The event lived up to the title of World Championship, with incredible venues that played host to thrilling, top-tier racing.
Témiscaming, July 26, 2026 – The ARWS Junior Adventure Racing World Championship wrapped up on Sunday in Témiscaming, Quebec, with six teams celebrating maiden world crowns in men’s, women’s, and mixed Under-18 and Under-25 races. The event lived up to the title of World Championship, with incredible venues that played host to thrilling, top-tier racing.
Thirty-eight teams from 10 countries – Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, India, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain, Uruguay, and the United States – competed, all piecing together inspiring races from the start of the weekend right to the end.
The men’s Under-18 race was the closest after Saturday’s stage, with less than two minutes separating the first-place team — France’s Elie and Zacharie Dhombres — and the second-place New Zealanders, Luke Jansen and Silas Jones. Those two teams were virtually side by side through the opening sections of the race, but the Kiwis hammered the canoe leg to pull away. Their effort on the water was enough to not only make up the two-minute gap from Saturday, but to add a multiple-minute buffer, earning them the win.
The Dhombres brothers crossed the line in second place, with Spain’s Ekain Fernandez-Garcia and Joan Montes Peidro finished in third, jumping onto the podium after closing out Saturday in fifth.
In the women’s Under-18 race, it was France’s Maiwenn Tate and Adeline Choutkoff who grabbed the win. They led after Saturday, but their fellow French athletes, Léna Bourdon and Lauriane Bouchut, (who were in second after Saturday) made them work for the victory. Bourdon and Bouchut settled for second place, with Americans Jossalyn Henry and Katharine Virgilio finishing in third.
The mixed Under-18 race saw Amandine Govin and Dayan Molus of France run to the championship. They were followed by compatriots Valentin Bourbon and Ella Gueydan Monjusiau, with Maya Grogean and Jeremy Bel of the U.S. in second and third, respectively.
French teams took the wins in all three Under-25 races. Armel Berthaud and Noélie Gauthier won the mixed event, followed by Spaniards Daniel Puyuelo-Bretos and Nerea Garcia-Rodriguez in second and Canada’s Maia and Ness Dalling in third position.
The standings in the men’s Under-25 race stayed the same from Saturday to Sunday, with France’s Anaël Audouin and Robin Galindo comfortably holding onto first place to take the world championship win. Second place went to New Zealand’s Fletcher Williams and Joseph Mulliss, and Australians Charles Dunn and Nathan Munson rounded out the podium in third.
Melle Chifflet and Laura Berruer of France came from behind in the standings to win the women’s Under-25 race ahead of Canada’s Éloïse Poirier and Émilie Lussier.
Teams received their awards and all were presented with certificates at the prize giving in Temiscamingue, before embarking on long journeys home and carrying with them memories of the first ever Junior Adventure Racing World Championship, the welcome of Raid Temiscamingue and the communities who supported the race, and the beauty of the Temiscamingue region.
