More #ARWC2011 photos- thanks to Craig Shadbolt

Craig’s full photo album is here.

The photos of Team Blackheart are at the end of the 2nd last MTB ride and the final coasteering section. There’s also a few good pics of City Bike Depot hunting us down on the final trek.

There are some great photos of the river crossing at Reynolds Falls. I particularly like this photo of Aaron Prince of Team SILVA. The look on Aaron’s face is pricelist. It brings back the memories of “oh shit, do we really have so swim across there?” I don’t think I really appreciated the beauty of the waterfall until I looked at these photos.

Australia's newest adventure race, the X-Marathon

Need a new adventure fix? Then sign up for Australia's newest adventure race, the X-Marathon. Set on the banks of Lake Nilahcootie in the remote Strathbogie Ranges and Mount Samaria State Park, the X-marathon Adventure Race incorporates paddling, trekking, and mountain biking to provide a remarkable racing experience for all levels of athletes.

X-Marathon is brought to your by Adventure Junkie, the same crew who brought you the Winter Challenge last August. This event was a great success, with electronic timing, updated and quality printed maps, and great adventure challenges. We are hoping the  X-Marathon event will be even better.

This time, the race course will be more serious for the Pros; it will have about 2000m total ascent and this will not be a trivial effort! Kayaking will take place on lake Nillahcootie, located between the two ridges of Strathbogie and Samaria, with spectacular views on both sides. And the bush trekking in Mount Samaria State Park will be nice, classic trekking – remote access to the park allows the bush to retain its virgin beauty and, on the last scout, koalas were heard and hundreds of deer were seen on the lower mountain slopes.

There are three courses on offer: Pro, Adventure and Lite, with expected winning times of 12, 6 and 2 hours, and time limits of 24, 12 and 4 hours, respectively.

The race starts early on December 17, and registration is already open on the race website at adventurejunkie.com.au. This race caters for all levels – Lite is suitable for beginners, while the Adventure and Pro courses are more demanding, but the stunning views along the course will make any pain along the way worth it!

Best of all, there's $1000 total prize money up for grabs for the Pro course – and it is going to be a hot field.  Australia's top Australian adventure racing team, Blackheart will battle it out against recent Adventure Racing World Champions, Team Thule from France. Do not miss this opportunity to race side-by-side with the strongest racers in the world!

Kathryn and Josh won the Mixed Category of the Adventure Junkie Winter Challenge- Kathryn's report is here.

Kathryn and Josh in the Winter Challenge

Anaconda Adventure race Lorne- Boat's for hire

Team Blackheart have a range of boats available for hire for the Anaconda Adventure Race in Lorne on 4th December. The boats vary in speed and stability, but hopefully there is something to suit your needs.
Boat hire is $100 for the race, hire of a paddle an extra $20. Boats can be picked up from various locations around Melbourne, or delivered to the race. Early pick up (in the next two weeks) is also available depending on boat option.

Boats available
Finn Endorfinn x 4. Very stable suitable for beginners.
Finn Molokai x 1. Very fast and tippy- suitable for experienced paddlers only.
Custom Kayaks Icon Surf ski (Kevlar/Glass and trailing rudder) - quite tippy and fast. Fixed leg leg suitable for 170-180cm height
Red 7 Surf 80 double surf ski- only suitable for racers in pairs category.

Contact
Rob Preston- mobile 0403296516, email rob_preston@hotmail.com

ARWC 2011 photos by Ben Wolstencroft

		ARWC 2011 photos by Ben Wolstencroft VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Adventure Racing World Championships Course Overview #ARWC2011

The race starts at 9am tomorrow, but I feel I've been racing all day to get ready. The course looks awesome, with shorter legs for the first half til Midcamp at Strahan, then some Epic legs for the remainder.

Remember to get on to www.arwc2011.com, click on teams then scroll down to #3 TeamBlackheart.com and check out the photos and post some trail mail. Also follow the team via Facebook at www.facebook.com/teamblackheart

Here is my race summary.
Leg 1- 20 km ocean kayak from Burnie to Penguin
Leg 2- 20km trek to a shooting range where you must shoot a clay target. No shortcuts thru the back of the shooting range.
Leg 3- 4 CP's to collect in the Dial Ranges
Leg4- Quick Mtb ride down to Gunns Plain Cave
Leg 5- Caving. Part one is a tourist cave. Part 2 more hardcore caving and will involve getting wet and muddy.
Leg 6-MTB. Starting to get rougher
Leg7- the first Epic trek over Black Bluff Range with views to Cradle Mountain. Remote hiking track to Reynolds Falls. Abseil of a waterfall then canyoning down the Vail river to Lake Macintosh.
Leg 8- First paddle with 4 people in one kayak. Then pick up a 2nd boat and paddle 20km including 2km portage. This finishes at town of Tulla.
Leg 9- MTB from Tulla up the Sterling valley route through old mining settlements and some great MTB trails and rail trail thru Zeehan to Strahan. Midcamp at Stahan.
Leg 10- Long beach trek 65km north including some tricky nav in Henty Sanddunes. A few river crossings and then some climbs and good views. Leg finishes with some tough route finding to finish in Granville Harbour.
Leg 11- long 150km MTB. Could start with a ride on the beach. Cross over the Pieman river with rafts. Enter the Tarkine Region an amazing wilderness area. Stop for a coffee at some town then into amazing forests.
Leg 12- Epic 75km of river kayaking including grade 2 rapids and 12km of trekking up side valleys. This river has a dark zone from 7.30pm to 6.30pm with no portaging allowed. It will be very difficult to finish this leg in one full day. Remember to pack marshmallows for campfire.
Note- do not misplace boats this year!
Leg 13. MTB down to the coast
Leg 14- Coasteering around Rocky Cape to Boat Harbour
Leg 15- "Straight forward" ride to the finish. Note- ignore anything Craig says is straight forward.
Finish- suck down the champers, pizza and icecream on the finishers lounge with the satisfaction of finishing the 2011 Adventure Racing World Championships.

The full course information is at http://www.trackmelive.com.au/xpd2011/Course.aspx