Final 2015 Adventure Racing World Series Rankings Revealed

With the Adventure Racing World Championships being held in Brazil last month, another season of the AR World Series has come to a close. Earlier in the week, the final rankings for 2015 were released, and for those of us who follow the sport closely there are some familiar names at the top. 

The rankings are a result of how teams finish over the course of the entire season, which began last February at the GODZone Race in New Zealand and wrapped up at Pantanal Pro in Brazil. Each team receives a point value based on their performance, although sometimes their overall score is skewed by how often they race. Still, the best teams do tend to gravitate to the top of the list, and the best team in the world is definitely ranked number one in my opinion. So, without further ado, here how the top adventure racing teams stacked up, along with their point totals for the season:

1 - Seagate - 700
2 - Columbia Oncosec - 556
3 - Adventure Medical Kits - 458
4 - Hagl�fs Silva - 398
5 - Swedish Armed Forces Adventure Team - 371
6 - Raidlight-Naturex - 364
7 - Merrell - 355
8 - GODZone Adventure Team - Expedicion Guarani - 338
9 - Peak Performance 306
10 - YogaSlackers - 275
11 - Estonian ACE Adventure - 223
11 - France Green Caffte Costa Rica - 223
13 - R'ADYS Team Switzerland - 218
14 - Ecuador Movistar - 183
15 - Arverne Outdoor - 176
16 - Bivouac Inov-8 - 160
17 - Sweco Adventure - 150
18 - Fenix Multisport - Adidas - 133
19 - DART Nuun - 108
20 - Chimpanzee Bar - 105
20 - Kailash Brou Aventuras - 105

The 2016 season will begin in February at the Maya Mountain Adventure Challenge in Belize, and the ARWS will have another full schedule of events planned for the months that will follow. It should be another interesting year, with some great races set to take place on five continents, including the World Championships being held in Australia.

Team Seagate Wins Adventure Racing World Championship

Last week, the Adventure Racing World Championship was held in Brazil, where the top teams from around the world went head to head to decide just who is the best in this grueling endurance sport. The teams tested themselves on a course that was 720 km (447 miles) in length, and after seven days of nonstop racing, it was a familiar team that stood atop the leaderboard.

Team Seagate from New Zealand was the favorite coming into the event, and they did not disappoint. The squad took first place at Patanal Pro, the host event for this year's AR World Championship. The Kiwi's finished with a time of 6 days, 16 hours, 44 minutes, which fast enough to put them seven hours ahead of second place team Hagl�fs Silva of Sweden. Third place went to team SAFAT, also of Sweden, who finished another five hours back.

At the start of the race back on November 15, there were 30 teams set to compete. Only five managed to run the entire course, with 17 other teams continuing on a short course, while 8 others retired from the event. Two additional teams continued on unranked after losing one of their four-person squad.

As usual with adventure racing, the ARWC required coed teams of four to trek, mountain bike, and kayak through a remote course using only a compass and map to navigate between checkpoints. In this case, that remote course ran through the Patanal region of Brazil, which is the largest wetlands area in the world. The dense forests found there are reminiscent of the Amazon, although the terrain varies to a higher degree.

Congrats to the champs who have proven once again that they are the top team in the world. Hopefully we can lure them to come compete in Expedition Alaska in the future.