About Us
Regarded as Australia’s leading Adventure Sports Event Management company, Rapid Ascent organises off-road, adventure and niche sports events across Australia ranging from mass participation adventure races (the world’s largest!) to boutique mountain bike festivals. We conceive and host our own events and offer other organisations and brands custom event management services. See further down for more details.
Rapid Ascent currently hosts eleven major events across adventure racing, multisport, mountain biking and trail running disciplines. In addition, we are also contracted to manage the logistics for three more events – a recreational road ride, called the Ford Otway Cycling Classic, one of Australia’s largest regional fun runs, Run Geelong, and the world-renowned Mark Webber Challenge adventure race in Tasmania, for which John and Sam set the course for 2011. And we always have more adventure event ideas bubbling away in the background.
Importantly, our races and events are about much more that the sports we happen to love, they’re about appreciating the great outdoors, promoting environmental awareness, healthy lifestyles, community participation and creating a friendly festival atmosphere for everyone.
Rapid Ascent Pty Ltd was established in November 2004 and is owned by:
- John Jacoby – founder, Rapid Ascent, with two other adventure buffs.
- Sam Maffett – joined Rapid Ascent in 2006 as our Event Manager and General Manager and loved what the company was about so much, he bought into it.
As a couple of experienced athletes themselves, John and Sam are committed to bringing you a series of races by competitors, for competitors.
John Jacoby (Race Director) Sam Maffett (General Manager)
John is one of the most experienced and accomplished adventure racers in the world, having been involved in the sport since its inception (remember Eco Challenge?). John was awarded the Keys to the City of Melbourne in 1987 after being crowned World Marathon Kayak Champion for the 3rd year in a row, going on to win the title four times. He has completed 30 major international adventure races in 16 countries and was the first Australian to win the coveted Coast to Coast title in NZ. For a copy of John's sporting CV, click here. Since retiring from full on competitive racing (he still sneaks into the odd adventure race every now and then, winning the last one alongside Sam), John has developed a reputation as a designer of ‘very challenging’ but interesting courses covering adventure racing, mountain biking and trail running courses.
Sam is always up for an adventure and keen to get outdoors as often as he can. He claims skiing steep and deep powder snow on his teles as number one but is fairly adept at a range of ocean and outdoor pursuits that keeps him pretty busy in life and would trade a good home cooked dinner for a night under canvas at altitude in the blink of an eye.
Sam has travelled extensively overseas living, working and playing in South and Central America, Canada and the UK where he scaled 6000m mountains, paddled gnarly white water rivers, skied Alpine glaciers and ate a lot of enchiladas but now calls Anglesea home with its range of local adventure options keeping him busy enough.
Sam’s an experienced adventure racer and mountain biker but has been a little frustrated since joining Rapid Ascent that he has cut his options by now being tied up with organising events he’s usually participating in. He has managed to find time to win the 2007 and 2009 Geoquest races, a few Teva, Kathmandu and Mountain Designs Adventure Races as well as a few others along the way. Not bad for a man who has retired. Retired? Never...
Chris Ord (Marketing & Media Manager) Kim Neilson (Sponsorship Manager)
Fresh from ten years spent working in adventure and outdoors journalism, Chris is an addict to the outdoors life. A perfect match for Rapid Ascent’s adventure events. He joins us following two years’ editing Outer Edge magazine, along with stints as editor of a hiking magazine in the UK and editor of adventure travel magazine Get Lost! here in Australia.
He continues to freelance for a wide variety of outdoors and adventure media, and remains a senior contributor to Australian Geographic Outdoors magazine. In his spare time (hah!) he publishes and edits Trail Run Magazine.
Not to say that all his energies are about tapping out good yarns – he uses his media powers (photography, videography, networking) for good in promoting Rapid Ascent events to all and sundry and (as an old school print journo) is slowly getting his head around the world of social networking. He yearns for the day that RA sets him up with a satellite internet connection so he can do all that from somewhere deep in the wilds, perhaps while researching a new adventure event course...(he likes to get his hands dirty).
