Adventure Racing
The last Adventure Race I did was an Ace Races sprint course (5 hour) on Cannock Chase as part of a 3-person team in summer 2004. The UK isn't as big on AR as the US (yet) and frankly, with kids, the potential for adequate training and racing is virtually zilch. I refuse to think we've abandoned it for good though, and look forward to getting stuck into some shortish races when time and kids allow.
Adventure Racing is basically the bigger and nastier brother of triathlon. Races range from a couple of hours to several days and are usually held in challenging conditions and environments to test your survival skills, not just your endurance.
Core disciplines are trail-running, mountainbiking, abseiling, and canoeing or kayaking, but many races also include open-water swimming, climbing/ascending, white-water rafting, mountaineering, snow-shoeing, and anything else the race directors decide to throw in for their entertainment.
Teams (of 1 to 4), must usually carry all their gear with them (packs for a multi-day race weigh around 20lbs) including water and food, must navigate between designated checkpoints using map-skills and compasses, and must do all this as quickly as possible ... even if that means not sleeping for the period of the race.
As a team of 2, Roj and I had reasonable success in the races we attempted while living in NY (2001-2004), frequently coming in the top five amongst fields of 30-60 regional teams. Our biggest accomplishment was without doubt September 2002's 2-day Odyssey E-fix held in West Virginia (after failing to complete the same race the previous year).
