Maine Summer Adventure Race named USARA Regional Championship

July 6, 2022

The sixth annual Maine Summer Adventure Race will take some of the most hardcore athletes in the United States on a 24-hour journey around the greater Portland, Maine area on July 16-17, 2022.

Portland, MAINE /ENDURANCE SPORTSWIRE/ – The sixth annual Maine Summer Adventure Race will take some of the most hardcore athletes in the United States on a 24-hour journey around the greater Portland, Maine area in July 2022.

The 24-hour race, which will take teams of two to four people on a human-powered scavenger hunt for checkpoints hidden in the woods and on the waters of a 130-mile unmarked course, has been named a 2022 Regional Championship by the U.S. Adventure Racing Association, meaning the winner of this year’s race will earn a free entry to the USARA National Championship in Bishop, California, on September 16-17, 2022.

The 2022 Maine Summer Adventure Race will start at Pineland Farms in New Gloucester, Maine, at 10 a.m. on Saturday, July 16, and will finish back at Pineland Farms at 10 a.m. on Sunday, July 17. This year’s race will include off-trail trekking, road and mountain biking, sea kayaking, orienteering, and optional packrafting. Teams must combine athleticism with strategy and navigation to guide themselves to as many checkpoints as possible within the race’s time limit.

A shorter, 8-hour race geared toward beginner- and intermediate-level athletes will begin at 8 a.m. and end at 4 p.m. on Saturday, July 16. And a 3-hour family race will begin at noon on Saturday, July 16 at Pineland Farms.

The Maine Summer Adventure Race is designed to be the premier one-day race in New England. The precise course will not be revealed until the morning of the race, but participants can expect 10 to 20 miles of on- and off-trail trekking and orienteering, 50 to 70 miles of biking, including technical mountain biking, and 15 to 25 miles of flatwater paddling.

The 2021 USARA national champions, Minnesota-based Team Toyota Tundra, and 2017 and 2018 USARA national champions, Pennsylvania-based Rootstock Racing, will be amongst the teams toeing the start-line, as will Sam Morse, a Maine resident and member of the U.S. National Ski Team.

“We’re upping the ante,” race co-director Cliff White said. “People who are tired of doing the same obstacle courses or who are looking for their next big challenge can find it in adventure racing, right here in Maine. The Portland area is a fantastic host location for this small but growing sport, which is perfect for anyone with an interest in exploring the outdoors.”

The Maine Summer Adventure Race is directed by the members of Strong Machine Adventure Racing, a nationally ranked adventure race team based in Portland, Maine. More information on the race can be found at www.MaineSummerAR.com or by searching for the Maine Summer Adventure Race on Facebook. The group, a Maine-registered nonprofit, also puts on the Wildlands Adventure Challenge in Orland, Maine, each October as a benefit to the Great Pond Mountain Wildlands Conservation Trust.

Contact: Cliff White, Maine Summer Adventure Race Co-Director, (207) 650-8698, StrongMachineAR@gmail.com