It just started this week the broadcasting of the first television highligths on the 7th Adventure Racing World Championship Portugal 2009. The 7 minute news report is included in the Transworld Sport programme which is presented over 124 territories to more than 150 000 000 homes, just amazing ...;)

To facilitate your life the Dream Team TV placed a copy on their web server:

http://www.dreamteamtelevision.co.uk/tws_arwc09.wmv

and we have a HD copy at our web site

http://www.arwc2009.com/en/gallery.php?page=xpdtv&id=57

Merry christmas, 

Alexandre

Once again Paulo Calisto offer us a unique and spectacular selection of photos. All of them transmits a special strength and beauty from the race actors. Its a singular view of Adventure Racing exploring in a sustainable way the very best of "Lusitanea" - The Land of Light !!!!! 

Day 1 - Estoril Coast Challenge

Day 2 - Schist Villages Adventure

Day 3 - Schist Villages Route

Day 5 - The Gold Land Rush

Day 6 - The Templar Outdoor Quest

Day 7 - Baleal Rock Challenge

Enjoy yourself and spread the word "That is nothing better than Adventure" ....

After 128 hours of non-stop progression and over 900Kms run on foot, mountain-bike and kayak, the 2009 Adventure Racing World Cup -Estoril Portugal XPD Race turned out to be the supreme challenge to resistance and strategy. Out of the 59 teams coming from 25 different countries that left Estoril on Sunday 8th November, only 40 were able to classify, representing a rather low withdrawal rate, considering the length and the harshness of the track.

Requiring an extreme endurance capacity, this four member team challenge (of which at least one must be a woman) set out searching for the most astonishing landscapes in the country. Starting at the Estoril coast and taking the caravan out to explore the tracks of Lousã, Açor, Estrela, São Mamede and Aire e Candeeiros mountains. Along the way, the river Zêzere, the Natural Parks of International Tejo and the Castelo de Bode dam. After swimming across the Óbidos lagoon, the finish line was set on the beach at Baleal, where the last survivors arrived on foot and mountain bike during the morning.

Averaging 37, the British of “Team Helly Hansen-Prunesco” surprised everybody with a vigorous final sprint and conquered their first world title in adventure racing. Team leader Tom Gibbs – an Airbus designer – revealed the team's strategy; “We came to Portugal with no major expectations and therefore put little pressure on the team. Our strategy turned out fine and it was all decided on the final hours of the race”. North-Americans “Nike/Beaver Creek” finished 2nd and Swedish “Lundhags Adventure” in 3rd with a small difference.

Only three out of the six Portuguese teams that started were able to finish. Far behind the leaders most were aiming only to reach the finish line. José Marques, leader of the best national team (Extreme Challenge/IGeoE - 23rd place) was content with the result; “The team We worked well as a team even in the most difficult moments. We could have done better as we were close to Top 10 for a while, but fatigue caused a navigation error that cost us 3 long and unrecoverable hours. Even so, we are happy and shall do our best to be there for the next world cup”

Alexandre Guedes da Silva of the “Associação Portuguesa de Corridas de Aventura”, said ; “We couldn't be any happier as we were able to set an international landmark. The quality of our organisation was recognised and competition wise nothing like this had been seen before!”

Just two hours ago, at 10 o'clock,, between morning drizzle, started the most international championship that ever occur.  

In the gardens of Casino Estoril we could find ourselves among various flags from lots of different countries, hear lots of languages and realize that the world of adventure racing is growing up and that the fans could not help come to Portugal, either to be in the race, help the organization, or just see it along the way.

At present, 59 teams from 26 countries are already on the streets of Cascais practising a multi-sport score orienteering activity. Those with whom we spoke felt excited to be in the most important event of the year, some even felt nervous, but all hoping to find the best of Portugal and of themselves. This race will be a real test of the teams’ limits and their capacity for strategic planning.

Anyone who has participated in adventure races in Portugal knows that strategy here is very important, and at the briefing yesterday night, everyone realized that to win the race you must purchase the bonus checkpoints and make sure that you don't miss the cut offs, so at this point it’s very difficult to predict a winner. The champions of ARWC 2008, Orionhealth.com, have had an incredible journey up the world championships: in 2005 were in the 11th place, in 2006 in the 5th, in 2007 in the 3rd, and last year achieved the first place, but this year, in the Portuguese race they will find a very strong competition and it will be difficult to keep the title.

The best teams in the world are in the Portugal at this exact moment giving their best to win the race, and will not make it easy for the Orionhealth.com to maintain the title.

This race will for sure be one of the most exciting ever; we will continue to follow it on line here at the official site.

Rita Deodato

On the team page you'll be able to see all the messages, photos, videos and the related news.

During the race the team position and the respective track will be displayed and you can check their progress and compare it with the other teams. The position in the leaderboard will also be highlighted.

We've add already the photos of the teams that have made the accrediation on Friday. More will come this Saturday!

We will try our best to make it a great experience to you! Enjoy it! Keep supporting your favourite team(s)! Your messages during the race will be delivered to them!

Best Regards,
Nuno Pestana
Portugal XPD Race Webmaster

The ARWC Portugal 09 Trainning Camps are being a sucess with all the team higly motivated for the last preparations for the BIG CHALLENGE.

Todays Schedule includes paddling in Cascais Bay from 10:00 to 13:00 departing and arriving from the Fishmongers Beach (just in face of Cascais City Hall) and TRIKKE at Vila Bicula from 14:00 to 17:00.

 The final debriefing and closure of the Training Camps will be at Ponta do Sal Interpretation House, at S. Pedro Beach from 18:00 to 20:00 (Gauss Coord: 38,693675º, -9,372213º).

 Alexandre

The reservations are now open and will be accepted until October, 15th or until finish the available rooms in the hotel. If you want to know the conditions, please contact us by email: teams@portugalxpdrace.com

NOTE: The reservation needs to be done directly with us. Any reservation directly with the hotel will not be accepted at these prices, this is a special price for the event. The rooms available are limited.