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.

Rob Preston and Damon Goerke Australian 24hr Rogaining Champions

Rob and Damon have teamed up to win the 2010 Australian 24hr Rogaining Championships. The event was held at Providence, near Adaminaby in the northern part of the Snowy Mountains. Rogaining is similar to Orienteering, but competitors chose their own route and have to return to the finish within a set time frame- in this case 24hrs.
The course was set by experienced rogainers and ARers David Baldwin and Julie Quinn, who presented the competitors with a course full of choices and navigational challenges. The intricate contour detail made the control sites very challenging, especially at night. The terrain consisted of alpine ash forests, through snow gum woodlands and granite boulderfields, to open plains and ranged over an altitude of 1100 to nearly 1700m. The course covered by the team was about 90km, and collected 56 out of the possible 74 controls for a total score of 3510points. Western Australian team of Ben Corry and Paul Williams followed closely behind with 3460 points and Victorian Mixed team of Kevin Humphry and Kath Copeland were 3rd with 2890 points.
The guys used the event as training for the upcoming XPD Adventure race in May, and will also head to New Zealand for the World Rogaining Championships in November to try and improve on their 2nd place at the 2006 WRC.

Thanks to our sponsors who helped achieve this result.
Shotz Sports Nutrition for the truckload of gels, bars and electrolyte tablets we consumed during the 24hrs.
SILVA- Rob and Damon used SILVA Jet 5 baseplate, Spectra OMC Wrist compass and Jet 6 Spectra Compasses throughout the race, and the Alpha Headlamp turned night into day.
Salomon- the XA Pro 3D is still the best offroad shoe for a race this long