“Absolutely amazing race, impossible to compare with any races which I’ve done before”- Maria Plyashechko, after completing the Patagonian Expedition Race, 2012.

The place and course.

Race HQ was at Punta Arenas, the southernmost city of Antartica Chilena, originally established as a penal colony but now quite a busy tourist place. The first impression I got when we landed there, was the chilly cold, the windy and that everyone only speaks Spanish. Even though it was middle of Summer and 7th of February when I arrived, I had on two fleece tops and a Gore-tex top as final protection, but still was shivering under the incredibly strong wind which nearly blew away my bike box. This was the 10th anniversary of the Patagonian Race and as far as I know, all previous Race HQs were at the same time but course is always different. 

This year the course was set in remote areas of Terra Del Fuego (Land of Fire) archipelago. It included crossings of the World’s roughest waters at Magellan Strait and Beagle Channel, passing the highlands of Cordillera Darwin - places where you are rarely able to get to other than by entering the Patagonian Expedition Race. The initial plan of the organisers was to finish in Cape Horn, but we were lucky enough to avoid that and instead the race was over an area slightly north of it. This part of the World is famous for wild nature, extremely miserable winds, fantastic landscapes, tough terrain and 150000 beavers, who literally created their own environment with massive dams and large areas of mowed forest.