PARS Turbo 2020
PARS Turbo 2020 Gets The Go-Ahead to Resume Adventure Racing in Sweden
Rob Howard / 07.08.2020
The PARS Turbo Adventure Race is one of the few live events being allowed to go ahead in Sweden presently, and it will give 47 lucky racers the chance to compete on August 8th.
PARS stands for Pioneer Adventure Race Sverige, and the event is staged by the Pioneers club/team who have been adventure racing themselves for the past 15 years.
They are an experienced international team having raced in the Adventure Racing World Series in Belize and Oregon, and at the 2016 World Champs in Australia. They are currently ranked 29th in the world, and PARS race organiser and team captain Johan Lilja was at Eco-challenge in Fiji with Team Swedeforce (SAFAT).
Last year the PARS race around Vimmerby was a 48 hour race in the format of a true adventure race, starting late Friday and finishing noon Sunday. This year the police permit allows a maximum of 50 racers and the race will be shorter but faster. PARS Turbo 2020 is one of very few racers to have permission to be a live event, rather than a virtual race, and it’s an opportunity Swedish racers are very glad of.
Lilja said, “PARS Turbo 2020 will be a fast multisport race where 20 teams (47 racers) will compete over a 64km course. The maximum time on the course is 12 hours and we expect the winning time to be around 6.5 hours.”
The course will have 7 stages, two transition areas and a bike drop, so the action will be fast and furious, especially as some really close competition is expected.
“This year we have 6 really experienced teams that can win,” said Lilja. “If we were forced to name a favourite for the win we would say any of these teams: Team Re-union, Kolmården Multisport, Uppsala Multisport, Adventureteam.nu, De 3 vännerna o Jerry, Rookies and Team Skåne Adventure. But it’s hard to know since there are a lot of really fast course specialists.
The start list contains adventure racers, MTB-specialists, orienteering teams and other athletes. There are some very experienced racers from the ARWS and Euro Series community from teams like; Sweco, Pioneers AR team, Raidaran Trangoworld (Colombia, Spain), 24h Meals AR team, Uppsala Multisport and Kolmården Multisport.”
The race start will be at Sätra Prästgård 10 km north of Stockholm city centre, but there is no tracking as it’s a low key event with a limited budget. (Maybe next year when rumours say PARS will be the Swedish Adventure Racing Championship.)
We’ll have a follow up race report for you here on SleepMonsters after the weekend.
SleepMonsters
