F1 Star Mark Webber Reveals New Adventure Run for Challenge Event

News Release / 21.10.2011

Formula One star Mark Webber has launched a new Adventure Run, giving people the chance to compete alongside him on a 6.5km course through the Hobart area in the build-up to his five-day Swisse Mark Webber Tasmania Challenge.

The mass participation run will take place on Sunday December 4, three days before the start of the Challenge itself, which takes elite athletes, high profile personalities and amateur adventurers through the wild island state from the Freycinet Peninsula to the finish back in the state’s capital of Hobart on Sunday December 11.

Event Director, Mark Perry from Octagon Australia, says the new run gives more people a chance to meet the F1 champion, and the rare opportunity to compete against him.

“It is great timing as Mark will have finished his season and will be relaxed and ready to have some fun,” Perry said. “We can’t drive as fast as him, and probably can’t even match him in adventure racing, but at least we can run with him here and measure ourselves against an elite sportsman.”

Webber, who has a long involvement with the island state, says the adventure run will give the chance for young and old to join in the spirit of the five-day race without the need to be an endurance athlete.

“This is a run designed for everyone and it’s a great opportunity for people to come to Tasmania, get involved and join in the fun,” Webber said. “The five-day event takes us to some of the most remote parts of the world - and this event has a touch of that adventure but it is right in Hobart’s backyard.

“Just like with the Swisse Mark Webber Tasmania Challenge, everyone who competes will help to raise money for charity, with the Save the Tasmanian Devil Program to receive considerable support from the event. So walk it, run it, bring the kids, just come along and I’m sure with what we have planned everyone will have a great day.”

The 6.5km Adventure Run will commence from the Henry Jones Art Hotel, in the centre of Hobart, and take participants into the picturesque Queens Domain and back again.

The run will be held on a mixture of sealed footpaths, gravel walking tracks and narrower cross-country ‘adventure’ trails that wind through bush and parkland with magnificent views over Hobart, Mt Wellington, the Derwent River and surrounding countryside.

“The event is designed to be achievable by runners of a full range of abilities, from elite runners who will go flat out to those who set a more leisurely pace and take their time and enjoy the views,” Perry said.

“The event is called an ‘Adventure Run’ due to the diverse landscapes that participants pass through – from the city’s highlights to the Domain’s wilderness. This is more than a traditional style Fun Run and, what’s more, you can do it with a real star in Mark Webber.”

World Orienteering Champion, distance runner and mentor Hanny Allston will be the Ambassador of the inaugural Swisse Mark Webber Tasmania Challenge Adventure Run.

To enter, go to the <a href="#" onClick="javascript:newsitewindow('http://www.markwebbertasmaniachallenge.com/adventure-run')" class="main">website</a>.