Recently, another big business has announced that they’re moving their headquarters across the world to Bentonville, Arkansas. Let’s talk about it!
Outdoor company Adventure World Racing Series is moving its headquarters from Queensland, Australia to Bentonville, Arkansas, which will benefit the area’s economics, health, and community.
Let’s discuss everything you need to know about the latest headquarters to move to Bentonville!
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About Adventure Racing World Series
The company Adventure Racing World Series is moving its headquarters from across the world to Bentonville, Arkansas. Unless you dabble in extreme racing and running sports, you may not know about this company, but I’m here to help.
Adventure racing sounds like exactly what it is—you’re adventure racing, but you might be running, biking, trekking, or hiking. Imagine the Greatest Race, but more extreme. They cover a lot of different things: teams of people doing extreme things and covering a long distance, adventuring to the finish line.
This sport is very popular in Europe, Australia, and South Africa, though they have some events in the United States. It’s very cool for this business to see Bentonville, Arkansas, and think, “That’s where we’re going to put our headquarters,” and be so dedicated that they’re going to move across the world.
So, we’re going to talk about why they chose Northwest Arkansas in the first place and the benefits of having this major headquarters in Bentonville.
Why Build Their HQ in Bentonville?
You might be wondering why this business wants to move to Bentonville. One of the main things that probably put Northwest Arkansas on the map is that so many headquarters in the outdoor space are moving here or already here.
We already have biking headquarters here and specialized biking, as this is the mountain biking capital of the world. The people who are training to become world professionals in mountain biking moved their headquarters from Colorado to Bentonville, so they’re training here all year long.
So, when you start seeing all of these outdoor companies piling into one place, you have to think that something is going on there, which is likely what Adventure World Racing Series thought when they first started looking at where to relocate. We just have so many headquarters that have moved here that it has put Bentonville even more on the map than it was before.
As a side note, we have so many rock-climbing HQs, too. We have companies that are into rock climbing, whether they’re new startups around here or companies selling the equipment itself. We have a lot of rock-climbing businesses here as well. So, obviously, the outdoor scene in Northwest Arkansas is increasing in general, not just for mountain biking, and this has been happening for the last couple of years.
So, why did they choose Bentonville? Well, because Northwest Arkansas, and Bentonville specifically, position themselves as not only the mountain biking capital of the world, not only as the place for world champions to come and train for mountain biking but also as a world leader for outdoor spaces.
That has been the big vision for Northwest Arkansas, and that’s why I honestly say a lot of times that you can live, work, and play all in NWA because you truly can live here with the community, work here with amazing jobs, and play here in the outdoor spaces.
There are not many places in the United States or in the world where you can do both; you can have remote places where you can have a lot of outdoor space, but there are not a lot of jobs or communities. But here in Northwest Arkansas, you can do all three, and that’s why these big companies have seen the potential and want to move here.
So, Northwest Arkansas and Bentonville specifically have become world leaders regarding outdoor space, and it’s super exciting to be here and see all the growth happening.
NWA is so big on the outdoors that there’s an initiative in partnership with the University of Arkansas to help entrepreneurs break into the outdoor recreation industry. For more information, check out my post on the Greenhouse Outdoor Recreation Program (GORP).
Also, I have a 3-day itinerary that can help you decide what activities to do if you’re overwhelmed by everything Northwest Arkansas has to offer.
It doesn’t matter if you’re a foodie, a sports person, a sightseer, or want to spend quality time with your kids; I have something for you. Check out the link below to learn more:
https://www.allthingsnwa.com/3-day-itinerary-northwest-arkansas
How Does This Benefit Bentonville?
Now, the big question is how this is going to affect Bentonville. The first thing is economics. More businesses, more people coming to the area, more tourism, and more jobs spur an economic flywheel and put Bentonville even more on the map. Having this HQ here is going to generate so many more beneficial things for Northwest Arkansas for economic purposes.
The less obvious benefit is the health factor of Northwest Arkansas. NWA is already a very healthy place because of the number of outdoor activities, whether it’s hiking, biking, kayaking, swimming, et cetera, but adding these different outdoor spaces and outdoor headquarters is going to bring an additional focus on activity and health that’s different from anywhere else in the world.
As there are more things to do outdoors with parks and recreation in the next two to three years in the area, the amount of activity people do throughout the year is likely to increase, which helps improve overall health.
As the area becomes more focused on health, there are likely to be more grocery stores coming here and more health-conscious restaurants because the demand for these things will be there. So, there’s a whole new health-focused area of business that may take root here because of the focus on health and movement that these outdoor spaces and outdoor HQs encourage.
The last thing about this headquarters that will benefit Northwest Arkansas is the community it might inspire. One of the most difficult parts of moving to a new area is meeting new people, but when you have all these things to do outdoors, you can build communities more easily. Mountain biking is obviously a big thing here, but so is running, hiking, kayaking down the river, and even birding is a big thing here!
If none of those outdoor activities is your thing, you still have plenty of other options! I recommend reading my guide on outdoor activities that are not hiking and biking in Northwest Arkansas.
It’s cool to see another aspect of outdoor activity being added here in the Bentonville area that might encourage more interaction and community-building. For more information about outdoor activity in Northwest Arkansas, check out my guide on biking, hiking, and running in the area.
Final Thoughts
Adventure Racing World Series is moving its headquarters from Australia to Bentonville, Arkansas, because of Bentonvile’s reputation as an outdoors-focused space. This move will benefit Bentonville’s economics, health focus, and the overall community.
