Wow wee I surprised to see earlier today when I checking out where our referrals are coming from. That’s to the Adventure Sport website. Amazingly we have had 111 referrals from the Woothemes Showcase, showcasing the theme which has been used to build the site called Headlines. Anyway if this is starting to sound difficult check out the link below  to see how famous our community as a hole.

Our Referrals from Woothemes

Here are our statistics on the amount of clicks our website receives monthly. The big spike in June is the well loved Redlynch Valley Estate Multisport Race. Also a big thanks to Whitey who has earned 2000 clicks since introducing the Dirty Northern Trail Running Series.. Tailwinds Muzza!

Saturday August 14th 2010 Cairns Post

Story on Metrogaining from Cairns Post, August 14th 2010

for some time I have had in the back of my mind the idea that I would love to get involved in this multisport stuff – i.e. ride run and paddle races.  I am a bit out of condition though was pretty fit a few years back so know how to train.   Is there a come and try type race coming up in the near future and anything else I can start working towards so that I have a goal.  the mission ebach one looks a bit full on to start off and a bit soon.   I have no bike or boat so these would be on the agenda,  but I note that there are places that these can be hired. Also, where can I get ideas about times and distances needed before I am fit enough to enter?  any ideas on how to kick it all off would be appreciated.  I start training tomorrow. training programs.  stories from others who have strated from scratch etc.

Cheers

Matt

Stay tuned for updates to come. Very Exciting.

