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Underground Racing in China

Mark Thirlwall (Team Chiru Endurance Bikes) / 27.04.2010

This race is now in its 3rd year of operation and continuing to grow exponentially year on year. The start up line is impressive, not just the athletes but also the official representation of the both local and Beijing government involvement. What is most impressive of all is the interest at all levels of government to be involved and promote these events, not just domestically but also internationally.

The race itself is situated in Baise county, in the town of Leye. It’s around 8 hours drive from the capital city of Guanxi Province – Nanning. The area is more than stunning. Quite honestly the area holds all the temptations of travel combined with such a brilliantly organized race which is managed each year by China Mountaineering Society.

What is obvious as soon as arriving in the area is the limestone Karst mountain. The same rock formation that continues up from southern Thailand in Krabi to Halong Bay – Vietnam, Southern Guanxi – Yangshuo and eventually to Baise today. These stunning steep rock races, mixed with rice terraces and small minority villages perched up on mountain saddles where the glowing smiles of excited children, make one big dent in the memory of adventure racing for me.

The race is divided over 4 days named as a 3 stage race. 1 stage runs over 2 days as a continuous stage taking racers into the night and then the following day on an epic 36km kayak challenge. Each team consists of 4 people, 3 males and 1 female is to cover the total course together at all times, sometimes by means of towing and pushing, but all teams must arrive as a single group at the end of each section of each stage.

The race this year attracted a field of 31 teams from as many countries as: Sweden, USA, France, Finland, New Zealand, Germany, Norway, Denmark, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia and of course from all over China as well as Taiwan and HK. During this years race, teams will cover the disciplines of Mt. biking, off road running, caving, ropes courses, kayaking, swimming and numerous other small challenges along the way. The total course distance is around 400km with the winning team expected to cover this distance in approx. 28 hours.

Our team this year are Chiru Endurance Bikes, named after the newly established bike brand set up by Pierre-Arnaud Le Magnan. Our team are almost all French speaking, Both Pierre and Tony are native French, Claire is from Britain but has lived many of her years in France, and me (Mark), I’m from Australia and am now improving my French day by day!

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