Kathmandu Adventure Series
Googong, ACT - 4th September 2005

Father's day Challenge

Sunday the 4th of September saw an unusual way for father's to spend their special day.

A grey morning greeted competitors as they arrived at Googong Foreshores for the fifth of six races in the Kathmandu Adventure Series.

This series of Adventure Races are run along the East Coast of Australia. Male, female or mixed teams of two battle it out by foot, bike and boat for over $2,500 of prizes supplied by Kathmandu. Events are located at National Parks within an hour of the capital city. Each event involves multiple legs which require competitors to navigate their way through a series of checkpoints. Courses are designed to take between three and a half and seven hours to complete.

Entry was not limited to Fathers in fact there were five female teams trying to show the father's how it was done.

The event kicked off at 9am with competitors padding one kilometer to a buoy in the centre of the reservoir. A few competitors got off to a poor start by running past the kayak launch ramp to try and launch from another point. They all eventually launched from the correct ramp but only after having lost some precious time.

Once the lead boat locked onto the buoy everyone closed in on its position. Competitors could be seen playing dodgems in the inflatable kayaks trying to get to the checkpoint clipper.

First off the water in only 21 minutes was Mirage Terra X (Matt Koerber and Adrian Keough), closely followed by 1xNav (Matthew Purcell and Paul Ledbrook).

Teams then road a hilly 2.8 kilometers to Googong Picnic area where they swapped their bikes for running shoes. What followed was a very hilly 6 kilometer run that left many a competitor out of breath before returning back to the event centre on bike.

After three legs and half way through the race only seconds separated the top three teams; 1XNav, Umbilical brothers (Greg Slade and Jason Slade) and Mirage TerraX.

The second paddle leg required teams to land on the other side of the reservoir before climbing a hill to collect the checkpoint. With the dam levels being so low that hill was twice as high! After returning from the second paddle leg competitors once again donned their trainers for a short 4km run. First back was Umbilical brothers, closely followed by Nabsters (Chad Armstrong and Ryan Armstrong) this time.

Teams then left for the final leg of the race a 10km mountain bike ride along the foreshores fire trails. The lead position changed many times during the course of this leg.

However the Umbilical Brothers in 3 hours and 32 minutes prevailed closely followed by Mirage TerraX. Fourth over the line and only 16 minutes behind the winners were the Pink Ladies (Sara Hely and Danealle Lilley).

Teams were treated to a BBQ chicken feast, while telling tales of the days adventures.

It just goes to show, it may be Dad's special day but mums want to have fun too!

Teams trailed a new electronic scoring system. The trail went extremely well. So you should be seeing more of it at future events.

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 Matt and Kerry for manning the bike run TA, Lisa, Annalisa, and Megan for managing the boats and transition and Clifford for doing the timing.