Just watched a 6 day race on CH4 thinking to myself, its just middle class folk wanting a 'challenge' for them selves, and that pat on the back 'I'm bloody brilliant' or have I got it wrong? How much are the race fees, must put it out of the reach of most people, and they hardly look like athletes at the peak of performance, just fitter than average office workers who gloat about how good they are when they run 20k's a day in to the office preparing for the next race….

All sorts of adventure races not just 6 day ones etc.

good fun too
http://www.openadventure.com/index.php

And why shouldn't middle-class folk enjoy a challenge? Nobody's making you either do it or watch it (and I assume Ch4 have it on because there's an audience).

As to what the point of it is. The clue's in the title – adventure.

How much are the race fees, must put it out of the reach of most people, and they hardly look like athletes at the peak of performance, just fitter than average office workers who gloat about how good they are when they run ride 240k's a day in to the office preparing for the next race 24….

why is it any less pointless than a days bike ride across a few fields and through the woods?

nice troll tho'

Granted it's not as extreme as wolf raping, but it's still tougher than wobbling round FC scalelextric course in a bit of wood with a big carpark that excites many people on here 🙂

Ah, Mr Chief beat me too it 🙂

What is the point of any racing? Darts? Football (apart from a load of drongoes being able to earn startling amounts of money)? Snooker? Le Tour?

It's a little bit of a challenge, something to do when you're not working? Who cares?

what's the point of anything, in that case?
i'd have thought that the 'point' of adventure racing is simple; people do it because they want to do it. same as anything you or i do really.

What an utterly pointless thread.

Substitute 'adventure race' with 'enduro', '24 hour' or any other not-quite-XC mountainbike race and you can as the same question and come to the same conclusions.

I've done a few of the challengerworld series events( in UK and Europe) with work paying the entry fees, as they're crippling high. About 5 K for a team of 4 for 3 days in europe…

As above, I have a chioce of 3 days in the office or 5 days out of said craphole (with travelling time ) having a laugh and seeing nice places. Durrrrr…

What's the point of the OP?

A lot of the best adventure racers are older anyway, it's about endurance and not speed. Personally I love them, what's not to like about racing for hours on end in shitty weather, knowing that the only respite for your legs is the kayak stage you're approaching.

I'm not good enough to race bikes, but I'm a good enough biker to adventure race when you factor everything else in.

Adventure races are brilliant! There are there for ANYONE who wants a challenge, and for me it's about doing differen sports to give your body an all over fitness rather than say just cycling fitness.
I do the Helly Hansen days ones http://www.trailplus.com
They are £45 to enter, last one took me 4 1/2 hours we had a brilliant day out, I was exhausted at the end, knowing I've entered one give me motivation to train in the manky weather and a sense of pride when I finish it, i'm not expecting a pat on the back from anyone. You get a small goodie bag with some freebies, T-shirt, gloves etc but overall it's just another fun day out. I often wish I could afford to enter some of the longer ones.

But as above, what's the point in an ultra-marathon or any of these other crazy things that other people (maybe not me) enjoy. Silly thread but can understand a lot of people think it's silly .. normally because they aren't fit enough to compete themselves.

I did the london rat race this year and it was a lot of fun – get to use a few different skills including navigating, ride and run around bits of the city I'd never been to before, and do things you wouldn't normally be allowed to (like abseil off the roof of the Honorable Artillery Company building), all with a couple of mates and several hundred other people.

Was great, will be doing it this year too, and I quite fancy doing one of the non-urban ones. Variety is good.

I did the London Rat Race this year too, saw amazing parts of london never would have seen, along miles of canals through Epping Forest. Abseiling and kayaking all within the city (got sponsored entry which helps as think it was £75 ish otherwise) but loved it none the less.

the point?

fun.

I've done a number of multi day adventure races specifically southern traverse primal quest and xpd a few times. Longest was 6.5 days with 11h sleep covering about 900k.
As to the point ? Well as a middle class it professional this sets me a challenge and I have an enormous feeling of self being when I finish 😉
these things are very hard. I've been racing for about 7 years and they still break me although we do race at the pointy end. Sounds like you want to do one but lack the balls to put yourself and your fragile ego on display. These races strip you to your basic functions and make you work as a team like no other conditions can replicate. Great fun and while expensive way less than the cost of a new bike.

funky I heard of an event you might likke:

Extreme "chip on your shoulder" Internet-forum posting marathons – there's a section for the working class!

I assume you watched the ARWC then, the portugal one ? Interesting race, friends raced it (orionHealth and Nga Rakau) – seemed more of a lottery than normal which is normal for that race director.
We raced the ARWC here in NZ in 2005 and let me tell you that had you been there you would have understood the concept a bit more clearly – it was the adventure to end all adventures with some really quite scary moments (nose diving the kayak into the beach in a surf landing on leg 1 was an inauspicious start!).
The multi-day format is slowly retreating which is sad really, honestly, people are getting soft and want to have a decent kip every night. Dunno whats with that, i think the concept of sleep deprivation and sleep management is part of the whole thing. Navigating tricky terrain while knackered is quite fun.

And your comment about fitness interests me – i think you'll find that most of the people who do these races are significantly fitter, stronger and harder than your average Joe. But then, you've never tried so you wouldn;t know. All i can suggest is you give it a whirl, its avery addicitive sport and all the people i have met through it are decent, honest, fun, driven people who generally like to have a yarn and drink a few beers afterwards. Which is more than i can say for triathletes 😆

Anyway thats 2 posts in a row so you've obviously touched my middle class nerves

How much is a mountain bike? Must put them out of the reach of most people….

