It's been a long road to get this far, opening entries for the first event on the WAR calendar. As usual, and as widely appreciated in AR circles, just getting to that start line is an achievement.
WAR is about creating races for racers by racers. Yes, they have to be sustainable events otherwise nothing will happen, but after that, the real justification is shared experience, community, good times, amazing adventures together. That's what we want to encourage. That's what we want to build.
This first event comes with some risk for us. Restoring our old house, just to make it live-able. Trying to earn a living in the normal world. Tackling this new venture. Starting from scratch in a new location. At the same time, Wales is an amazing location, with mountains, gorges, rivers, lakes, a coastline that is just crying out for adventurers.
I spoke to James Thurlow when first floating the idea of WAR, and he told me to go for it. His first event almost turned him grey ;) having also just moved house, but by giving it his all, he crossed that first hurdle, and off he went - Open Adventure became a thing.
To be frank, these coming months will tell us, pretty quickly, if the WAR24 is viable. If we don't get enough entries, it will have to be postponed. Simple. And yes, we would refund your entry.
If we can do a decent job in October, with competitors having a great time, and can learn from our inevitable hiccups, then the bigger event next year in June is a goer. That will be a useful training ground for the ITERA in August. And the location for 2020 is already on the cards....
Really, it's up to you. If you enter the WAR24 in a spirit of camaraderie, encouraging us to do our best for you, then hopefully it will be a win-win for AR in the UK.
We've already received commitment to this year's race from overseas, including China. That's a good sign by our reckoning.
Thank you if you made it this far. And please feel free to drop us a line if you have any comments to contribute.
:)