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No wonder I was being blinded by racers’ lights all night.

Jacqueline Windh / 19.04.2008

The night that I spent at triple checkpoint Fernie Flats (a cloverleaf, where bikers, paddlers and trekkers converged) I was simply blinded by the lights that racers were using. I didn’t realize, until the next day, that this was because they were using Australian-made Ay Up! lights.

The next morning, leaving the checkpoint, we ran into Team Gatorade Schmucknuckles on the road, who had had a horrific night navigating (and then un-navigating) up in the hills. We gave them a lift out, since they had given up on that section of the course, and on the way Matt McLaughlin took me aside to show me his new lights. Ay Up!, a sponsor of the Keen Adventure Race, had made their lighting systems available to racers at a discount, and Matt was just raving about them – about the brightness, but especially about how small and light the battery packs that go with them are.

The system comes with both 3 hr and 6 hr battery packs, the larger of which are smaller than the palm of your hand! (In the photo, Matt shows off the light along with the 6 hr battery pack). Formerly specifically designed as bike lights, with handlebar and helmet mounts, they now also come with headlamp mounts suitable for trekking. As Matt notes, when you are biking downhill at night the thing that limits your speed the most is your ability to see – and that’s why he is raving about these lights.

RD John Jacoby also had his first try at them after the race was over. “I’d had my curried Mongolian lamb and a few glasses of red before I had to take down a few CPs. Lucky I had my Ay Ups! They are very impressive.�

Ay Up! Lighting Systems are Australian-based, but they also distribute in the USA, New Zealand, and the UK and Europe. Visit www.ayup.com.au

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