This is my 2nd installment in the Adventure World Magazine preview of the Adventure Racing World Series.  If you haven’t already, be sure to check out post #1 providing a broad overview for 2010 and a look at Ecuador’s race in the World Series.

February has three races in the World Series, the two I haven’t discussed previously are the Poland Winter Challenge and the Xtremo6000 in Argentina.  The two races are vastly different; the race in Poland emphasizes winter skills like skiing and biking on snow while the Argentine race is in the middle of the warm months for the southern hemisphere, and “traditional” disciplines like paddling, trekking, and regular mountain biking are on the agenda for Xtremo6000.

Snowy Fun at the Poland Winter Challenge

The Poland Winter challenge has a long history; formerly the Bergson Winter Challenge — and before that the Lion Winter challenge — the race is currently without a title sponsor hence the generic “Poland Winter Challenge” name.  It’s a 5 day race advertising cross-country skiing, trekking, mountain biking, and ropes as the main activities.  They pepper their course with many smaller “special task” challenges such as a tyrolean traverse with your bike, rappels/ascents, or a zip line.  The reports I’ve heard are that these special tasks are very popular and break up the race nicely — not like the “stupid human tricks” some races occasionally include (like this race in Florida had me throwing potatoes in a bucket 20 meters away . . . but I digress).

John Laughlin, racer with the World Champion Helly Hanson/Prunesco team, explained that this Poland Winter Race is a mix of skiing on and off groomed ski trails (“often not groomed” to quote John), mountain biking on snow and ice, snowshoeing, and dramatic rope challenges.  In warm years, there is less snow and it resembles a traditional adventure race a bit more — you might have to hike with your skis a bit — but in most years there is lots of snowy fun.  Furthermore, John remarks that the race “is very affordable, very well organized . . . I’ve done it 3 times and thoroughly recommend it!”

Overview of 2008 Poland Winter Challenge

I know a couple other teams who have done this Poland race (Littleton Bike and Fitness from New England raced in Poland a few years back), and I uncovered a schematic showing an outline of the race course from 2008 — see graphic at right.  Blue is skiing, green is biking, yellow is trekking (often on snowshoes).  There are lots of loops and the organization re-uses transition areas multiple times, making for many sleeping/warming up opportunities.  David Stiles, from the Littleton team, told me how he took advantage of these facilities and actually showered and ate a nice hot meal or two during the course of the race.  I think a compact course like this makes a lot of sense for a wintery race where keeping tabs on racers is key, and hypothermia a constant concern.

The other item to note from that 2008 course overview is that there were no less than 11 “special task” locations (each black circle shows a special task location) so the race really delivers plenty of rope challenges and the like.

The 2010 edition is in the mountains of extreme southern Poland, sure to deliver snow, cold, and wintery goodness.  While the Poland Winter Challenge is mostly an Eastern European affair, I think I may try to crash the party in 2011 or 2012 to try my winter racing in earnest!

Switching gears to the final February AR World Series event, the Xtremo6000 . . . I’m afraid I can’t offer too much on this event.  Adventure World Magazine recently had a quick piece on the race, and since I don’t know anyone familiar with the Argentine newcomer to the AR World Series, I will simply share that the race is advertised as 3 days long (25-27, Feb) in the far northwest region of Argentina.  I can also share that I get a headache trying to negotiate their race website (even though I speak Spanish) — all the Flash animation makes me feel like an epileptic siezure is imminent!

This Argentine race is the 3rd South American event in the ARWS (there is Ecomotion in Brazil, Huairasinchi in Ecuador, and Xtremo6000 in Argentina).  The Director for Huairasinchi in Ecuador predicts that within the next three years a South American team will win a World Championship; he points to the combination of strong athletes and several high quality events in South America to improve the competition and drive the desire for a World Championship team.  Time will tell, obviously, and my money might be on a Scandinavian team winning a World Championship before a South American team does, but we’ll have to see.

After February, there are a couple quiet months for the AR World Series.  The next races come in May and I’ll preview these events in the next installment later this week.