The end of my 2012 season ended rather disappointingly. After aiming high for my final race the Auckland WTS final I was left low after crashing during the bike and feeling rather horrible. I deemed myself done for the year and proclaimed a good recovery was needed. After several weeks spending time with friends and family who I'd neglected terribly during the whole Olympic qualifying period I felt I needed a challenge but wasn't quite ready to head full pelt into triathlon again. I needed something different, something adventurous, in the name of fun and for a good cause.
The perfect opportunity fell into my lap when the guys at 2XU asked in passing if I'd be interested in racing in the Mark Webber Tasmania Challenge. I'd heard of it before, knew it had some mountain biking, running and kayak paddling and went for a few days. Beautiful: a 5 day holiday around Tassie just as summer was really getting going. It wasn't until I'd arrived in Launceston the day before race start I realised this was not going to be a holiday.
In brief the race lasted 5 days and each day had 1-3 legs each of rogaine/orienteering, mountain biking and kayaking around varied terrain across Tasmania with some extra activities thrown in. In each team the two members had to race together, never parting further than 50m. In each leg checkpoints had to be reached and in some legs there were optional points which, if checked would reward the team with time bonuses. The length of our days averaged around 7 hours (up to 10+) and it was non-stop racing from the gun each day.
Niether myself or my team mate Aaron Royle had any experience in orienteering/map reading or in kayak paddling so as a team we were disadvantaged on paper to begin with. But we found out quickly that even our so called strengths didn't cross directly over to the adventure style racing. The running legs were more often a rock hop, bush bash or mountain hike than what we're used to. The mountain biking was technical, at times treacherous and always involved some element of navigation which forced us to stop riding frequently to establish our bearings and locate checkpoints.
All in all the five days were an adventure and definitely a challenge. There were times when I thought the whole concept was ridiculous and not at all fun but being the competitor I am these were always times when I knew for whatever reason we were not as competitive as I'd prefer. Now, a week after the race has finished I can say in all honesty I enjoyed the whole experience from the new physical challenges to the amazing people involved in the event and the spectacular locations we raced through.
I would love to thank 2XU for supporting not only Myself and Aaron but also the event which itself is in cause of Webber's own charitable foundation. Also Echelon Sports for their generous supply of an amazing BMC TE01 mountain bike which reduced my skill handicap dramatically.
A day by day blog is featured here: 2xu/ThePulse
And some photos on my Facebook page Brendan Sexton
The perfect opportunity fell into my lap when the guys at 2XU asked in passing if I'd be interested in racing in the Mark Webber Tasmania Challenge. I'd heard of it before, knew it had some mountain biking, running and kayak paddling and went for a few days. Beautiful: a 5 day holiday around Tassie just as summer was really getting going. It wasn't until I'd arrived in Launceston the day before race start I realised this was not going to be a holiday.
In brief the race lasted 5 days and each day had 1-3 legs each of rogaine/orienteering, mountain biking and kayaking around varied terrain across Tasmania with some extra activities thrown in. In each team the two members had to race together, never parting further than 50m. In each leg checkpoints had to be reached and in some legs there were optional points which, if checked would reward the team with time bonuses. The length of our days averaged around 7 hours (up to 10+) and it was non-stop racing from the gun each day.
Niether myself or my team mate Aaron Royle had any experience in orienteering/map reading or in kayak paddling so as a team we were disadvantaged on paper to begin with. But we found out quickly that even our so called strengths didn't cross directly over to the adventure style racing. The running legs were more often a rock hop, bush bash or mountain hike than what we're used to. The mountain biking was technical, at times treacherous and always involved some element of navigation which forced us to stop riding frequently to establish our bearings and locate checkpoints.
All in all the five days were an adventure and definitely a challenge. There were times when I thought the whole concept was ridiculous and not at all fun but being the competitor I am these were always times when I knew for whatever reason we were not as competitive as I'd prefer. Now, a week after the race has finished I can say in all honesty I enjoyed the whole experience from the new physical challenges to the amazing people involved in the event and the spectacular locations we raced through.
I would love to thank 2XU for supporting not only Myself and Aaron but also the event which itself is in cause of Webber's own charitable foundation. Also Echelon Sports for their generous supply of an amazing BMC TE01 mountain bike which reduced my skill handicap dramatically.
A day by day blog is featured here: 2xu/ThePulse
And some photos on my Facebook page Brendan Sexton
