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Teams Let Loose on the Course

Lysanne de Graaf / 21.02.2006

A brilliant sunrise with just a little bite in the air greeted teams as they took the cable car to the top of one of Tasmania’s most famous icons, The Nut. The sun lit up the coastline and the media helicopter circled around the eager competitors until the starting gun finally released the teams onto the course.

Officials, cameramen and locals scattered and did their best to keep up with the lead team down the hill but needed some vehicle assistance to catch the first teams into the bike transition. The lead teams completed a super-fast transition onto the bikes, whilst others took their time - dawdling down The Nut, stopping for happy snaps and singing along the way.

Circling around Stanley the riders might have noticed the stunning coastal scenery, but probably not team ‘Red Tridents’ with a flat only kilometers into the first leg.

As the media van sped along to try and keep up with the field, songs, shouts and even the odd bit of poetry could be heard as they passed.

The lead teams are expected to hit the Arthur River sometime before lunch today, before a quick mountain bike and an arduos trek down the Sandy Cape.

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