The World Adventure Racing Championships (XPD Australia)

---

Seagate in a SPOT of Bother

Rob Howard / 03.11.2011

It’s been a day of changed plans and penalty drama today, as the waterfall abseil was cancelled and the leaders, Team Seagate, have received a penalty.

Through most of the day the leading teams have been making their way across the remote trek through the Reynolds Falls Reserve and down the Vale River, then kayaking down Lake Mackintosh and Lake Roseberry to reach CP22 at Tullah. During the day there was some light rain and the wind remained cold but the teams made good progress, speeded up by the cancellation of the Reynolds Falls abseil. The race staff setting up the ropes found the water flow was too great over the area where they needed to place their anchors and made the call that it wasn’t safe to set up the ropes.

Race Director Craig Bycroft said, “There is no grey areas with safety, its either safe or its not, and they made the right call in the circumstances. The teams still got to see the falls as there is a trail down the side and they were in a fantastic area, so it was still a great experience for them.�

Seagate were still in the lead as the teams left the falls and descended the canyon to the lake, where they collected one of the inflatable 2 man sea kayaks, which they all had to squeeze into with their gear.

Getting the boats and the paddle bags there for the teams was just one of the logistical challenges of running this epic race. They were towed up there by race staff, who rafted 10 at a time with the heavy paddle bags piled on top. The return trip took them almost 3 hours ... and they have to do it 8 times to get all the teams through.

Elsewhere the logistical challenge is the sheer number of boxes and bikes the support staff are moving around. Each team has 5 gear boxes, 2 paddle bags and 4 bike boxes, and if you do the maths that means moving well over 800 items around during the race. And it’s critical all are in the right place at the right time, ready for the team’s arrival. At Tullah the entire Sports Hall was taken up with bike boxes and the rest of the gear boxes spilled outside. So far everything has run smoothly, and been in the right place.See All Event Posts