Helly Hansen has announced the dates for its 2008/09 one-day adventure race series, organised by TrailPlus. There’ll be five dates across autumn 2008 and spring 2009, two more than the 2007 series.

The five one-day races can be entered individually or as a series. Blending physical challenge and teamwork , they are designed for teams of three, who must stay together throughout the race. Each adventure race features a three-way mix of trail running (10k), challenging mountain biking (25k) and canoeing on flat water in an inflatable kayak (1.5k). The fastest teams are likely to compete the course in under three hours, with most coming in within five hours and a few crossing the finish line in seven hours (when Team BM had a crack we finished in just under four).

You don’t get to find out what order things will happen in until the day of the race, and there’ll be a few “extra challenges” chucked in for good measure. There’s no navigational element, though – the courses are all marked out, so they’re a great introduction to the world of adventure racing.

The dates and venues are:

• Sunday 21 September: Cannock Chase, Staffordshire
• Sunday 19 October: Longmoor Camp, Hampshire
• Sunday 7th December: Hawley, Nr Camberley, Surrey
• Sunday 1 February (2009): Pirbright, Surrey
• Early spring 2009: Cumbria – location TBC

Obviously Helly Hansen’s interest in all this is that it makes all sorts of useful gear for this kind of malarkey – base layers, jackets, bike shorts, running shoes and so on. You can check all that stuff out at www.hellyhansen.com, and find out more about the Adventure Series at www.trailplus.com.