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travel / adventure zone
| The Adventure Zone |
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Raid the North Extreme!!
Since the mid-1990s, athletes have been training their minds and bodies for the grueling
experience of adventure racing. In August, the Raid the North Extreme adventure series heads to
the Yukon, where mixed teams of racers will compete against nature in an expedition-style wilderness
event, lasting six days and traversing more than 600 kilometres of rugged wilderness.
Unlike triathlon races that follow a set course, adventure racers combine orienteering with
navigation skills to find their way through uncharted landscapes and the course's mandatory checkpoints,
sometimes trekking, sometimes mountain biking and sometimes whitewater paddling or rappelling.
To heighten the challenge, organizers keep hush-hush on the route until the eve of the race,
leaving teams to chart their own courses from start to finish. Teams travel and work together
to both find their way and devise solutions to problems they encounter on the course.
"This year's has an added cultural component," says public-relations manager Nancy Marshall.
"Segments of the Yukon course will incorporate ancient trade and hunting routes past many historic sites.
At one stage, competitors will paddle historical First Nations canoes."
(To accommodate transitions between land and water phases of the race, officials ferry gear between
checkpoints.)
But all the effort is worth it — the top-five teams will share a cash purse totaling $30,000.
Registration remains open until two weeks before the August 25 event, which begins in Whitehorse.
Log onto www.raidthenorth.com
for information and official updates, or check out the newest stories and pictures from the Yukon
frontier at www.arextreme.com.
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