XPD Expedition Race
XPD Day 2: Tri-Adventure Antelopes Race To Trek Castle Carey
Press Release / 19.03.2018
Tri Adventure Antelopes extended their lead at XPD Bay of Fires arriving at Avoca TA early this morning. The team spent all the night in the cold conditions, paddling the 38km leg down the South Esk river in windy conditions.
The team has had a seamless race, without any navigation errors and has yet to stop for sleep.
Elizabeth Dorman says” We plan to push through this trek over Ben Lemond and then we will sleep after that.”
Their lead had extended by 3 hours 40 minutes to the next team Wild Yaks and then Rootstock 45 minutes further on.
Nordic Islands Adventure Race team were waylaid at TA for medical treatment for a sore eye and commenced the trek in the early evening.
Back in the pack the other adventure racers spent the night on the 65 km mountain bike leg, navigating from Scamander to Fingal.
Hard Days Night who were third at the end of the Scamander River, took an alternative route choice on the mountain bike to most teams to get to CP 12 only to miss the road turnoff and continue down the big hill. Returning to get the CP, the team were relegated to 5th position by the end of the leg.
As the sun rose at St Mary’s, teams embarked on the South Esk river paddle. With chilly conditions and wind gusts up to 120km , teams found the conditions challenging. Recent floods in the area has left the river jammed with logs, so teams had to negotiate log jams with portage sections during the legs.
The Wogainers, an all womens team commented about the perils of portage in this leg of the race. Vivian Prince said “There are obstacles everywhere and then the river just stops in a mass of trees. This is a crazy river!”
As night falls on Day 2, some racers are completing the paddle as others are making their way up towards Castle Carey on the 43km trek.
Tomorrow a change to a southerly wind will see milder weather conditions for the racers as they start making their way up to the course.
Watch the event at http://live.arworldseries.com/xpd2018/
SleepMonsters
