The Adventure Racing World Series (ARWS[1]) comprises a number of expedition-length adventure races that push the world’s best endurance athletes to their limits[2] in a season of competition that tests their skills in a range of disciplines including navigation, trekking, adventure running, mountain biking, paddling and climbing.
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Each year races in the series are held in locations spread across the globe, culminating in the staging of the Adventure Racing World Championships. The winner of the seasons’s final event is crowned World Champion.
The competition's format provides that each of the individual events of the World Series function as a qualifier for the World Championships. The top two finishing teams in each event secure the opportunity to compete in the World Championships. The field of event winners and second place getters is then supplemented by the reigning world champions, who are given the right to defend their title, and a selection of wild card entrants round out the number of starters.
The actual World Championship race rotates each year. One of the qualifying events is singled out and designated as the World Championship event and this event provides a dramatic conclusion to the end of the World Series racing season.
The Adventure Racing World Championship was the brainchild of Geoff Hunt and Pascale Lorre, long-time adventure racers who sought to "lend badly needed structure to the sport".[3] Hunt and Lorre's vison was first brought to fruition in Switzerland in 2001 where 41 teams contested the Discovery Channel World Championship with the controversy-plagued event eventually won by Finland's Team Nokia Adventure,.[3]
After a two year hiatus the Adventure Racing World Championships was next held in Canada in 2004 and has subsequently been held every year since.
In 2011 management of the series was passed to the Australian company Geocentric Outdoors.[4] The 2011 World Championships will be staged at the XPD Expedition Race in Tasmania, Australia, where 90 teams drawn from 21 countries will make for the largest starting field in the event's history.[5] This is testament to the fact that the World Series hosts the very best teams in the world and "continues to grow and become more prominent".[6]
In 2012 the World Championships will be held at Raid in France in Provence Alpes Côte d’Azurm, France.[7]
| Year | Country | Race | World Champion |
| 2001 | Switzerland | Discovery Channel World Championships | Team Nokia Adventure |
| 2004 | Canada | Raid The North Extreme | Nike ACG Balance Bar |
| 2005 | New Zealand | Southern Traverse | Balance Vector |
| 2006 | Sweden | Explore Sweden | Nike PowerBlast |
| 2007 | Scotland | Wilderness ARC[8] | Nike |
| 2008 | Brazil | Ecomotion[9] | Orion Health |
| 2009 | Portugal | Portugal XPD[10] | Helly Hansen Prunesco |
| 2010 | Spain | Bimbache Extrem | Buff Thermocool |
| 2011 | Australia | XPD Expedition Race | N/A |
| Race | Country | Dates | Winner | Second |
| Adidas Terrex | UK | 27-30 Aug, 2010 | Adidas Terrex | AcelerateB |
| Huairasinchi | Ecuador | 5–7 May 2011 | Thule Adventure Team | Equipo Ecuador |
| APEX – Alpine Expedition | Switzerland | 24–29 May 2011 | Silva Gerber | Team Switzerland |
| Costa Rica Adventure Race | Costa Rica | 24-31 Jun, 2011 | Columbia Spot Vidaraid | Buff Thermacool |
| Raid The North Extreme | Canada | 23-31 Jul, 2011 | WildernessTraverse.com | Wild Rose |
| RAID in France | France | 28 Aug - 1 Sep, 2011 | Quechua.com | OS-Direct Adventure Team |
| Gold Rush Mother Lode | USA | 8-11 Sep, 2011 | Team Tecnu Extreme | Team GearJunkie |
| XPD Expedition Race | Australia | 31 Oct - 13 Nov, 2011 | Thule Adventure Team | Team Silva |
| Race | Country | Dates |
| Huairasinchi | Ecuador | 18-21 Feb, 2012 |
| Tierra Viva | Argentina | 18-26 Feb, 2012 |
| GODZone Adventure Race | New Zealand | 7–14 April 2012 |
| Costa Rica Adventure Race | Costa Rica | 21-28 Apr, 2012 |
| APEX - Alpine Expedition | Switzerland | 5-10 Jun, 2012 |
| Untamed New England | USA | 19-24 Jun, 2012 |
| Adidas TERREX | UK | 18-25 Aug, 2012 |
| Gold Rush Mother Lode | USA | 6-9 Sep, 2012 |
| Raid in France (World Championship) | France | 15-22 Sep, 2012 |