What is the Polaris Challenge?

The Polaris Challenge began in Autumn 1991 as the very first two day Mountain Biking Orienteering event in the World. It is still the biggest event of its kind and regularly attracts riders from all over the world, year after year. There are three events in the UK each year, with events in Australia, South Africa, America and from November 2003, France. The Polaris Challenge is a two day event, combining mountain biking with navigation and touring. Teams of two ride between checkpoints scattered over a large area of rugged country.

Each Checkpoint has a score and the aim of the challenge is to accumulate as many points as possible within each days time limit. Distance and hard to access checkpoints carry higher scores and there are tough penalties for exceeding the time limits.

The Polaris Challenge is an opportunity for a great weekends riding through some wild country on trails and tracks- each event is very different.

Who Takes the Challenge?
Anyone who loves mountain biking. You can take the Polaris Challenge seriously and go for maximum points or treat it as a good excuse for a fun weekend of adventurous riding.

The Format
The event center will only be revealed to competitors two weeks prior to the event (although a general location is described on the entry form).

The event center car parking and camping will be open from 1600 Friday , then from 0600 until 0830 on the Saturday. All starters must register before 0830 on the Saturday but we recommend early registration as there are some post registration, pre event work to be done. When you register, both team members must sign in and we will require your car registration number, please remember it. At the event center there will be food and drink and a range of trade stands selling kit that you may want or have forgotten.

1) At registration, each team is given a control card, control descriptions and grid references to plot onto their maps. After registering, teams will have to mark up their maps with event details such as out of bounds areas, permissive tracks and “give out”.


2) Teams are started in small groups of 25 at 5-minute intervals (you can request a start time on the entry form). From the start a marked route will lead to a “give out” point area where competitors are handed a list of check points that are open for that day, each with a value.(same happens on Sunday).

3) Teams then chose a route (there are no fixed routes) according to their ability, and cycle to as many (or as few) of the checkpoints as possible in the time limit of 7 hours. Teams then repeat the process on Sunday but with a time limit of 5 hours.

4) Teams should plan within their capabilities and the prevailing weather conditions.

There will be food and refreshment available at the finish.

The Impact
The Polaris Challenge is run by enthusiasts for complete Mountain Bikers. We expect the challenge to be testing and competitive, but fun. The Polaris Challenge is held in a different area every event. We aim to leave the area more respective to Mountain Biker’s than we found it, by promoting responsible Mountain Biking in new areas and contributing to the improving name of the sport.