I was following along via Twitter on my phone when I got the ‘tweet’ that Chris Waddell had reached the summit of Kilimanjaro. This accomplishment makes Chris the 1st paraplegic to summit the mountain unassisted. Mount Kilimanjaro is the tallest mountain in Africa and the tallest freestanding mountain in the world at 19,340 feet.

The Namib Desert Challenge is back for the second consecutive year and will once again take in the Sossusvlei region from the 21st – 25th February.

The ultimate running adventure – Namib Desert Challenge is a 220Km Footrace over 5 days through the toughest and most scenic terrain which Namibia has to offer. The competitors carry everything they need to survive in their ultra running backpacks and each night they have to reach a designated tented campsite which marks the completion of the stage.

We wanted to publish information for those that may just be entering the fantastic world of adventure sports or interested in branching out to enjoy a new sport. The below post is basic information on gear acquisition for each of three disciplines: mountain biking, paddling and trail running.

GET READY to kick 2010 off with a TURBO adrenalin rush! How about a gruelling challenge set to keep your blood pumping for a whole 10 days!!

The MaD Tuk Tuk Challenge, set to commence on 20th Jan 2010, is a guaranteed adrenalin rush with a bonus for those forever searching for that perfect HIT!

We have been following Roz’s progress on Stage 2 of her solo row across the Pacific. Included here is a highlight video of that journey. We are excited for her as she is back on dry land and already make preparations for the third and final leg in 2010.

Congratulations to Checkpoint Zero/Inov-8 for winning the Checkpoint Tracker Adventure Racing Series. The team earned 100 points in the final event of the season (Bushwhack Adventure Race) to grab the series prize with a perfect 400 points for the season. Over 100 teams competed in 26 different events throughout the season which began in January. The team has won an all expense paid trip to compete in the Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge in the United Arab Emirates in December.

I found this video over at The Adventure Blog of skier Cody Townsend skiing a tight canyon while wearing a helmet camera.

It’s been raining for two weeks in north Texas. In the last 48 hours it’s rained 5 inches. The 2009 USARA 24 Hours National Championship is supposed to take place in and around Lake Ray Roberts. The problem is nobody is exactly sure where the shoreline for Lake Ray Roberts is anymore. UTM coordinates that were once on the shore are now 100 yards out in the lake. The race directors are scrambling around trying to salvage the course. Now the wind is blowing 25 mph and there are whitecaps on
the lake.

We have been keeping tabs on Gracie Sorbello and Matt Burney as they unicycle the entire “Great Divide Cycling Route” to support the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. They began earlier this summer on July 2 and finished last week on September 16. The day after they finished their journey, Gracie posted this thought on their blog:

Adventurer Profile

Name: Ripley “Doc” Davenport

Location: I live in the country in a little village called Husby, on the Island of Fyn in DENMARK.

Age: 39 (My 40th birthday will be in the Gobi Desert next year).

In less than 7 days, Justin DeForest will set out from Hampton Roads, VA to paddle the Intracoastal Waterway to Key West, FL. The route will be broken into 7 sections of about 200 miles each and his plan is to complete each section in approximately one week. The adventure has taken the name Intra-Coastal Expedition (ICE) 2009.

An Australian city has voted to collectively eliminate its dependence on disposable water bottles and promote the use of reusable water bottles and filtered water stations throughout the town. Bundanoon is a small town located about 90 miles southwest of Sydney in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales. The businesses and residents of Bundanoon voted overwhelmingly in July to take this stand against the bottles and for the environment.

Are you looking for something new that is beyond the ordinary and out of this world? We believe that we have found it. The Rickshaw Challenge allows teams of 1-3 people the opportunity to drive an auto rickshaw along a specified route throughout the heart of India. The auto rickshaw is a 3-wheeled vehicle with a two-stroke engine.

In 2007, Freya Hoffmeister circumnavigated Iceland in a record 33 days. Three month later, she set out to become the first woman to round the South Island of New Zealand, solo and unsupported. Seventy days later, the 43-year-old sea kayaker from Husum, Germany completed another record-setting trip!

So, what’s next for the paddler, known as “The Woman in Black”?.. The Race Around Australia Expedition.

We’re aiming to get interviews with each North American team competing in the AR World Championships in Portugal this November. Cyril from the California based team “nuun-FeedTheMachine” is usually busy training or growing his endurance sports nutrition store, FeedTheMachine, but he carved out some time for us earlier this month . . .

Chris Waddell is the most decorated male skier in Paralympic history. A 1988 skiing accident left him paralyzed from the waist down. Determined to get back on the slopes, he began skiing on a monoski roughly one year later. A little more than two years later, Waddell was named to the US Disabled Ski Team.

This is the first in a series of videos that we will post from this year’s PQ Badlands. Thanks to Randy Ericksen for these clips.

Jacqueline Windh sent us this short video of British Columbian adventure racer and endurance athlete Jen Segger’s amazing expedition to travel the length of Vancouver Island. The entire adventure was done non-stop by foot and bike over 4 days and 750km between August 24-28, 2009.

My training program
As I said, I started to train for Mongolia 2010 way back in October 2008 but even before then I was always working out. I have given myself ample time to get conditioned both mentally and physically for this expedition.

I believe in taking things slowly and not overexert my body. I have measured goals that give measured challenges. I may readjust my objective as I go along to suit the body.

Physical training for the Mongolia 2010 Expedition commenced in October 2008. It’s my idea that the better I am prepared for this challenging expedition the safer and more worthwhile it will be.

Getting fit is one of the cheapest parts of my expedition – running, walking, mountain biking, pulling old car tires, yoga and lifting anything heavy is free! I also believe in spending time testing equipment, especially what I plan to use in Mongolia, and myself in cold or warm situations. Mongolia will throw some ruthless weather my way.

More people than ever before turned up on Sandbanks beach in Poole this weekend (11-13 September) for this year’s Animal Windfest 2009. The free watersports and extreme sports event hit the beach and saw an estimated 15,000 people visiting over the course of the three days.

Keeping the audiences entertained were some of the biggest names from windsurfing, kitesurfing, wakeboarding, stand-up paddleboarding, mountain biking and Thundercat racing. One of those attending was kitesurfer, Andy Ward, who is on the cusp of his attempt to cross the channel from Alderney to Poole – a 70 mile journey that will see him sail into the record books if he completes it.

Team Salomon/Crested Butte finished in second place overall at this year’s Primal Quest Badlands. This year’s team was comprised of Jari Kirkland, Eric Sullivan (Sully), Jon Brown (JB) and Travis Macy (on Team Merrell/Zanfel Adventure in Primal Quest Montana-2008). We have asked several teams to send us their gear lists which satisfied the PQ mandatory list requirements. This list is from Travis Macy: