An amazing field of talent is assembled on the team list for the 2009 Adventure Racing World Championships in Portugal this November. Adventure racing luminaries such as OrionHealth (fresh off their impressive victory at PrimalQuest Badlands and the defending 2008 AR World Champions), Quechua (a very strong European team), Lundhags Adventure (a Scandinavian force to be reckoned with), and Blackheart (a top Australian team) jump out at you . . . but there are also some fantastic teams from North America that are going to join the party!

ATP-Salomon, fresh off their victory in North America’s Qualifying race Untamed New England 2009, will be representing Canada and the USA at the World Championships (their team is composed of racers from both nations). Team Kinetic will also be there from Canada. The eastern United States has a couple dynamite teams joining the fun in Portugal, with NYARA and Berlin Bike also earning entrance into the World Championships based on their performance at the New England race. From the West Coast, Team Sole and nuun-FeedTheMachine will also be racing, bumping up the participation of North American teams to a significant level. Add to this mix the organization team, Untamed New England, and the tally comes to 7 teams from the USA and Canada! I don’t have the complete rosters for all the World Championship events through the years, but I suspect that the last time so many teams from North America participated in the World Championships was when the race was held in Canada . . . back in 2004. The 2009 Adventure Racing World Championships begin on Sunday Nov 8th, from Portugal’s beautiful Estoril Coast on the Atlantic Ocean. In the intervening 10 weeks, we’ll take a closer look at the teams representing North America in this race and delve into some of the history behind the AR World Championship.