Blue Ridge Ga Welcomes 2008 USARA National Adventure Race

The United States Adventure Racing Association will hold its 2008 Golite Natural Adventure Racing Championships in Blue Ridge, GA, according to race organizers.

The Fannin County Chamber of Commerce and the Blue Ridge Mountain Adventure Race LLC will host the 2008 national championship race on November 6, 7 and 8. According to Chamber of Commerce president, Jan Hackett, BRMAR race managers, Chamber leaders and local officials are looking forward to welcoming teams from across the country to the North Georgia mountains, beginning with registration on November 6, the 24-hour race November 7, and awards banquet on the 8th.

Currently there are 65 teams registered from across the country, including Georgia, Arkansas, Texas, Missouri, Indiana, Florida, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Tennessee, Connecticut, Massachusetts, South Carolina, Kansas, Washington, California, Maryland, New Jersey, Louisiana and Iowa. Teams are required to navigate a series of checkpoints using only a map and compass to guide them while transitioning between several disciplines such as: Trail Running/Trekking, Mountain Biking, Paddling and Orienteering. These teams will have to push the boundaries of human endurance and teamwork just to finish the 24-hour race.

Each of the teams competing in this year's race have proven themselves in one or more of the regional qualifying events held across the United Stated during the 2008 season. This alone will ensure fierce competition at the GoLite USARA National Championships in November. Add the lure of being crowned best of the best and determination to win turns to a will of steel. Last year over 15 of the top 20 ranked teams in the US competed in the National Championship Race. There are a lot of adventure races in the US each year, none of them offer such a competitive field racing for such high stakes.

Headquarters for the national race will be the Blue Ridge Mountains Arts Center, in downtown Blue Ridge in the historic Fannin County Courthouse. Host hotels are Comfort Inn and Ramada Inn, and the awards banquet will take place at Cadence Equestrian Community, also in Blue Ridge, according to BRMAR race director Ron Zadroga. Race organizers and the Arts Association are planning special events and activities for everyone before and during the national race November 6-8, 2008. One event will be a national juried art show sponsored by the Southern Appalachian Artist Guild from October 18 through November 14.

The GoLite USARA Adventure Race National Championship is the "Heart & Soul" of Adventure Racing in the United States. Co-ed teams of 3 compete in 45 USARA regional qualifying events across the U.S. for a chance to battle it out for the title of USARA Adventure Race National Champion.

The Blue Ridge Mountain Adventure Race, held each April in Blue Ridge, enters its 12th year in 2009. It is one of Georgia’s most popular adventure races, drawing up to 100 teams of three each year who run, canoe, mountain bike and orienteer their way through the Chattahoochee National Fore