The 2007 Mark Webber Pure Tasmania Challenge
Changing Places over The Triple Tops
19.11.2007
Competitors began the day from Claude Hall with a steep ascent to Mt Roland. From there they trekked along the ridge for 19.5kms, across Mt Vandyke, Mt Claude and into the transition at Mount Round Lookout. From here competitors turned south and headed 24.5kms along Cockatoo Rd to Cethana Bridge. The day ended with a relatively easy 6km kayak back into camp at Lake Barrington.
“I can’t say I enjoyed every minute of it but I’m really happy I did it and did enjoy the experience,� remarked Tomkins as he sipped a well-earned cold one on the steps of the camp mess hall. “We went really hard today and made up plenty of ground. It was a good day, after yesterday. We made the checkpoints for a start.�
Lucid and Ace Adventure continue to perform exceptionally, peaking the summit in the first wave of competitors. Esther Tan of Lucid smiled as she passed through saying, “The view is inspiring me to keep going.� Tan’s partner Kim Huong was wishing he had worn long pants with the thick shrubs lining the track shredding his legs and making the going even tougher.
“At least I can walk now. I’ve had a hot shower and feel human again,� smiled Tiffany Cherry after making it into camp. Cherry and her partner Capt Jeremy Ross have competed well and continue to slowly peg back the field. “We deliberately stopped at the top of the Triple Tops to take some photos. We weren’t going to make the trek up there and not get some pics,� says Ross.
When asked to compare this event to another recently competed by Ross and Jarad Kohlar they both agreed that this event allows more time for mental roller-coasters. “The Freycinet Lodge Challenge is faster and harder but that’s because you are on your own and you can go as hard as you can. The Pure Tasmania Challenge involves partners and team mates which you need to rely on and that rely on you,� said Kohlar who beat Ross in this year’s Freycinet Challenge when Ross fell out of his kayak.
Competitors will be brought out of the wilderness tomorrow and into Launceston. After a 49km mountain bike from Four Springs to Launceston, competitors will pass through the Country Club and down into Cataract Gorge. It’s here that competitors will be faced with a different Challenge when they will be asked to Tyrolean rope themselves across the gorge at the second basin. After a short run competitors will do a 50m cliff jump before rafting 1km to finish at Tamar River Bridge.
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