Mountain Designs Wild Women : The Amazons Australia - A World First Event for Women

Well, following on from The Mountain Designs Wild Women historic win in the ARWS Oceania Legend Expedition Race in 2024, Kim Beckinsale said to the girls in the team, "Girls, this is special, we have done something that no one else is ever going to be able to do again because we were the first" then Kim went on to say, "so we have to go back and in some way keep inspiring women to do things that they may have thought impossible".

So Kim started thinking and talking with Jan Leverton (Mountain Designs Wild Woman and Tri Adventure business partner), lets create a new event, longer, tougher and harder than The Wild Women AR and lets see if the ARWS - Adventure Racing World Series will endorse an all female event, as this has never been done before. The dream event was called The Amazons Australia and the ARWS CEO Heidi Muller supported the pathway for the event to be included into the ARWS Oceania as a 3 day stage race - the first ever all female ARWS event. Mountain Designs also came onboard as a sponsor of The Amazons Australia and the location 'born of the mountains' was announced as Mission Beach, Cassowary Coast where the rainforest meets the reef in Tropical North Queensland.

The Mountain Designs Wild Women legendary team from 2024 became ambassadors for The Amazons Australia and once again have helped create history again by supporting this groundbreaking event called The Amazons Australia.

Kim Beckinsale - Co- Event Director

Alina Mc Master & Del Lloyd - Ambassadors & Competitors (Mountain Designs Wild Women)

Cass Kimlin - Ambassador & Competitor (Yesterdays Pancakes)

Also part of the event were Mountain Designs Wild Women - Jan Leverton (Co event director) Amie Munson (racing with Cass Kimlin as Yesterdays Pancakes), Gina Dunsdon and Hayley Kellner (Tri Adventure Snacks).

The Amazons Australia backed by Tourism Tropical North, Cassowary Coast Tourism and Cassowary Coast Council was such a success that they want the event to return to the Cassowary Coast region for the next two years. The style of racing allowed for an opportunity for women from all ages and ranges of experience, fitness and skills in the sport to not only race but socialise and get to know each other on many levels. There was a 100% completion rate every day which is unusual in adventure racing showing that the Amazon spirit, when unleashed, is a force to be reckoned with.

Alina Mc Master (Mountain Designs Wild Women & Ambassador The Amazons Australia) quoted

“I really enjoyed the Amazons race. It was super fun to change it up with some fast racing for those top teams and in such a beautiful location. I loved the vibe and all the amazing women of all ages and abilities pushing themselves but having so much fun. So many laughs and smiles out on course. This race really was for everyone!!”

The battle for podium positions was fierce just like you would expect from an Amazon.

MOUNTAIN DESIGNS WILD WOMEN RACE REPORT written by Del Lloyd (Mountain Designs Wild Women & Ambassador The Amazons Australia)

What a race it was for Team Mountain Designs Wild Women, represented by Del and Alina!

This event was set amongst the stunning tropical vibes of North Queensland, palm trees and beaches, beautiful forests and exotic wildlife.

This combo brought a heap of experience and a surprising amount of nervous energy to the start line on Day 1. The race started smoothly with a trot along the palm-fringed beach and before kayaking over to Dunk Island for a run up to the top of the hill. Solid navigation throughout, and an efficient route choice on the last run of the day, saw MDWW catch right up to the leading Kiwi team, leading to a nail-biting 10km sprint finish on the beach. After five hours of hard work, Team Mountain Designs Wild Women snagged a super close second place, just nine seconds shy of the Kiwi team.

Day 2 was their day to shine. It was a tough one, with Del and Alina constantly battling it out at the front, swapping leads with other top teams. The route travelled inland through some beautiful forest trails including Cassowary sightings, followed by a spectacular run around a headland. Their strong paddling in the final 90-minute kayak leg really paid off, helping them hold onto a lead and finish about 1 minute 40 seconds ahead for the day, and in the overall lead at the end of Day 2.

The final day started with an incredible energy amongst the field, start line frivolity and some great tunes to send off the racers for the brilliant coconut challenge where teams had to identify their coconut from the previous day’s coconut hunt. MDWW nailed the identification challenge due to a bit of luck and a very distinctive wonky coconut and led into the first run. The top 4-5 teams were tight together for the first few legs. At Bicton Hill, Del and Alina had lost sight of the kiwis and decided to take a risky but potentially brilliant short cut in what turned out to be some seriously dense rainforest vegetation - this ended up costing them some time and a lot of splinters. Even with that setback, these two showed their grit, riding hard to claw back positions and ultimately finishing third for the day. All their consistent effort over the three days landed them a fantastic second place overall in the Amazons Australia 2025 event.

OVERALL RESULTS 2025

Warriors (Top 3 overall)

1st - Spirited Women Chicks - Emma McCosh & Kym Skerman
2nd - Mountain Designs Wild Women - Alina Mc Master & Del Lloyd
3rd - Yesterdays Pancakes - Cass Kimlin & Amie Munson (Mountain Designs Wild Women)

Legends

1st - Spirited Women Hens - Debbie Chambers & Marquita Gelderman
2nd - Triactiv8 Titans - Christine Webb & Linda Whetherall
3rd - Tomorrow's Problem - Ness Clancy & Erica Collins

Tribes

1st - Tri Adventure Snacks - Gina Dunsdon & Hayley Kellner (Mountain Designs Wild Women)
2nd - Sweet & Sass - Shiloh Gunton & Jane Gunton
3rd - Goose on the Loose - Shelly Friedrich & Lana Gosse