Neck & Neck: AR World Champs Headed for Razor Finish

Four teams have been neck and neck for hundreds of miles of the Adventure Racing World Championships, competing ferociously to be the first to cross the finish line in Cuenca, Peru. So far, teams have traversed cold, high-altitude mountain plains, fast-flowing rivers, and dense, humid forests.

Now, teams from France, Estonia, Sweden, and Brazil are closing in on the home stretch — and the two-time world champions are starting to trail behind in third.

The World Championship expedition adventure racing course is 348 miles long, starting and ending in Cuenca, Ecuador. It includes trekking, mountain biking, and pack-rafting sections. The route rises from elevations below 8,200 feet to above 11,500 feet in some places. Teams must navigate using only a paper map and compass and be self-sufficient.

The winners are expected to finish in Cuenca’s La Gloria stadium early on Wednesday, Dec. 4.

“[This is] one of the most exciting finishes to a World Championship [race] in years,” a spokesperson from the Adventure Racing World Series (ARWS) told GearJunkie.

Adventure Racing World Championships: 4 Teams, Duking It Out

The race so far has been a tight one, according to reports. 400team from France took an early lead and remains first as of this writing. However, during the pack rafting stage, one of 400team’s boats capsized, and they lost a backpack full of essential climbing gear. They took a 1-hour penalty to get the equipment replaced.

Behind 400team is Estonian Tactical Foodpack in second place, the Swedish Armed Forces Adventure Team in third, and Brazil Multisport in fourth. The Swedish Armed Forces Team currently holds two consecutive World Championships.

Should the teams from France, Estonia, or Brazil win, it will be their first adventure racing world title. ARWS said that the Estonian team came out of nowhere, and “this was not expected of them.”

Currently, the leading teams are finishing the 56-mile mountain trekking stage and are about to embark (if they haven’t already) on the final leg of this exhausting race — a 68-mile mountain biking stage that’s expected to take the racers 12 hours.

The goal for the teams not in the lead is to finish the race with no missed checkpoints. For the teams furthest back, the goal is merely to finish the race before it ends on Saturday, Dec. 7.

You can follow the racers and get real-time results on the 2024 ARWC Huairasinchi live tracking website.