Adventure Racing

December 2004-January 2005

This is an article from WaveLength Magazine, available in print in North America and globally on the web.
To download a pdf copy of the magazine click here: > DOWNLOAD

by Bryan Tasaka and photos by Tony Austin

Mixed Teams are common in adventure racing.

There’s nothing quite like seeing an inlet filled with kayaks all lined up on a sunny Saturday morning ready for the start of a race. Or the excitement when the horn sounds to signal the start of the 10k paddle.

10k doesn’t sound too bad for an experienced paddler, does it? But what if you add some biking—say about 25k on technical trails, with a climb up a 500m mountain. And how about another 10k of trekking on more trails and back up another 500m? Oh, and that’s not all. You have to find your way from one checkpoint to the next using only a map and compass.

Still sound like fun? Welcome to the world of adventure racing! You might have seen something like this on TV. Most likely it was the Eco-Challenge which is famous for putting on races in places like Morocco, Borneo, and New Zealand. There was even one here in British Columbia back in 1996.

What I described above is a simple oneday version of the 5–10 day non-stop Eco-Challenge, but for the majority of weekend warriors, one day is enough. It’s a big challenge just to finish the race.

The growth of Adventure Racing has been phenomenal and its impact on the paddling world has been significant. In the year 2000, there were only 30 adventure races held in North America—this year there were over 400. In each race, a paddling stage is a fixture in the course, whether canoeing, whitewater, or sea kayaking. Here on the west coast, sea kayaks are the boat of choice.

I organize the Mind Over Mountain Adventure Race Series (MOMAR) which is based on Vancouver Island and the Sunshine Coast. Each race lasts between four and eight hours over a distance of approximately 40k and includes mountain biking, trekking, and kayaking as the main race stages. Since 2000, over the period of fourteen MOMAR races, I have witnessed a dramatic increase in the level of paddling skills.

In my first two seasons, Dave Norona, who is one of the top adventure racers in Canada, was the only one who would race on a surfski and use a wing paddle. Now I’d say over 20% of the racers are using a wing blade and almost all of the elite racers are in high performance kayaks.

We have a supply of fifteen wing paddles from Simon River Sports that we rent to our racers and they all book up quickly. Racers are becoming much more educated in performance paddling and they now know that the wing blade will help them be faster and more efficient.

The majority of racers are not yet paddling high performance race boats like surfskis, so they look for the fastest ocean kayak available, and when it comes to the double kayak, there’s nothing better than the Seaward Passat. The Passat is always the first boat to be booked by the racers, usually months before the race.

The majority of adventure racers don’t own kayaks, but instead rent from kayak shops. As a result, shops do a booming business. Comox Valley Kayaks, for example, rented52 boats for the last MOMAR in Cumberland.

Enormous credit must go out to the folks who rent boats for our races and especially those who transport them to the various venues—a great service to the racers. They also give discounted rental rates to help keep costs down. Without their support, having a paddling discipline in adventure racing would be difficult. It’s also great to see the kayak shops working together to help make these events successful.

The shop owners are smart business people. They realize that adventure racing is a rapidly growing sport which is driving new athletes into the paddling scene. Not only does this generate rental revenue during the races, but also more business from racers renting boats to train. Adventure racing has introduced many new people to the paddling world and these people will be the next generation buying boats and gear, and booking tours.

Some companies, like Ecomarine Ocean Kayak Centre in Vancouver and Deep Cove Canoe & Kayak Centre in North Vancouver have further capitalized on the trend by offering weekly paddle races. Deep Cove started their race series back in 1999 with only a handful of racers. Now in its sixth season, almost 100 people come out every Tuesday night and most of those are adventure racers honing their skills and endurance for an upcoming race.

As adventure racing continues its growth, so will the spinoff benefits to the kayaking industry. The growth next year will be fueled by the return of the Eco-Challenge which took a few years off but has announced it’s coming back in 2005 with a 10th Anniversary edition. Mark Burnett, the creator of the smash hits Survivor and Apprentice, got his start as the creator of Eco-Challenge and he has now secured major network coverage for it. He’s even rumored to be offering a million dollar purse to the winners. It looks like adventure racing is here to stay, and will continue growing into a strong new component of a very diverse, very exciting paddling industry.

Web: www.mindovermountain.com.

For more information on the series or on wing paddles, contact Bryan at bryan@mindovermountain.com.