Lilydale Melbourne Sprint Race report


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31 of March Adventure Junkie brought into life another Series of adventure races around Melbourne. Although the Junkies 2011 races reputation is delivering tough and ultimate challenges, this race series are achievable by inexperienced people who just stepped into adventure racing  and even have no experience with orienteering, mountain biking and kayaking at all. 

 The venue of the Race # 1 was Lilydale Lake Park, which was mapped and explored in all little bits in order to deliver challenging and accessible adventure event in logistically friendly atmosphere of Metropolitan area.  

The race course was designed to provide more mental rather than physical challenges to participating teams and give an excellent introduction in the world of adventure races. 

   

After finalizing starting list  with massive excitement we opened one more racing category - six teams registered consisted of parent and kid, so we now set up the main tendency for these Sprint races – bring the opportunity   to have a try bits of everything without long complicated stages.  So if you're an experienced racer, take on board your son or daughter or friend who has never raced before and come over. 

 

 

   

 

The morning started with a bit of rainy weather however by the start time sun was up and temperature was getting warmer.

All participants started with prologue included a couple of quests around the start place. The first team figured out the contest was Mixed team Sutmap (experienced adventure racers Thor and Jon) who took a lead consistently up to the finish.

 

   

It took 23 minutes to resolve all the quests and locate the Checkpoint, though the last time was 42 minutes.

Once the quest was resolved, teams had four activities to complete – Run leg, Mountain bike leg with the Roadbook, Kayaking and Adventure Task. All the legs were refined with special tasks and small quests, so participants were continually solving different puzzles and had no chanced to get bored or tired 
   
Adventure task was a creek crossing by double rope, otherwise called as Tyrolean traverse, where only one competitor had to cross creek and the other helped to get up and get off the rope. Though it looked quite easy and manageable and was done by all the teams, it required coordination to be completed.     

 Kayaking leg was determine by five checkpoints, some were marked on the map, some should be located by teams themselves which also required some 'out of box' thinking. 

 

   

 Biking leg beside classic orienteering checkpoints included road book section kept participants staying tuned in each junction. Running section was mostly based on orienteering however some other tasks were also included. 

The first team across the finish line was Sutmap in 2 hours and 6 minutes, while the second came the team Thule, current World Champions in adventure racing. 

 

 

 

 

   

First of the kids category was team ‘The Past and The Future’ led by well known Victorian athlete Joshua Street from the best Australian team Blackheart with his 6 year old son Jarrah. Jarrahs energy amazed everyone, though it was not an easy win!

Actually, the competition in MM Kids (dad and son) category was the most sharp, and after the Streets team hit the finish in 3:22, the next team came Rob and Felix Davis team came in 3:29 and strait after Steve and Alexander Lee came in 3:35… 

 
   

There were two more MM kids teams, where all the navigation and puzzle solving were completed by the kid! Both teams paddled separate single Endorfinn surfski (the race director forced them to get to one of PeakAdventure beginners session and build kayaking skills up prior to the race), and also pedaled own bikes. They did not win the race, but they certainly made a statement for future! 

Out of 15 teams on the course, 13 managed to get all the checkpoints, and one team was fairly close and got 23 out of 25, and the other got 8 out of 25.

   
As confirmed by impression, results and excited competitors at the race finish, it was great adventure, which could set a hard goal to be completed in a record time by elite athletes and still manageable and enjoyable by 6 years kid. We are looking forward to see you all in the Melbourne Sprint Series race #2 in Lysterfield, 26 of May