Adventure Race Croatia

 Adventure Race Croatia Ready to Welcome Teams from 5 Continents

Rob Howard / 11.05.2022

Adventure Race Croatia, staged by Remarkable Events, returns from May 16th-23rd as stage 4 of this year’s Adventure Racing World Series.  The race is one of the most popular in the series and has attracted 46 teams with racers from 5 continents, including past winners and the current world champions. 

Slick organisation, courses which emphasise variety and avoid ultra-long stages, a Mediterranean climate, and the natural wonders and historic towns of Croatia are a winning formula teams are keen to sign up for. 

This year the race is in the regions of Gorski Kotar and Kvarner, with the HQ and race base on the island Krk in the town of Baška, using the beachside Valamar camping resort.  This is set on a beautiful bay with plenty of outdoor options and the organisers say it’s a perfect place to host an adventure race.  It certainly looks like it is with its spacious cabins, beachside location, and the blue-green waters of the bay surrounded by cliffs and hills.

Co Race Director Ana Rumiha says, “This region really has a lot to offer with 2 nature parks, 1 national park and many nature reserves.  The landscapes are  also quite different during the race, so that will be refreshing for teams who have been with us from the start, and it will also give a big variety in experience for the new teams.”

“Croatia is always rocky, but this time Gorski Kotar will offer some gentler paths, both on the bike and trek sections, and we will have a lot of CP’s to keep racers on the best paths (and because it is difficult not to end up on roads in Croatia). Every part of the route is carefully chosen so there are no “transfer” areas, and to ensure teams can experience nature while racing.  We will give teams 5 days of good stuff!”

She adds, “We are excited to finally present this route to the racers, after going over it for the last 3 years it has become all-consuming.  We will once again have a strong volunteer team composed of always loyal, local friends, Jose and the ‘French old school team’.  The two of us have been working on this for years, but they make it all happen, so we are forever grateful.”

This year the race is 590km, which is longer than in previous years, and with a bit more elevation gain (10,000m in 2019 and 14,500m this year), but the terrain is slightly easier.  The predicted fastest time is still around 75 hours with the course open for 106 hours, but perhaps with a few less finishers than past editions.

For the teams who move a little more slowly, the plan is to have 4 cut-offs and options to get them to the finish, while still having a great experience of Croatia.  This will help stop the race logistics getting too spread out, as the lead teams will move through the course at speed.

The race has 17 legs, 2 of them being loops, and Rumiha told us, “The hardest legs are 12 and 13, as these have the most elevation on bikes, and difficult trekking terrain on leg 13.  We think the bike legs are 100% ridable for average bikers in pretty much all conditions, so there won’t be any hike-a-bike, and the TA’s have good infrastructure , so teams will have chance a to resupply and use local restaurants, unlike in previous editions where there was nothing.

“Since it’s a May edition the weather might be a factor.  The sea is not that warm yet, so nights on the sea might be cold, and while the mountains are not higher than 1500m, night temperatures can still get to 5C which in combination with wind might be unpleasant. Most likely teams will have the full range of temperatures!”

The race will be the strongest ARC so far, with the World Champions, the Swedish Armed Forces Adventure Team, being the headliners and the team to beat.  Team Captain John Karlsson says they are well prepared and keen to race again, as it is their first big race since winning the World title in Spain last October.

They won’t be the only Swedish team to watch however.  There is a big Swedish entry including Team USWE, who won ARC in 2019, and the NIAR Adventure Racing Team, who finished 3rd in the World Champs.  Other top ranked teams are 400 TeamNaturex (France), Black Hill (Czechia), Wilderness Traverse (Canada) and Gymcity (Poland), who are joined by Jo Wiliams.

Another racer out of his usual team is Silver Eensaar who is with Team World Peace, and who must be the most prolific expedition racer this year.

The race starts on Monday 16th, at an unknown location, and you will be able to follow the live tracking and extensive coverage through the race website at https://arc.remarkable.events/.