Ready for an adventure?
In two years’ time, the Okanagan will be hosting a sports event for endurance athletes.
On Saturday, Hoodoo Adventures of Penticton announced that the Adventure Racing World Series (ARWS) will be visiting the region.
According to its website, ARWS features races around the world, with some races lasting 12 to 36 hours and others between three and 10 days.
The 2023 schedule features 69 events around the globe, which lead up to a world championship. For 2025, Penticton will be hosting the championship event.
Lyndie Seddon Hill of Hoodoo Adventures says the announcement was made in South Africa, where she and John Ford of Castlegar, B.C., have been travelling for the past two weeks.
Ford is the race director for Expedition Canada, which Hill also owns.
South Africa is currently hosting this year’s ARWS world championships, a two-week event that has drawn close to 450 racers. The race covered more than 800 kilometres of varying terrain and was open day and night for nine days.
Ford said having Canada host in 2025 is honouring and humbling.
“The course will bring together our Canadian culture and our diverse landscapes, encompassing majestic alpine, lush forest and pristine waterways,” Ford said.
“We want to create a truly memorable and exhilarating experience for racers.”
Added Hill: “We cannot be more thrilled to bring this event to Canada. The spirit of adventure, the awareness, and the opportunity that an event of this scale can create in our communities is immeasurable.”
Hill also said this: “If we think Ironman is inspiring, wait until you experience this event. It is teeming in culture and community.
“I firmly believe it’s exactly what we as a country need right now, something positive to focus on, something to make us proud to be Canadian. That is our goal with this event. That is exactly what we will strive for.”
AWRS says it’s been 20 years since Canada last hosted an event.
“We are very excited to be organizing a World Championship event in North America. It’s time,” said organization owner Heidi Muller.
“ARWS is ecstatic about the new team Expedition Canada have built, and we are confident that they will put on an amazing event with us, and it will be executed professionally.”
The event is tentatively scheduled to run Sept. 22 to Oct. 6, 2025.
In the coming months, Expedition Canada will be supporting other Canadian adventure races as part of the ARWS North American Series.
The goal is to help Canadian teams build towards expedition-length races and be prepared for 2025.
More information about the race is available on Expedition Canada’s website.
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