The beauty of Adventure Racing is anything can happen. Adventure races aren’t tied to a set format, such as triathlon, and with no governing body, the imagination of individual event directors can run wild with interesting and new ways in which to run an event.
The iAdventure Canberra Adventure Race was certainly no exception. The closure of Lake Burley Griffin to primary contact saw a few last minute changes to the course, and with a strong field of Canberra Adventure racers on show, along with some of the top interstate teams, the field was separated from the start with the tough challenge of – Sudoku!
Teams that did well at Sudoku later commented that it was the last thing they did before going to bed the night before, while other seasoned adventure racers had never even considered completing a Sudoku in their life. A stark reminder to expect anything and assume nothing before your next adventure race!
After completing the Sudoku, teams ran to their bikes in Black Mountain before riding via Aranda bushland and Bruce to O’Connor Ridge. Teams then completed a rogaining leg with 5 mandatory checkpoints and 3 time bonus CP’s, before riding some of the awesome singletrack trails of Bruce Ridge.
A short rogaining leg in Black Mountain followed, with a quick bike sprint back to Black Mountain Peninsula where teams paddled to Spinnaker Island and a few other checkpoints before completing the event. In the wash-up, hot favourites Something Borrowed (Dave Simpfendorfer and Melanie Simpson) blitzed the field in a total time of 3 hours and 10 minutes, and with the maximum 70 minutes worth of time credits, their adjusted time was just a touch over 2 hours.
Second in the mixed close behind was Just Nuts, with a further half-an-hour back to the third placed Rock Bottom. Experienced racer Keri Vaughan steered her Female team L&K to the category win followed by Team “Janet & Gail” and Something Nutty.
In a very competitive Men’s field, first past the post was On the Run followed 3 minutes later by Numb Nuts. A mere 16 seconds separated the 3rd to 5th teams, with Giggitys edging out Other Numb Nuts and Tall Devils.
Best Team name went to the “Inflatable Flailing Arm Tube Men”, while two very lucky people managed to clean up with a new pair of sunglasses each courtesy of Performance Eyewear and their ability to spin great stories.
Have a great story from the weekend? Send in your race report and you could win a $50 voucher towards a future event.
iAdventure return to Canberra in October, but in the meantime, get along to the Stevens Bikes Husky 100 MTB Marathon in June or one of the other adventure races on offer, and Live the Adventure!
