Awesome Female Foursome Chase Adventure Glory at New Noosa

News Release / 19.07.2012

An all-female team of athletes from the Sunshine Coast - made up of a 15 year-old schoolgirl, a mother of two, a professional mountain biker-cum-vet and an Ironwoman-cum-model - has laid down the gauntlet with a claim that they will take a clean sweep win at the inaugural Noosa Anaconda Adventure Race, taking place on 11-12 August.

The four women will tackle an all-new 62km multidiscipline off road course dividing race duties between ocean swimming, trail running, kayaking and mountain biking legs. The foursome will then finish with a team run back into central Noosa for the completion of the first Anaconda Adventure Race to take place in Noosa, an event that also marks the kick off to a season of three adventure races across Australia.

The Queensland edition of the Anaconda Adventure Race National Series - which includes the world’s biggest adventure race (in Augusta, WA) - has been held since 2006 with previous outings held on the Gold Coast.

“It’s about time Noosa scored an adventure race of its own,” says team captain, mountain biking pro and Noosa veterinarian, Naomi Hansen. “We’ve got some great sporting events here, but adventure racing is unique with its focus on going bush: it’s a bit wilder – and more fun – than your usual endurance sport outing.”

Naomi’s team mates will be Peggy Harris (swimmer), Nicci Chapman (paddler) and Leslie Saunders-Webb (runner). 

The junior of the team at only 15 years of age, Maroochydore-based Peggy Harris is a Matthew Flinders student with a background in surf life saving. A strong ocean swimmer she trains two and sometimes three times a day and placed 3rd in Australian U15 Ironwoman while also winning both the U15 Coolangatta Gold and U20 Byron Bay swim in 2011.

Nicci Chapman is a recent arrival on the Sunshine Coast, now training with the Noosa Heads surf club under the guidance of head coach and legendary ironman Darren Mercer. Nicci has been involved in surf life saving since she was four and she has represented branch, state and country with medals on all levels through to international. Last year was Nicci’s first year in the professional series and at only 23 years she is one to watch in the future.

Leslie Saunders-Webb, 41, is a local teacher and mother of two with an amazing trail running background. A Pomona local, she has competed for five years in the gruelling Pomona King of the Mountain trail race, each time registering a respectable second place in the open women's category.

“With the Noosa Anaconda run course in Leslie's back yard, we expect nothing less than he fastest women's time on race day,” says Hansen.

For her part, team captain Hansen is confident that her regular mountain bike training on trails that will make up part of the Anaconda course will stand her in good stead come race day. So too will the extra miles in her legs: at the time of Anaconda Noosa she will be only two weeks back from racing the 10km Dolomiti Superbike and 600km Trans Alp events in Europe for her Subaru-marathonMTB.com team.

“The Trans Alps is a long stage race so it should be perfect preparation,” says Naomi. 

“I pretty excited that the Anaconda Adventure Race event has moved from the Gold Coast to Noosa and determined to do our very best to keep it here, hopefully by inspiring other women to get amongst it!”

The decision to move the Queensland chapter of the Anaconda Adventure Race National Series north from its traditional home on the Gold Coast to Noosa was not made lightly, say event organisers.

"For the past six years, the Gold Coast has proven a fantastic location for the Anaconda," says Race Director John Jacoby, "But we felt it was time for a change of scene – new locations, terrains and challenges all being the spice of life when talking about adventure racing.

"Noosa was the logical choice, given what's on offer there in terms of the stunning coastline and hinterland, which we'll explore fully with the new course. And we're hopeful that the Noosa community will be as welcoming as the Gold Coast was in taking the adventure community into their fold and we know from our other races that the event has the potential to significantly boost tourism visitation to the region," says Jacoby.

Chasing Women

The new push to entice females onto the field of adventure has been spurred on by commentary from women already competing along with those on the sidelines keen but deterred from competing solo by the perceived difficulty of the distances involved.

“Feedback from  female competitors over the years suggested that while many women were interested in adventure racing as a sport, they often viewed the full Anaconda courses as too much of a commitment to begin with,” says Rapid Ascent Race Director, John Jacoby. “While we reckon that the Anaconda is an achievable challenge for anyone regardless of gender, we also recognise that we needed to provide a stepping stone to meeting that challenge – and that goes for both genders.

“So this year we are putting a concerted focus on encouraging more women into the sport by offering female-centric training programs, access to our female adventure racing ambassadors and really furnishing women with the information they need to take that first step into the sport. We know that once they get hooked, women have the potential to become terrifically accomplished racers, as demonstrated by the likes of last year’s Series Champion, Deanna Blegg, who all round is one of Australia’s top adventure racers.”

Rapid Ascent has launched a round of initiatives to encourage women into the sport of adventure racing, including online discussion forums, female-only race wave starts, women-specific training programs and sessions, and access to advice from leading women competitors including Blegg and recent Marysville to Melbourne Multisport winner, Peri Gray.

Further, in addition to the traditional long course event, the weekend-long schedule now includes the all-new Anaconda Mini, an abridged version that has been created to open up the sport of adventure racing to a wider community and offers those new to the sport an achievable taste of what adventure racing is all about.

Entries are still open for the long and short courses at: www.anacondadventurerace.com