It is 3am.
The cloud cover that has hidden the partially eclipsed full moon most of the night is now bringing a chilly drizzle to our stationery team. Progress has ground to an unscheduled halt halfway down the Western side of Bell Hill. Despite my shivering, Brett Wilson lies beside me drenched in sweat. His stomach contents (two cold sausages, a rum and coke and a cupful of salt amongst many other rogaine snacks) are raging an intense nausea-creating battle inside him, yet stubbornly refuse Brett’s repeated, vocal and apparently painful efforts to expel them.
The first eight hours of our event had gone great. A ride out to the Western Gate on Quaid Road allowed us to work steadily back to the Hash House picking up many high scoring CP’s with only a brief misorientation prior to CP65. We had made the old mistake of counting watercourses (and including those unmarked) rather than keeping an eye on distance. The out and back nature of CP101 beyond 65 allowed us to relocate on the South / North Spur, collect 101 and pick up 65 on the way back to the bikes at CP95. The strange white arrows near CP81 inspired some creative explanations. A misplaced compass, a failure (just after dark) to use the mapped vegetation boundary leading to CP78 and the moonless darkness – which made the drop off the road here into the gully appear like a bottomless and impenetrably vegetated abyss – all combined to bring us back to Hash an hour or so later than planned at 8:30pm.
A quick and very tasty hot meal following a replenishment of supplies had us back on the road and full of misplaced confidence shortly after 9:00pm. The plan included an anticlockwise loop of the entire Northern section of the course starting with a nocturnal East Black Mountain ride and a dawn return to the Hash for a Black Mountain Summit sunrise – exciting stuff! As so often happens through the dark hours of a rogaine however, things didn’t quite go to plan. Before reaching CP11 at the start of East Black Mountain Road, Brett realised his headlamp (which had performed perfectly throughout the entire XPD) was going to be uncooperative. The main issue seemed to be the batteries which repeatedly curled up and died after less than 2 hours but a loose and frayed wire also caused some confusion. As a result we were forced to share light by riding parallel where possible (very infrequently on East Black Mountain Road) while on climbs, downhills and narrow sections Brett had little more than my flashing rear red light to guide him – often straight into wayward waitawhile and washed out watercourses.
An untested bike map board then left its precious cargo about halfway along East Black Mountain Road shortly before Brett grew unusually quiet. I hadn’t competed with Brett previously but from talking with those who had and from crossing paths often during events I was aware of two things – Brett occasionally got himself into some situations of serious physical discomfort and he liked a chat. The fact he no longer seemed keen to do the latter warned me he may be about to experience the former. While we raided the contents of the Cookie Jar (CP55) Brett revealed he was in fact feeling awful and if it wasn’t for the presence of the only leeches on the entire course we probably would have stopped there much longer.
As it was we pushed on (Out and Back on West Black Mountain to CP88 and then to the Bump Track) to the outermost points of the course. With Brett crook, mapless and without light and the Slippery Mullets relying solely on my rapidly fatiguing brain for navigation it was probably unsurprising we overshot CP80 and found ourselves shivering (me) and sweating (Brett) halfway down the wrong side of a large hill. We reluctantly agreed that 80 points would make the climb back up Bell Hill worthwhile at 3am (fatigue can do strange things to the decision making process) and after a lie down headed back uphill. The double climb and short break didn’t help Brett’s physical state as he deteriorated into a condition that would see most competitors withdraw and would no doubt hospitalise many. His barely lit headlamp revealed a face of overwhelming pain caused by powerful nausea and a high body temperature resulted in a drenching sweat. When he revealed it was the worst he had ever felt in an event, the worst rogaining night he had had and the longest he had suffered from any condition I knew it was time to look at some alternative options. My now completely fatigued mind decided we didn’t really have any and instead instructed my body to sleep while Brett dry retched beside me (He did show more compassion and consideration than I did however and crawled or stumbled a good few metres away first).
Brett though, had other ideas. Where most would have lain ill for the rest of the night, Brett courageously and stubbornly pushed on through the dark on the return trip to the Hash House like a mullet swimming against a powerful tide. Apart from regular stops to again attempt the dislodgement of the offending stomach articles, we continued homewards with inspiration from the promise of a proper lie down and a raid on the medication in a first aid kit far better stocked then ours.
Paul Kelly did tell us however that ‘the darkest hour is right before the dawn’ and around 7:30am (9 or so hours after Brett first revealed he was unwell) something remarkable happened. Brett started having a chat again and predicted this was a sure sign that soon he would be feeling better. True to his word our pace picked up and Brett provided an insight into just how tough he is by suggesting and for a while seriously entertaining the idea of returning to our original plan of climbing the imposing Black Mountain.
Some quick maths revealed however that there was almost as many points up for grabs down Quaid Raid but a far better chance of returning to the Hash House before midday. At 9am another quick pit stop was had before the gravity assisted sprint rocketed us towards Wangetti. We collected CPs 21, 70, 104 and 84 without incident and left ourselves 40 minutes to get home. As it was, 30 was enough and we checked in feeling relieved to have finished competitively after the string of overnight incidents and I personally was in awe of Brett’s willpower in continuing after being seriously ill and recovering enough to take on challenges like climbing up Quaid – a ride that can leave one pretty knocked up when fresh and healthy.
Massive thanks to Dave and Mel for taking on the enormous task of organising the 24hr event and not just revealing some great rides that many of us probably had no idea existed but also arranging to have a couple of them graded in the week leading up to the event (it’s not what you know), to Mike for his continuous and enthusiastic administering and also Rod, Terry and Brett who willingly split up their team of three to create two teams of two and allow me to compete despite no doubt being keen to do an event with each other.
In particular thanks to Brett, this report hopefully shows just how tough the guy is rather than embarrasses him, shows that when asked to write a winners report one should quietly accept the role rather than passing it onto a team mate who will describe in detail their most vulnerable and lowest moments – Cheers Brett.
For what it’s worth our tortuous route went like this – 12, 85, 76, 95, 101, 65, 94, 81, 99, 97, (sunset) 68, 78, 11, 57, 79, 55, 80, 82, (sunrise) 77, 51, 35, 21, 70, 104, 84.

Setters Report 1 – Hike Rogaines

My course setting adventure begun in early March when I was partnered with my class mate Danielle and assigned the task of facilitating and running the ‘Weir in Heaven’ and ‘Blind man’s Bush Bash’ rogaines for our TAFE cert IV in outdoor recreation class’s Adventure Sport Weekend.

