Blackheart in 1st place running for the finish!

It has been a frustrating day in the absence of any meaningful gps tracking updates ... but also very eventful. Craig and Louise (Geocentric) were not allowing teams an easy stroll to the finish and instead the race finished with and arduous 24 hour, 60km Trek over the Lamb Ranges to 1200m altitude. It was slow going for all teams last night and the intermittant updates showed teams progresssing as slow as <1km/h. From the satellite it looks very steep and very thick.

We learned this morning that Team Orion were forced to withdraw. As much as we want Blackheart to win the Orion team put on one hell of a show and all the top 6 teams should be congratulated for making it such an exciting race.

Ok, so now to put everyone out of their suspense. I just got a call from Ben who was waiting to take photos of the leading teams at Lake Morris before the final push into Cairns. Blackheart appeared out of the bush about 30min ago after taking 8 hours to bash their way 5km off the 1200m summit and down to the road. They are in great spirits and even started running across the Dam wall to put on a show for the crowd. Between them and crossing the finish line in 1st place they have a 45min walking track descent and about 15km of roads through Cairns to the finishers couch.

It's not over, till it's over but things are looking great for the team ... GO BLACKHEART!

Blackheart first out on the penultimate leg

It looked like a very frustrating night riding (or maybe pushing) the mountain bikes towards Lake Tinaroo. It appears that all teams so far have had trouble in the same area including Orion so I can only assume what's on the ground doesn't quite add up to what's on the map.

But the team continues strong into Day 6 of the race with a 20 min over Orion into the final paddle. Given the last 3 legs, nothing can be taken for granted but this should be a relatively straight forward 15km paddle across the dam in daylight. From there it's "only" one stage to go - 60km trek to the Cairns waterfront.

Ben confirmed a few minutes ago from the transition that Blackheart had spent about 3 hours "going around in circles" in the middle of the MTB leg before getting a couple of hours sleep. Apparently the team is going well ... no real issues other than what you would expect after 120 hours of racing. Hear about it yourself on the latest video update.

XPD Day 5 Photos

Rob's navigation on that trek leg must surely put him amongst the best AR navigators going around.

Josh and Rob ... I'm guessing lots of empty food wrappers NOT lots of food left after another 24 hour stage.

Yes Geary ... another smiling photo ... be thankful you not getting the one of Josh's ass.

Kim getting an infected sore drained, cleaned and patched.

Damon and Rob leading the way.

The Donkey all loaded up for the final time - Josh looks like he's having way too much fun.

Kim all patched up out on the bike and back in 1st place. Go Blackheart!

Unofficial but reliable update

I just spoke with Ben as he was making his way back to their accommodation for the last few days, in the town where mid camp was. Following is some info:

• Orion did arrive into transition at the end of the trek first by about 5-10min.
• Blackheart arrived soon after and immediately started putting bikes together and getting organised for the next leg (I know how much Damon and Josh hate wasting time stationary in transition)
• Blackheart were looking good considering the severity of the leg they had just completed although apparently Kim has a nasty infection on her leg that need some attention.
• They left the TA about 10-15min before Orion, therefore taking back the race lead.
• Although the Blackheart tracker wasn't working for a couple of hours teams do have to head a couple of km's north of the TA to a CP at the local cemetery before heading south back past the TA on the rest of the leg.
• It is really hot out there on course, 25 degrees overnight and this is taking it's toll on the teams, as well as the magnitude of the stages and the race itself.

And from looking at the gps trackers, Orion have stopped after the first CP for a couple of hours sleep and Blackheart have pushed on. The trackers for the teams placed 3-6 are all working and they have still a considerable distance left to trek (3-5 hours). The race is a long way from over but it seems the Blackheart vs Orion rivalry will go down to the final leg again to decide this one. No sleep for me tonight and I'll post some photos later.

Monster Trek ... and confusion

While there has not been any official confirmation I have been closely watching the gps trackers for most of the day and I'll be the first to speculate that Blackheart have regained the lead. They had a super trek and were completing the final section of the stage about 15 min behind the leading team Orion after making up more than 2 hours earlier on. This was the 2nd 24+ hour leg for the team in a row and I bet they love the look of their bikes after not seeing them since before mid camp at 6:55am on Friday morning!

