:100,000 scale maps so I might make GPS a compulsory piece of equipment. I am generally avoiding major (tarred roads). Once in the hills the dirt roads wend along valleys and steep hillsides so it’s not unusual to travel 15K to cover a distance of 2K as the crow flies! On a couple of the legs I have introduced waypoints to guide teams to a particular route. I’m also hoping to have a big abseil on the course if I can get the local forces to set it up. ”

” I will finalise the course over the next month or so and do it myself now that the weather is cooling a little. I hope I have a balanced course which favours no particular discipline. I would like it to be a tough race but am also looking at ways to cater for novices by perhaps having some options for a shorter course.”

” The race will be an International event, hopefully with teams from South Africa, US, UK , France and perhaps some local teams. The entry fee will include accommodation before and after the event, a prize giving and the hire of sit-on-top sea kayaks. I\'m also trying to arrange discounted flights and excess baggage waivers. ”

The race web site is still being worked on but anyone wanting more details can e-mail David.