New Race Treads Virgin Territory

Just a quick diary heads-up about a new adventure race with a difference due to be held in the North East this spring on 18-19 April 2009.

iROC - backed by footwear specialists inov-8 - is taking place at Weardale Works, Eastgate in the Durham Dales, a new venue which has never before had public access let alone hosted a race event. The venue is a former cement works site that is surrounded by stunning moorland and includes a large quarry, steep hillsides with complex contours and forested areas to boot. There's also an ideal site for an event village.


The format's a bit of a departure too. Rather than one major continuous race, there are going to be six different races featuring mountain biking, running and orienteering with each race lasting between one and four hours in duration. They all have a mass start, will pass through the event village at least once and you can go as hard or easy as you choose.

You can enter as an individual, as part of a team of three or a pair - if you race as the latter, you can either go it together or individually, something race director Shane Ohly reckons will go down well with parents who'll be able to take it in turns to mind the kids.

The organisers have clearly put a lot of thought into the event. There are six mini-races as well, for those who want to dip a toe in the water without full immersion and some nice touches. There's a night-time Mountain Bike Time Trial for example, a longer MTB enduro race and a yellow jersey feature, whereby the current leaders after each race, you guessed it, wear a yellow jersey.

Looks good to us and there's a strong chance that we'll be entering an OUTDOORSmagic editorial team in the event, so you'll be hearing a lot more about it in due course, so watch this space.

You can find full details of the event plus online entry at www.iroc-race.com