Kathmandu Adventure Series
Gold Coast - 10th July 2005

Nerang dishes out its worst

A beautiful but chilly day greeted 105 teams at the Gold Coast Cycling Centre on Sunday 10th July. Excited chatter could be heard while teams planned the course that lay before them.

At 9am over 200 competitors lined up on the criterium track start line, half of them on foot and the other half on mountain bikes. The mountain bikers (male teams) had to do a full lap of the criterium track (1.5km) before heading off onto the fire trails of Nerang Forest Reserve.

Closely following behind them (and sometimes overtaking the occasional bike) were the runners (mixed and female teams), who ran 300 metres around the criterium before entering the forest. These teams then collected three checkpoints along 2km of single track before leaving the forest for the urban rogaine. New to the Kathmandu Adventure Series, this discipline involved teams answering a number of questions around Nerang town centre. Team Torque Land Rover (Guy Andrews and Narelle Ash) used lateral thinking to solve "What time is the last session of War of the Worlds?" at Nerang cinema when they found it was closed. They rang the cinema's recorded information line for session times.

Teams found themselves at Nerang boat ramp at the end of the urban rogaine. Competitors then had 10 minutes mandatory stop to inflate their boats before paddling 1.5km to a causeway to pick up their next checkpoint and returning to the boat ramp. A short run followed, including counting the number of steps on a pedestrian crossing before transitioning to the mountain bike leg.

Even after an hour of racing, only four minutes separated the top three teams, while the back of the pack was over an hour behind. The strain started to show on some of the competitors' faces as they started climbing some of the brutal hills that Nerang Forest has to offer. 4.5km later teams left their bikes at a transition for a 6km run along some awesome single track. Many a navigator lost their bearings as teams were confused with the large number of unmarked trails in the area. Teams then transitioned back onto bikes for the final 13km push to the finish. For many of the teams, it was just that, with Nerang dishing out its worst.

First across the line were Torque Land Rover in an incredible time of 3hours 44mins.

Gary Farebrother commented during the presentation that "the mountain biking in Nerang Forest is the toughest there has been in any Kathmandu adventure race in its three year history. Anyone completing the course deserves a pat on the back. It doesn't get tougher than this in a one-day race!"

A big thank you to our sponsors: Kathmandu, who provided over $2,500 of prizes; Gu, our energy sponsors; and Triathlon and Multisport Magazine for all their support.

This event would not have been possible without all of the volunteers on the day. Thanks to Arran, Megan, Anne, Carl, Natalie and Rebecca for registration; Megan and Avan for scoring; Annalena and Neil for manning the bike/run TA in the middle of nowhere; Carl, Rebecca and Glen for organizing the finish and transition area; and Wayne, Anne, Mel, Hannah, Sebatian, and Robyn for managing the kayak TA.

"Just wanted to say thanks for an absolutely amazing day. It was our first adventure race and we are pumped for the next one - probably a 24 hour adventure!
"Both Doug and I massively underestimated how challenging the race would be, which made it all the more exciting as we were challenged beyond what we have experienced before - and as we were struggling up one of the ridiculously steep mountain bike tracks a fellow racer made the call "it wouldn't be worth doing if it were easy!" which to me sums up the whole experience. One of the most challenging and exciting things I have ever done! Thanks again and I look forward to the next one!!!" Owen Bowling, Adrenaline Rush