Last week while I was away in the Caribbean, the Adventure Racing World Championships were taking place in Australia. That's where the XPD Expedition Race played hosted to nearly 100 coed teams from around the world, all of which had come to take a shot at being crowned the champs. But after four days of racing, covering more than 620 km (385 miles) across a challenging course that included mountain biking, trekking, paddling, climbing, and more, there were some very familiar names at the top of the leaderboard once again.The top spot on the podium was hotly contested by two of the top teams in the world, who battled it out to the bitter end. But when the dust had cleared, two hours separated Team Seagate of New Zealand, who finished first, and the second place team of Adventure Medical Kits from the U.S. Team Columbia Vidaraid – also from the U.S. finished third – while Team Painted Wolf (South Africa) and Naturex (France) took fourth and fifth place respectively.
While the race was decided this pat weekend, some of the teams are still out on the course, which is a testament to both how challenging the course was and how determined these racers are to see it through to the end. The course will close at 1:00 PM Friday, November 18 local time, with all the competitors who haven't completed the race removed from the course.
The XPD Expedition Race marks the end of another long, challenging, and successful season for the Adventure Racing World Series. Now, the ARWS will go on hiatus before starting up the 2017 season at the GODZone Adventure Race in New Zealand next February. Next year's season will be an interesting one, as it is somewhat abbreviated in order to accommodate the AR World Championships being held in the U.S. for the first time. That's when the Cameco Cowboy Tough will host the best teams in the world, with a spectacular course set to be unveiled in Wyoming next August. That should prove to be an exciting race with a big event right here in North America.
Congratulations to Team Seagate on another impressive season and championships. They continue to be in a class all of their own.
