Raid Bimbache Takes Expedition Adventure Racing Back to Morocco with the Adventure Racing World Series

The fifth Adventure Racing World Series Qualifier of 2025 visits Morocco but the country & the organisers of Raid Bimbache are not new to Adventure Racing.

BENTONVILLE, AR, UNITED STATES, April 22, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The fifth Adventure Racing World Series Qualifier of 2025 visits Morocco for the first time, but the country and the organisers of Raid Bimbache are not new to Adventure Racing.

Raid Bimbache was part of the ARWS for many years, and is a former World Championship host. It was originally established in Spain by adventure athlete and explorer Antonio de la Rosa, and was held 8 times, with the last race being the 2010 Adventure Racing World Championship in Castilla y Leon.

After a 15 year break de la Rosa decided it was time to bring the race back in a new location and said, “Now it is time for Raid Bimbache to cross the Strait of Gibraltar for a new chapter in the great country of contrasts that is Morocco. It’s an exciting time and a privilege to be part of the ARWS once again, alongside so many other great races around the world. I look forward to seeing many adventure racing friends at the race and sharing the amazing lands and culture of Morocco with them!”

He raced in Morocco himself in the 1998 Eco-Challenge, so he knows firsthand the opportunities the Atlas Mountains and surrounding valleys and desert can offer for a big expedition race, and the diverse cultures and experiences of Morocco which the teams will enjoy. That year was a breakthrough race for Eco-Challenge, attracting global audiences to the series with dramatic scenes of camel and horseback riding, dehydrated teams stumbling through the desert and helicopter rescues for altitude sickness, all with the exotic backdrop of Morocco.

The success of the show enshrined it in the psyche of the sport, and the race is still remembered with reverence by those who took part, and by many more who were inspired by watching. So it’s not surprising the return of Raid Bimbache and the first international adventure race in Morocco for 27 years, has drawn a big entry.

The race meeting point is in the city of Marrakech (where Eco-Challenge finished in 1998) and 40 teams will gather there on Saturday April 26th to prepare for the 470km race, which takes place over 5 days of non-stop competition. Teams have some information about the course, but will not get any details or maps until the pre-race briefing, and will only get some of the maps for the later stages during the race itself.

Both the start and finish will be in iconic locations. The race will begin at the UNESCO World Heritage site of Aït Benhaddou, a fortified desert village built of earthen clay which is recognisable as a location setting for films including Gladiator, Time Bandits, Jewel of the Nile and many more, and TV series including Game of Thrones. On April 28th the racers will be the stars of the show as they start a race which would make a Hollywood movie in its own right.

The race will finish at the Ouzoud Falls, a scenic 110m high cascade in the Atlas Mountains and the course will feature 9 stages of trekking, navigation, mountain biking, kayaking, canyoning and rope challenges. (There will be no camels or horses.) The rugged terrain and climate extremes will present a different challenge on every stage and the course includes a 3600m high pass and may go as high as 4000m. The altitude will affect the teams and they have only recently been told to bring crampons and to prepare for a possible 4 hour bike-carry! This is due to the heaviest snow and rain for many years in the Atlas Mountains, which may require roping the snow covered pass and has washed out some of the roads planned to be used for bike transport.

The caprices of nature are to be expected in a World Series expedition race and adventure racers (and organisers) are the most adaptable in any sport, so the race will go on, but it may be the challenge is even harder than originally planned.

Teams will have a set of 20 specially prepared race maps, which have been digitally stitched together from original 84 maps, and then refined, with 1400 hours of field work to add new data and corrections onto the originals. The maps will mark the checkpoints teams much reach (without any outside assistance or use of GPS) plus prohibited and mandatory routes and additional detail.

Teams will travel from 18 different countries and 5 continents for the race and the stand-out favourites will be World Champions 400team of France. Three of the 4 racers who won the world title in Ecuador last year will be in Morocco as they are missing their regular captain Sebastien Raichon and the world #5 ranked team is one of 9 strong French teams in the field. These include the winners of the recent ARWS Europe race in Spain, Absolu Raid Cap Ganguise and the experienced MUC Expenature.fr team lead by Romy Viale, whose team won this year’s Tierra Indomita Vulcania race in Chile.

Spain is the country with the highest representation (10 teams) and of these Team Endurance has the highest world ranking at #33. There will also be teams from other European countries, Australia, Canada, USA, Mexico and South Africa on the start line. The only other team on the start line to have previously won an ARWS Qualifier is Team Racing Denmark/High Five, who won the ITERA race in Scotland. At least 12 of the teams include active Race Directors, many of them part of the ARWS.

Race coverage will be on https://www.instagram.com/raid_bimbache and on all ARWS channels @arworldseries.

There will be live satellite tracking of the teams at https://tracktherace.com/es/raid-bimbache and you will be able to find this and more details about the race and teams at https://www.raidbimbache.com/

For the latest race updates and tracking of all current ARWS races see https://arworldseries.com/live

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Raid Bimbache returns in Morocco