14 hours of racing with no sleep. Navigating, mountainbiking, canoeing, and lots of fun. That’s ARA!
“The day before the event all four of us wondered what the hell we got ourselves into, but it is one of the coolest things I’ve ever done. It’s really nice that, even as a relatively ‘slow’ team, you are constantly in the race and running into other teams. You can be as competitive as you like on your own level!” – ARA 2018
Adventure Race Amsterdam 2024
- In teams of 4, you’ll do different tasks and challenges. Navigation, mountainbiking, crazy special tasks, canoeing, you name it.
- The Adventure Race Amsterdam (ARA) is a 14 hour race.
- Anyone can join: you really don’t have to be super fit or know Google Maps by heart. As long as you have a team of 4 (and are ok with pulling an all-nighter…).
- ARA is organized by ASAC and USC.
- Date and time: ARA starts on Friday 14 June at sunset, you’ll finish around 14 hours later.
- Costs: €160,- per team (€40,- per person). Including nice surprises along the way and lunch at the finish!
Want to get in the mood already? Check photos and videos of previous editions to see how much fun awaits you!
Sign up for ARA!
Sign up your team!
- Gather a team of 4 people.
- Sign up your team via our webshop. Sign-up deadline is 2 June. We have room for 30 teams this year.
- Have you succesfully signed up your team? Give us your additional team information to complete your subscription! This includes information such as:
- Your teamname
- The names and email adresses of your teammates
- How many team members want to rent a mountainbike (and their height)
- How many team members want to join the ARA training
- Does your team represent a study or student (sports) association? Let us know the name of your association.
* Note: all communication during event will be in Dutch (including the race materials). We therefor recommend having at least one team member who can read Dutch.
Adventure Race training
ARA is a race for both adventure newbies as well as experienced adventure racers. Beginner? No worries: it’s not super hard and everyone can do this! But it might come in handy to practice some basic skills. Therefore, we’ll organize two training sessions (14 May at 20:00 and 6 June at 19:00). The trainings are identical and will take around 2,5 hours and include a practical as well as a theoretical part.Sign up for one of the trainings via this registration form.
What do you bring? Running wear, some food, a protractor, a compass, a headlamp and pen and paper. Especially for beginnners, we strongly advise you to attend one of the practice sessions.
Not sure if you wan’t to join the race? Come to the training in May and you can still decide after!
What are you getting into?
There are various rounds (mountainbiking, running, canoeing) that you have to finish within a certain time limit. In each round, you’ll have to find as many checkpoints as you can. You can find those checkpoints through coordinates. Smart navigation is more important than speed, as the checkpoints are hidden. In between the rounds you’ll perform hilarious Special Tasks (e.g. silly games, conquering obstacles or robe climbing). Adventure racing is all about fair play, so… no phones, gps, or navigation tools are allowed!
What do you need?
- A mountainbike. You can rent one via the additional registration form. Rent (€37,50) includes a helmet.
With the aim of having a level playing field, participants bringing their own bikes must follow some guidelines:- The bike must be a mountain bike.
- All wheel sizes are allowed, but the bike must not be a race-, cyclo-, tour-, cyclocross-, gravel-, or recumbent bicycle, unless the ARA organisation has given explicit permission.
- Tire size is not specified, but slick tires are not allowed.
- The bike must be 10kg or heavier.
When in doubt you can contact the ARA organisation (evenementen@uscsport.nl).
- A compass and protractor.
- The complete list of materials will be published here soon!
What can you win?
- Joining a 14 hour race makes you a winner instantly, but we’ll make sure to have some nice prizes for the “real” winners.
- ARA has a special competition for student associations*. The study or student (sports) association that ends highest on the podium will win €375,-. If there’s no association that makes it to the podium (rank 1-3), this prize will not be paid out. Please note! You can not spend this prize on beer. The money has to be invested into the association. If your team is not connected to a study or student (sports) association, you can’t win this prize.
*At least 2 members of the team have to be students at the time of the race in order to represent their association.