Granted it's not as extreme as wolf raping, but it's still tougher than wobbling round FC scalelextric course in a bit of wood with a big carpark that excites many people on here

Nail. Head. Where can I post your award for the 'best response to a thread this year' award? 🙂

oh and btw – I'm totally intrigued by wold raping….

How much are the race fees, must put it out of the reach of most people, and they hardly look like athletes at the peak of performance, just fitter than average office workers who gloat about how good they are when they run 20k's a day in to the office preparing for the next race….

How's your MTB history? Or weren't you paying proper attention? The 2nd place team in the race you were watching included a certain Mike Kloser – just fitter than the average office worker?

I don't think you have a great understanding of the physical challenges involved in an event such as this – of course they didn't look that speedy after 5 days with very little sleep, but you'll find looks are deceptive and they were actually moving rather faster than you might think. Meanwhile those at the sharp end won't be going that much faster at the start of such an event as they know what lays ahead. Put them in a 24 hour or less race and see them move at frightening speed.

Lots of people "just fitter than the average office worker" go out and compete in various small scale UK races, and find that whilst they might get somewhere near the top, breaking into the top 3 is a totally different story, as the people you're speaking of are in a totally different league.

Edit – realised I forgot to put a comment about the race fees. Yes it's expensive, but actually very good value when you look at what you're getting compared to typical MTB races etc. The thing is it's still far from unaffordable – about the cost of a holiday plenty of normal people manage to find the money for. Then again you might have noticed that the teams at the sharp end tend to be named after various companies, some larger than others – that's because the athletes on the teams have proved themselves over the years and will typically be getting supported in terms of fees and other things (a lot of sponsorship deals don't extend to paying for entry fees, but I'd expect most of the top 10 didn't pay for their own – I managed that on one occasion at the ARWC when I was on a team sponsored by a very large multinational outdoor company).

Yeah Rich(ard Ussher) is an average athlete as well…assume you can knock out an Ironman in 8h4min despite it not being your chosen sport ?
Having raced Nike, Rich et al its quite amazing how fast they actually go – all the time ! We've placed 4th before and been 12h behind the winners over 4.5 days and we were severely shifting and not sleeping.

Ranulph Fiennes used to do lots of adventure racing for training. He's not exactly a fitter than average office worker. Or middle class. Apart from Ranulph I thought we were all middle class now? Or have we plunged back into the 70s without me noticing?

I'm a middle class wannabe.

Ranulph Fiennes used to do lots of adventure racing for training. He's not exactly a fitter than average office worker.

Interesting comment – he's a bit unfit compared to the team who won the ARWC (and he's raced with at least one of that team).

Yes, he wasn't very good at adventure racing. Says it all really.

Did the microsoft challenge uk last year. As people have pointed out it's better than sitting in an office and we raised a few hundred k for NSPCC. Good fun, I wouldn't had said the average competitor was particularly fit, but the top teams are pretty good.

Really good fun tho.

Quite fancy a go, a mate has done some of the OpenAdventure events and though tough loved it. Entry fees aren't that much when you consider the disciplines involved, triathlon entries are about 50quid a pop!

As for the 'office' worker jibe, just finishing in one piece is an achievement. Winning is a whole different game, just look at the background of teams like Quechua and ATP/Salomon.

genesis – go for it. I did an Open12 a couple of years ago, and it was a slick event with cracking organisation, and a true test. My enduring memory is bonking at 6am on the edge of Ladybower, and sorting myself out with a packet of oatcakes and a dunk in a freezing river.

Highly recommended.

We ran an Open12 at Llandegla last year, best organised outdoor pusuits event I've ever seen and all the competitors were decent people too. My event of choice is triathlon for this year though.

I've been doing the Questars (5 or 6 hour) races for a few years now.

They are well organised events, with a very good atmosphere and camaraderie between competitors. MTBing sections aren't always that technical – I reckon a CX bike would be perfect for the New Forest round but some ace riding during the Brecon Beacon round.

I do the races with a mate and we get our asses kicked by the racing snakes who are putting in 900+ points a race but it's always pleasing to set a new PB points-wise. We won our class last year which is a damn good feeling.

Tried the Ace Races. Lots of mincing around talking about kit. Not that different to mountain bikers or climbers etc.

However I do refer to them as Buff Wearing Buffons , and the whole format seems very contrived 'adventure'. Prefer the idea of KIMM (now OMM) etc to a typical adventure race format. But lots of people seem to enjoy adventure racing. At least I can now take the pee out of my firends having tried several.

Everybody shold do an event that tests them up to, and then just beyond, their maximum at least once in their lives.

We all have a different level of maximum, but the challenge is just the same, if you catch my drift?!

🙂

But its all set out, helicopter back up, food tents on every corner. Its hardly and adventure is it? More of a well supported off road race.

the only point of any hobbies and sport are to divert people from the fact that their lives are completely bereft of any higher purpose. anything that distracts people from that is a good thing, it happens that adventure racing is their personal interest. fair play them.

Granted there are a few corporate challenge type things that do seem to cater more for middle management giving something other than golf a try, but don't think that's what adventure racing is. The rest of your rant was rubbish, and if you think you don't have to be particularly fit to do well at one maybe you should give it a try.

As for the big multi-day races being expensive- what's your point? How are they ever going to be cheap? And does that mean they shouldn't exist or people shouldn't do them?

Adventure racing is pointless – if you are a fat troll living under a bridge you get your kicks in other ways 🙂

I talked at some length to a woman who did a lot of these once. She was definitely very serious, very fit and a total loony. She was telling a tale about a race that involved her carrying a sea kayak across a moor for 5 hours, at night.

I marked it down as a perfectly good way to spend your time, if you're a loony, and resolved never, ever to do one. But I have plenty of respect for the loonies who do. 😀