I am sure many of us who do adventure racing get this question quite often…  “What is Adventure Racing?”

When I try to answer this question, my answer always feels inadequate.  On the surface, an adventure race is a team endurance activity that requires using a map and compass to navigate your way around a course to find checkpoints using different athletic disciplines.  But what does that mean?

 To adventure race properly, you need a team, you need to navigate around the course with a map and compass (no directional signs showing you the course route), and you may be jogging or trekking one section, biking another section, kayaking a third section, biking again, then getting on an SUP on flat water, then jogging again, and so on. Each leg of the course has different athletic disciplines that the team must use while finding the checkpoints (orange and white flags in the woods or on the shoreline). 

Let’s break this down a little further.

As a team you are relying on your wit and will to get through the course, as much as your gear and your physical fitness.

The Team

The team is a key element of adventure racing.  It is the team dynamics which helps the team move through the course.  If you have a dysfunctional team, you are not getting very far very fast.  It is the team camaraderie and communication that propels the team forward successfully.  There is a special bond between the teammates.  As a team you are relying on your wit and will to get through the course, as much as your gear and your physical fitness.  

There is truth in the saying “your team is only as strong as the weakest link.”  Your team is like a series of links chained together.  The team can only take as much as the weakest link.  And your weakest link changes as the race progresses, because each person will go through their highs and lows throughout the course of the race. As a team, you must support each other through those highs and lows to get the entire team to the finish.  

There are always the basics that you need for a team.  What are the team roles?  Each person on the team can have a specific role to help the team be successful.  Here are a few to consider when looking at your team and what strengths each individual brings to the table.  

• Team Leader – the person who makes the final decision after listening to his/her teammates ideas and thoughts. 
• Transition Area Leader – the person who keeps everyone moving in the transition area, determining who needs assistance, ensuring everyone is eating and resupplying properly, and keeping an eye on time to ensure the team gets out of the TA in the time designated.  
• The Pack Mule – the person who has enough strength to carry other team members’ packs if they are struggling.  
• The Cheerleader – the person who encourages their teammates throughout the course and reminds them to eat and drink.  This role helps keep everyone’s energy and positive attitude up.  There are any number of other roles each team can decide to incorporate into their team.  Teams may wish to designate these roles ahead of time.  
• Lead Navigator? – Many teams do have a Lead Navigator, one person who does all the navigation and relies on their teammates for suggestions and feedback through the course…

However, I have been on teams where navigation is shared between the team.  Each leg is handed off to a new navigator.  This scenario has worked well for me, but you must trust each person to be the navigator.  If you do not have trust, then arguments and hurt feelings will occur.  Whether you have a Lead Navigator or multiple navigators, teams should also consider how involved in navigation teammates should be.  Even when I am on a team with a Lead Navigator, I want to see the map and understand where we are on the course.  I do not wish to be completely in the dark, following blindly.

Endurance

When adventure racing first came on the world scene, it was a multi-discipline, multi-day, co-ed team, navigation event.  It was an endurance sport. 

The goal of adventure racing is to challenge you.

Training and teaching your body to move nearly non-stop for hours on end is a key part of that challenge.  Do we stop for lunch? No. Do we sleep at night? As little as possible.  Do we take the trail or snake through the woods?  

This is an endurance sport that allows you to make it as long as you like within the time allowed. Often I hear the question, “how long is the course?”  That answer is different for each team.  If you are running a perfect race it’ll be way shorter.  But few of us run a perfect race.  We have to back track.  We may take a longer route to get to the next checkpoint.  We may try one route only to be blocked by a cliff, needing to skirt around it.  We may not pick up all the checkpoints in the designated time.  Therefore, while it is a long course, each team determines how long through their decisions.  

Additionally when I would say, “I am doing a 30 hour race,” people would be shocked.  The thought crosses their mind that I am running for 30 hours.  Not so. I am allowed to get as many checkpoints as I can in 30 hours.  But exactly how many hours I am on the move and how many miles I travel is determined by me and my team.  In the early hours of the morning, when our bodies want to sleep, we are not moving fast but hopefully making few navigation errors.  This is an endurance sport that can also be a stroll in the woods for 30 hours.

Navigation

Adventure racing would not be adventure racing if navigation was not an element of the sport.  The race course is never marked.  There are no signs telling you where you are (unless there happen to be signs created by the public land managers at trailheads and roads).  Knowing how to ‘read’ a topographic map and use a compass is the only way a team can get around a course in an adventure race.  Even following other teams is dangerous, they might be wrong or if you lose touch with them you’ll have no idea where you’re at.

Learning how to navigate in an adventure race is a course in itself and takes practice to master.  Novices can start by getting comfortable with using a compass and map.  Take a topographic map with you when you are hiking on your favorite trails.  Practice identifying drainages, high points, and hill sides while you walk seeing them on the map and on the ground.  Use your compass to keep track of the direction you are traveling.  Get a feel for the landscape around you and the map you are holding.  

A very good resource is the book by Mark Lattanzi called Squiggly Lines.  Read through this book and start practicing.  

Athletic Disciplines

Adventure Racing includes four main disciplines, although others may be included.  The four main disciplines are navigation (using USGS topographic maps often 1:24,000 in scale and a compass), biking (single track, gravel roads, paved roads, and bike-whacking), trekking (on and off trail), and paddling (flat water to white water).  Other disciplines may include ropes (rappelling, climbing), zipline, team challenges, swimming, paddle boarding, snowshoeing, and whatever else the race director can get permitted. Really, the sky is the limit for the other disciplines, but all these various racing legs center around navigation.

Typically, if you can mountain bike with some amount of proficiency, if you can hike and use a paddle in a boat to travel across a body of water, you can adventure race.  Throughout the race, teams are transitioning from one discipline to another to another.  You are typically on one mode of transportation for just long enough to start day dreaming for the next leg.  Adventure racing is a series of ‘looking forward” to transitioning to the next discipline.  

Planning

I covered the key elements of adventure racing above, but I also want to emphasize one last element, and that is planning.  Because of the team dynamics, endurance requirements, navigation requirements, and numerous athletic disciplines, planning out your race is an absolute necessity.  You cannot go into an adventure race without some planning.  When I am preparing for any length race, but especially a multi-day race, there is the food planning, the gear planning, the staging planning, the training planning, and the physical comfort planning.   You must do a lot of thinking before the race even begins. 

How I manage this planning period is through spreadsheets.  I will have a tab on food – how many calories I need and what exactly am I going to eat.  A variety of food is a good thing.  I will have a tab on gear.  There is the mandatory gear and then there is the gear I want to have for comfort.  Do I need extra layers of clothes and a second pair of shoes?  How often do I want to change out my socks? I will have a tab for what goes in my bin, what is in my pack, and what is in the paddle bag.  On that page I may also have how I will divide up my gear/food in the bin so that it is easy for me to grab what I need in the transition area and head out on the next leg.  

While it is impossible to plan for everything that will happen during a race, the planning period is helpful for preparing yourself and your team as much as possible to get through the many challenges an adventure race hands out. 

So… what is adventure racing again? 

It is the greatest sport out there.  To learn more on what is adventure racing, continue exploring this site, reading the articles, watching a few lessons and listening to the podcast episodes.  You’ll learn what adventure racing is and why it is an excellent sport to participate in. 

For other information on adventure racing, visit the USARA website and view a short video on adventure racing created by Adventure Racing World Series.