The World Adventure Racing Championships (XPD Australia)

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Sunday Summary

Rob Howard / 06.11.2011

Sunday has not been a day of rest at XPD, not for the teams or the staff and volunteers on the race. It began with the lead changing hands for the first time, and the tension over the tactical effect of the Dark Zone on the leaders being resolved when they failed to get on the Arthur River at the earliest opportunity.

Seagate subsequently retook the lead from Thule Adventure on the paddle/trek and both teams came off the water at 19.30 when the dark zone was applied. Teams must camp at this stage until 06.30 in the morning and are allowed to light a small fire, and to move on foot to get any of the 3 trekking CP’s set along the river bank. Race Directors Craig Bycroft said; “I really hope teams enjoy camping in the forest, it’s a great experience. “ For a whole night the pressure to race is off and teams can rest and prepare for the final push to the finish line tomorrow.

Silva are well clear in 3rd place on the river, though they are probably second if Seagate’s 4 hour penalty is taken into account. Then comes a group of chasing teams who have been vying for top 10 positions. Not all the trackers are working but the times for these teams at CP41, the start of the paddle, are as follows;

Seagate (NZL) in at 5:31out at 8:10 (they decided to sleep after a hard mountain bike ride)
Thule Adventure (SWE) in at 5:34 out at 6:26
Silva(SWE) in at 9:24 out at 10:00
AXA Sports Club (SWE)in at 13:28 out at 14:10
Adidas Terrex (GBR) in at 15:00out at 15:33
City Bike Depot (AUS) in at 15:54 out at 17:08
Merrell Adventure (RSA) in at 15:59 out at 16:44
Blackheart (AUS) in at 16:01 out at 17:11
Cyanosis MarQuest (RSA) in at 16:32 out at 17:12
Columbia Vidaraid (ESP) in at 17:34 out at 18:24 (not expected to make the river before the dark zone)

Sunday has also seen more retirements and teams being unranked, mostly due to injury or sickness and a full list is on the race leaderboard. Notable withdrawals are Buff Thermocool, the 2010 world champions, and Quechua.com of France.

Toward the back of the race all of the teams have now come off Lake Mackintosh and passed the CP at Tullah, and are on their way to the mid-camp, where over 50 teams have now passed through.

Among those moving towards mid-camp are Driftwood, who were previously reported as being collected by car half way through the first trek. In the end they were not picked up, continued, and moved much more quickly than expected down the canyon ... so they are still on the full course!See All Event Posts