2010 CALLEVA RACE ANNOUNCEMENT

That’s official! Mark your calendar:
Calleva Race 2010 will start 9 am August 8th.
Completely new course will be more remote and rugged than ever before. Be ready for new race disciplines and a lot of elevation change! We are working hard to be ready for you:

We will keep the same low registration fees for 2010, so you will be able to upgrade your gear...
Check this blog for updates on gear requirements and registration options.
See you in August!
Team Calleva and Calleva Outdoor Adventure.

500+ race photos.

Vladimir Bukalo Photography presents:
The Second Annual Calleva Adventure Race PHOTOS. You will need to register (it’s free) to see and purchase individual photos. You also can buy a DVD disk with ALL high resolution race photos (about 700 photos, 2 GB total) for $20 plus $5 shipping directly from Calleva.
There are two payment options
1) PayPal $25 to Photobuk@gmail.com
2) Send a $25 check to Calleva: 13015 Riley's Lock Rd. Poolesville MD 20837. Make check payable to Calleva and don’t forget to write your shipping address.
If you have any questions, email us.

Video from the start

Start and prologue of the race. We got one team with wrong passport at the end of the prologue. That's where the video stops :-)

We have more photos to come very soon. Most likely tomorrow.

The Final Results

The Second Annual Calleva Race Official results including CP breakdown:
EXPERT | SPORT

The SPORT category ranking was calculated by adjusted racing time plus penalties, minus bonuses.

EXPERT teams ranking was more complicated. Only 3 teams finished the full course within final cutoff at 19:00. These 3 teams were ranked ahead of all other teams.

Despite terrible weather all teams in both SPORT and EXPERT managed to finish the race, a great accomplishment in itself. Only one team lost one of their teammates, but continued the race unofficially.

First place in Prime division and free entree to 2010 Calleva Adventure Race is awarded to team A-List/Too Many Kids (EXPERT course) and team U.H.B. (SPORT category). Team U.H.B. is overall winner and is the only team that took all possible bonuses in the SPORT category. In the EXPERT category the overall winner is soloist ATP (Scott Pleban), clearing the course and finishing the race 19 minutes before the cutoff time. We also want to mention team Panic Azimuth got all possible points in EXPERT category course.

We want to thank all racers for taking on this incredible challenge. We have already started working on 2010 Calleva Adventure Race.

Keep up the good training and get ready for next year.

Lost and found + more photos.

Here is what we found cleaning up after the race:

Visor - Columbia Triathlon - white
Shorts - Prana - size L - tan w/ black belt
Shirt - Eastern Mtn Sports - L - dk red w/ circle emblem silk screen
Shirt - Allstyle Apparel and ActiveWear - M - embroidered woody car w/surfboard LaJolla California
Helmet - Bell - Ukon F5 - black
Helmet - Bell - black
Shorts - biking - Penzl izumi
Shirts - M - West Nottingham Academy
Shirt - UnderArmor - Red L - St. John's Football camp

If you think it's yours, send us email or just come to pick it up.

There are more photos. This time from Sarit. She was volunteering at TA1 expert, TA2 expert and TA3 sport:

Final official results expected to be out tomorrow. So far very little changes from preliminary.

First photos and unofficial results

The 2009 Calleva adventure race was both "brutal" and fun.
We are working hard to verify all 80 passports and 1200 CPs signatures and make race results official. Unverified results look like this:

EXPERT category PRIME division
1st place Team 120 A-List/Too Many Kids
2nd place Team 119 Team Intense
3rd place Team 118 Muddogs

EXPERT category OPEN division
1st place TEAM 100 ATP (overall winner)
2nd place TEAM 102 Danderson
3rd place TEAM 116 The Blind Leading the Dumb

SPORT category PRIME division
1st place TEAM 138 U.H.B.
2nd place TEAM 128 The last minute
3rd place TEAM 139 The Ugly's

SPORT category OPEN division
1st place TEAM 121 Team Smith
2nd place TEAM 124 Razor's Edge
3rd place TEAM 130 Mud Lightning

Race director's camera photos are uploaded here. On the photo below is the right leg of the overall race winner Scott Pleban, team ATP:

The second race bulletin.

The second and final race bulletin is on-line now. Please make sure your teammates read it as well.

Keep up the good training and we’ll see you this Sunday.

The 2009 Calleva Race is sold out.

Registration is closed and the final roster is online now. We have 40 teams and 90 racers from 8 states and Washington DC. The final race bulletin will be out on Monday or Tuesday.



Keep up the good training and we’ll see you next Sunday.

Calleva Race vetting photos.

Steven and Brian from team NO HANDLEBARS came this Sunday to Pollesville to check the race course in real conditions. We will publish the report latter, but want to share some photos with you now:

Guys cleared the course in 9 hours! They took all optional points and bonuses. But don't think it was easy! No Handlebars is strong team that finished last year National Championship in top 30%.

Race bulletin #1

The race is just one month away and the first race bulletin is online now.
Please make sure your teammates read it as well.

