ITERA - Presented by Open Adventure
ITERA - A Coast to Coast Journey Through Wales
Rob Howard / 07.08.2014
The AR World Series returns to the U.K. this weekend, or more specifically to Wales, the location for ITERA, the latest expedition race from Open Adventure.
For this event the Open Adventure team have pulled in adidas TERREX navigator Tom Gibbs as course planner and he has produced a liner, coast to coast route, starting in Caernarfon in the North, and travelling south to finish in Cardiff. On the way he promises, “We have also focussed on taking the race to some of the best spots in Wales; not just in terms of scenery but also historically and culturally. So for the foreign teams it’s not just a race but an adventure holiday where they will see famous sites like castles and if they are really lucky, a dragon!”
Race Director James Thurlow says, “We have designed a race format and course that will allow all the teams to finish. The race will be achievable yet challenging to all levels. We are not planning to design the hardest adventure race ever, in fact quite the opposite; we want it to be fun, interesting and an accessible event. Every night we will provide access to warm and dry shelter.”
The course will be 660km at its longest, covered over 5 days with and with a maximum of 18,000m of ascent. Wales may not have big mountains, but it has a lot of them! It’s possible to find a route from North to South of the country which is 90% mountain terrain, and no doubt teams are looking at this as try to second guess where the course will go.
They don’t know yet of course, but have been given an outline of the stages to help with their planning, which you can see at http://itera.co.uk/racesummary.pdf
The teams are gathering in Cardiff on Friday/Saturday ready for a prologue event on Saturday evening at Cardiff Bay, then they will travel to an overnight camp on Sunday and start the race at 08.00 Monday morning in Caernarfon. Then the race is on back to Cardiff!
The live coverage website for the race is already active at http://live.itera.co.uk/index.htm
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