Anaconda Adventure Race, QLD
Sun Shines For Quick Kiwi And Blistering Blegg At Noosa Anaconda Adventure Race
News Release / 13.08.2012
New Zealander Braden Currie emphatically marked his Anaconda Adventure Race National Series title intentions with an unchallenged win in the inaugural Noosa Anaconda Adventure Race on the Sunshine Coast today.
Currie, who first registered on the adventure racing radar this time last year with a come-from-nowhere win on the Gold Coast, crossed the line more than five minutes ahead of his nearest rival, Victorian Jarad Kohlar.
A battle ensured for third place between another pair of Victorians, Reece Stephens and James Pretto, the latter losing his legs on the trail run, Stephens able to then hold off Pretto on the remaining kayak and beach run legs.
In a show of just how fast the solo elite males were today, five individual racers made it over the line before the first team entry crossed (teams often being faster due to sharing the athletic workload).
In the women’s category, last year’s Series champion, Deanna Blegg, began her season on a high note, smashing the new Noosa course in a time of 4:57:51.
“I loved the course,” said Blegg. “Really fast and fun. I loved the mountain bike and the split paddle legs worked really well.”
Blegg is also a veteran category competitor and so takes out both overall and category honours, plus goes one up in a personal ongoing rivalry with male elite racer, Jarad Kohlar, who she beat out of the water on the swim.
Coming second in overall female category, local Noosa adventure racer and fellow veteran competitor, Kim Beckinsale, backed up Deanna in showing that age has nothing to do with results when it comes to adventure racing. She crossed the line a good twenty minutes ahead of Queenslander, Samantha Hemsley.
Hailing from Cotton Tree (Qld), Hemsley’s performance is notable in itself for the fact that it is her first ever adventure race. Her athletic prowess has some pedigree, however, as she has ridden at a national level in road cycling and recently took up surf life saving.
“The mountain bike was definitely my strongest leg,” said Hemsley. “I made up a lot of ground and places on that one, and had a lucky wave on the kayak, too.”
Beckinsale, who helped organisers set the course and a leading promoter of adventure racing as a sport in south-east Queensland through her training business, Tri-Adventure, was wrapped with her race saying “I came home nearly an hour faster than I thought I would!”
For Blegg, a mother of two and in training for the Tough Mudder World Championships later in the year, taking the finish line tape was a sweeter success than usual, having missed out on last year’s Lorne (Vic) finale.
Both Blegg and Beckinsale have led the push to encourage more women into adventure racing and were both all smiles over the weekend having noted a significant increase in female participation, especially in Saturday’s Anaconda Mini.
“It was great to see so many women out there,” said Blegg. “It’s really important that women know events like the Anaconda are achievable. I think the Mini was a great stepping stone for that. Hopefully it’s the start of bigger things for females in the sport as they come through the Mini and hopefully progress into the longer form events.”
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