Pretty much straight away we planned a reccy of the event location (Collins Weir) chosen by our teachers. The reccy consisted of a lazy overnight hike along the Walsh River. We left the area the next day with the intention of trying to negotiate our teachers into choosing a different and more suitable location for the event. This was not successful and we were convinced that area would cater for the event well. Next we set out to gain a better understanding of how to set and run a rogaine as this was our first attempt at running such an event. The Dinden Bush rogaine was our first stop and we increased our navigation skills and knowledge by participating. We were then fronted with the dilemma of not knowing what was actually involved in setting courses, Chris White pointed us in the right direction here, when we joined and assisted him in setting and running his ‘Real Hanndful’ rogaine.

Finally after much Liaising with Chris, Mike Coleman and our teachers Andre and Phil we were equipped with sufficient knowledge to begin setting the courses. Numerous possible courses were set in different areas along the river before the final versions were approved and vetted by Andre Vogel. All thoughts of the Walsh river being an unsuitable venue disappeared and we soon considered the area to be a beautiful and an ideal spot for the events after several days of exploring and finding its hidden treasures such as the beautiful butterfly gorge around controls 48 and 51 and the gorgeous views of the weir from the surrounding knolls.

On the day (and night) the events ran quite smoothly. There was one major disappointing error made in marking out the maps for the ‘Weir in Heaven’ foot rogaine as control 68 was marked on the wrong creek junction on the map. Although the corresponding 60 points were awarded to teams who stated that they searched for the misplaced control this mistake costed numerous competitors valuable time. Performances were strong and results from all the competitors including the novice teams were impressive. Both of the courses set were cleared and conquered by the winning teams but were still reported as being quite challenging.

To finish up I’d like to say a big thanks to Sarina Streeter and Kevin Darcy of Rocky Bluff Station for the use of the land and area, Mike Coleman, Chris White, Andre Vogel and Phil Harrison for there ongoing support and assistance in setting and running the event, and all the keen rogainers who supported us on the day with out you this fantastic learning experience would not have been possible.
Alex Cinelli

Two Flat Tires MTB Rogaine 05/06/2010 – Course Setter Report 2

The TAFE Outdoor Recreation students were given the task of setting a Navigation Weekend event for the 05 & 06 of June. Kristen Fixter & I were given the role of Mountain Bike course setters. The event itself was to run for two hours on Saturday 5th. We were given the task in March, so we had plenty of time to prepare for this weekend of fun.
During this time, Kristen & I were looking at the topographic maps that Andre Vogel, Phil Harrison & Mike Coleman suggested that we could use (Tolga & Atherton). The area we chose to stage our event was on Serena Streeter’s property & Simon Gargan’s property.
The ride out there from the Hash House campsite was good fun, both in high spirits, riding up those hills to come flying down the other side making sure you dodged the rocks & corrugation. Once out there, at the starting gate, we rode around the area, looking for areas that might be of interest for our event, we realised that is wasn’t going to be as easy as we had hoped. Crossing dry creek beds, jumping fences, riding up knolls, crossing roads & tracks that weren’t on the map made it much harder but way more fun. While we were out riding we noticed that the area was quite difficult to describe & locate certain features, as it was quite flat. We found many cow pads to follow & various 4WD, dirt bike tracks to move quickly enough through the paddocks, trying to find spots that are noticeable & more importantly on the map.
Thanks to Mike Coleman, we had the GPS with us to help plot our course, as we rode around for hours looking, we could then mark them onto the GPS & return at a later date to put the controls out. After many hours looking at maps & writing up clues, crossing them off & starting again, we eventually found our 12 checkpoints that were going to challenge our competitors & the course setters & the course clearers.

