Adventurethon

Australian Adventurethon

Pat Kinsella / 30.03.2013

With Cyclone Tim fizzling out a few days before the event kicked off, many competitors in last weekend's Magnetic Island Adventurethon in the far north of Australia thought they'd dodged the worst of the wild weather. But Tropical North Queensland had other ideas, and race day dawned to the howling of a 25-knot wind across the Coral Sea.

Involving 26 kilometres of ocean paddling, 29 kilometres of mountain biking and over 18 kilometres of trail running, the Adventurethon's Ultra race is hailed as the toughest one-day off-road event in the region. The distances tell only half of the story. The course is rough and tough, and the humidity of the Wet Tropics is soul sapping for those not used to it.

Hard means good in certain circles, however, and the rugged reputation of the race had resulted in a sold-out event for 2013, with over 300 people attracted by the magnetic magnitude of the challenge.

Jarad Kohlar – a four-time Australian multisport champion and winner of the 2012 Adventurethon – was there to defend his crown, and among his challengers were Surf Life Saving legend Guy Andrews, Stellar-sponsored paddler Matt O'Garey, New Zealand multisport specialist Sam Goodall and local elite athlete Sam Stedman.

As increasingly powerful gusts whipped up an already tempestuous sea, a change of direction for the paddle leg was announced. This gifted us 13 kilometres of glorious downwind paddling with plenty of runs to link together, but once around the halfway buoy we were in for a savage slog back to the transition zone, battling directly into the wind and against the current.

The Queensland sun chose this moment to break through the morning mist, and the struggle to avoid overheating began early. Skirting the mangroves in a futile attempt to find some degree of wind shadow, it occurred to me how much the half-submerged trees looked like the perfect hangout for the saltwater crocodiles that call this part of the world home.

Once a thought like this pops into your head it's hard to expel it, and since there was no shelter to be found here anyway, I moved away from the mangroves and closer to the middle of the channel between the mainland and Magnetic Island – to the place where a local had told me the tiger sharks breed. All things considered, this isn't a race where you relish the thought of falling out of your ski.

But fall out some people did, particularly when we rounded the headland, lost the protection of the island and hit the big swell again. While dodging a paddler whose ski had suddenly gone belly up right in front of me, I saw something big leap a full metre and a half out of the water just to the right of my boat. It was a ray of some sort, probably an eagle ray someone later told me. A fantastic sight, but I couldn't help wondering what was chasing it.