Adventure racing - Where to start?

volrex

Can anybody help with clubs or groups involved in adventure racing? What skills are needed etc??

Enduro

That depends on what you mean by Adventure Racing.

If you're referring to what most of the world means by AR, which is races like the Beast of Ballyhoura, The Cooley Raid, the CCAR races etc in Ireland, or any adventure races in any other countries, then I can give you a few pointers in the right direction. There are a few groups around doing these, but no organised clubs in Ireland. I can give you plenty of tips as to how to get started if this is what you're interested in.

If you're referring to the Likes of Gael Force, The ROAR, or any of the other similar copycat races in Ireland, again there are no organised clubs as these are just commercial races and aren't any kind of organised sport. Joining a Triathlon club would probably be the best bet for getting the fitness training in for these races, as they are mostly just road cycling and a bit of off-road running, so sort of half way between a normal triathlon and an X-terra triathlon.

Totally different skillsets are required, depending on which way you're referring to.

volrex

Thanks very much. Not into the commercial side of things. Any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated.

Enduro

Whereabout in Ireland do you live volrex?

Peterx

volrex wrote: »

Can anybody help with clubs or groups involved in adventure racing? What skills are needed etc??

The closest clubs to adventure racing in Ireland are probably the orienteering clubs. They were the original organisers of hill running before IMRA came into being.

http://orienteering.ie/builder.php3?Clubs

Orienteers tend to also take part in other offroad sports and will have contacts in those other sports to help you get proficient at navigating, kayaking and mountain biking. There are even mountain bike orienteering courses.
The likes of Brian Keogh in Blessington or Nathan Kingerlee in Killarney provide professional outdoors training also.

carrielou

I went from cycling my bike at 18-19km/hour and 'I wouldn't walk to the shop for you' to doing the DAR Dingle Adventure Race in 6 hours 10 min 31 sec :-) Had 8 weeks to train including the taper for the last week. lost a stone in the 8 weeks too

shotgunmcos

carrielou wrote: »

I went from cycling my bike at 18-19km/hour and 'I wouldn't walk to the shop for you' to doing the DAR Dingle Adventure Race in 6 hours 10 min 31 sec :-) Had 8 weeks to train including the taper for the last week. lost a stone in the 8 weeks too

Well done on that!!

carrielou

shotgunmcos wrote: »

Well done on that!!

thanks a million, was in Kilkee on Saturday saw u, deadly

I was part of relay, bike part and was delighted with a 1.32 on it.

Looks like I am going into training for the full event next year. I know it sounds an odd thing to say but if you put the time and effort these events are doable and understandably if you really make an effort in training I am sure it pays off on the day of the event.

Enduro

Peterx wrote: »

The closest clubs to adventure racing in Ireland are probably the orienteering clubs. They were the original organisers of hill running before IMRA came into being.

http://orienteering.ie/builder.php3?Clubs

Orienteers tend to also take part in other offroad sports and will have contacts in those other sports to help you get proficient at navigating, kayaking and mountain biking. There are even mountain bike orienteering courses.
The likes of Brian Keogh in Blessington or Nathan Kingerlee in Killarney provide professional outdoors training also.

Excellent advice, of course. Would also add to join a mountain bike club to (a) get your skill levels and fitness up and (b) get to know your local trails and (c) turn what could be turgid training into fun spins.

dapope

carrielou wrote: »

I went from cycling my bike at 18-19km/hour and 'I wouldn't walk to the shop for you' to doing the DAR Dingle Adventure Race in 6 hours 10 min 31 sec :-) Had 8 weeks to train including the taper for the last week. lost a stone in the 8 weeks too

Well done indeed. Despite its name Dingle sounds more like a "Multi Sport" race than an Adventure Race which is what is being discussed in this thread.

carrielou

dapope wrote: »

Well done indeed. Despite its name Dingle sounds more like a "Multi Sport" race than an Adventure Race which is what is being discussed in this thread.

Sorry about that, I hadnt realised there was a difference until I just googled CCAR

I know a bit about the Beast of Ballyhoura and it sounds mad, mad, mad !

As a newbie to all this it's good to learn something new

Enduro

carrielou wrote: »

Sorry about that, I hadnt realised there was a difference until I just googled CCAR

I know a bit about the Beast of Ballyhoura and it sounds mad, mad, mad !

As a newbie to all this it's good to learn something new

Great stuff Carrielou. Be sure to sign up for one of those races. The CCAR ones in particular are well suited to newbies. If you need to find teammates you can always try emailing the organisers, as they usually know about other people in similar situations.

TFBubendorfer

dapope wrote: »

Well done indeed. Despite its name Dingle sounds more like a "Multi Sport" race than an Adventure Race which is what is being discussed in this thread.

Well, that exactly is Enduro's original point isn't it?

I did the DAR as well, relying entirely on my road running fitness without any cycling, mountain running or kayak training, and I did ok.

I wouldn't have done that for a real Adventure race. But it was a great day out and tons of fun.

volrex

Enduro wrote: »

Whereabout in Ireland do you live volrex?

I live in North County Dublin. Plenty of good roads for cycling but not too many mountains. And what I mean by " Adventure Racing" would be the Likes of the G4 Challenge but not on such a large scale, completing different tasks etc.

ocnoc

The most Adventure Racing based Orienteering club would be Setanta.
You'll find all kind of nut jobs normal people in that club.
The hold the honor of hosting the only 24hr Rogaine in Ireland.

http://www.setantaorienteers.org/