AR World Champs – in France

AR World Championships, this year hosted by Raid in France, gets going at 06h00 on Saturday morning. And Heidi and Stephan Muller – organisers of Expedition Africa (and many other Kinetic events) are at the race. There are no South African teams participating; nonetheless, this will be a super race to follow online.

Image posted on Facebook by Team Silva

On Friday night Heidi posted, “The official race start tomorrpw morning at 6am with a hike. All crew etc to meet at 4am to drive to the start, which is a secret! The first leg will take approximately 14 hours for the top teams to finish and double the time for the back markers!”.

With the Mullers on the ground we’re sure to get a lot of race news. Heidi has been posting news and photos on the Kinetic Gear Facebook page.

A summary of the event is as follows:

Name: RAID IN FRANCE (AR World Championship 2012)
Website: www.raidinfrance.com
Dates: 15 – 22 September 2012
Country: France
Region: Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur
Disciplines: Trek/Run, Mountain Bike, Kayak, Orienteering, Cave, Raft, Canyon, Snow/Ice Travel, Ropes
Distance: 490km of which 170km trekking and high mountain, 230km mtb and 90km raft and canoeing
Winning Time Estimate: 5.5 Days (130 hours)
Course Open: 8 Days (192 hours)
Team Categories: ARWS Mixed Teams 4
Team Number: 67 Teams (incl. one all-female team from Sweden)
Logistics: Unsupported
Kayak Provision: Kayaks/ Rafts Provided
AR World Championship Qualifier: 1st Place receives free entry/ 2nd Place guaranteed spot to ARWC
Total Prize Money Pool: 50,000 Euro
Other Prizes: Sponsor Products
Team Entry Fee: 3,500 Euro

Here’s an interesting element to the race:

Teams entered include the winning teams from the 12 AR World Series events – plus a whole host of other ranking teams. I’d presume to recommend that you keep an eye on the Swedish teams, like Thule Adventure and Silva, the Kiwis of Team Seagate and the French Lafuma Vibram team.

The event website (www.raidinfrance.com) is available in both French and English and there’s Live Tracking. Keep an eye on www.SleepMonsters.com too for event reporting.

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