Keen Adventure Race, Great Ocean Road Australia
Anaconda win, the Kiwis still lead - it's now GAME ON!!!
Press Release / 17.03.2007
Guy Andrews and Darren Clarke of Team Anaconda won the third stage of the Keen Adventure Race today, finishing the epic stage from Apollo Bay to Fairhaven in 29 hours and 3 minutes. Amazingly, they were only 24 seconds ahead of the second placed team, world champions Adventuresportnz.com (Richard Ussher and Gordon Walker). This result means Ussher and Walker will take a five-minute lead over the Australian champs into tomorrow’s final stage of the race from Anglesea to Torquay. It will be a real cross-Tasman battle, with the winners expected to reach the finish line at the Torquay SLSC around 11am.
After finishing, a red-eyed Gordon Walker reflected on tomorrow’s race tactics. “Same again, go hard early," he said. “We keep establishing a big lead, but losing it later in the stage, but we won’t change our approach tomorrow."
The third stage of the Keen Adventure Race included three hilly and muddy mountain bike legs, an abseiling course at the Otway Fly, two ocean paddle legs and a grueling 20km trek through the Otway Ranges. The trek itself took the leaders over eight hours to complete.
At the start of stage three, the three overall leaders of the race pulled away on their bikes, arriving at the Otway Fly together. After 45 minutes of swinging high above the forest, the teams jumped back on their bikes for a hilly 50km ride to Blanket Bay. During this ride, Ussher and Walker made their move while Andrews and Clarke struggled in the Otway hills. Arriving at the paddle transition, the New Zealanders had established a 30-minute lead over Andrews and Clarke, who arrived with third-placed team Mountain Designs (Gary Sutherland & Brett Stevens).
The paddle from Blanket Bay to Apollo Bay included a short swim to a checkpoint and the Kiwis made a rare mistake, forgetting to put on a race bib, costing them 15 minutes. By the time that Ussher and Walker reached Apollo Bay, their lead had dropped to 20 minutes.
As darkness approached, the leaders set off on the daunting 20km trek into the Otway Ranges. The trek involved several difficult navigational challenges and some incredibly dense bush. An exhausted Ussher and Walker arrived at the end of the trek at 11:30pm, with Mountain Designs and Anaconda following them in only 10 minutes later.See All Event Posts
