Raid World Championship For 2004

Even if you're not particularly interested in adventure racing, you'll have heard of the Raid Gauloises, the first - we think - epic multinational global adventure race.

Well, the French mega-event is no more, but the good news for fans of international adventure racing is that it's being replaced by a new Saab Salomon-sponsored event in 2004 with the arrival of the Raid World Championship.

It follows on from the international X-adventure Raid Series founded in 2002 which was the first series of races taking place throughout Europe but, as far as we can tell from the mildly eccentric web site, is a single, epic, long-distance race in the Raid Gauloises tradition.

The main difference - we think - is in the composition of teams, which for the new event will follow the formula used in the X-adventure series, with mixed teams of four athletes, three of whom will be racing at any one time. Teams will use the existing X-adventure series as a qualification event for the new Raid World Championship event, which will take place in October.

To try and work out what it all means, check out the web site.

For up to the minute adventure race news, reports and more we suggest the excellent Sleepmonsters web site.