The next race on the schedule in the 2016 Adventure Racing Ontario Points Series is the RockstAR adventure race, which takes place July 23rd near Haliburton, Ontario.
For eight years, adventure racers have been flocking to the Bark Lake Leadership Centre near Haliburton each July for what is arguably the most unique event of the Ontario adventure racing season: the Storm Events RockstAR Adventure Race. Promising to treat competitors, “like the rockstars that they are,” this top notch event delivers a race experience of unparalleled quality that keeps racers returning year after year.
RockstAR is truly a race that is both challenging yet accessible for athletes of all ages and experience levels. Participants can choose between a 4-hour or 8-hour race, and between 2- or 3-person team configurations, along with an increasingly popular family category. In both the 4- and 8- hour events, after being bused out to the start, racers will first tackle an approximately 25km marked bike course featuring a combination of road and trail (and perhaps the occasional puddle), riding back to the main transition at Bark Lake known as “the Hub,” where they will find their gear to transition to the trek and/or paddle, as well as a display of snacks and drinks (including ice cream!) that would rival the backstage craft table at any rock concert! Racers have whatever time they did not use on the bike course to complete a rogaine-style trek and paddle where checkpoints can be obtained in any order and are assigned different point values based on distance and difficulty. This format allows athletes to customize their race experience as they choose, making the event as long, short, challenging or straightforward as they want it to be.
In addition to traditional adventure racing style checkpoints accessed by foot or boat scattered around the lake and trail systems at Bark Lake, one of the highlights of RockstAR each year is the always changing task or challenge-based checkpoints, which may find racers listening for music in the woods (an audio checkpoint), diving to the bottom of the lake to retrieve CDs (a snorkeling checkpoint), shooting a slingshot, or paddling a Stand-Up paddleboard in order to obtain more points for their team. All of the challenge-based checkpoints are optional, but are often well worth the point value (not to mention the fun!). At any point during the race, competitors can come back to the Hub to refuel, or to call it a day before the memorable post-race meal and party.
With its ever-expanding network of trails, variety of water features, and identifiable landmarks to navigate off of, the Bark Lake Leadership Centre is an ideal location for an adventure race, which is why the RockstAR has returned to the site year after year (fun fact: the Race Director and Course Manager even got married there last fall!). The venue offers several on-site accommodation and meal options, and anyone who has completed this event before knows that half the fun is staying up there and making a weekend of it!
What are you waiting for? Don’t miss out on the fun! This year’s RockstAR is already 90% sold out!
Register your team today at: https://zone4.ca/reg.asp?id=10449&lan=1&cartlevel=1