Swisse Mark Webber Tasmania Challenge
Webber Off And Kelly Stranded
News Release / 08.12.2011
Sad farewell’s were soon forgotten when the field started the day by plunging from a boat into the icy waters of Fortesque Bay for a swim to the shores of the Tasman Peninsula.
The 100 metre sprint left the teams shivering on the beach and in little doubt that they were in for another long and testing day. Next was an 11 kilometre paddle, followed by a tortuous 17 kilometre run, before a 17 kilometre mountain bike took them to the historic Port Arthur site.
First to arrive at the picturesque, yet daunting, old penal settlement, was the Red Bull Team of Kelly and his South African team mate, Ryan Sandes.
For an adventure sport athlete, forgetting your shoes on competition day is the equivalent of a motor sport driver arriving at the track to discover the car has no wheels - you know your day is going to end in disaster.
Luckily for this race driver cum-part time adventure athlete, his support crew rushed to the previous transition to rescue the runners, as Kelly completed the one-hour rogaining course at Port Arthur in his bike shoes joined by his teammate with bare feet.
While many teams chase the time credits on offer by going to additional control points, Kelly and Sandes are opting for a more direct approach. And while they crossed the line first, it was Team Iron House still on the top of the results sheet at the end of the day.
“It was our fault that the shoes weren’t there, we just didn’t read the instructions carefully enough,� said Kelly. “It’s been a massive learning curve today. It was much more difficult than the first day.�
The local pairing of Mark Padgett and Mark Hinder were the overnight leaders, and they set about building a buffer, pushing hard on all legs and chasing every bonus control point on offer.
It was a challenging race for the teams up front, with a virtual marathon just the opening part of the stage.
“The first run took two hours and forty minutes, and that is almost equivalent to a full marathon on flat ground,� said Hinder. “And then we had to do a one hour bike and keep going for another six hours
“This is the first time I have done this, and it is going to get much tougher mentally. We think we’re in the lead at the moment – we will see after the time credits are applied – but it’s going well so far.�
Aaron Dodd and Mark Duncan as Team Rexona look likely to be in second place after the scorers finish their job, with the Renault-Garmin 1 pairing of Frenchman Sebastien Camus and Gaetan Ferrando having a stronger day and moving into the top three – despite taking an unscheduled trip across the Australian bush.
Triathlete Darren Clarke took over Webber’s place in Team Tasmania, but he and Guy Andrews had a tough day and look to have slipped out of the third place they held at the end of the opening day.
Tomorrow sees the charity race move to Bruny Island, before taking on a daunting day in the Hartz Mountains on Saturday and the final leg in Hobart on Sunday.
SleepMonsters
