Mixed teams dominate overnight adventure races in Queensland


Neverest Road Pro premier mixed team takes out 18-hour Dark Side Championships, while Trekking Veritas Tri Adventure claims 12-hour Dawn Attack event…

MTB_Tunnel_2016_18hrChamps_woodford_600x400BRISBANE—It was a banner race for the team of Neverest Road Pro this past weekend in Woodford, just 1.5 hours north of Brisbane, as the four-person premier mixed team of Danielle Evans, Kirk Jackson, Todd Valance and Gary Palmer took first in the Mountain Designs Adventure Race Australia (ARA) 18-hour Dark Side Championships.

The team finished the race, which consists of multiple legs of mountain biking (up to 70km), trail running (up to 40km), paddling (up to 15km) and other adventure disciplines, in a time of 13 hours 16 minutes 35 seconds, just ahead of Rogue Tiger (Jodie Willett, Liam St Pierre, Ray Deetlefs and Darren Smith) in second with a time of 13:16:57 and team Mountain Designs  (Kim Beckinsale, Cass Kimlin, Michaella Trigg and Alex Austin) in third (15:24:04).

In a surprise start at midnight in the drizzling rain, teams boarded buses to a mystery location in bushland in Landsborough with the words “The Light Will Guide You”.  Teams then had a chase up the trail following a vehicle donned in flashing lights leading to a steep trek to the top of a radio tower where they received instructions for the first leg of the event, a mystery trek of up to 10k to collect 4 of 5 check points.
podium_18hr_2After this teams headed for a night paddle on Coochin Creek, followed by a mountain bike leg in Beerburrum State Forest.  After crossing through tunnels to cross the Bruce Hwy & Railway it was into the western portion of the course as teams headed to TA 22 for an surprise orienteering leg (In2Adventure Style..)

Teams threw a 6 on the giant dice to start the challenge of Monopoly-O before planning a strategic route to collect properties, utilities and making a choice to collect the ‘Chance’ check point for a 15 minute bonus.  After this it was a back to HQ for a thrilling sprint finish in both the 18hr and 12hr event.

PADDLE_2016_18hrChamps_Woodford_600x400In the all-male category, Tiger Adventure (Michael Gardiner, Tim Williams, Angus Martin and Luke Riverstone) claimed top honours (20:14:49) ahead of Eye of the Tiger (Nic Droste, Craig Wright, Ben Murphy and Martin Pavelka) in second (20:46:35) and Tiger Stew (Daniel Sleswick, Maxence Bugnot, Keith Wilson and Vince McKillop) in third (24:11:56).

In the 12-hour Dawn Attack, which featured a shortened Dark Side course, including 40km of mountain biking, 20km of trail running and 10km of paddling, Trekking Veritas Tri Adventure (Linda Thompson and John Wevers) took first in the mixed category (6:37:32). Grit & Grot (Andrea Intrapaiboon) took second (7:49:10) ahead of Tri Adventure AR (Abbey Anderson and Rick Anderson) in third (8:00:45).

In the all-female division, Tri Adventure Girls (Jan Leverton and Gina Dundson) topped the podium (6:39:05) ahead of Giddy Up Girls (Mandy Caldwell an Jen Ferguson) in second (8:01:11) and No Regrets (Jo Holgate and Nadine Lucas) in third (10:01:34). Team Mixed Nuts (Peter Abra and Darryn Kimlin) won the hotly contested all-male division in a time of 8:05, with Abbott & Chow (Jake Bowles and Mitchell Connaughton) in second (8:08:44) and Outer Limits (Reyn Watson and Sam Giblet) in third (8:09:37).
See links below for full results and free photos!

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Photo Credits: Pip Perske

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