Well 2019 is almost at an end and
Mountain Designs Wild Women finished the year off well with some great results
and some interesting stories to tell. While I was over in Fjji representing Team
Namako in ‘Eco-Challenge - The World’s Toughest Race’, Cass and Ali teamed up for
the Mojo 12hr event where they finished 2nd outright. Unfortunately
I can’t share much about Eco Challenge
until after the TV show created from the event is screened on Amazon Prime Video in early 2020, but I
can say that Cass and Ali were on fire. They
then went on to win the Wild Women Adventure Race, making Cass a 4-time winner
of the event. I put on my Tri Adventure race directors hat and with Jan
Leverton successfully hosted Noosa’s First Zero Waste Major Event.
 |
| Cass & Ali - Wild Women AR Winners 2019 |
The new year is fast approaching
so how lucky are we to have so many amazing events to choose from in Australia.
Mountain Designs Wild Women will be out in force again in 2020 at many of the
major events on the Australian AR calendar and are very excited to be
representing a brand that is certainly one of the sports most recognised major sponsors.
Mountain Designs has been a major sponsor of ‘Mountain Designs Geoquest’ since its
inception and more recently ‘Hells Bells’ – one of Queensland’s iconic events. In
2020 Mountain Designs will also be sponsoring the Australian Adventure 1 series
which consists of some very well-known adventure races including - Rogue Raid,
X Marathon, Mojo Raid Wildside and a new race in Victoria called Explore Gippsland.
We are not sure if we will get to every race in the series, but definitely the
ones in Queensland.
Geoquest https://www.geoquest.com.au/
Hells Bells https://www.hellsbells.com.au/
 |
| Geoquest 2019 |
Then there is the ARWS Oceania
Series which includes Geoquest, XPD, Hells Bells and a new event called Terra
Nova which is being held on the central NSW coast.
Mountain Designs Wild Women will be
racing Geoquest and Hells Bells and Cass Kimlin and I will be teaming up with
Debbie Chambers and Emma McCosh who are well know for their amazing
achievements racing for the NZ Team – Girls on Top for XPD Rivers of Gold Cairns in July. We look
forward to putting our knowledge and skills together to take on one of the
toughest expedition races on the world circuit. Debbie & Emma were part of
the Girls on Top Team who finished 3rd in the ARWS XPD Flinders Ranges.
There are also plenty of other
events to get you away from screens and out into the wild for some fun laughs
and lots of adventure so why not have a look at what’s on around you and start ticking
a few thinks off that list. Go to https://adventurerace.com.au/Search/Adventure-Racing/Australia
to find out what events are coming up.
Cass, Amie, Jan and I are all heading to NZ in February to
take on NZ Coast to Coast .
I am paring with Jan to tackle the 2-day event on Jan’s 60th birthday
however Cass and Amie are taking on the ‘longest day’. In my opinion this is definitely one of the
most physically and mentally challenging multisport event in the world and so
it should be for a World Championship. Here is the link to my race report from
2018 http://triadventurenoosa.blogspot.com/2018/03/.
Multisport events are great training for Adventure Racing as
they help you to focus on the physical fitness and skills training required for
the disciplines of the event and more often than not usually involve some sort
of running, biking and paddling. In Australia we have the Adventurethon Series and also
the TRE-X off Road Triathlon Series enticing triathletes to get off the road and into the bush and take their
fitness to the next level.
To help maintain our sense of direction and hone our navigation
skills you will see us at Foot Orienteering, Mountain Bike Orienteering and Rogaine Events
as well, so there are certainly worth checking out if you have never done an
adventure race before. I am a member of the Sunshine Orienteers and try to get
to local events when I can fit them in.
If you are keen for take on a new adventure in 2020 why not
start training for an event near you. If you need some tips on training or any
more support and advice, I can certainly help point you in the right direction
or even help you out with some coaching or finding someone to train / race with,
just look me up at http://triadventure.com.au/
Then all you really need is some basic gear which is not
hard to find at Mountain
Designs, a sense of adventure. My advice is to get started is a good pair
of shoes,
socks,
waterproof
jacket, backpack and or drysack
for your gear and first aid kit; compass
and you are ready adventure in 2020!
Written by Kim Beckinsale – Mountain Designs Wild Women Adventure Racing Team
No comments:
Post a Comment