Imagine a rolling countryside covered in farms and olive trees, occasionally dotted by mountaintop chapels, medieval castles, Roman bridges and tiny villages tucked into the hillsides and valleys. Terras de Trás-os-Montes (the Lands Beyond the Mountains) seems to stretch on forever in all directions. Separated from the rest of Portugal by the Duoro River valley in the south and Spain in the north and east, this corner of the country offers adventure to all those who travel there.
The cities of Bragança and Mirandela have many modern amenities such as larger hotels, markets and a wide selection of restaurants and cafes. Historic districts remain untouched, and you can wander the cobblestone alleyways and side streets as long as your feet will carry you. Stepping outside the larger cities, the population becomes more and more sparse. Out here, the overwhelmingly friendly local residents live in sometimes extremely small villages that are perched on steep hillsides. It seems that the builders of these villages have taken every opportunity to construct their homes and places of worship with the most amazing views available. With a four wheel drive, a sense of adventure and only a basic knowledge of Portuguese, one can really get to know the land and its culture.
If a city tour is not enough for you and a countryside + mountaintop tour is not enough for you, there is good news: The NORCHA adventure race takes place every two years across a huge area of Terras de Trás-os-Montes in the mountainous region of Northern Portugal. Covering approximately 500km over 4 days, the race takes competitors on a grand tour through those historic towns, tiny villages, and breathtaking landscapes. Over 18 grueling stages of biking, running, and paddling, the competitors are pushed to their physical and mental limits as they fight rain, cold, heat, sun, sleep deprivation, as well as the terrain itself. As we witnessed in the 2021 edition of the race, the athletes would also be pushed - some to the breaking point - by the sheer magnitude of the task at hand. There were moments of pure joy and pride of accomplishment mixed with times of brutal physical suffering, frustration and mental exhaustion. All the elements for an epic expedition race were present, and so was I.
With an international field of 24 teams, the 2021 NORCHA race featured many new faces alongside some of the veteran stalwarts of the adventure racing community like French racer, Bruno Rey. They say that getting to the start line with all your teammates and all your gear is the hardest challenge in any expedition race. Adding COVID travel protocols made this task even more difficult as some teams were unable to travel at the last minute. Those who did arrive at the start line in Bragança, Portugal for the race had already run a gauntlet of travel challenges in order to be there, and on the morning of September 22, 2021, they began their journey into the unknown.
For the uninitiated, the sport of adventure racing is unique in a number of ways: It is a multi-discipline event that combines running/trekking with mountain biking, kayaking, and a number of additional outdoor disciplines. The routes then must be navigated using only map and compass. The premier level coed teams of 3 and 4 are self-supported through the entire race, and many top competitors eschew sleep for most of the races, tallying only 1 or 2 hours of sleep per night while covering the massive distances required.
As with any big expedition race, the first day of NORCHA was a whirlwind. The starting teams received their race briefing at 8am where they would get their first glimpse of the course. The mostly circular route took teams on a A self-propelled, self guided grand tour of Terras de Trás-os-Montes and parts of the Douro valley, a region famous for its Port Wine grapes. The full race report can be found at sleepmonsters.com where you can read in detail Rob Howard’s account of how the race itself unfolded: NORCHA Race Reports: https://www.sleepmonsters.com/calendar.php?event_id=13994
When designing and creating a course for an adventure race of this scale, one of the key questions to ask is on the basic difficulty of the course. How easy or hard should the route be? How many teams should be able to complete the full course? Will it be enough of a challenge for the top teams?
Balancing the level of difficulty of a course this epic can be tough, but I believe the race organizers hit exactly the right spot to earn NORCHA world class level difficulty. Not all teams finish all adventure races. In team expedition racing a lot of things have to go right in order for your team to finish the whole course. Any one person’s health, stamina, or attitude can easily derail an entire race. Working together as a team to foresee, plan for, and adapt to all of those challenges as a unit is what makes Adventure Racing so special. It is also what makes finishing races so incredibly difficult. In the case of this year’s NORCHA, there were only three teams who managed to complete the full course in the time allotted. The remaining teams in the field eventually fell, one by one, to dehydration, exhaustion, and the inherent uncertainty of running a course this massive.
At the front of the field was team Alpha Dental, led by veteran French racer, Bruno Rey. With more than 20 years of experience in adventure racing, Rey joined three young and tenacious Swedish athletes. Although the Swedes were relatively new to the sport of adventure racing, they possessed a wealth of high level athletic experience. The combination of Rey’s experience with the Swedish youth was a force to be reckoned with as they powered on, relentlessly moving through the difficult course and finishing with a strong push in the final trekking leg.
Following closely behind was team Uruguay Ultra Sport who, despite severe stomach issues, managed an incredibly strong finish in second place. The Polish team of three was the only other team to finish the course within the time limit, and put on a strong showing with a poised and determined look about them the entire way. When all was said and done, all of the teams made it to the finish line in Mirandela in one way or another. After the winners, other teams who had skipped sections or were forced to cut their races short due to illness or time limits came in to celebrate as well. The course in Terras de Trás-os-Montes was truly epic, and for the first timers, to stand at the start line is in itself a monumental achievement. For the veteran elite racers, the course was an exceptionally difficult challenge that allowed only those with that sublime combination of planning, training, grit, and team cohesion to complete.
Members of the media team surveying the Duoro River