Kim is a junkie for all adrenaline sports and gets excited about the adventures that come with her job as our sponsorship manager – although like the rest of us, she would perhaps prefer to be competing rather than organising. Nevertheless, come an event finish, with sponsors and partners all happy with proceedings, you’ll find Kim quickly slips into adventure mode and scarpers off for more fun – last time on a week-long trek on the Larapinta Trail shortly after our mountain bike Enduro in Alice Springs (as per her pic). Back at the RA Ranch in Torquay, Kim enjoys making the most of her weekends experiencing the adventure lifestyle a coastal HQ offers – all of which begins with a surf and a soy latte!! If you want to join us as a partner in any of our events, drop Kim a line – or come and see her for a board meeting. Surfboard that is....
Bridget Leddin (Office & Customer Service Manager) Claire Eats (Office Assistant)
The queen of customer service, Bridget reigns from the hospitality industry having worked as the Catering & Function Manager in Central Victoria for 10 years. She then followed the sun and sand to Noosa where she was Assistant Property Manger for a holiday accommodation and real estate agency on Hastings Street. Family and career pursuits brought her south where she is now Office and Customer Service Manager. She often brings her love of food and cooking to work, in the form of warming soups in the winter, chocolate brownies for the all too often chocolate fix and has whipped up some mean curries for staff gatherings. Essentially, she fuels Rapid Ascent’s (and our competitors’) collective pursuit of adventure through equally brilliant food and service! In her spare time, Bridget loves to enjoy coastal living with her family, sample the coasts’ brilliant produce and is a self confessed market junkie.
Joining us in early 2011, Claire is the youngest team member of the Rapid Ascent team, and one of the most vibrant. A country girl from Western Victoria, Claire brings an energetic zest for keeping all the logistics and service to our customers and clients always on track, and always with a smile. She’s dipping her toe in the adventure waters with some trail running – and we’re all determined to get her hooked on the wild life. But Claire still has her own loves: shopping for a bargain, dabbling with photography and hosting dinner parties – the organisational and hospitality streaks a constant at home and at the office! Claire can’t wait to travel and put her personal touch on a renovator’s delight.
Rapid Ascent Team (Left to Right: John, Kim, Claire, Bridget Jacoby, Bridget Leddin, Sam, Chris)
What can Rapid Ascent offer your brand or event?
We’re not just event organisers, we’re adventure athletes ourselves and have a vast amount of international experience across a range of sports and events. Our experience as competitors helps us to develop and deliver events that will excite and challenge EVERY participant - from weekend warrior to pro - while our business experience ensures maximum return is provided to the local community, sponsors and event stakeholders.
Rapid Ascent prides ourselves on delivering the best possible:
- Customer service - we are committed to providing competitors with a supreme level of attention, service and assistance to help them achieve their objectives.
- Industry leading event website with revolutionary results systems, photos and pre/post event information and media log facilities in providing high res images for publishing
- Race courses - the course is central to every race with all efforts pursued to provide participants with the best of what they came for – achievement.
- Attention and exposure within general and sports specific media – what other races rent helicopters for media or hire film crews to dispatch newsfeeds
- Sponsor servicing ensuring those involved gain maximum returns and exposure through websites, marketing, collateral and by industry expo’s that are integrally involved with the events conduct.
AwardsRapid Ascent is the leader in adventure event management and has been awarded the latest accolades:
- 2009 Australian Event Awards – finalist in the best Sporting Event Category for the Anaconda Adventure Race
- 2008 – 2009 Worlds Biggest Adventure Race with the Anaconda Adventure Race at Augusta, WA.
- 2010 Best Adventure Race Awards – presented by Outer Edge / Wild magazine
Rapid Ascent provides the following services:
- Course design and logistics planning
- Event directing
- Event administration and planning
- Event marketing, including location and race promotion
- Sponsor liaison and contracts
- Stakeholder liaison
- Community education and participation
- Event photography
- Event risk management
- Volunteer training and management
- Athlete matching service (for teams)
- Training programs
- Organised group training
- Video concept and planning
Being athletes with extensive international race experience, we have a wealth of knowledge and fresh ideas to bring to the fledgling sport of adventure racing in this country. The sport is a boom sport in the US/Canada and Europe, and we intend doing our bit to bring it to the broader Australian public.
Rapid Ascent's values are:
- Integrity
- Respect for the environment
- Respect for the community
- Respect for participants