La Ruta Madre Adventure Race is back for 2025 as an Adventure Racing World Series (ARWS) Qualifier, the first ever to be staged in Mexico, and promises to deliver a technically challenging course in the mountains and canyons of Monterrey, Nuevo León.

The race will start at 06:00 on Saturday March 22nd from the Cabañas El Paraíso in Cienega de González, and the teams on the start line will expect a race unlike any other in the ARWS.

They will not know where the course goes until the race briefing the night before the start, but have an outline of the 412km course which describes the stages as ‘cave, rappel, waterfall, swim and canyon’ ... many times over!

The opening stage is described as “Rock Climbing, Cave, Rappels, Wet Trek, Wet Rope Ascent, Wet Trek ... you decide the order of checkpoints!” It’s predicted to take teams 4.5 to 8 hours to cover a distance of 10km and is the first of 11 stages which have a total of 16,336m of ascent.

This will be no surprise to the defending race champions, Team Bend Racing/4 Hour Fuel, who have returned for more of the same after being blown away by the 2023 course. After the race, team Captain Jason Magness said, “It’s the most amazing place I’ve ever been in a race and the most technical course, it’s unbelievable! I’ll have to come back.”

Magness is perhaps the most prolific expedition racer in the world, a winner at the legendary Patagonia Expedition Race and is Race Director of two ARWS Qualifiers himself, so his excitement for the sheer walls and deep ravines of Nuevo León was high praise and he has returned with a different Bend Racing team, this time competing with his wife and co-Race Director, Chelsey.

The course is unusual for an expedition race, as it does not include a paddling stage, but 6 of the 11 stages are described as ‘wet’ so the racers will be in the water this time and not on it. Race Director Javier Barreda explained, “In this area we have only 2 small places with water to paddle so it’s not very useful... but we have a lot of wet canyons with waterfalls, jumps and swims to enjoy.” He added, “The course is 100km shorter this year, but with the same vertical ascent, so it will be just as difficult.”

A race this demanding attracts only experienced teams, those who are prepared to push beyond the limits, even those of expedition adventure racing ... which already has few limits!

Bend Racing/4 Hour Fuel is the world #6 team and can draw on their experience of last year, so they will be favourites. They will be challenged by another US team, two Canadian teams and one from Guatemala.

Rootstock Racing is the most experienced team in the race, and also includes two ARWS Race Directors, Brent Freeland of Rootstock Racing, and Mark Lattanzi, who will organise the new Cerberus Expedition Stage Race in May. Also on the team are USARA chairman Mike Garrison and Mari Chandler, whose last expedition race was with Bend Racing/4 Hour Fuel at The Magnificent race New Zealand at the start of February.

Also at that race was Una Hall, who is another racer lured back to La Ruta Madre after taking part last year. After finished she said; “The race is absolutely stunning with challenges like no other. Don’t worry, I’ll be back!” This time she is competing with Sea to Sky Racing, and there will be a Canadian race-off with Wild Warriors, whose last ARWS expedition race was the 2023 World Championship in South Africa.

Team Hombre de Maiz has not raced in ARWS competition since 2018, and is the only team from Guatemala to have taken part in the series. This enigmatic team, lead by Netzer Quan was inspired by Eco-Challenge and founded in 1999, and they took part in the revived Eco-Challenge in Fiji in 2019. They will be welcomed in Mexico to join an elite group of teams taking on the unique challenge of La Ruta Madre 2025.

The race can be followed on Facebook @larutamadreadventurerace and on Instagram @larutamadre and on all channels @arworldseries. There will be live satellite tracking at:
https://www.followmychallenge.com/live/larutamadre25/