Mainpeak Multisport Endurance Event Returns To Perth
News Release / 18.04.2012
One of Australia’s toughest multisport events is returning to Perth this year with the announcement that the Mainpeak Multisport - famously labelled by Perth-based professional triathlete, Sean O’Neill, as “harder than Ironman” - is set for Sunday 9 September, 2012.
Mainpeak Multisport is a three-discipline, six-leg format that has endurance athletes competing as individuals or teams of up to six all attempting to complete a gruelling 138km course by trail running, road riding and river paddling their way from Toodyay in the Avon Valley to downtown Perth.
“If there’s a challenge out there, then this is it,” was the assessment of the event last year by multisport world champion, Richard Ussher, who won in a time of 8 hours and 10 minutes.
He rated the course as one of the toughest he’s faced in a long and stellar career in endurance sports and adventure racing. “It was one of the hardest things I’ve done.”
Yet for many competitors it was their first taste of multisport, with many team entries of up to six people attempting a leg or two before passing the timing chip over to their team mates, while they settled into crewing and cheering duties for the remainder of the day.
The Mainpeak Multisport is a unique event in its sporting mix of running, road cycling and flat water paddling, taking the usual triathlon format and crossing it with adventure racing for a hybrid sport that offers some appeal to triathletes, kayakers, runners, multisporters and adventurer racers alike.
Although a hard day at the outdoor office if attempted as an individual, the Mainpeak Multisport is an accessible challenge for people of levels of athletic ability thanks to the ability to enter as a relay team of between 3 and 6 people.
“The Mainpeak Multisport is a unique sport event in that it is tough yet achievable,” says Sam Maffet, General Manager of event company, Rapid Ascent.
“While the solo entry list is always strong, most competitors out on the course compete as part of a team.”
“Mainpeak Multisport has been designed to be broadly appealing to people of all sporting persuasions – there’s something for everyone with its mix of a high participation sport in road cycling with paddling and trail running, which take people off road and into the environment that Western Australia is renowned for.
“Also, being a point to point race, it takes competitors on a true journey through the countryside, making the achievement of enduring the distance and finishing all the greater.”
There have been some slight changes to the course, including a shorter 18km trail run for the fourth leg, which is 6km shorter than last year. Also, competitors this year must paddle the Bells Rapid White Water leg (last year there was the opt-out of a trail run instead for less confident paddlers).The total amount of paddling has, however, been shortened with paddlers (and the event) finishing at Houghtons Winery, 13km upstream of the 2011 finish location.
Entries for the Mainpeak Multisport are now open. Competitors can register online at www.mainpeakmultisport.com.au
MAINPEAK MULTISPORT EVENT DETAILS
What: Mainpeak Multisport, 132km multisport endurance event
Where: Toodyay to the popular Houghtons Winery in the Swan Valley
When: Sunday, 9 September, 2012
Who: Individuals and teams
Legs: 7.5km Toodyay Trail Run
63km Julimar Road Ride
22km Meadowbrook Road Ride
19km Icebreaker Trail Run
6km Bells White Water Paddle
16km Swan Valley Vineyard River Paddle
700m Houghtons Team Run