They are now about an hour into the final bike leg of the race. In a strange situation it seems Orion have gone North and Blackheart South on leaving the transition area. This post is only speculation and there still a very long way to go (my guess 24-36 hours). Hopefully I'll get an update soon but the transition area doesn't seem to have any phone reception. GO TEAM!

Day 4 Photos

Some more great photos from Ben Wolstencroft from the end of the 'paddle', Transition at CP 15, and leaving for the start of the Trek.

Rob and Josh

Kim and Damon

All jokes and smiles in transition - must have enjoyed the 24 hours of 'paddle - dragging'.

Foot care before the trek. I reckon the feet would be a bit second hand after being wet for the last 24 hrs.

Going to be an easy trek for Kim if she get carried the whole way ... just a good bit of teamwork to keep the feet dry.

Rob will have his work cut-out navigating the next Trek and by the look of the gps tracker he's had a cracker start.

24 hrs of Paddling

Team Blackheart have left on the remote 60km trek in 4th position. Overnight on the Walsh River they dropped from 1st to 5th place. I haven't been able to find out the reason for this but from the tracker it appeared that they missed a bend in the river and did a couple of hundred metres extra portaging. After which the tracker was stationary for a couple of hours so hopefully they might have had a sleep. I'm trying to get in touch with Ben when there's some phone reception.

After more than 75 hours of racing there is only 2.5 hours separating the top 5 teams and there must still be at least 48 hours of racing to go. Sleep strategy and navigation will be the keys to the race from here.

During the current trek I think they have to get one checkpoint (#16) and if you are looking at the course map I assume it is located where the course line changes direction just north of a knoll. Already straight out of transition we can see very different route choices with Orion and McCain heading south around the first ridge and Blackheart taking a more direct route. This leg will be fascinating to watch for those armchair navigators - hopefully the trackers don't lose signal.

Blackheart lead the race through Midcamp

After the infamous "stinging tree trek" yesterday teams had to complete a 130km mountain bike with a 10km orienteering course toward the end. Teams had to get 5 out of 6 cp's before continuing on to midcamp. I spoke with Ben earlier and he said Blackheart blitzed the orienteering section in about 3.5hrs which was apparently the fastest out of the lead group.

At 6:55am Blackheart arrived at the compulsory 6hr stop at midcamp where they decided to have the stinging tree treatment. I have to quote Kim's race blog entry here along with a photo of Damon's partially waxed legs ... sexy.

CP – 11

Kim here again. I just saw the funniest thing EVER in adventure racing. After spending the night out with our stinging tree injuries we changed our minds and decided to get them treated at mid camp = hydrochloric acid on the wound, and then a wax. The hydrochloric acid stung a bit but no big deal. Damon, Rob and Josh then proceeded to scream like little girls whilst getting their legs waxed. I wish I had a camera …. Anyway, last nights ride was good, particularly the descent down from the orienteer. Now for some sleep

After exactly 6 hrs Blackheart departed with their 2 deflated kayaks, paddles, pfd's, mandatory gear loaded into the compulsory "wheelbarrow" for a 20km push to the start of the paddle leg. Check out Rob's cannons in the photo above - making light work of it! Orion have made up a bit of time during this leg and as I post this the lead look to be about 1hr 15min. More photos coming soon.

Here's a great report on Team Blackheart from Adventure World Magazine.

Photos

Some Team Blackheart action from Day 1 courtesy of Ben Wolstencroft.

News from the Course

I just received news that Team #1 Blackheart has left on the leg 6 MTB in 1st place! How did I hear this ... well ... Rob Preston Snr is volunteering driving trucks at the event and he is phoning updates back to Rob's Mum Julia who passes them onto me. It does kind of feel like de ja vu from the late night phones calls to the same "Supercrew" in Portugal last year.

Anyway, apparently the team looked great last night and were all smiles after the rafting this morning. They were maybe a little over the trek but had a great transition and is now making all the other teams chase them.

I also just got off the phone to Ben who had witnessed the Ravenshoe Transition described in the latest report from Sleepmonsters.

