Watersliding, headlights and Bulldogs

Brindabella Challenge Night Adventure, Canberra - 1 December 2006

Friday night saw the Brindabella Challenge Festival kick off with the AROC Night Adventure based at the newly opened Stromlo Forest Park.

The teams packed on to three buses, taking them to the start near the top of Black Mountain. With the first few checkpoints near the top, teams where grateful the bus took them most of the way. Some impressive running through the bush saw the Ultimax Stingers and the Stinging Arrows fly into the bike transition with a good lead on the rest of the pack.

On to the bikes and then to the surprise checkpoint at the waterslide. Three turns down the waterslide ensured everyone was cooled off and having a ball. Simon Thompson ran by with a big grin on his face "They should include watersliding as a new discipline in triathlon". The Canterbury Bulldogs had entered six teams in the event and found their form on the waterslide - a bit of beef certainly adds to watersliding speed!!
Next, it was down to the lake and on to the kayaks for a few paddle, run, paddle, run, paddle legs around the very pretty Chinese Gardens and the Parliamentary Triangle. The wind had died down and with a lake full of glow sticks, it was an awesome sight.
After three hours the first batches of lights appeared at the finish. The first teams going on to a technical bonus leg on bike and foot through the Stromlo single track. The mixed team, It's all About Kim, with a newbie adventure racer had been super consistent and had worked their way through the field and were the only mixed team to make the cut off for the bonus leg. In their first ever adventure race, one of the Bulldogs teams also made the bonus leg cut off but with the knowledge they had a big weekend still to come, were happy they had beaten their other team mates and settled to finish. The all female team, Control Freaks, were just firing, and were in the top five going into the bonus leg - and held their position to the end.

In just under four hours, the Stinging Arrows finished but failed to read their instructions properly and scored a 15 minute penalty allowing the Ultimax Stingers to step into 1st place. Matt Koerber in one of his best performances yet, according to his team mates, led his team to 3rd place overall. The Control Freaks came first in the female category and an impressive 5th overall. We Can't Paddle might be having us on as they stormed into 2nd place in the female teams with Aussie Ice in third. It's all About Kim convincingly won the mixed category with Muppets on Gu coming in 2nd and Mixed Up in 3rd.

For full results - click here

For photos - click here

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