Kathmandu Sprint, Yarra Bend Park

Sunday 13th February saw a capacity field of 51 teams descend upon Yarra Bend Park just 10 minutes out of Melbourne CBD.

At registration the male, female and mixed teams of two were issued with their pre-marked maps and course description and given approximately 45 minutes to plan their route and mark up an intended course. Teams must collect all of the checkpoints in order by either foot, bike or boat as described in the course notes.

The mass start saw 102 competitors running up the hill to Yarra Bend lookout to collect their first checkpoint. Teams jostled for position so as not to get caught behind the pack. In the excitement a number of teams over shot the mark only to retrace their steps and take a place in the middle of the bunch.

Another three checkpoints were collected on route to the run/kayak transition. The 4.5km foot stage took the top teams under 30 minutes to complete with only five minutes between the first 25 teams! With such a tight pack everyone was pumping like mad (teams were required to inflate their own kayaks) to be first on the water for the 2.5km paddle back to the start/finish transition area.

Tri Dubai (Simon Knowles and Chris Leigh) were first off the water having over taken, Ice Monsters (Kate Reeves and Sam Maffett) on the water.

Teams replaced kayaks with one Mountain Bike for a 'Ride and Tie'. Teams then had to ride and run around a 3km course while staying within 100m of each other. This gave Endurance Freaks (Josh Street and Andrew Wolstencroft) a chance to finish the stage with the leaders.

Another MTB was collected on their way past the transition area before completing a 10km ride around the park, including a small stretch on Yarra Boulevard. Two hours into the race, and there was still only three minutes separating the top four teams.

The 2km paddle and 1km portage proved to be the deciding factor with Tri Dubai creating a six minute gap between themselves and Ice Monsters in 2nd place. Team Franzke (Ian & Carolyn Franzke) moved in to third place just ahead of Endurance Freaks.

Tri Dubai maintained their lead on the 3.5km run that took them over Kane's Bridge and past Dights Falls. However Team Franzke were over taken by Endurance Freaks who reclaimed third.

The positions stayed the same for the final 6km MTB sprint with Tri Dubai completing the course in 2hrs 51min, 2nd Ice Monsters 2hrs 58min and 3rd across the line was Endurance Freaks in 3hrs.

1st, 2nd & 3rd places in each category walked away with over $2,000 of prizes supplied by Kathmandu.

Full results and photos can be found on the website: www.maxadventure.com.au

Some feedback from the race:

"Thank you very much for a great day. Anthony an I had our first lesson in adventure racing and it was fantastic fun. We are looking forward to more and have plans to do the longer races. Your team was great and made the day very easy for us enjoy other people with similar interests in a safe environment." Greg

"thanks again for organising a great event in Melbourne. You did
a great job with the course design at Yarra Bend." Cameron