Equipment and Qualifications

faq007Adventure racing includes events that are 2-hours in duration to others that are 5-days long. The shorter the event, the less you need. A mountain bike, helmet and trail shoes are standard. Why don’t you check out the event information or phone the specific organiser of the event you’re interested in doing? 

Equipment is dependant on the event, location, distance, difficulty and disciplines so there is no one-size-fits-all answer. If you can’t balance in a K2 on a river, hire a sit-on-top, which is more forgiving.

Don’t go out and buy loads of gear unless you really need it. You can get by with borrowing from friends and improvising until you know what you want. Nicholas Mulder offers some sound advice, especially for those doing sprint races, “I’d leave all buying of equipment till after you’ve done a few sprint races. This will allow you to get a feel of what you need as well as see what other teams use / have. Equipment only becomes an issue when you start competing in the longer races.”

Oh ja… read the articles on equipment on this website.

If qualifications/certifications, like swift water rescue, paddle grading and ropes, are required, you’ll know about it way in advance. These would only be required for expedition-style events where disciplines are likely to have a higher technical difficulty.

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