I have a couple of quick adventure racing notes to share today, as 2011 continues to shape up to be one of the best years for the sport in recent memories.
First, I've mentioned plenty of great races on the Adventure Blog over the past few months, but I haven't talked about the Gold Rush Mother Lode Adventure Race that is scheduled to take place in central California in September. The race is four days in length, which puts it on the shorter end of the expedition category, creating a perfect opportunity for teams who can't afford the time off to for one of the longer events. The Mother Lode will be 225 miles in length, and cut through the Sierra Mountains, offering a dramatic environment for the athletes to run, bike, and paddle through. Organizers are also promising plenty of navigation/orienteering, as well as a 600-foot rappel too! Sounds like a blast to me! The Gold Rush Mother Lode will take place from Sept. 8-11, and has one of the more reasonable entry fees that you'll find as well. Check out the promo video below for a glimpse of what to expect.
One race that you have heard me mention on multiple occasions is Expedition Idaho, which will take place from August 14-20. This is a 600+km (373+ mile) event that will take place in the wilds of Idaho, not far from Coeur d'Alene. Expedition Idaho has been shaping up quite nicely since it was first announced, but last week they added a new team to their roster when it was announced that Team New Zealand, consisting of Nathan Faave, Chris Forne, Marcel Hagener and Sophie Hart, would be coming to compete. This is truly one of the top adventure racing teams of all time, made up of some amazing athletes and legends of the sport. If your team is looking to compete agains the very best, this is it! Organizers of the race also announced that Light and Motion, makers of the Solite 150 headlamp that I reviewed earlier this week, have signed up to be one of the sponsors. I mentioned in that review that I thought the headlamp would be popular with the multi-sport crowd, as it is lightweight, powerful, and versatile. This seems like a great paring of a company that knows how to make good gear with a race consisting of their target market.
Finally, reader and adventure racer Robin Rongey sent me a link to a race report she posted recently sharing her experiences at the Land Between The Lakes Challenge. This was a 24-hour event, held in Kentucky, that sounds like it was a great challenge for everyone involved. The race has plenty of everything we love, running, mountain biking, navigation, and so on, and Robin was even kind enough to share some photos from the event as well. The LBL offers points toward the Checkpoint Tracker Series as well, so if you missed out this year, you may want to add it to your calendar for 2012. Read Robin's full report by clicking here. Great work Robin!