By Bev Mortimer
With just days to go great excitement is building up in St Francis, the Eastern Cape and in the hearts and souls of all those team members worldwide participating in the race, and their families and friends, who will be supporting them locally or by dot-watching online .
There are so many exciting things to look forward to in the build up to the race, during the race and after the race. Things happening happenings include:
Locally, more than 600 soccer balls will be donated to Kouga kids during the Adventure Racing World Championship (ARWC2023) to be held in the Sarah Baartman District and Kouga areas of the of the Eastern Cape next month.According to ARWS CEO, Heidi Muller, many soccer-loving kids in Kouga will receive a soccer ball in the areas of Sea Vista, St Francis Bay, Jeffreys Bay , Hankey and Humansdorp. And she says there has been a big request for ‘Rugby ‘as its owing to rugby fever in South Africa.
The soccer balls will be distributed by St Francis Rotary after the race. In striving to give back to the community, each ARWS team member in the race must donate at least one soccer ball to Rotary, plus each accredited media member, and each ARWS partner or sponsor, needs to donate a soccer ball. Then any person in the Sarah Baartman District is welcome to buy a soccer ball and hand it in at the St Francis Rotary Expo from 16-18 October at the CSF Resort between hours of 8am and 5pm. At the Expo main sponsor, Merrell is selling sports gear, plus camping food from Forever Fresh.
Here is a list of the highlights to come…
- On the 17th is a flag parade at St Francis Links to which all teams and accredited media are invited . This will be followed by an opening ceremony with African Drumbeat dancers and singing by a Kouga choir.
- One of the latest ARWS, partners Jojo tanks, will be donating 20 water tanks to Sea Vista and some local businesses are donating wheel barrows on which the water tanks will rest.
- Buco is donating equipment for the race and race goers, while Smhart Security will ensure safety of teams and their equipment, and St Francis Chronicle will keep people informed with latest news… just some of the things some of the big group of partners are doing to assist ARWC2023.
- On the 18th is packing day .
- On the 19th, at 5 am, at CSF Resort, ARWS teams will be off to an early transition at 5 am. They will be boarding buses and taken to an unknown destination where the race will official start at… (tba)
As soon as the race starts , anyone anywhere with internet can go online to www.expafrica.live and watch the numbered dots , which are the teams, as they move forward across many kilometres of terrain for the next 10 days.
- All about ARWS…
The biggest adventure race in history, the Adventure Racing World Series (ARWS) 2023 championship in October, with an anticipated more than a million viewers dot-watching teams traversing vast parts of the Eastern Cape of South Africa, is set to occur from 16 October …
A large media contingent, with more than 90 persons, will be following the teams on the ground, making this one of the largest adventure events here, bringing many visitors and much excitement here.
This non-stop two-week event will see teams visiting 70 checkpoints, aka pit-stops, scattered over the Eastern Cape.
Sarah Baartman District Municipality and Kouga Local Municipality will welcome teams from all over the world. A total of 115 teams from Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Mexico, Namibia, New Zealand, Paraguay, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, South Africa, Sweden, Thailand, The Netherlands, UK, and USA will line up on the start line on the 19 October to start racing in the EC.
The winning team will take 5 days to finish this strenuous, gruelling race while the last team will take an exhaustive 10 days to cross the finish line at the Resort on 28 October. Teams will cycle, trek, swim, abseil, plus do kayaking, rope work and orienteering to complete the route. - The first team to complete the whole course, with all the control points visited will be declared the winner.
- The top teams competing in ARWS 2023 – (arworldseries.com) secured entries during the worldwide 2022/2023 qualifying rounds across the globe. Here are the best teams from all qualifiers, who have secured their entry to the world championship:
- Team Swedish Armed Forces from Sweden
- 400Team Givaudan from France
- Team Vidaraid from USA/Spain
- Team Bend Racing/Skindoctor from USA /Canada
- Team Endurance from Spain
- Team Brazil Multisport from Brazil
- Team Merrell Songlines from South Africa
- Team Estonian ACE/La Sportiva from Estonia
- Team Eastwind from Japan
- Team Endurancelife from the UK
- Northern Adventure Team from Finland.
…And many more. - Interesting Facts of the Adventure Racing World Championships:
- 35 Countries represented.
- 115 teams
- 460 competitors
- 140 women athletes and 320 men athletes.
- Average age of athletes is 41 years-old.
- Youngest competitor is 16 years-old and the oldest is 76 years-old.
Important info about teams:
Teams consist of 4 members, one member is always of the opposite sex.
Members must stay together in their teams throughout the race and do whole route together.
Teams must navigate by map and compass. No gps.
Teams are not allowed outside assistance or to accept any food etc from supporters.
Teams must be able to operate in harsh remote environments in all weather conditions.
Teams travel throughout the day and night. They can decide if, when and where to rest.
Teamwork and team dynamics are essential. A detailed understanding of your teammates and of your own capabilities is essential.
- Route:
The length of the race is not revealed to teams.
They know leg 1 is trekking, leg 2 cycle etc but they don’t have maps so they don’t know where the route goes.
The Route is a secret and teams only get maps and route as they reach next stop. Media sign confidentiality agreement.
The route is revealed in stages to teams as they progress in the race.
The teams get their current stage maps at each transition.
The route goes live on a live tracking portal to viewers once the race starts
The winners are expected to arrive at the festive finish zone on 23 October and the festivities will continue day and night until the last team arrives on 28 October. All are welcome to watch at the finish line arch at the CSF Resort. Family and supporters are welcome to follow them on the live tracking link and to welcome them on the route as they arrive in Cape St Francis. They can be given t a hug or High 5 but one is not allowed to give them food or drinks, or carry their backpacks (that is called outside assistance)
“The teams will need all the support and love after this gruelling event,” Heidi says.
Partners for this event include: Sarah Baartman Municipality, Kouga Municipality, Merrell, Cape St Francis Resort, Nissan, Spot, Smhart Security, Squirt Cycling Products, Buco – Cape St. Francis, Bike Box, Radbag, Stanley, Led Lenser, Coimbra Cycle Centre, Forever Fresh, First Choice, JoJO Tanks, Namaqua Wines, Africanyon, Racefood, St Francis Brewery, St Francis Chronicle, St Francis Links, St Francis Rotary, St Francis Sports events, and Woodlands Dairy.
If there are any more sponsors out there that wish to align their brand to this major event, please contact Heidi at heidi@kinetic-events.co.za
Keep in touch with ‘What’s happening in the ARWS race:
To follow and stay in touch with what is happening in the race, stay tuned to St Francis Chronicle, part of the official international media team, and the official local media appointed for the event, as we will keep locals informed by PR releases, posts on social media and on X (aka Twitter). And those who follow us on https://stfrancischronicle.com to get regular ARWS posts, will receive an email immediately, every time there is a new ARWS post or new NB race info sent to us by race organisers and our fellow media following the teams on site ‘live’.
Photos show race athletes undergoing challenging and gruelling tasks... Photos: ARWS
