Patagonian Expedition Race - Editions

Editions

2012: The 10th anniversary edition of the race presented the 19 international co-ed teams with 565km (351 miles) of challenging Patagonian nature; ranging from strength-sapping peat bogs to freezing cold glacial rivers. Part of the route also led them to the Kurukinka National Park where NIGSA has recently ended a trail building project, allowing walkers and rangers to effectively reach some of the more remote parts of the area. The route took the teams from the regional capital, Punta Arenas to the eventual finish on the Fiordo Pia on the Beagle Channel. For the fourth year in a row British based team Adidas TERREX/Prunesco were the overall winners. The second and third step on the podium respectively went to Japanese team EastWind and the American team Gearjunkie/Yogaslackers.

2011: The ninth edition of the Wenger Patagonian Expedition Race took on a challenging route through the dramatic landscapes of Torres del Paine, Bernard O’Higgins and Pali Aike National Parks. The race involved a total of 248 km of mountain biking, 150 km of trailless trekking and 105 km of river and sea kayaking. British team adidasTERREX/Prunesco completed their third consecutive victory, while persistent rain forced a section of the course to be cancelled, and swollen rivers caused three teams to be airlifted over an impassable part of the course (two of which completed the race). British team captain Bruce Duncan said: “To have won this race once is something special, to win it three times is simply amazing.” Six teams completed the challenging course, with US team GearJunkie.com taking second place, French team Vaucluse Adventure Evasions finishing third and Croatians Ad Natura taking fourth place. Karibu finished several hours behind the top placed teams, while teams East Wind from Japan, and Perdido en el Turbal, from the USA and UK, were the final finishers.

2010: This was the southernmost adventure race in history and was won by reigning champions Helly Hansen-Prunesco, making them the first team to retain the title. "It was a magical race," said team captain Nicola MacLeod. The route began on the north western shore of Tierra del Fuego and took competitors south on a series of treks and mountain bike rides through increasingly hilly terrain to the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Karukinka Reserve before a major 120 km trek through the unexplored Darwin Range to Yendegaia Bay and a final kayak and trek the finish on Isla Navarino, on the shores of the Beagle Channel. Stephen Regenold, of Team GearJunkie.com, said: “We saw every type of terrain you could imagine. It looked like New Zealand, the Alps, Colorado, there were jungly sections and the Turba (peatbog) was crazy - it looked like the set from the movie Avatar. We didn’t see any sign that humans had been through there, and we didn’t even see any other teams for days.” Helly Hansen-Prunesco’s winning time was five days, six hours and eight minutes, with Spain’s Air Europa Bimont 16hrs 38mins behind in second, and Germany’s Team Herbertz and Team Switzerland sharing third. Seven teams completed the course.

2009: This 600 km epic began in Torres del Paine and ended at the Cross of the Seas on Cabo Froward, the southernmost point of the American continental mainland. It was notable for its tough conditions and for several race dramas. British team Helly Hansen-Prunesco put in a strong and smooth performance to beat reigning champions Easy Implant (formerly Authentic Nutrition), who finished second. Team captain Nicola MacLeod said: “It was an amazing race, a chance to explore Patagonia in depth, on your own, in an adventurous environment. It certainly met my expectations, and the fact we managed to win it blew them away!” But the race became famous for the dramatic story of American team Calleva, who got stuck in the mountains after a trekking short-cut went wrong and had to survive for days on wild berries before two team members attempted a daring swim and free-climb to alert a rescue operation. Team member Druce Finlay admitted “it was freezing water and after we got out we shivered all night. I couldn’t dress myself, I just couldn't operate my hands. I thought I was going down. But the very end climb, we got a lucky path although we were on some slippery steep cliffs, no ropes, just grabbing onto thin grass here and there.” They made it – but were out of time to be classified. Just three of the nine teams made the finish.

2008: This edition of the race focused on Tierra del Fuego with more than 500 km of competition across the remote Chilean island. Team Authentic Nutrition became the third French team to win the race after a route that took racers from Porvenir through valleys and forests within the Karukinka reserve, the Death Pass in the Darwin Range, to Yendegaia, where the race was finished early due to strong winds impeding helicopter flights. The winning team completed the course in six days two hours and 42 minutes. Two team members of second-placed Spanish team Canarias – Andalucia Spiuk Tenerife had taken on the event as part of their honeymoon having been married just before the race to gain a legal holiday. Only two other teams of the 11 that started made it to the finish.

2007: The longest race of its kind in history took the teams 1,112 km through the southern region of Chilean Patagonia, from Torres del Paine National Park all the way to Puerto Williams on the Navarino Island. The awesome challenge was won by returning champions French team TSL – La Clusaz – and no other team was able to complete the course. The Mexican team 7º Grado Monterrey México came closest, but they had been disqualified for being rescued from the middle of the awesome Darwin mountains after getting lost for several days.

2006 Winter: The only winter race took place between 21–26 June 2006 and was contested mostly by Chilean and Argentine teams, with victory going to Chilean team Nike-GNC. A unique alteration to the race regulations saw teams made up of just two members and the race split into distinct stages with overnight rests. The cold but sunny and clear winter days with strong light contrasts created an extremely scenic edition on a route that started at Glacier Grey in the Torres del Paine National Park, and finished at Lago Deseado in Tierra del Fuego, including several days of racing through the Karukinka Reserve. The race was completed in 28 hours, 57 minutes and 18 seconds, with eight teams making the finish.

2006: The third edition of the race, in February 2006, covered more than 700 km and started on the South Atlantic Ocean in a region first explored by Ferdinand Magellan. The route crossed the American continent all the way to the Pacific Ocean, where it led through the channels and the unexplored Peninsula Brunswick down to the Río San Pedro before ending in Punta Arenas. Team BUFF Spain won with a team that included German Ann Christine Meidinger, who went on to be the race’s Marketing Director. They completed the course in nine days, seven hours and 16 minutes, with Canadian Alberta Adventure Racing Team three hours behind in second and Feed the Machine from the US third. The other two entered teams failed to finish and Feed the Machine racer Bernice Pierson said: "I have raced Primal Quest twice as well as about 50 other races, but these last 50 hours of trekking have been the toughest that I have ever done. Ever!"

2005: The second Patagonian Expedition Race was 662 km long, beginning near the entrance to Torres del Paine National Park and ending at San Isidro Lighthouse on the shores of the Strait of Magellan. There was a strong mountain biking and kayaking bias and French Team La Clusaz Raid Aventure were the official winners; although Team Russia came in first but was disqualified after breaking the no-separation of team members rule in an initial kayaking leg. Both teams were taken on a rewarding trip to the scientific whale-watching base on Carlos III Island.

2004: The first ever race involved competitors from 10 different nations and was won by Xinix Water Purification, a team made up of three New Zealand racers and their American female captain Robyn Benincasa. The route was around 520 km long, with 212 km of mountain biking, 168 km of sea kayaking and 140 km of tough trekking and rope-work. It started in Punta Arenas and finished at the most southerly point ever reached in any expedition race at that time, in the town of Puerto Williams on Navarino Island.