Nonstop Explorer
Nonstop Explorer, Ecuadorian qualifying race for the 2014 AR World Championship
Press Release / 14.08.2014
On August 2 and 3, the third edition of the Nonstop Explorer 24-hour adventure race was held in Ecuador. The race was organized by Proyecto Aventura, the race organizers of this year’s Adventure Racing World Championship: HUAIRASINCHI Explorer 2014 in Quito, Ecuador.
The Nonstop Explorer race began three years ago, with the aim of opening up a new space to practice adventure racing in Ecuador and to motivate novice athletes to live a new experience and prepare for longer duration adventure races, like HUAIRASINCHI and other international races, for example within the AR World Series.
In 2013 and 2014, Nonstop served as a qualifying race for national teams looking to participate in HUAIRASINCHI’s 12th edition, serving as host of the AR World Championship in Ecuador. Each year approximately 30 teams register to participate in Nonstop. The race also forms part of the Latin American Adventure Racing Series (CLCA, acronym in Spanish). The CLCA is an initiative that looks to promote adventure racing in the region, with teams from countries like Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay.
In 2013, the Nonstop Explorer’s route was officially called the Route of the Pucará. Pucará are pre-Incan forts located in high-altitude mountains and hills with strategic views of the surrounding areas. The 2013 race course was 130 kilometers long and raced more or less the entire trajectory along the equator line. In this race, three Ecuadorian teams qualified for the 2014 AR World Championship: Explorer-Asertec-USFQ, with a total time of 18 hours, 17 minutes; The North Face- Ateneas-USFQ, 18 hours, 18 minutes; and FEDEME, 18 hours and 36 minutes.
In 2014, the race course was designated the name Route of the Bears, in honor of the reserves and conservation sites through which the race passed that are dedicated to the protection of the Andean spectacled bear. The route was 125 km long, and crossed multiple nature and community reserves, villages, and humid, cloud forests close to Quito. The first three complete teams to cross the finish line and qualify for the 2014 AR World Championship were: FAIRIS, who completed the route in 24 hours and 23 minutes; Ideal Alambrec, in 25 hours, 41 minutes; and PUCE, 26 hours and 17 minutes.
The very first team to cross the finish line in the 2014 edition of the Nonstop Explorer was team FEDEME, with a total time of 21 hours, 04 minutes. Since they had already qualified the previous year, the first place’s qualifying points were passed down to the second complete team, and so on until the three qualifying places were filled. FEDEME’s aim in participating this year was to train and prepare for HUAIRASINCHI Explorer in November.
Ecuadorian adventure teams are getting ready to participate in this year’s Adventure Racing World Championship, and are extremely motivated to race in a world cup on their home soil. The final few Ecuadorian teams who will be able to participate based on the points they averaged in the two Nonstop races will be decided this week to complete the roster of Ecuadorian teams in the World Championship.
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