The ARWS North America Championship will be hosted by the USARA National Championship race in Oregon on October 23/24th this year.
The ARWS North American Championship is open to teams from Canada, USA and Mexico and is hosted by one of the 30 races within the ARWS North America Series each year. The winners receive a free place at the Adventure Racing World Championship and all teams earn double points in the ARWS rankings.
With this year’s USARA Nationals taking place in Oregon some strong Canadian teams are expected to cross the border to be on the start line, though they will not be eligible for the USARA prizes or titles.
Brent Freedland, Executive Director of the USARA is looking forward to this new dimension to the USARA Nationals. “We are excited to partner with ARWS to host the North American regional championship,” he said, “and looking forward to welcoming Canadian teams to the race for the first time!”
It’s a historic year for the USARA Championship in other ways as it will be the 25th edition of the race and also the first time it’s been held in Oregon.
Freedland added, “We are thrilled to collaborate with Bend Racing to host the 2026 USARA National Championship in Bend, Oregon. USARA has always prioritized working with different Race Directors in different regions and this is the first National Championship to be held in the Pacific Northwest.
“Bend has a tremendous reputation for challenging, scenic, and technical events, and we are looking forward to offering the US racing community a chance to explore the beautiful landscape and ecosystems of Central Oregon.”
Jason Magness will be the Race Director and said, “We are super excited to host the USARA National Championship, to show teams the awesome high desert scenery in Oregon and to welcome them to our home town of Bend.
“We moved to Oregon specifically to train for racing around the world and it’s an awesome adventure playground that has kept us inspired as racers for many years. We hope teams will bring the family, come early and stay late to make the most of their trip to the North-West. There is so much to enjoy and explore here.
“It’s been a long-held ambition of ours to host the Nationals and to be able to include the ARWS North American Champs as well is a fantastic opportunity to bring even more teams to Oregon and to have the best possible line-up of elite racers. It’s going to be an exciting race!”
Bend Racing have organised Adventure Racing World Series and USARA races for many years and are currently the most prolific race providers in the World Series, organising Expedition Oregon, The MAGNIficent in New Zealand, and having just announced they will help organize next year’s La Ruta Madre race in Mexico.
The Bend Racing/4 Hour Fuel team is also top of the ARWS North America rankings and they were the top U.S. team at last year’s Adventure Racing World Championship in Canada, finishing in 5th place. They have been previous winners of the USARA National Championship as well.
Teams can expect a race full of variety, technical skill and navigational challenge from Bend Racing, and their course will include packrafting, a discipline Bend Racing has pioneered and which is included in many ARWS expedition races.
Traditionally the USARA National Championship has used canoeing as the water discipline, and the race has been for teams of 3. This year the race will be for teams of 4 for the first time, making it possible to combine with the ARWS Championship, which is for teams of 4.
ARWS CEO Heidi Muller commented, “This is a wonderful opportunity to bring the two Championships in North America together and I would like to thank the USARA for hosting us. We know Bend Racing will put on an exceptional race for all of the competitors who travel to Oregon, and with two titles and significant prizes to compete for, it's going to be a high stakes race in October!
For more information visit;
https://www.usara.com/2026-national-championships
https://arworldseries.com/series/north-america-series
https://www.bendracing.com/
