PC12 Adventure Race
On the Route of the Muleteers
Rob Howard / 31.05.2021
The PC12 Adventure Race is about to begin, and this year it is titled ‘La Ruta del Arriero’ – or ‘the route of the muleteers’. This will take teams through the province of Antioquia, using ancient trading trails which run from village to village and the organisers promise “a difficult route, steep roads, rugged descents and lots of mountains.”
The enthusiastic organising team, led by Race Directors Ricky Velez and Juancho Aristizabal, has fought many battles to get the race on, including a month delay due to Covid and coping with national strikes across the country, although they say these have not been too disruptive in the province where the race takes place. The delayed date also means the rivers are full due to the rainy season, and although the expected international entry wasn’t possible there are racers from Estonia, Ecuador and Costa Rica taking part, alongside the very best Colombian teams.
All are gathering in Rionegro, near to the city of Medellin, for registration and briefings, and will depart tomorrow at 1.30am for the start line, which remains secret until they arrive. After a 3 hour drive they will be given their first maps at 05.12, and will start the race at 06.12, and at the moment they know only the course outline and that it will finish in Abejorral, in the East of Antioquia.
Ricky Velez said, “The route promises to be one of the most demanding that has been carried out in Colombia, and it will have a lot of climbing, almost 16,500 meters in total.”
The race will begin with a kayaking stage on one of Colombia’s major rivers with class 3 rapids, which will be fast and swollen due to recent rains, before moving to a mountainous 80km ride and then a trekking stage including visiting underground rivers and a rappel. This stage will allow some strategic choices with the CP’s taken in any order, and after a trek/ride stage comes the toughest stage of the race.
Stage 5 will be the crux of the race, with a 65km trek, which includes a via ferrata and a 150m rappel. It may be the biggest rappel many of the racers have ever done. Two shorter ride and trek stages will finish the race, which promises some difficult navigation. Temperatures will range between 35C and 12C, and the elevation will be between 600 and 2,500m.
During the race there will of course be no team #12 and no PC12 – this is the PC12 Adventure Race race after all and they do things differently!
You will be able to watch the live tracking at https://raceplay.se/event?eventid=89 and this will be live from the start, and there will be lots of updates and videos on the PC12 Facebook page.
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