Big City Races in Amazing Places

By Rob Howard @adventurenet
It would be hard to think of two great cities of the world better suited to adventure sport than Rio de Janeiro and Cape Town – and this coming weekend both have some innovative sporting events taking place.
In Rio it is the second Rockyman, one of the few invitation races with good prize money still around, and this event has a unique format and line up of sports. 
It includes individual competition in climbing, surfing, stand-up paddling, trail running and mountain biking, then all of the team race outrigger canoes on the ocean and complete a beach run together.
It’s a fascinating mix of tactics and team work and you can read Alexandre Carrijo’s preview on the site today, with reports on how the race unfolds to follow.
At the same time Cape Town is hosting the Red Bull Lionheart. This is a trail running event with a competitive twist, set up by South African ultra runner Ryan Sandes with Red Bull’s support and media savvy.

The Lions Head is a 669m peak between Table Mountain and Signal Hill overlooking Cape Town, and the run up and down is continuously steep and technical.  This Saturday’s race includes heats open to all to whittle down to a top 32 for the final race-offs. 

The winners will have completed the run 5 times under intense competition in one day, and the race is sure to attract a big crowd.
You can find out more at http://redbulllionheart.com/