The World Adventure Racing Championships (XPD Australia)

---

In Gunns Cave

Rob Howard / 02.11.2011

In the middle of the first ride came the second of todays ‘fun’ activities, a visit to Gunns Cave. To get there teams rode from Riana, along country roads through rich, rolling farmland, before dropping steeply down into a lush green valley to arrive at the caves.

The checkpoint was set up in by the small car park of the show caves, where there were some tents set up for shelter, with heaters in to use tonight to keep teams warm. They were not needed for the lead teams, who arrived mid afternoon when the sun was out. Seagate were first to go down, receiving a diagrammatic map of the cave system, marked with 4 checkpoints in the area of the show caves, and another 3 in an area off limits to the public, and much more difficult to get through.

The show caves were laid out with walkways and lit to show off the features and they were well worth seeing, it was a beautiful cave full with a stream running the full length of open section, and strangely shaped stalactites and stalagmites at every turn. The checkpoints in the open cave were quite easy to find, though a few teams did get confused. They then had to return to the step to the exit, but climb over the railing here to disappear down a narrow hole, beyond which were a flooded tunnel, some low crawls and a difficult to spot and very muddy exit.

In this section Seagate got confused, and though they found the cp’s they managed to exit by a different route to everyone else, popping up out of a hole in the ground! Silva were still behind them and Bjorn Rydvall said the cave wasn’t as cold as he’d expected, or as muddy. Some teams seemed to be much muddier than others!

This part of the race was an hour long time out, so there was no rush, though a couple of teams did manage to lost some time. For most there was a chance to rest up and change clothes on the grass by the car park, where they could lie down and enjoy the sun. For later teams it’s going to be colder and less enjoyable, and it is expected teams will be arriving right through the night.

[A new photo gallery from teh cave has been posted with this story.]See All Event Posts