X Adventure

Ben Allen And Jessica Reynolds Take Out X-Adventure Dunsborough 2015

News Release / 18.03.2015

Elite off-road triathlete Ben Allen from Wollongong, NSW, has won X–Adventure Dunsborough for the second year in a row.

X-Adventure is a cross between a triathlon and adventure race, combining ocean swimming, trail running and mountain bike riding. The premier event – X-Adventure Long Course – was held on Sunday 15 March and consisted of a 1500m ocean swim, 12km coast and trail run and a 22km mountain bike.

Race conditions were perfect as Allen led from the start and then really pulled away from his nearest rivals in the coastal run to finish nearly nine minutes ahead of second placed Balinga Pasco and third placed Brendon Dimmer.

“Guy Crawford and the rest of the competitors really pushed me to the limit. I worked hard in all three disciplines and I really enjoyed it out there today. I loved coming back and am very happy to defend my title this year. I love Dunsborough, it’s so beautiful here, and this event is the pinnacle of off-road triathlon in Australia so yes, I’ll definitely be back in 2016,” said Ben Allen.

In the women’s event, crowd favourite Jessica Reynolds from Dunsborough stole the lead in the mountain bike leg to win by nearly 5 minutes.

“I’ve been dreaming about this course for about the last 12 weeks. I know every single inch of it and it was perfect conditions today. I just love adventure racing - the physicality of it and being outdoors – and I love Dunsborough,” said a very happy Jessica Reynolds.

Conditions weren’t so good for the lead up races on Saturday 14 March with intermittent heavy rains and strong wind in the morning. However this didn’t deter the extremely enthusiastic competitors and equally excited supporters.

In the X-Adventure Short Course on Saturday Rowan Brown proved too strong in the men’s event and a speechless Sarah Feldman won the women’s category. The Short Course involved a 700m ocean swim, 6km coast and trail run and 12km mountain bike.

“I absolutely loved it; I can’t believe I won,” was all Sarah Feldman managed to say as she broke down with sheer happiness at the finish line.

“That’s seriously the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do; I’ve never done anything like this before but I finished so I’m really happy,” said Paula Tompkin from Vasse, smiling from ear to ear.

Over 300 kids aged 9 - 14 years braved the rain to take on the Kids X-Adventure on Saturday afternoon, with a 200m swim, 2.5km trail run and 4km mountain bike. Their enthusiasm and determination was incredibly inspiring and, with the help of supportive family and friends, created a great atmosphere at the event.

The overall winner was 13 year old Alec Davison from Freemantle in a smashing time of 28 minutes, 40 seconds. He who also won the event last year.

“I’ve improved a lot since last year and it helped to know the course but the event is getting more popular every year and I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to win it again; so I’m really happy,” said Alec Davison.

For the first time this year X-Adventure also included a series of ocean paddling races. Conditions were testing as paddlers took on one of three courses: 22km, 15km and 8km.

First back across the finish line was Alan Nicholls in the 8km Short Course.

“It’s the first paddle race I’ve ever done and it was a great course. Conditions were pretty lumpy but otherwise it was really good,” said Alan Nicholls from Heathridge.

In total there were 1,400 competitors at X-Adventure Dunsborough this year, making it Australia’s biggest off-road triathlon.

For full results visit www.xadventure.com.au

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