Rapid Ascent Articles & Official Race Reports
Anaconda Adventure Race, Geographe Bay 2007 Race Report, 4th November, 2007
Kiwi takes line honours but Aussies win team prize
Sleepy, beautiful Dunsborough was inundated in the lead up to and the weekend of the Anaconda Adventure Race, Geographe Bay by more than 1,100 competitors. Add in at least that again in loyal family and supporters and you have what was possibly the largest adventure racing event - by participation - ever held. The West Australians can be very proud indeed of their efforts.
Adding spice to the mix was the inaugural International Teams Trophy, courtesy of EventsCorp WA, carrying with it a further $1,000 cash bonus to add to the existing prize pool of $15,000 cash and over $15,000 of prizes. For 2007 this event took the form of a Trans-Tasman trophy, with the lowest combined times of two guys and a girl from New Zealand and Australia establishing which country – for this year at least – could claim bragging rights. Representing New Zealand was twice individual and once world teams champion Richard Ussher, current world champion Gordon Walker and rising star and triathlon convert Bailey Elliot. For the Aussies, Guy Andrews – winner of 3 Anaconda Adventure Races, Jarad Kohlar (current Australian Sprint Champion) , and Christie Sym – winner of 4 of the last 5 Anaconda Adventure Races – were carrying the hopes of the assembled masses.
{Click here for the full story.}
Anaconda Adventure Race, Forster 2007 Race Report, 22nd-23rd September, 2007
Endurance sport returned to Forster after a 2 year hiatus with the running of the inaugural Anaconda Adventure Race on 22nd-23rd September. Possibly the strongest adventure racing / multisport field ever assembled in Australia toed a start line featuring multiple World Champion Richard Ussher from New Zealand, Australia’s great hope and race favourite Guy Andrews, and winner of the 2006 sprint Australian Championships Jarad Kohlar. The elite field was deep though with as many as 10 competitors in the individual race a realistic chance of standing on the podium, not the least Gold Coast 4th placed finisher Simon Manson and local triathlete and multiple Gloucester Mountain Man winner Boyd Conrick.
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Anaconda Adventure Race, Gold Coast 2007 Race Report, 5th August, 2007
Guy Andrews & Christie Sym have both repeated their impressive 2006 performances at the Anaconda Adventure Race on the Gold Coast on August 7th. The race was run in perfect conditions for the nearly 500 competitors, and with the absence of both runners-up from last year (Jody Zerbst and Karla Gilbert) - offset partly by a host of new contenders - Andrews & Sym both stormed to emphatic wins.
In the men’s race, 2006 Anaconda Lorne winner and number 1 seed Jarad Kohlar got off to a poor start, losing time to all his major rivals in relatively benign conditions in the 2km 2XU swim. Guy Andrews was not Jarad’s only concern, as a number of emerging stars also put space between themselves and the off-road running specialist. Young surf-ironman specialist Ben Allen from Wollongong, former Coolangatta Gold winner Caine Eckstein, Bribie Island multisport champion Robert Pomie, Geoquest runner-up (and Kohlar’s team-mate) Simon Manson and Bribie Island runner-up Glenn Kirby all opened up significant gaps. Allen, Eckstein and Andrews started the paddle together with a 10 minute gap over Kohlar, while Pomie, Manson & Kirby were only 4 minutes behind the leaders.
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Keen Adventure Race, Great Ocean Road, 13th-17th March, 2007
The 400km Keen Adventure Race took teams of two on an epic five-day, four-stage journey. Each stage had a distinct start and finish, with the field starting each new stage together, with the overall winner being the team with the lowest accumulated time. Each stage had many checkpoints, and failure to reach a checkpoint resulted in severe time penalties.
A spectacular start saw competitors plunge from Port Campbell’s lofty pier and into the bay for a 400m swim. Adidas (Simon Knowles and Beni Hug) led the teams onto the beach for the paddle transition, closely followed by Anaconda (Darren Clarke and Guy Andrews).
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Surf Techniques
When it comes to ocean racing there are a number of things that one needs to master to get ahead in the game.
One of the biggest challenges facing any paddler is the SURF ZONE ...
Here are some pointers which can save you from having a big swim when you least need it.
{Click here for the full
article.}
Snakebite !
Unfortunately (for most of us), snakes are a part of life off the beaten track. Given that all of our races are run in remote bushland, it is inevitable that we will come across the odd snake - as Rapid Ascent photographer Andrew Connolly did a week before Anaconda Lorne in 2006, this beautiful (!?) Australian copperhead (below) was found in the middle of the single track section of the mountain bike course, not in any hurry to move. The reality is that in the unlikely event of a snake bite, appropriate first aid gives you an extremely high chance of survival, so the message here is: DON'T PANIC !
