Wildside Adventure Race

Wildside Barrington Edition -The Hot One

Press Release / 01.02.2023

The Wildside Adventure Race is normally held on the October long weekend however due to a number of issues the race was rescheduled to January 28/29th  2023. Wildside Barrington edition was always going to be a hard one with a significant amount of elevation. What made this race tougher was the extreme temperatures that teams had to manage. The prediction was for a hot weekend, but race day brought 38 degrees, 80% humidity and a clear blue sky and took it to a whole new level.

Each Wildside is different as the course interacts with the landscape and host community. Wildside Barrington offered up 175km with extremes of elevation as well as an urban rogaine and white water paddling. Teams came from along the east coast of Australia to tackle the final of the 2022 A1 Adventure Race Series and the first adventure race for 2023.

The race started at 08.00 in the heart of Gloucester, a small country town at the base of the Bucketts range. The first leg was a foot rogaine with a combination of CPs and landmark questions spread across the town. Teams had to solve cryptic clues to find the location of 10 historic/community significant landmarks. The use of tourism maps, signage and local knowledge was allowed. Teams had to collect 3 CPs in numerical order as well but could collect the 10 answers in any order. As well as the racers, a few locals learnt more about their home town.

Race favourite’s Team Thought Sports were first back from Leg 1 and quickly transitioned on to the bike for a 20km ride to TA2 at Rocky Crossing. This was a quick ride along quiet country roads with multiple river crossings. BMX Bandits and Tiger Adventure A1 were fast in Leg 1 and Leg 2 chasing down the leaders.

Leg 3 was where the race really began. This leg was a 32km packraft that started with a hot, dusty, hilly 5km trek to the paddle start. Teams had to carry all their gear to a remote river location before paddling down the Barrington River. The river was fast flowing in places and still showed the impact of last year’s floods. Along the route there were mandatory portage locations and spots where teams needed to take care.

The paddle took its toll on teams and gear. The temperature reached its maximum while teams were on the water and at least one packraft was totalled by river debris. As well as negotiating rapids teams had to find CPs. The fastest time on this leg was 4hrs 34min, the longest was 7+hrs. Throughout the leg the lead did not change, however minor placings fluctuated as teams tackled the river. The second fasted paddle went to ATR Tigers and Townsville Travelling Tigers.

Coming into TA3 teams were hot and dehydrated. The next leg sent them up in to the mountains of Copeland Tops. A quick 15km mountain bike seemed simple enough on paper, but come race day teams had to deal with a hot road reflecting the extreme heat and a continuous climb to the next TA.

Reaching the Hidden Treasure Picnic Area, based around old an old mining settlement, teams were deep in Copeland Tops. They had a 15km foot rogaine through remnant rainforest in a landscape littered with old mine shafts and the infamous Australian stinging tree. To make it tougher, as the sun went down the temperature did not.  As night set in it was still 30+ degrees.  Teams had 9 CPs to get in any order. The average time to complete the rogaine was 3hrs 30min with Thought Sports finishing it in 2hrs 25min extending their lead even further.

After the rogaine it was on to the final leg of the race a 68km mountain bike through the Tops and back to Gloucester. This ride took teams down the western side of the Tops and then back up before heading down the eastern side and towards the finish. With a mix of forest trails, single track, country roads and rolling fields this leg had everything! Thought Sports led from start to finish and crossed the line just after 02.00 in a total race time of 18hrs 7min. Second was Tiger Adventure A1 in 21hrs 1min and third, their first time on the podium, Holy Tigermoly in 23hrs 35min.

Alongside the main race there was a half and 12hrs course. The first team across the line in the Half course was Team BRFS in 15hrs 48min. The first team in the 12hr race was Tiger Adventure Maniacs, their first ever win, in 7hrs 13min.

From the Saturday morning start through to the Sunday lunch time presentations the heat remained. Teams had plenty of stories from the course as they experienced the wild side of adventure. The focus now moves to the 2023 A1 Australia series with the next location of Wildside still to be announced.

For more details on the Wildside Adventure Race visit www.wildsideadventurerace.com.au