The fine folks at SEVENTY48 and Race to Alaska HQ recently announced application and race dates for 2024, along with a new/old wrinkle for R2AK.

Deciding to participate in either of the Northwest Maritime Center’s adventure races is like reefing your sails in rough weather. The best time to take action is five minutes before you first think about it. While the application date isn’t until November, now (or before) is a perfect time to start preparing to accept the epic challenge!

Application opens for the 2024 editions of SEVENTY48 and Race to Alaska on November 15, 2023.

SEVENTY48

Let’s leave this one in the words of Race Boss Jesse Wiegel:

“Hear us, ye paddlers, ye rowers, ye endurance adventurists: Too long has the glory of your human-powered accomplishments been cut short by those Racers to Alaska. Too long have the cameras refocused too quickly to those leisurely sailing-types as they bake cookies on their way to Ketchikan. The time has come to right this wrong. SEVENTY48 is getting its own weekend!”

Start: May 31, 2024, 7 p.m. Tacoma, Washington

RACE TO ALASKA

Since its inception in 2015, the scrappy, dirtbag-driven, probably ill-advised engineless event has left the masses clamoring for more of the sublime inspiration found in everyone of its competitors, whether they finish or flame out. For the 2024 race, old is new again — the Seymour Narrows waypoint is back after a few years letting racers explore the outside route. If you’re charting a course to Ketchikan in June 2024, it’s time to start planning in earnest.

Start: June 9, 2024, 5 a.m. Port Townsend, Washington