{Click here for the full article.}Anaconda Adventure Race, Geographe Bay, September 24th, 2006
In stunning fashion, Guy Andrews trounced a stacked field yesterday at the Anaconda Adventure Race at Geographe Bay in the beautiful South-West of WA. Faced with calm cool conditions and a tough technical course, Guy swam to the front to start the 2XU ocean swim.
He was momentarily headed by Australian champion Jody Zerbst during the Keen coastline run and young Victorian Jarad Kohlar during the Jamis mountain bike, but in the end powered away to win by nearly 20 minutes from Jarad Kohlar (2nd) and kiwi champion Gordon Walker (3rd).
In the open female category, it was a 3-way battle between Queenslanders Karla Gilbert and Kim Beckinsale and Sydney’s Christie Sym. It was Karla who led the field out, swimming stroke-for-stroke with Guy Andrews to put 6 minutes into her nearest rival, South African champion Trudi Barnes. Pocket-rocket Kim Beckinsale then forged her way to the front during the mountain bike leg, extending her lead with a slick caving segment in Ngilgi Cave. But mowing them down from behind was champion mountain biker Christie Sym who took the lead early in the Enervit paddle leg and loped away to win by 8 minutes over Kim Beckinsale (2nd) and Karla Gilbert (3rd).
We spoke with Guy and Christie after the race to find out how their respective races unfolded.
{Click here for the full
article.}
Anaconda Adventure Race, Gold Coast, August 26th, 2006
Breaking a knee cap one week before last December’s
Anaconda race at Lorne, Christie Sym had a long time to prepare her body and
mind for this race. Already a very accomplished land-based athlete with national
level MTB credentials and a strong run, Christie realised that the key to her
challenging for a win at Anaconda Gold Coast would be to become a “water babe”.
With some kayak technique coaching from Guy Andrews and some hard training
sessions with Dean Gardiner’s Sydney-based surf paddling group in the last month
leading into the race, Christie managed to lift her paddle skills to another
level.
Arriving on the Gold Coast ready to race, Christie was struck down with a chest infection 3 days out from the race and antibiotics would be the only chance of getting her to the start line. With a very nasty cough on the morning before the race, it looked like Christie would have a hell of a battle trying to do justice to her number one seeding.
But then Anaconda man appeared high above the crowd, the flag was raised, and
it was “game on” for Christie and the other 7 or 8 females who were in with a
genuine chance of winning this race.
{Click here for the full
article.}
Team "Always Coca Cola" set the example
Few people would be aware that amongst the teams competing on Sunday was a team that comprised 3 able-bodied Coca-Cola
employees, and a lady by the name of Heather Hadley-Powell who suffers from a condition that affects her blood
circulation, and her body's ability to cope with the effects of gravity. Put simply, Heather uses a wheelchair
for land mobility and a kayak for water mobility!
The story starts back at the completion of the Round the Bay ride in October, where the Coca-Cola guys were seeking out their next challenge. Having chosen the Anaconda Adventure Race, they needed to put some teams together. They got one full team together and a second team was nearly there, but the only people with kayak experience weren't comfortable with the distance (and the fact that they had to do the final run leg!) So team captain Pat Mitchell set about contacting the various athletes who had posted a notice on the "Team Mate Finder" section of the website ... Click here for full story.
Anaconda Adventure Race, Lorne, December 4th, 2005
Australia's Sprint Adventure Racing Champions for 2005 have been crowned - Jody Zerbst and End Whiley Wilson raced superbly last Sunday to beat some of the best adventure racers in Australia, and collected $3,000 cash as reward for their Herculean efforts.
In bright
sunshine and with a smallish swell and nasty wind in Bass Strait, there were some tremendous battles that took place, read all about it
here.
Gym Exercises for Kayak Strength
{By John Jacoby}We've had a number of questions from people asking for some tips on kayak-specific exercises and weight training. Here you will find a list of our favourite exercises that are designed to strengthen the muscle groups that are important for kayaking.
Areas covered include abdominals, arms, legs, balance, shoulders & back
with demonstration photos to help you out. View more in our 'Kayaking Advice' section
here.
To help beginners who are faced with a dizzying amount of options when faced with buying their first kayak, we have just done what is believed to be Australia's most comprehensive test of kayaks. We have tested everything from a K1 to sea-kayaks to surf skis to plastic sit-on-tops.
Requires Adobe Acrobat version 6 or later , which can be downloaded free from the Adobe site. Click here to download the 23-page document (a link to which can also be found in our 'Kayaking Advice' section), lots of statistics and photos included! Warning: 4Mb file download, which will take a while via dial-up.