Wenger Patagonia Expedition Race

This Friday (5th Feb) adventure racing team Helly Hansen Prunesco (Nic MacLeod, Andy Wilson, Mark Humphrey and Bruce Duncan) fly out to southern Chile to try and defend their Wenger Patagonia Expedition Race title, won in some awful conditions over 7 days last year.


The race starts on Tuesday (9th Feb) and teams will race continuously for between 7 and 10 days, over a 600km route in Tierra del Fuego at the southernmost tip of South America. The 3 core disciplines will be hiking, mountain biking and kayaking, with some ropework thrown in as well.

Last year the route started in sight of the magnificent Torres del Paine and headed south finishing 7 days later in Cabo Froward at the tip of the mainland, after a final trekking stage which itself took almost 3 days. This final 120km foot stage included some of the toughest conditions I have ever encountered. Indescribably remote, with no tracks or signs of any previous human passage, at one stage we fought through a primeval forest, covered in moss a foot thick, taking 8hrs to cover just 3km.

The weather was particularly bad as well with incessant rain and the constant wind the area is famous for, as well as temperatures much lower than normal, hovering around zero. The tough conditions accounted for many, with only 3 teams finishing, and of those just HHP managed to avoid having anyone end up in hospital. HHP however led from the gun so our win was well deserved.

This year is Chile's bicentennial and race director Stjepan Pavicic will no doubt want to exceed even the wildest expectations. And there are some pretty wild expectations. The race heads further south onto Tierra del Fuego, and some photos from the route recce filled me with awe and trepidation in equal measure. This year we're delighted to be using the Roclite 315 which I'm certain will be an excellent shoe for the tough foot stages.

The event website tempts us with a route that traces a new passage through the snow-capped Cordillera Darwin as well as crossing the icy Beagle channel. No doubt the race organisers will have picked a spectacular route. The race has also attracted a maximum field of 15 teams from across the world, as well as film and photographic media. Let's see how many make it to the finish camp, and let's hope we're first amongst them to pick the prime camp spot.

We'll be carrying Spot trackers, so our progress can be followed (if they work) at the event website: www.patagonianexpeditionrace.com