A total of 71 teams of three participated in the annual ARC Urban Adventure Race in Toronto, Ontario on Saturday May 1, 2004.

Teams gathered at the Humber Arboretum Nature Centre, located on the campus of Humber College in the northwest corner of Toronto. The weather was overcast, but the spirits were high, as the teams prepared for the first adventure race of the season.

The race included a mix of first timers, and experienced teams, and it also included the presence of two special guest racers, Ian Adamson and Nathan Fa’ave (two of the top adventure racers in the world), who raced as the ‘fourth’ member of two lucky teams that were entered in the race.

At 9.45am all the teams received their maps and instructions, and began the task of figuring out their route, and where they were starting!

More Race Photos

Participants boarded buses to head to the start of the race at the Claireville Conservation Area, approx. 10km north of the race Home Base at the Humber Arboretum Nature Centre.

Teams were supplied with aerial photographs of the Claireville Conservation Area, and they had to use their maps to orient themselves, and pick out land marks in order to locate the checkpoints in the area.


At 11am teams portaged their canoes from the start-line of the race to TA1 at the Humber River. Teams were then required to criss-cross the conservation area on foot, and cross the muddy river several times to find seven checkpoints, before they headed back to their canoes to paddle down the river to the next Transition area.

From the Humber River, the teams paddled into the Claireville Reservoir, before they got to the take-out at the Indian Line Campground.

After the paddle section of the race, and another hike section followed in the Humber Arboretum, where teams had to cross the Humber River another couple of times before they returned to the Home Base location where they got on their bikes for a ride on the bike trails leading back into the city.

The biking section of the course was approximately 20km, but it was fast and furious as teams cruised along the paved bike trails of the West Humber Park system

The highlight of the bike section was a 1.5km long underground tunnel that teams had to follow, and then determine where they had ended up when they came to the surface.

From the end of the tunnel, teams rode on a short section of residential streets before they haeded back onto the trails, and back to the finish line at the Humber Arboretum Nature Centre.

The first teams crossed the finish-line in a time of 3 hours 45 minutes, and by the seven hour mark, every team that started the race had come into the finish. (see attached results for the top teams)

By the time that teams started to finish, the weather had warmed up, and they were greeted by the sound of their team name and finish time being announced to the crowd of friends, family and other competitors who had gathered. And once they had handed in their passports, participants were able to reflect on their accomplishments and enjoy a fantastic post race BBQ meal.

The top Coed team (Explore) finished in time of 3hrs. 45mins., followed by Team Woody's Round-Up and Team The Hoola's.

The top Open Male team (Team Running Free) finished in a time of 3 hrs 45 mins (the exact same time as Explore), followed by Triharder Dieharder and Spontaneous Kombustion.

Team B3, Maytwofour and City Slickers were the top three Masters teams.

Congratulations and thank you to all the Teams and Volunteers that participated in the ARC Urban - Toronto Adventure Race.

A special thank you to all the sponsors and supporters of the race, including:

Merrell Canada, Bolle, Labatt Sterling, Axis Gear, Camelbak, Soles Custom Footbeds and Extreme Magazine

Ian and Nathan arrived at the finish with their teams (Corporate Slackers and Cherry Lane) in the middle of the pack, but both the teams and their special guest racers will certainly have some great memories of their urban adventure in Toronto.

And Ian certainly made a lasting impression as expressed below by one of his team mates:

"The day our team spent with Ian will be one I remember for years to come. I am very new to the Adventure Racing world, but I am no stranger to the dedication, commitment, motivation, and extreme talent possessed by the world's top athletes such as Ian.

Being exposed to this kind of intensely motivated, humble, and infectiously funny individual is not something that happens every day.

I look forward to many more adventure races, and I think my whole team has Ian to thank for providing us with inspiration to strive for our dreams!"