Come race day, we only had 6 teams compete, 5 of them mixed the other all male. To have categories was none existent as everyone would have won. So we decided to have an overall champion, mixed champion & the all male champion. The overall champions were Maiden Voyage (Daniel Robinson & Nancy Caceres) on 400 points, the mixed champions were Weir here for the beer (Bruce Monds & Belinda Wallace) on 340 points & the all male champions were the Ecoholics (Brad McCulloch & Terry Montgomery) on 170 points. The other racers Chair Dragon (Craig House & Rhonda Coyne) totalled a score of 330 points, Team Tag (Peter & Trixie Tuck) on 300 points & Lost Again (Jason Hedges & Lisa White) scored 100 points.
The feedback we received from the competitors was awesome. They enjoyed the ride out to the start, even though it tired most of them, the course itself they enjoyed the challenge of riding through new terrain.
Thanks to Serena Streeter & Simon Gargan for letting us use their property & to the competitors for coming out to support us & everyone who helped out with catering, sponsorship & the every day running of the event.
Sean Browne

Setters Report 3 – Collins Weir Multisport 5hr and 2hr

On Sunday June 6th the much anticipated multisport races was set to start. The 5hr Collins Weir Multisport race started at 8am with a tube paddle where the competitors stayed pretty close together. The 19km ride following that contained some single track and some technical mountain biking through some big washouts. From there the gruelling off track run that continued up to a high point through some thick scrub. After all that running there was a cool down for the competitors with a swim, wasn’t going to be easy to overcome fear with a 10m jump to get into the water. A boulder dash down the river took a scenic route past old Rocky Bluff Township and across the old weir. Once back to their bikes competitors carried their bikes though the butterfly swamp and then road back to the hash house and to the finish. The 5hr Collins Weir Multisport was an extremely tough race as all competitors will agree; it included a wide variety of terrain which was enjoyed by all when they had a chance to look around. Congratulations to all competitors for completing the course.
Starting later in the day the 2hr Collins Weir Multisport was set to take off. Set as a great introduction race for first timers or competitors not up to the 5hr race yet. Starting with a run that took on some very steep terrain both up and down also brought with it some amazing views from the high point. Back down and onto the tubes for a paddle which was much appreciated for a cool down as the day was heating up by this time. The 2hr multisport then finished with a ride that took them through some nice single track and a loop that took them back to the finish. Congratulations to Team Superfly for coming from behind to win after missing a turn on the track.
All together feedback from the competitors suggested that both races were enjoyed even though they were tough.
Thank you to all competitors for heading out to Collins Weir to support the TAFE team.
Brenton

Overall weekend Winners report
We found the weekend so much the better for having a variety of events rather than too much of the same thing.
We didn’t win any event on the weekend but the points toted up eventually through perserverence.
The first event, the two flat tyres presented the biggest challenge of the weekend. We started out well and made good time as we ripped through the eastern loop but things started to go pear shaped when we crossed the road and went looking for the Western loop. We went up and down the road a couple of times but that track wouldn’t show itself. So we eventually had a crisis meeting and executed our contingency plan and rode back to the start and attacked the western loop from the north heading along.We located one checkpoint on that loop and then ended up meandering along an intersecting maze of cattle pads that only vaguely headed south.Time was short so we cut our losses and headed east on more meandering cattle pads to the road and a quick dash back to the hash where we lost some of our precious few points for being late.

A quick bite to eat and we were out again on the 2hr rogaine.This time we were cruisen along picking up controls with ease. As we headed for 106 we planned to pick up 68 on our way through. But it was not to be. We eventually moved on up the steep ascent to 106 and decided to have another shot at 68 on the way back.We encountered numerous befuddled souls hovering around where we all thought it should be.
By then we were losing faith in our navigation and wandered hither & thither.Time was racing by and we eventually headed back to the hash house to lose a few more precious points for coming in late.The good bit is that we were awarded the points for the missing 68.

