I lived in Taiwan in the early and mid 90’s, and am aiming on returning later this year for a while. During the interval, I have fallen in love with adventure racing here in the UK, and so want to know what’s happening in that sphere in Taiwan.
I’ve watched the Taiwanese Action Asia events online, but so far haven’t been able to find anything about current AR there - only triathlons and running. HK seems to be a hotbed for sprint races, but Taiwan seems starved…
Also, have any multi-day events taken place in Taiwan, ever? Could imagine an epic expedition race across the roof of Taiwan, and down some of those rivers…
Does that happen in Taiwan? I know orienteering featured highly in the games in Kaohsiung a couple of years ago, so am hoping it wasn’t a flash in the pan…
Bike/MTB orienteering has grown big in the UK, and the running variety has been around forever. Taiwan has such awesome scenery, it would be tragic for it to be neglected by these sports.
you didn’t get much action on this thread . I don’t know of any such races, and i also haven’t come across orienteering. Don’t think the terrain is all that suitable for the latter, most of the land that’s not high mountains is already culitvated and so out of bounds. Can’t think of any low lying forests with open trails (a la Burnham Beeches in the UK, for example).
But certainly there’s potential for adventure races in the mountain ranges here…
[quote=“Nuit”]you didn’t get much action on this thread . I don’t know of any such races, and i also haven’t come across orienteering. Don’t think the terrain is all that suitable for the latter, most of the land that’s not high mountains is already culitvated and so out of bounds. Can’t think of any low lying forests with open trails (a la Burnham Beeches in the UK, for example).
But certainly there’s potential for adventure races in the mountain ranges here…
anyone else know owt?[/quote]
They ran the orienteering for the Deaf Olympics up at Qingtiangang in YMS. There was a huge storm on the day so it was quite a lark. Maybe ask the boys at inmotionasia.com/index.php since they design courses for Action Asia.
Orienteering would be pretty much impossible in most areas because of the steepness of the terrain, and the ever-present landslide hazard. Anything done in rivers has to be careful about flooding. I suppose one challenge would be an area with a maze of backcountry roads and trails. Somewhere like Pingxi-Pinglin would be good.
But going off trail is not something that’s really possible in most areas.
fruther realization - even if they did find a nice few square miles of mixed terrian, no-one in their right mind is going to go haring off trail with all the snakes in the grass. Maybe in the depths of winter it would be alright.
they ran the 2009 World Games at Chengcing Lake (Kaohsiung)- looks rather urban
if you look at the Action Asia Events site, you can watch the videos for 3 of the adventure races that took place here, one at Kinmen, another at Longdong and the 3rd at Sun Moon Lake. The latter had people going pretty much off piste / bushwhacking and no-one was holding back - allll gooooood
Agreed that Taiwan isn’t the flattest place on earth in the more rural areas, but I don’t see that as a problem. Kenting would be the natural place to have the next race - easy for kayaking legs, terrain generally fine for a one-day event on both bike and foot, and quite media friendly in terms of access. I still, however, want to do some research into a larger scale event up in them thar mountains… plus the canyoning & white water sections would be most excellent.
Also, while there be some nasty beasties in the grass, is no different/worse than (eg) Africa, which is where I come from. I don’t see that being an obstacle that a little propaganda can’t cure
and with perfect coincidence, yesterday I was in Guangfu (Hualien Country, miles from anywhere, but bear with me) and there was a advert for an orienteering event on Jun-18 in the Forest Park just south of the Sugar Factory… small scale I’m sure, but still :bravo:
Any new info about such races? I know things like Tough Mudder and Spartan Race and other such things have become quite popular in the US and other places. Still seems the trend is yet to hit Taiwan. Too bad, there is a lot of potential here.
However, does anyone know any info about even just some regular races, like 5K and 10K races? Please advise. Thank you.
great idea, I’d be right into it too as would teggs if it were feasible, but this is a completely crazy and silly thread. On top of the terrain issues mentioned by MM, the SNAKES! They’re everywhere! I’ve seen upwards of 30 in the mountains, while hiking on stone trails. Last thing I’d want to do is run onto some of these deadly little guys. Horrible.
For this thread…
In sum, I’d say-bro, just stay in the UK, more fun.
.