OrionHealth.com Ready to Defend the World Title By Rob Howard The first teams have arrived on the Estoril Coast of Portugal for the 2009 Adventure Race World Championships. Defending Champions OrionHealth.com of New Zealand and their kiwi compatriots Nga Rakau were the first to arrive, and unfortunately they were minus a couple of bags (still at Heathrow) but they have plenty of time for them to catch up. They also have several days to prepare and acclimatise for a race which they have not competed at before. (Portugal XPD are this year's hosts from among the World Series races.)
The defending champions know the format of Portugal's expedition race is a little different to most other World Series races, with more navigation and tactics involved, and they will no doubt be asking lots of questions, though probably not getting any answers until the official briefings take place! The team make-up is same as it was when they won the title in Brazil a year ago (and when they won Primal Quest earlier this year). Wayne Oxenham, Anna Berthelson, Brent Edwards and Stuart Lynch are the most consistent and successful team on the international circuit and they like to race in new countries and cultures and are looking forward to experiencing the culture and terrain of Portugal – but they know they have a tough task ahead to defend their title. The entry list for ARWC2009 is one of the strongest ever, with very few of the World's top racers missing from the start rosta. All of the 59 teams taking part have raced at least one World Series race and all of the winners of the past year's World Series events will be present. These are: Orion Health – New Zealand (ARWC 2008 Brazil) Outdoor Experiences - France (Estoril Portugal XPD 2008) Blackheart.com.au – Australia (XPD Australia 2008) Buff Thermocool – Spain/France/Finland (Huairasinchi 2009 Ecuador) OpavaNet/Tilak/Merida – Czech Republic (Bergson Winter Challenge 2009 Poland) Multisport.fi – Finland (Bimbache Extrem 2009 Spain) Quechua - France/Canada (Raid In France 2009) ATP/Salomon – Canada/USA (Untamed New England 2009 - USA) Lundhags Adventure – Sweden/NZ (Explore Sweden 2009) Nike/Beaver Creek (USA/NZ) can also be added to the list of favourites, with 3 of the team being former World Champions (from Scotland in 2007 as Team Nike) and a strong recent showing in the Wulong Mountain Quest in China. Other strong teams include Cyanosis, the top South African team, who know the race very well, Nuun/Feed the Machine (U.S.A/Canada) and Ertips (France). They are one of 9 French teams taking part, and with Quechua's habit of winning big races and Outdoor Experiences returning as winners of the last Portugal XPD, the French challenge will be a strong one. Fortunately, Race Director, Alexandre Guedes da Silva speaks fluent French! (SleepMonsters will also have Anne-Marie Dunhill reporting in French for this race.) Apart from its international nature and strength, another feature of this year's entry list is that many more of the teams than usual have a single nationality. Commonly top teams are made up from a variety of nationalities, using racers from a pool of experienced expedition racers, but that does not seem to be so quite so commonplace in this race. Having said that some of the mixed nationality teams are among the favourites (Lundhags, Nike/Beaver Creek and Buff Thermocool in particular.) Although only two teams have a New Zealand flag against their name on the start list, both Lundhags and Nike/Beaver Creek have strong kiwi racers, but Richard and Elina Ussher are notable absentees. From among the top teams in the world the only other big names missing are Salomon Crested Butte and Team Sole (USA) and the Lafuma-Sport 2000 team from France (who recently won in China under a different name). Most of these will all be on the start line at the Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge in early December, which is a little too close to the end of ARWC. (The Portuguese organisers had moved their dates back a couple of weeks to try and ensure a months gap, only to find the Abu Dhabi also moved forward in the year!) The top Brazilian teams are missing too, which is a surprise given the close ties between Brazil and Portugal, but again there was a date conflict, this time with EcoMotion Pro in Brazil, who belatedly announced their dates just after ARWC2009, resulting in some withdrawals from the start line in Portugal. Given these close clashes and the ongoing difficulties of the world economy, for ARWC2009 to have a starting line up of 59 teams, and such international strength in depth, is a considerable achievement. "If somebody six months ago, in the middle of the depression, had told us that we would reach 50 teams by the end of our regular registration period we'd have laughed and said something to disguise the fact that we were at the edge of a very high cliff!" said da Silva. "But we are adventure racers ourselves, so reaching the finish line is our goal. Against all the odds we maintained our course and today we can say that we can say we have the most complete and competitive start list on the planet. "Time will judge our capacity to stage the race, and we shall see which of the teams withstand the challenges of our race in The Land of Light, our amazing Lusitanea." --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "DarkAndDirty" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/darkanddirty?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
