The Adventure Race Australia Dark Side Championships went well for us last weekend. We had a hard fought win over a physically demanding course, beating home the two teams that beat us at another popular Adventure Race - Hells Bells, last year.
The opening ceremony, with music and team torch lighting (Survivor style) got us fully awake and raring to go for the midnight start.
After a pre-race chat we decided to not go out to hard or lead early, but it only took about 10 seconds for us to hit the lead, for one of our fastest starts ever, gaining 20 minutes on the field in the first 2 hrs. We progressed through the course at a solid pace without seeing another team!
Luke our 4th and newest member of the team was a big asset to the team as he and I traded off the navigation duties without a hitch, which was a great as we plan to do this at XPD the World Championships of Adventure Racing in Tasmania, November 2011. Andrew and Kim worked extremely well on the checkpoint descriptions and control punching.
The Mountain Designs Gore-Tex Jackets and Merino base layer thermals got a workout in the cool conditions. With a solid dumping of rain over the course 8hrs before the start, we bought the Salomon Speed-Cross 2’s out to play and on the slippery tracks, they were unbelievably effective! There were some brutally steep hills which gave you little opportunity to eat, so the Hammer Gels also got a test, keeping us strong throughout.
So over all a great team effort and a good indicator we are on track for a good performance at the World AR Champs. Thank you to our sponsors – Mountain Designs, Salomon, Hammer Nutrition and Tri Adventure, as this race truly tested sponsors products and they definitely got us across the line in good shape.
“In 2 Adventure” did a first class job on the course, logistics, before and after social events, and staging of the race. There was heaps of sponsor’s exposure everywhere.
Kim & I back up this weekend for Hells Bells and hopefully we can keep the good form rolling on.
Gary - Team Mountain Designs
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