Lycian Challenge Adventure Race LC 2014 - AREC
The Lycian Challenge Prepares for the AR European Championships
Rob Howard / 14.04.2014
The Lycian Challenge 2014 will take place in the ancient Lycian Region of South-Western Turkey, covering an area from the Mediterranean Sea to the peaks of the Western Tarus Mountains, an area recognized as a Unesco World Heritage Site.
The town of Fethiye, where Mediterranean and nomadic mountain cultures meet is now getting ready to host this year’s European Adventure Race Championships from April 29th to May 4th. The town on the S.W. Mediterranean coast is a popular tourist resort, with 45,000 beds and many recreational facilities.
The Lycian Challenge has been running since 2009 and is Turkey's first and only adventure race, taking place over 4 days and including 400km of challenging and historic terrain. Disciplines will include rope works, sea kayaking, canyoning and canoeing, along with trekking and mountain biking.
As the race is the AREC 2014 (Adventure Race European Championship) the winning team will be awarded a place by ARES in the Adventure Racing World Championship in Ecuador free of charge. The race has already attracted teams from all over Europe, including Estonia, Denmark, The Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Poland, Russia and the Czech Republic. There is even an entry from Team Trek Uruguay.
The race has been running for 5 years and for the last three years it has been a part of ARES. The Lycian Mountaineering Club are the organisers and their aim is to promote outdoor sports, tourism and to protect the environment.
The Club, with the support of the local governor and the local council is planning other events aiming to involve local people in adventure racing/ outdoor sports.
These include the Fethiye City Challenge; a 6 hour city adventure race for teams of two which will start on May 3rd and end with LC 2014. There will also be the Lycian Photo Challenge, which will last for three days. The theme of this photo-marathon will the race itself and professional photographers will be trying to get the best shot over the three days.
There will also be Adventure Movie Days – a series of concerts, shows and screenings of adventure films at which there will be race updates and news, so that local people can track the race.
The town of Fethiye will be a festival of adventure sports for the competing teams and for the locals between 29th April and 4th May 2014, and Europe’s top teams will get the chance to beautiful part of Turkey.
To find out more about the race visit the event website and Facebook Page.
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