Make a team or go solo and have an blast during our inaugural Spring Bloom 4-hour Adventure Race in and around beautiful Silver Lake Regional Park. If you love being outdoors, paddling, hiking or biking trails, getting off the sidewalks, then this is the event for you. Get out just as the flowers, trees and cherry blossoms are blooming. Silver Lake is a hidden treasure in Haymarket, designated a passive recreation park with 230 acres of rolling meadows, pine forests and a 23-acre lake fed by the Little Bull Run stream. 

Whether you are new to adventure racing, introducing friends/family to it, or a seasoned vet looking to warm up and kick off that winter ice/rust, our Spring Bloom AR is here for you. 

New to adventure racing? What is an adventure race? Simply put, AR is just orienteering (navigating with a map) but with multiple modes of travel: on-foot, bike & paddle. Unlike your average 10K/5K, marathon or obstacle course race where there is a strict roped off race course to follow; with orienteering/AR you are given a map with marked checkpoints, and its up to you/your team to decide & navigate which way you think is most optimal, and find as many as you can within the time limit. The best teams will work together and help each other to not only go fast but also efficiently, acquiring the most checkpoints wins (shortest time as tie-breaker).

We will also be holding an Adventure Racing 101 tutorial session for first-timers before race day.

Spectators are welcome to watch, hang out, take pictures, fish or just picnic in the park during this event but are NOT allowed to assist participants.  USARA-sanctioned race.

Events Schedule:

7:30am - Packet Pickup Opens / Maps distributed

8:25pm - Pre-race briefing

9:00am - Race start

1:00pm - Race cutoff time (all teams off course)

1:30pm - Race awards 

Course Information:

Beginner to Intermediate navigation

This course will be 99.99999% off pavement!! :)

Total distance = 13-19 miles

Trekking  = 3-5 miles

Paddling = 1-3 miles

Biking = 9-11 miles

Register

This event listing provided for the Haymarket community events calendar. Community events are not associated with or sponsored by AARP, but may be of interest to you. If you have an event to share, let us know!

Images provided by AmericanTowns.com, Ticketmaster