The Adventure 1 World Cup Series kicks off this weekend with the African World Cup stop rolling out at the Vasbyt Expedition Race. The event is hosted by the highly experienced expedition racer Graham Bird who is known to put on a real “racer’s race”. Set in the Drakensberg region of South Africa, teams will be challenged with long stages of trekking, mounting biking and packrafting. The course is open for 100 hours with a predicted winning time of around 72 hours. Teams with a keen eye will note that a passport is required mandatory equipment as the course crosses the border in to Lesotho. Many of the local teams will use the event as an opportunity to train for the ARWS World Championships which occur later this year in South Africa, including one of the Vasbyt race favourites, the Cyanosis Adventure Racing Team.
With the recent confirmation at the Adventure 1 series will be expanding to Tanzania later this year, there are plenty of exciting things happening for the growth of adventure racing on the African continent. You can follow all the action for the Vasbyt via the link below:
The national Adventure 1 series in each country culminates in its continental World Cup stop, giving teams the opportunity to test their skills against the best in the region over an expedition length race course. Following from the African race World Cup this weekend, the series heads to the South American World Cup with the Haka Expedition Race in Brazil in late April. As one of only around four expedition races to run in South America this year, this is sure to be a highly competitive race given the vibrant adventure racing scene in Brazil supported by the Circuito Brasileiro de Corrida de Aventura federation.
Expedition racing makes a return to Colorado with the North American World Cup in early August. Hosted by the rebranded Warrior Adventure Racing crew, Expedition Colorado will be packed with mountain biking, trekking, climbing, paddling and perhaps one or two surprises, all set to one of the most beautiful backdrops in the USA. Breckenridge plays host town to the race whereupon teams will be bussed to Twin Lakes for the start of the 80 hour course. Check out the video preview of Expedition Colorado:
The A1 World Cup Series continues in the northern hemisphere summer with Sud Raid in France as the European World Cup event. The winning team at each world cup event takes home a free entry to GODZone in New Zealand in 2024 as a prize, which is sure to attract a number of highly competitive teams from Europe. 2023 represents the second edition of the Sud Raid which is rapidly becoming a must-do event on the French calendar. As the European World Cup, this year’s race will be 350km long with 12,000m+ of elevation gain and teams should expect to take three to four days to complete the full course. The preview video gives teams a little taste of what is waiting in store:
In September, the highly regarded GODZone Expedition Race will leave the shores of New Zealand for the first time ever to host the Oceania World Cup race in Australia. The GODZone Australia course has been designed by the highly experienced racer Rob Preston who is sure to show case the best that that the Coffs Harbour region has to offer with a course that retains all of the DNA that makes GODZone such a well-oiled machine. With an expected winning time of 5 days and the course open for 8 days, teams will mountain bike, kayak, trek and packraft through a true expedition challenge where success is never guaranteed.
Finally, after a spectacular 48 hour race in 2022, the Iron Bound adventure race in Malaysia will be expanded to an expedition length event in 2023 as the Asian World Cup stop. As one of the only expedition race in Asia this year, Iron Bound is the perfect way for teams in the region to cap off their racing calendar.
The Adventure 1 World Cup Series in 2023 culminates with the World Cup Final which will again be hosted by Nathan Fa’avae at True West in New Zealand. The inaugural True West event in 2022 delivered a stunning course in the home of adventure racing with epic stages set amongst a striking backdrop of wild rivers and exposed mountain climbs. The race returns to the west coast of the South Island in December with the host location announced at Hokitika. Check out the video highlights from this year’s race:
With over 50 races forming a national series or national championship event in almost 20 adventure racing countries around the globe, there is a world of adventure waiting for your team to explore with Adventure 1.