Swisse Mark Webber Tasmania Challenge
High Tailing Round Hobart
Will Gray (Webber Challenge) / 11.12.2011
An impressive mass start saw teams set off from in front of the Henry Jones Art Hotel at 9am and split off in a number of different directions as a unique strategy battle got underway.
Each team had to complete at least one kayak, bike and foot section to secure their finishing place and position themselves in the overall standings - and after the course was revealed at 8:30am sharp, they had just 30 minutes to plot a suitable route and many were forced to work out their plans on the fly.
It was an intriguing approach and course organiser Sam Maffet said: “Starting with all three disciplines heading off at the same time from the same place, with different plans for each day was fantastic.�
Challenged with the tough task of following a group of teams splaying out from the centre across Hobart, we set up base in the luxury Henry Jones Art Hotel while we worked out exactly what was going on and who was going where – almost as challenging for us as it was for the competitors themselves.
Out in the streets and on the river, the action soon began, and it was the TV crews and photographers who were feeding back the information of how the race was progressing through the day, as we tucked in to generous portions of chunky vegemite toast.
With winds gusting to high speeds - and predicted to get stronger in the afternoon – the best bet was to start with was a short inland paddle to the Queen’s Domain. But second-placed Team Tasmania took another option and headed to the opposite side of the river immediately.
This quickly split the teams – with first and third taking one route and second taking another - but both knocked off the same four first checkpoints then hit a favoured route as they headed off to Knocklofty and took in south and west Hobart to collect the remaining five checkpoints.
It was no surprise that Iron House came in first, with Team Tasmania second and Team Pure Tasmania third, and with the standings unchanged it was a victory for Tasmanian Mark Padgett and British-born Hobart resident Mark Hinder.
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