Once your team has registered you will receive an introductory competitor package with additional information about the race. Over the weeks and months leading up to the race we will continue to provide additional preparation tips and insights into the challenges you will be faced with.

Teams generally start arriving at the host site on Thursday evening as registration starts on Friday morning. Registration, which will involve a full gear check, navigation test and rope skills tests, will run until 4:00 p.m. on Saturday. The Welcoming Ceremony will take place Friday night, with competitors receiving their maps and directions as well as a brief race overview (the course will remain secret until that point). This will be their first opportunity to view the details of the adventure ahead. Teams will then have the rest of the night and all of the next day to review the maps, plot a course and set strategy. A more detailed race briefing will take place in the evening on Saturday, where teams will receive details about the start line, all checkpoints and transitions and all other necessary details on the course. Early Sunday morning all teams will meet at the start line to prepare for the race start. At the sound of the start gun teams will travel non-stop through a series of checkpoints and transitions. Any team receiving outside assistance (unless by other competitors) outside of the designated transition areas will be disqualified.

To increase safety and to keep the event accessible for teams with less wilderness experience, all teams will carry a vacuum sealed GPS unit. For the most difficult sections of the course, teams will be allowed to use their GPS unit after a pre-determined cut-off time with no penalty (although they will not be ranked ahead of any team completing the course without using their GPS unit).

Throughout the race, all team members must travel together and remain within sight of each other (any team caught violating this will be penalized or disqualified.). If one member of a team cannot continue for any reason the entire team must remain with that person until in the presence of race officials. At this point, the remaining three members can elect to continue the race (with permission from race organizers) but will be unranked for the remainder of the race. Only complete teams will be ranked at the finish line.

The winning team will be the first complete team to cross the finish line after having passed through all checkpoints and transitions in order. All teams have until Saturday to reach the finish line - 6 full days to complete the +/- 500km course. Exact time of day will be the same as the race start time, which will be set based on course design demands in the months beforehand. Teams that do not reach the finish line by this time will not be ranked. For safety reasons, cutoff times will be established for the last few sections of the course. Teams not meeting these cutoff times will be withdrawn from the race and transported to the finish line for the final party. Although we will make every effort to allow all teams to complete the course, safety may require that not all teams will have the opportunity to do so. All teams competing in Raid the North Extreme, however, will be recognized at the final party.