Team Calleva is packing up for the 3 day 250 mile Untamed New England adventure race starting Thursday.

Some of the teams registered in the Calleva Race are also heading north to New England. We wish good luck to every team racing this weekend.

We will be unable to answer emails until Monday, or may be even Tuesday.

Keep up the good training.

No river swim for the expert course this year

Attention EXPERT category teams.

The park service started a long awaited construction project on one of the
planned race transition areas. The construction will be continued beyond
August 9th and will interfere with the river swim section of the race. We
are canceling the river swim discipline for this year and hope to have it
back in 2010. Thanks to the bailout money, our parks will be better. Sorry
for the inconvenience. See you in August.

P.S. The EXPERT gear list is updated.

Sponsors and web updates.

The second annual Calleva Adventure Race is sponsored by











We also added Frequently Asked Questions in Gear/Rules tab and waiver for minors in Registration/Volunteers tab.

The race is in just TWO MONTHS! Get out, get ready!

The Best Place for Paddling Training.

Need more paddling practice before the race? Or are the mountain bike trails closed because of all the heavy rain? Or are you just looking for a fun day on the water? Spend a weekend at Jack's Boathouse in Georgetown. You can test out a variety of boats and paddles often used in real adventure races: including canoes, single kayaks, or tandem kayaks. Training conditions like white water, river, and open water, are all right there. And while paddling you can enjoy the views of many Washington, DC memorials.

Photos from the field.

We spent another weekend checking the race area and setting CPs positions for the race. Spring is beautiful time of year and life wakes up after the winter hibernation.

There are many red and blue birds flying around. Only this red one agreed to pose for the photo:


And there are snakes out in the sun. This one let me so close I could touch it. It doesn’t look too dangerous to me. If you know the name of this beauty, let me know, or just leave a comment here. I’ve seen 3 more just feet away from the trail.


And there are flowers all over. Instead of running I stopped every few minutes to take another photo.


In August it will be tough to get through the bushes, get out now, enjoy and train.

Registration is open!

You can register online or print the registration form [.pdf file]and mail it to us, following the instructions on the form. Online registration charges small non-refundable fees. Additionally, every racer must sign the race waiver [.pdf file] and bring it to check in on the race day.

The registration fees include canoes for all teams, kayaks for solo racers, t-shirts, post race food, bus transportation to/from start/finish and the most exciting race in the Washington, DC metro area.

Register early to save big!

Race categories: Expert and Sport.

While preparing the first Calleva race we were challenged to build a course that was difficult enough for advanced racers, and accomplishable for new athletes. With last years race selling out very quickly, we decided to include two categories and two courses this year. The categories are Expert and Sport. The courses for both categories are similar in length, but different in technical level. Here is a short description of each category:

The Expert course might include following disciplines: white water boogie board swimming (nothing dangerous, just fast moving water around big rocks), single track mountain biking, cross country running, flat water canoe paddling (kayaks for solo racers), hiking, bushwhacking, and all this with more difficult navigation and sharp cutoff times. You will be able to skip some CPs, but due to the linear nature of the course and absence of the central transition area that will not make your life much easier.

Sport category course will provide more options for strategic decisions and racers will be able to re-supply their food and water on the central transition area. The disciplines might include road biking with some shortcut options through single track, flat water canoe paddling (kayaks for solo racers), hiking, cross country running, and the famous Calleva challenges. Navigation will be more obvious, but still will require good knowledge of map and compass use.

Now it's your decision what category to choose. If you ran the first Calleva race and felt OK, challenge yourself with the Expert category. If you not sure what are "cutoff times" or "CPs", stay with Sport. Most importantly have a blast!! If you just want to take a look on what's going on, come to help us as a volunteer. Race registration will be open next week.

The race date... To change or not to change?

We have two weekends when we can make the race: August 2nd or August 9th. Both are Sundays, both are going to be hot and humid. We have hard time to decide which one is better, therefore... we need your help. We put small poll on the top of the news. You are going to decide the date. We need your opinion before the beginning of registration in March. Please, vote! Right now the race is scheduled for August 9th.

Training tips from last year racer

Interested in adventure racing, but not sure where to start? First and foremost, the training plan! I am firm believer that its not the particular training plan you choose, but choosing to stick with it, that counts the most. I personally sit down months before a race and plot out my plan on my calendar. I write each week down on a post it, and plan accordingly. Not a lot of time to train? Try squeezing it in when you can. While my daughter is in gymnastics on Wednesdays, I fit in a 45 minute ride. My training plan calls for an hour on Wednesdays, but I only have 45. Don't have access to a kayak? Try swimming. While not the same, at least you are working your upper body and getting a great aerobic workout. Again, don't fret the little details, the important part is getting out on a regular basis.

Calleva Race website is ON.

Dear racers, welcome to the official website of the Calleva Adventure Race. All race news and updates will be published here. If you have any questions or suggestions, you can email us, or just leave a comment for a post. You also can subscribe to Calleva Race News and Updates by Email.

Good luck and see you in August.