XPD Australia
Geoff Hunt's XPD Reports
Geoff Hunt (AR World Series Director) / 17.05.2010
For this reporter the event started on Thursday morning (13th) as Craig Bycroft, the Race Director, asked us to check a checkpoint location and send the map coordinates. This small check took somewhat longer than expected with the map and the roads not relating to each other very well. Then we proceeded deeper in to the dry country behind Cains to set the small orienteeing course in the remote hills on the one of the mountain bike legs.
A maze of roads pushed through the area during the turn of the century rush for gold has left these low hills (which of course cannot be named at this point) as an interesting area for navigation. We quickly learnt that to venture ‘off road’ meant encountering the nasty local grasses. With arrowhead shaped points they attach themselves to socks, clothing, shoes and any other thing they can. A close encounter with a snake also reinforced the need for care.
It was a small taste of what the teams will face when they enter this dry country on the second day of the race.
With the course in place we returned to Carins to the sponsor hotel (Rydges) to see a small transformation. What was a quiet, albeit large tourist hotel had now become a centre of adventure racing with teams from around the world having already arrived.
That evening and through the next day (Sunday) more teams arrived and soon it was hard to venture downtown without bumping into teams in cafes, supermarkets and on the streets.
The staff started the formal process of registration and equipment checks this morning (Monday) and 47 teams of the 50 registered have arrived to compete in this years event.
Craig indicated to all the teams this morning that this course meets all the requirements for the motto of XPD and he described it as his best course ever, and as always ‘as much an expedition as a race’.
<b>Reporter Waiver:</b> As founder of the ARWorld Series I have spent a lot of time accompanying SleepMonsters reporters at events around the world but never had the pleasure of sending reports to the site myself. As an inexperienced reporter I will only be able to give you my impressions of what I see during the event.See All Event Posts