The front 4-5 teams all arrived into transition together and most members of all teams had encountered the stinging trees. It was interesting to see how the different teams coped with the issue. Team Blackheart decided that the worst was probably over and that they would just deal with it and keep going, so headed straight out on the bike. Others went off to the 1st aid for the acid and wax strips treatment and apparently some just rolled around on the ground screaming.

Rafting & the Misty Mountains

The 100km MTB leg didn't do much to separate the field due to the Dark Zone before the White Water Rafting. Blackheart arrived at the end of the MTB at 7:50pm yesterday evening in equal 2nd place at the same time as 2 other teams - being Mounty's as well as McCain from South Africa - appears as though there was a Bull of Africa 2008 reunion.

Teams then had to trek 10km to the start of the rafting section where it seems they were able to get about 4 hours sleep before the 6am Refting briefing. I would expect the Grade 4 Tully River rapids to have been a highlight of the race. Once the fun was finished the real race began at about 8am with the start of the 47km Misty Mountains Trek. Damon, Kim and Josh have an advantage of having done about half this trek in the 2004 Quoll Adventure Race. During that race the ground actually looked like it was moving due to the millions of leeches - so I expect there will be big incentive not to stop on this leg. And just because it is a 'marked trail' won't make it much easier as this just means there's an arrow nailed to a tree every 20-50m.

There's an update on the website and we can see by the trackers that 4-5 teams (including #1 Blackheart) have now finished the trek and will be starting the 130km MTB to mid-camp. Along the way teams have to complete a short orienteering section where they collect 5 out of 6 CP's before continuing on their bikes. Given teams at the front got a sleep last night they should all race through as long as it takes to finish the MTB leg because at mid-camp they have a compulsory 6hr stop.

A friend of Team Blackheart - Ben Wolstencroft is covering the race as a photographer so I will be able to post some great photos soon.

There's also an updated report on Sleepmonsters.

XPD Cairns - Day 1

Team Blackheart.com.au is off and racing in the 5th edition of XPD - Australia's Expedition Adventure Race. Day 1 seemed to start rather eventfully with the arranged boat transport to the start at Dunk Island breaking down and alternative arrangements had to be made. The race started at 11:36am with a 25 km Trek / Paddle / Snorkel leg around the Island.

There appears to be about 6 strong teams at this years race and after the first 4 hours of racing only 10 minutes separated these teams with Blackheart in 4th place. From Dunk Island teams had to paddle back to the mainland at Mission Beach to start a 100km MTB leg to the Tully River. Once there teams will be able to have a good first nights sleep during the Dark Zone and await an early morning restart for the 10km whitewater rafting leg. From the GPS Trackers it appears that the teams arrived well before midnight. The website is not updated but I assume the explanation for this is the quoted lack of phone reception in the Tully River and no race updates are expected until late tomorrow (Thursday) afternoon after the raft and 47km Trek through the Misty Mountains to Ravenshoe. The race coverage is excellent on the website.

Team Blackheart ready for XPD Cairns

Team Blackheart has returned with the same line-up as 2008 with the aim of defending our XPD Australia title. It is often said that getting to the start line is half the battle, and this is particularly true for expedition Adventure Racing. After a few hectic days in Cairns, we are ready for the 6.30am bus and boat ride to the start at Dunk Island to the south of Cairns. Kim and Josh are tucked into bed, while Rob and Damon catch up on a little Survivor and Two and a Half Men.

The course is looking very tough, with many legs expected to take over 12 hours. We envisage the crux legs to be the 70km paddle followed by a 60km trek (dubbed the Speargrass Trek), both through very remote outback regions. The race will likely just be getting interesting as the top teams leave the mid race camp, with a wheelbarrow to help transport the inflatable kayaks 20km to the river. Luckily Josh has had plenty of practice pushing a barrow up his steep driveway, so the rest of the team is hoping for a little rest on this leg.

There is a strong overseas contingent for the race, with 2008 World Champions Team Orion returning, but with Brent Edwards to only surviving team member. Team Merrell/Akali and McCains from South Africa are the other strong teams looking to win a qualifying spot to the 2010 ARWC in Spain. We expect the strongest Australian competition to come from our good friends in Team City Bike Depot.

Hopefully the race coverage will live up to expectations, with live GPS tracking you should be able to keep up our progress. Updates from the course will be posted on our XPD Team page.