The third annual Central Coast Adventure Challenge will be held at Santa Margarita Lake this weekend.
The challenge pushes competitors to their limits in both the Dawn-to-Dusk and Adventure Sprint categories.
“Dawn-to-Dusk has about 9 miles of kayaking, 35 miles of mountain biking and about 10 to 11 miles of foot travel,” race director Yishai Horowitz said. “The Adventure Sprint is about 2 miles of kayaking, 9 miles of biking and about 4 miles of foot travel.”
The races also test orienteering and rope works skills. In addition, the Adventure Sprint course will have secret team challenges.
The Dawn-to-Dusk challenge, considered one of California’s best adventure races for its terrain and 100-foot rappel, has been selected as a qualifier for the United States Adventure Racing Association’s national championship.
“The team that wins this race is automatically qualified for the national championships and will also receive a free pass to it,” Horowitz said.
Competitors have a choice of doing the race solo or on a team with two, three or four people. Philosophy and wine and viticulture junior Danny Turkovich and his brother are competing with a two-man team.
“We did it last year – that was our first time doing it,” he said. “We got second place last year so we’re hoping to get first this year.”
Turkovich said that he didn’t have to do much training to prepare for the race last year – he was ready from his triathlon training and backpacking trips.
“We just kind of showed up and learned while we were doing it,” he said. “You just have to have some basic fitness and skills and then you can go out and do it.”
The adventure race weekend kicks off Friday night with a clinic by world-renowned adventure racers Paul Romero and Karen Lundgren of Team SOLE that will cover basic adventure racing skills like navigating. It continues Saturday at 8 a.m. with the start of the Dawn-to-Dusk race.
Following the Dawn-to-Dusk race, there will a barbecue, music entertainment by bluegrass great Eric Brittain and a second race clinic. The Adventure Sprint race will be held Sunday.
“The sprint course is really fun to watch,” Horowitz said. “It has special challenges, kind of like ropes courses, that are cool to watch.”
There will also be booths set up by the race’s sponsors and a Channel Islands kayaking trip getaway presented by Santa Barbara Outfitters.