The update also introduces a significant change to regional rankings, where all teams taking part can now be ranked in all regions. (Previously, this was only the case in North America, while in other regions only mixed gender teams of 4 were ranked.)
This four month period is the quietest in the ARWS calendar but has still included World Series Qualifiers in New Zealand, Australia, Chile and Mexico, the South American Championship final in Uruguay and the introduction of a new stage race in Australia.
Within the World Rankings there has been little movement at the top. The top 5 stay the same with Swedish Armed Forces Adventure Team at #1 and Team Brazil Multisport remaining at #3 despite winning the South American Championship for a 4th time. The points they won in Uruguay were only enough to maintain their top 3 spot as the rankings run on a two year rolling cycle.
The team improving their ranking the most after finishing 3rd in the South American Championship was Novopan Andes Racing Ecuador, moving from 11th to 7th place. With Brazil Multisport and BOA Brasil Outdoor Adventure this places three South American teams in the top 10.
Team FEAR Youth were a top 10 mover, up to 6th place in the world after taking second place at The MAGNIficent expedition race in New Zealand. This race saw the return of the ARWS to New Zealand and with Kiwi teams racing in America and at the World Championship in Ecuador there are now 3 New Zealand teams in the top 30, including the winners at MAGNIficent, Sardine Racing. (There are 14 different nationalities in the top 30 teams.)
Australian teams also had the chance to score World Ranking points at the Legend expedition race in Tasmania. The race winners there were team Broken Compass AR and Legend was their first ARWS Qualifier race, so they jumped into the World Rankings in 20th place as first time winners. This team was established in 2021 (when they finished last in a 24 hour regional race) and they have only raced together as a Premier Mixed squad for the past year, so their rise has been a rapid one and shows what new teams can achieve.
In the regional rankings the top positions stay the same in every region except South America, where Team BOA Brasil Outdoor Adventure move into the #1 position helped by the points boost from their win last year in the first ever ARWS Brasil Series.
This quarterly update introduced the change to include all teams (of any size or gender mix) across all of the regions. Traditionally ARWS rankings have been only for mixed gender teams of 4 (Premier Mixed), however regional races are increasingly open to pairs and teams of 3, and these teams will now get an ARWS regional ranking.
This model has been used successfully in North America for the past two years. This was partly because very few teams of 4 compete in the USA (none at some races) and also because the first ARWS stage races were introduced in Canada, and these were open to pairs. In this latest ranking update the change only affects one race, the new Adrenalin Quest stage race in Australia, but from now on more stage races, and many more teams will be part of the ARWS rankings.
ARWS CEO Heidi Muller explained why this has been implemented. “Adventure Racing is changing quickly, “she said, “and the ARWS is adapting to support our Race Directors as they grow their events. More and more of our regional races are open to pairs and teams of 3 and we want to include these teams in the ARWS family. At the same time, adventure stage racing is growing around the world and we now have 5 of these races on our regional calendars, with more to come next year.
“The world rankings will still be for Premier Mixed teams only, as that is the history and tradition of the sport at an international level, and we hope that being more inclusive at a regional level will grow the participant base in adventure racing, and that some of those racers will be inspired to try an expedition race in the future.”
You can find out more about the ARWS Rankings at https://arworldseries.com/world-rankings/about and see the new World and Regional rankings at https://arworldseries.com/world-rankings/current-rankings
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