Hi all,

Does anyone know if there are any adventure racing clubs in or around Geneva? or any races for that matter? It is something that I really want to get into and have not really had the opportunity before.

Thanks
GVAbound

What's adventure racing?

We've got orienteering and mountain races and trails. Tour de Mont Blanc is 160km with 8000m of climbing. Winner takes 20 hours. Is that adventurous enough? Montée de Nid d'Aigle is a miserable 20k with 2000m of climbing, includes steel ladders! For orienteering of various sizes see LRACO site on the french side or CARE club at Vevey on the Swiss side. CERN do some too, but it is mostly pretty wimpy. The Swiss are among the world's best at orienteering, but almost exclusively the german speakers.

Try these links:

• Complete list of Swiss orienteering clubs with contact data of their presidents
• List of the clubs with websites

Hope that helps.

Fantastic - thanks for the links and suggestions.

Adventure racing is basically like triathlon, but instead of swimming, road biking and running, there is often kayaking, mountain biking, running, climbing/abseiling - and I have seen events that even include horseback riding and inline skating (not both at the same time!) - and all with a very strong element of orienteering. You also tend to run in teams of three. It is something I have always wanted to do but never been working in a country where it has a following.

I have had a quick look at the orienteering site and will definitely get in touch with the CERN club once we arrive (yes - I am going slightly overboard in all our preparations!). It is something I used to do a while ago and really enjoy - not least because you have a perfect excuse for slowing down in a run!!

If I do find anything on adventure racing I'll post back.
Best,
GVAbound.

I haven't heard of any such races being organised. But if you think you like adventure and running around in teams of three, you should go for the real McCoys .

Isn't that like the whole Raid Gauloises thing? Which then was taken over by that 'Survivor' guy and made into a TV show?

Wow Shorrick - the patrol race looks incredibly scary!!! I think I will concentrate on the orienteering - and also am looking at doing the Geneva half-marathon in September. That said, it might be fun to go and watch some of the race next April.....

GVAbound

Don't know of any clubs, only races.
We just did a race today - awesome fun, but I am a little bit tired now. It was called Jura Raid (Mud) Adventure and was held near Neuchatel. We completed the Raid light that was about 40km and consisted of Mountain biking, trail running/orienteering (sooo muddy), Inline Skating and canoeing. You can also do the Strong which is 80km. The teams are two people and can be men, women or mixed.
It is part of the Salomon Raid Series and there will be two more races this year. One at Gstaad and the other a Glarus.

More details can be found at:
http://www.raidsuisse.ch/cms/home_f.phtml

PM me if you want more details.

Cheers

Kathy

Hey man, you may want to check out the 3-day stage race "Untamed Switzerland" in 2009. www.UntamedAdventure.com and visit the "Switzerland" section. We organize adventure races in the US and have started with this alpine orienteering event as our first in Europe -- orienteering, trekking, snowshoeing, etc (photos available www.untamedadventure.com/RevGallery.aspx, www.untamedadventure.com/RevGallery2.aspx, and www.untamedadventure.com/RevGallery3.aspx)

I'm hoping to make the Glarus event (http://www.walensee-adventure.ch/) and I may be in the market for a teammate if you want to give it a shot (Strong course).

You can get me at grant[at]UntamedAdventure.com

It looks absolutely brilliant. The site doesn't mention how far you expect to go each day, or the climb. Is it a score event where you choose which checkpoints to visit? Also what are the maps? 1:25,000 standard or special orienteering maps? Maps in Switzerland are excellent anyway.

Hi Grant,

Looks great - I take it that the next untamed adventure Swiss race is next April? I am definitely interested - what size teams are they? I don't think I would have any problem getting together a team of two, three or even four - but we would want to train a bit! I was reading some of your entries re the knots - is there anywhere on the site that lists qualifications needed? It has been a while since I did any climbing, as I haven't been stationed anywhere where it has been possible.

I'm not around for the Walensee race - I think that is part of the Salomon Raid series?? I'd be interested to hear your views on it if you go - my German is very basic, so I don't get that much from the website.

Thanks for the info - I'll definitely be in touch for further details.

GVAbound.

The Untamed Switzerland event will be in April 2009 and we don't have anything formal scheduled in Switzerland between now and then. The Swiss event will permit soloists as well as 2, 3, and 4 person teams -- what ever works for you!

As for the stages in 2009, we're evaluating some really fun areas and so we don't have a specific host venue identified yet. For the mileage and elevation profiles from 2008, you can review these stage profiles (the Pilatus stage was a real beast -- and we may keep parts of it for 2009):

• Mythens Stage Profile
• Rigi Stage Profile
• Pilatus Profile

2009 will be similar, and depending on snow melt having snowshoes
could be a real advantage (they were necessities in 2008!).

Hi GVABound. We're members of Care Vevey orienteering club and get to most of the orienteering events in Geneva / Vaud, plus quite a few further east into Fribourg / Bern etc. Let us know when you're here and we can meet up at an event! It's always good to have someone to compare routes with, to find out where I went horribly wrong.

Hi Tinks,

I just arrived in Geneva a few weeks ago, but have been inundated with getting up to speed in my new job and finishing off some outstanding activities, so have not had much time to get out and about. The orienteering sounds really fun - I haven't done it for about 6 years, which means I will spend most of the time overshooting - it took me ages to get used to the scale of orienteering maps!

When are the next events? I think it is a great way to get out and see different parts of Switzerland.

Best
GVAbound

(guess I really ought to change my moniker now to GVAarrived or something like that...... didn't really think that far when I signed up)

For orienteering, as we've said recently ... nearest clubs are CERN, who organize a low key series of events in the autumn. The CARE club at Vevey (home of Nestlé) have a good site, but not much on before the end of the summer holidays. On the French side look at the LRACO site. Next event is the mass start, long O "randoticine" on 20/7. There are a choice of long, easy navigation courses in amazing alpine scenery. Ditto in September for the Rand'Orientation. Both recommended. I'll be at the 2nd. For all the swiss events see the SOLV site, but summer is quiet.

Hi guys...

1: I am living in Zurich and have been doing quite a bit adventure racing in DK where I am from. This year I have only raced a couple of times due to lacking a team here, and its not so perfect having your team in dk and living here. You defiantly need to train together. Is there anyone who would like to team up or know of any teams here in Zurich area I could join for training and maybee competition ???

2: Trail running, I just finished the ultra trail mt blanc CCC distance last weekend, and really want to do the long one next year, but that means that I am missing 1 point before december=1 trail running race which is approved. Is there anybody who can help me with a calendar on french/english/German where trail running events are being put in. I do not speak french, but somebody told me its very populair there so maybee I can just use the calendar ??

Thanks for getting back to me.

Frederik

I just got back in town (Zurich) so apologies for not responding sooner. I'd be up for some training or racing but there aren't many events in Switzerland!

As for organized trail runs, I'm not aware of a central site that lists them all. Compared with the US, trail running in Switzerland doesn't seem to be as big an organized activity (in Boulder, Colorado -- as a contrast -- there are trail runs and ultras nearly every weekend!). It's a shame as there are thousands of trails and beautiful venues, just not many organizations making it happen. I have lots of long running routes through the Glarner Alps, Mythens, and Luzern area (it's where we hosted Untamed Switzerland this Spring: www.UntamedAdventure.com/Switzerland) if you feel up for a day on Pilatus, Stans, etc.

If you're looking for an accredited trail run to earn points towards qualifying for future races, I think there's one in Soll, Austria in the next couple weeks that's well established. It's too far for me to travel to, but it might be worth it to you.