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The Race gets underway

Michael McMahon / 20.08.2010

It's a beautiful day here on the North coast this morning. Teams were up at the crack of dawn and were treated to a beautiful sunrise over the breakwater at the sundowner resort. They may have barely noticed though as they scrambled to get some food in before jumping in vehicles to head to the start. Heaters were on full ball as thermometers registered a brisk 3 degrees around Kempsey.

The started with a bang with the gun going just after 8am this morning. It was a beach start at Crescent Heads for the Full course teams. The first wave shot off from the blocks and were soon flying around the point surrounded by Jetskis and rescue craft.

It's a beautiful day for this with negligible surf and a clear blue sky gracing the horizon. There is a bit of a headwind as teams paddle south towards Big Hill Point, but the strong paddlers at the front of the pack should still make short work of this leg.

Teams have just started arriving at Big Hill Point. The first team in was Instant Humans followed a couple minutes later by Buggered if I know and CBD Cycles not far behind. The Mexicans came in fourth followed by Infinit Nutrition SCAR. Team Rogue are not far behind and have jumped on from their position in the 2nd wave, leap frogging several teams on the way. Toastmasters Gold Fish are also here and are happy that one of the surf rescue boats picked up a tracker that fell off their boat along the way. Cartera Maps are well in the hunt too and are just marching off with their kayaks as I type this.

These teams are now heading off on the trek from Limeburners, which was the location of the Half Course start. Teams headed off at 8:05 am and are now trekking through a beautiful nature reserve.

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