Bienvenue! Welcome!

Anne-Marie Dunhill / 13.09.2012

The Adventure Racing World Championships (ARWC) 2012 are set to take place in the French Alps. The strongest teams from around the world have travelled to the sleepy town of L’Arentiere-La-Besse which is currently buzzing with racers. Gear checks started on September 11th and given the complexities of what the organizers are requiring of the racers it was a wise decision to start the mandatory gear checks early.

The race briefing is currently underway in the city hall decorated for the occasion with flags from each country present. The briefing began with a moving minute of silence in honor of Laurent “Lolo” Fabre of team Quechua who are at the briefing in black instead of their trademark green team uniform.

Pascal Bahaud, race director, then began the briefing in French with an English translation. Racers were reminded of the spirit of the race which all the organizers and volunteers adhere to: back to nature. The race will go through national parks in which it is extremely difficult to obtain authorizations to cross and also which promise to be stunningly beautiful. Each racer is expected to sign the charter “Back to Nature” and severe penalties will be applied for any team not respecting these rules.As well, the organizers have been very adamant that any team reporter who communicates information during the race to their team will be grounds for immediate disqualification for the team in question.

Maps and roadbooks  will only be distributed once the race has officially started so map preparation will not be taking place late into the night prior to the race. Distribution of the maps to the international medias will also take place in the same manner so everyone is in the same boat concerning the discovery of the race route.

Although the atmosphere was laid back and cheerful throughout the previous days leading up to the race, the tension is palpable in the briefing as teams carefully study the information that was distributed upon entering the room and ears juggle between French and English. The opening ceremonies will take place afterwards and then the race starts tomorrow, Friday the 14th with a prologue in the village which will determine the order in which the teams will start the race on Saturday. Finally, as the race was criticized last year for bussing teams to the race start; which racers felt was not in keeping with their ethic of Back to Nature, this year all teams will be biking to the starting line, leaving at 04:00 for a race start at 06:00. 

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