Last
minute call up to Adventure Racing World Championships
Due to a very sad family loss one member of the UK's Number 2, and world ranked 10th Adventure Race team, The North Face, was faced with the prospect of having to withdraw with only 8 days to go to the World Championships, to be held in Lochaber, Central Scotland. Each team is made up of 4 members, one of whom must be a woman, and the team must be complete to be allowed to start. This left the team the hard task of finding a replacement at very short notice.
Hence late on Friday evening Tim Higginbottom got a phone call from a very panicked team manager, wondering if he would consider joining the team for the race. "I had to ask for many permissions from my regular sponsors, Inov-8, my team manager and of course the Headmaster here at Birkenhead School to be able to accept this amazing invitation. Luckily all were very supportive, and so this left me 2 days to organise my clothing, equipment and head for the race".
This is no ordinary race either. Just a quick glance at the website will reveal the enormity of the task. 60 teams from around the world will run, cycle, canoe, abseil, swim, climb, canyon and probably crawl their way around the 500km+ course, the details of which are a closely guarded secret until the gun goes for the start.
The winning time is expected to be about 4.5 days! So that's a non-stop, unsupported, wilderness course that starts on Saturday 27th May, and will finish sometime around Wednesday or Thursday the following week!
Tim says "I have no idea how I will cope with this type of demand bodily, but my previous experience of 2 day races and current unbeaten form has got me to be invited onto the team, so I am trusting in the team's belief in me as much as my own belief in myself! I hope to stay conscious long enough to remember the race, and will hopefully be able to give a lecture on this most extreme event in the very near future.
