Patagonian Expedition Race®

The idea of the event began to sprout just before the year 2000, when geologist Stjepan Pavicic dreamt up, imagined and designed an event which would fit perfectly with the wild region of south Patagonian Chile. In the context of his vision, some of the fundamental concepts which he had to include in the design were: expedition, exploration, adventure, autonomy and teamwork. And so, four years later, in February 2004, Patagonian Expedition Race® was born. Although its original logo included the description “The Adventure At The End Of The World”, which remains to this day, the international press soon named it “THE LAST WILD RACE.”

Between 2004 and 2018, 12 editions of the race have taken place, which overall amounts to more than 7800 km of Chilean Patagonia’s southernmost region. Each event has included 6 to 10 race sections, alternating between gravel or mountain biking, trekking across wild and mountainous areas, and kayaking through large rivers, lakes and fjords. In total, those 7800 km correspond to 96 sections of racing, totalling more than 3600 km on bike, over 2600 km of trekking and more than 1500 km of kayaking.

The average total distance per race has been 652 km, with the shortest distance coming in the first edition, which measured 520 km. The largest ever distance was an exception in 2007, where the teams had to cover 1,112 km!

Graphic of race distances per year across the 12 editions between 2004 and 2018.

Across the 12 editions, the average time for the winning team to complete the race has been 6 days and 17.9 hours. The last teams to cross the finish line have done so in an average of 8 days and 14 hours, while the average time for all teams to have reached the finish, across every year of the Patagonian Expedition Race®, is 7 days and 2 hours. The longest time on course for a winning team was 12 days and 10.5 hours in 2007, but this edition was a notable exception in the history of PER, as 1,112 km had to be covered and only one team managed to reach the finish line in Puerto Williams, Isla Navarino: the French team TSL-La Clusaz (Jerome Bernard, Cathy Ardito, Frédéric Charles and Laurent Ardito). However, the 2013 race was another long one, as the winners completed the 701 km race in 9 days and almost 7 hours: the British team Adidas Terrex (Nick Gracie, Mark Humphrey, Sally Ozanne and Chris Near).

Graphic of race times per year for the first and last teams across the 12 editions between 2004 and 2018.

In the 12 editions of the Patagonian Expedition Race®, 136 teams have participated, of which only 55% have crossed the finish line. The year with the greatest number of non-finishers was in 2016, when out of a total of 18 teams, only 4 managed to complete the race – just 22%. In contrast, the editions with the most teams to finish were in 2004 and 2018, where in both cases, out of the 10 teams participating, 8 managed to cross the finish line.

Throughout the history of the Patagonian Expedition Race®, bearing in mind that each team is made up of four members from any nationality, the country which has had the most first-place finishers is the United Kingdom, of which there are 20. Behind them is France, with 11 racers in first place, while the countries with the most people finishing in second place are Spain (15), Japan (12) and Canada (8). Furthermore, the country with the most members in any of the top three positions is the United States, with 25 reaching the podium. The following graphic shows the statistics of the winners per country and per athlete:

Graphic of winners per country for the 12 editions between 2004 and 2018. In this case, the nationality of each team member is taken independently.

Across all of the editions of the PATAGONIAN EXPEDITION RACE®, the runners who have most frequently been on the podium are the United Kingdom’s Mark Humphrey and Nick Gracie, with 4 first-place finishes, the North Americans Jason Magness and Chelsey Gribbon (2nd, 3rd, 3rd, 1st) and the Japanese Masato Tanaka (2nd, 2nd, 2nd and 3rd). Following them is Bruce Duncan from the UK (3x1st), Daniel Staudigel from the USA (2nd, 3rd, 3rd) and Yoki Takana from Japan (3x2nd). Other racers who have been on the podium twice include: Nicola Macleod, Andrew Wilson, Jerome Bernard, Laurent Ardito, Cathy Ardito, Frédéric Charles and Jari Hiatt (all 2x1st), Bruno Rey and Cyril Maragaritis (both 1st, 2nd), Urtzi Iglesias, Michitomo Yamakita and Saul Abril (all 2x2nd), Paul Cassedy (2x3rd) and Machiko Nishii (1st, 3rd). In the results section you can find the details for all of the editions.

Below are tables explaining the sections and race distances for each edition of the Patagonian Expedition Race®, including the most important geographical references for each edition: