ADVENTURE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2007

 

Summing up the race: Our race finally came to an end with the top five teams from the USA, France/Switzerland, NZ, Spain and Sweden completing the full course. Hypothermia played havoc with many teams, along with fatigue and injuries and oh!!!!!!!!! the weather (still haven't recovered from those chilling nights), unfortunately leaving many with no other option but to withdraw from the race. Quote from Sleepmonsters; "With expectations of such a broad spectrum of international entrants, the format was calculated to deliver a course challenging enough to be true to the event's World Championship status, whilst providing everyone a genuinely competitive expedition length adventure race. The result? Over 60% of entering teams finished in a ranking position". Team Black Heart/Kellys Basecamp was there to experience this wonderful adventure, we now hold a world ranking of 32nd - awesome!!!!!! Media coverage: One of the directors Gary, has commented that HQ received thousands of emails during the race with some of their families camping out in front of the computer all week!" I can personally back that up as I know back home in Australia mum & dad including family and friends were glued to the computer 24/7! The number of people watching will be hard to determine, but SleepMonsters had served over a million pages of ARWC2007 reporting and at peak times the site was being read at over 5 pages a second, with in excess of 4000 people watching the SAT Tracker at any given moment. Nearly 6000 messages of support had been sent to all the teams. Around 30 international media representatives were present during the race, with some having their own challenges as they trekked to remote places to get the best possible shots of their teams.

 

ARWC2007 is due to be broadcast on Channel 4, Adrenaline rush programme Sunday 15th July at 0800 for a 1 hour feature. We are all eagerly waiting confirmation from Phil Humphries (director) that this programme is locked in.

 

For everyone who took part in the race; the best part has only just begun. The memories are fresh, the stories still new and the pain almost forgotten. Controversial as this race may have been, long and incredibly tough it most certainly was, but despite the hardships there was one thing everyone agreed on; ARWC2007 was an awesome & challenging race pushing us all to our limits and beyond! We take home invaluable experience to be shared & reminisced amongst our fellow team members.

 

On behalf of our team members we would like to thank our sponsors for assisting us with the equipment they provided for the race. Due to the unpredictable wet/freezing conditions & the speed of the race we were unable to take the type of footage we had hoped for. I think in future races one may find in necessary to engage our own team photographer to come along and catch those spontaneous photos or have some sort of waterproof webcam strapped to our helmet (although this is extra heavy gear). We are eagerly awaiting the production of the ARWC DVD to view all the teams’ photos and will forward suitable copies for your viewing. Our lead up to the race was not ideal, however this was our first attempt at Worlds and we are young, green, but still full of enthusiasm. Kyle & I personally believe Black Heart has a promising future ahead with Adventure Racing. The boys have come away with lots of inspiration and ideas as to how Black Heart can improve its profile and grow from this experience. We are already gearing up and preparing for a further two more races before the end of this year. Once again thank you.

 

Yours Sincerely

 

Craig Arnold