Huairasinchi Adventure Racing World Championship 2024
The World Championship Contenders ... Who will win in Ecuador?
Rob Howard / 29.11.2024
The 20th Adventure Racing World Championship is about to start in Ecuador, so it’s a landmark race, and one which should deliver a great competition.
With the top ten ranked teams in the world taking part the field is stacked and there are no real big-hitters missing. On top of that the race is Huairasinchi in Ecuador and that means there are some very strong Ecuadorian teams who are capable of winning.
Huairasinchi is the oldest race in the World Series (first run in 2003) and the racing community in Ecuador has two decades of experience of world class racing to draw on. There are currently two teams from Ecuador in the world top 25 (and have been as many as 4 quite recently), and that is despite the challenges of funding international trips to race.
On top of that they have the benefit of ‘home advantage’. That’s not just the intangible benefits of map and terrain familiarity, or it being easier to find shelter or ask the way, there is the altitude too. The race is based in Cuenca at 2,400 m /7,800 feet in the Andean foothills, and although the race say there will be no prolonged exposure to altitude the teams will likely be above 3000m some of the time and that will impact performance if unacclimatised.
(Many of the top teams have been in Ecuador acclimatizing for many days before the race, and Brazil Multisport arrived 10 days early.)
So, let’s start with the teams to watch from Ecuador. The highest ranked at #8 is Life Adventure Imptek and they were 10th in South Africa last year. They are consistent but not historically winners and their record shows four 2nd places at Huairasinchi ... but maybe that is all the incentive they need!
At #24 in the rankings are Andes Racing Ecuador and although a relatively new team they have huge experience, and won Huairasinchi last year and Panama AR this year. Felipe Munchmeyer is a 5 time Huairasinchi winner and along with the experienced Dani Costa Tobar is joined by Nick Gracie and Joaquin Lopez. Both have many Huairsinchi’s behind them, Gracie is a former World Champion and Lopez was 3rd at UTMB this year. (Gracie has 8 wins in ARWS races in S. America, but has not won Huairasinchi.)
Then there are ‘The Legends’, led by Martin Saenz, a 4x Huairasinchi winner, the last in 2022 with Jari Kirkland who is racing again. They are joined by Victoria Calisto and Luis Neumann who have been Huairasinchi regulars for over a decade.
Of course the team to beat is Swedish Armed Forces Adventure Team (SAFAT), the defending champions and unbeaten in ARWS since the loss to the mighty Avaya at the World Champs in Paraguay in 2022. They field the same team which won in South Africa last year. Can they be 3x champions, in what will be the last world champs for some on the team?
Trying to beat them will be a big group of world class teams looking for a first world title.
Brazil Multipsort are joined again by Thai strong man ‘Super Jay’ Jantaraboon and have prepared thoroughly. They badly want to be the first South American World Champions.
Vidaraid has the same team which so memorably raced through the field to second place last year in South Africa. They have so many ARWS wins on their record, but no elusive world title. Mari Chandler is with them again and won Huairasinch 3x in a row, racing with Movistar Ecuador.
Estonian ACE La Sportiva are similarly looking for a world title after so often being in contention and the same can be said for 400team of France, who will be seeking redemption after a missed checkpoint last year.
Bend Racing/4 Hour Fuel will lead the US/Canadian challenge and race as two couples, unless Team Expedition Canada can get ahead of them, and Uruguay Ultra Sports will add to the strong South American challenge.
Another top 10 team is Merrell Songlines (RSA), who have had some setbacks but arrive as Expedition Africa Namibia winners with the added experience and power of Martin and Jeannie Dreyer.
Fear Youth are in the top 10 as well, now with more experience to go with their speed and they are ambitious for a podium place.
There are other contenders for the podium too, the consistent Black Hill (Czechia), Gymcity AR (Poland), Blizzard Argentina and the French/Brazilian mix of Aksa Expenature.fr in particular.
It looks set to be a close and fascinating race and a great dot-watch.
This is the place to go to follow all the action (and you can message teams as well) https://live.enabledtracking.com/ARWC2024/
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