Desert Dash

We get many, many questions about what is our adventure challenge race?  Well, part of the fun is that you find out at the start of the race, what the race course is!  Now, we of course want you to be as prepared as you can be, so before the race we will have the most current gear list available, and some extra items on the list that may help you out along your journey!  Below are a few things we can tell you about these races, so gather up some friends and families and come on out and race!

Each race is designed to teach you new skills and build on the skills you already have.  In some races you might be hiking, mountain biking and learning to use your map and compass.  In other races you might be paddling and running along the coastline!  There are so many options which makes it a lot of fun for us race directors to plan out the coolest courses we can dream up!  And, whether or not it is your first race or you have a few races under your belt you will definitely enjoy yourself!

The most common question is:

"Does everyone on the team do all of the events/skills/race?"

Absolutely!  In fact, though there are very few rules, one rule is that you must remain within 100 meters of your teammates.  This is for a few reasons, everyone can then experience the race together and work as a team.  The team moves as fast as the slowest member and finally if you have a fast person on your team, it prevents them from racing ahead to find checkpoints...and trust us finding a checkpoint together is a lot of fun, in fact some racers have been known to do a little dance upon finding a checkpoint!

"I am not an expert_______" 

You fill in the blank, mountain biker, paddler, swimmer, runner, etc.  It's ok you don't have to be, that is what is so nice about these races, they are for beginners and for fun.  We want you to come out, see something awesome, experience a great race course and be able to complete it with your team.  Because you are working with your team you will have support.  And, just to put everyone's mind at ease on the mountain biking, we will never have mountain biking in a race on technical trails, it's supposed to be fun.  Us Race Directors bike those types of trails for fun but in a race like this, technical trails wouldn't be so much fun!

"Can I do the race?  I have only ever run a 5k race before."

Yes you can!  An adventure challenge race is much different than say a running race, or a triathlon where you are moving constantly.  Our races are 4 hours in length but in that 4 hours you may be sitting and solving a navigation puzzle, looking for a checkpoint, planning out your next move, looking at your map, etc.  So although it is 4 hours, it's not relentless forward progression (thanks Nathan for that saying!)

A sweet surprise on the race course 

Where is the race? 

We will always give you the area where the race will be happening, i.e. Lake Mead NRA but never the exact race location.  A few reasons for this...firstly, surprises are fun!  But, most importantly we want to make sure that none of our checkpoints are removed.  We spend days putting together the race courses and setting out the checkpoints and unfortunately they sometimes get stolen, so we like to keep the location under wraps.  But, don't worry, if we say Lake Mead, NV, we aren't going to suddenly ship you off to the Arizona side of Lake Mead!

Counting Bighorn sheep at the October 10th race, yep real sheep!

What should I do to prepare for the race?

The best preparation for the race is to make sure you have all the gear that we have listed with you.  If it is on the list, then you will need it.  We make the gear list easy to understand and managable but if there is a question, go ahead and contact us, we will be happy to help out.  If there is something listed that you don't have, ask a friend or family member, you never know who will have what you are looking for!

The second thing that will help is to spend some time with the people you are racing with, even if you can just get in a hike with them or even a bike ride.  This will help everyone get to know each other.  Teams that do not do well in races are teams that don't work together.  Teamwork is key and as we said, this is about fun!  Adventure challenges aren't about big prize money or other prizes but about completing a cool, unique journey together and then of course sharing all your stories afterwards!