The night rogaine was a snappy one hour event.We made fast time along the road with the bulk of competitors. the numbers thinned out after the second control as we made our way up a steep slope that was by now quite familiar to us. Chris White and his team mate were now well ahead of us but we were in front of the remainder of the field as we headed down to the next control, which was where we wanted it to be.The country was now strewn with large angular rocks concealed by the long grass and the going was slower.The pace picked up once we hit the road and we jogged to the causeway where we encountered Chris and his mate on their way back to the finish.We located the control at the causeway.We abandoned the remaining two controls and headed back with the intent of finishing on time for a change.We were pleased with a second placing which was our best result of the day.
In a moment of weakness that evening we momentarily contemplated switching to the 2hr event next day.For whatever reason we found ourselves lined up on the far side of the weir early next morning for the start of the 5 hr event.
We made a bad choice from the mountain of inflated inner tubes. we picked the biggest ones we could find in a vain hope to stay above the chilly water.Consequently we flailed our way across the weir and emerged wet,cold and last for the start of the bike leg.
This section was mostly on roadway and fast single track and was enjoyable,but we hadn’t gained on anyone.that didn’t occur until we commenced the hike where we overtook the team ahead of us at the summit of a daunting climb.The view westward was stunning and we took it in as we headed down toward the river.
It was all boulder hopping to the next control point which also gave us the option of a 10m leap to the rock pool below.In the time it would have taken to work up the courage to jump, we had slid down the adjacent rocks and were swimming to the exit point.The Swim had the benefit that it shifted the sand in our shoes down to the toe-end to provide temporary relief.
More boulder hopping took us to the Rocky Bluff weir where we got our best look at the remains of the Rocky Bluff township.The brick chimney dominated the view but the sight of the ruins clinging to the steep embankment was impressive.We took in the view for a leisurely few seconds and then continued our way over a few more hills to the return bike leg.The bikes were the passengers for the start of this section as we lugged them through the swamp.From then on though, the mostly single track ride to the homestead was a pleasure.The site of those orange tents at the finish is always a welcome sight though.
The TAFE team put on a great event. The weekend was challenging but offered variety,spectacular scenery and some really enjoyable riding.In our books, they graduated as awesome course setters.
Brad McCulloch

Collins Weir Multisport Weekend – Winners Report 1
I’ve discovered that the best way to enjoy a weekend of rogaining events is to choose a different team mate for each one, just to keep things interesting. That’s what I did at the TAFE Nav weekend at Collins Weir.

Only a small number of teams participated in the weekend due to clashes in the calendar, or perhaps they were forewarned of the access road to the weir. If my poor old Subaru wasn’t stuffed before the journey, it is now. However minimal the participation, there was enough on the menu for everyone to share in the fun and some teams were solid enough to stick at it for the whole weekend. Weir Here For Beer and Ecoholics entered every race and one of the Carls from Carl vs Carl put in a similar effort. Great stuff guys!

The first event was the bikegaine (Two flat tyres). The TAFE crew had aimed to set a challenging course and had apparent success with no-one able to clear and the winning team only managing nine out of twelve controls. Some great single track to be enjoyed following cow pads and some “roads that weren’t there” saw teams paying a high price for navigational errors and pushing the old treadlies through some deep swampland. Plenty of fun and a good work out for competitors with brand new bikes.

The two-hour rogaine (Where’s 68?) had the greatest number of participants for any event on the weekend. With controls set high up, the route offered amazing views of the weir and the tableland and all teams were challenged. The highlight of this event for mine was seeing Mike lead a novice team deep into speargrass on a bearing to a control that was within a drop-kick of the hash house by road. Great stuff Mike, the only way to learn em.”

The night rogaine (Blind Man’s Bluff) also had good participation. Most teams took the more obvious route, starting high and following the ridge down while others decided on a journey up a rocky creek, or a log walk over the river were better plans of attack. I’m sure that for the organisers it was a fulfilling sight to see competitors headlamps dotted along the ridge – a great reward for hard work in setting the course.

Sunday’s 5-hour multi-sport race (Enough to Weir You Out) had only four teams, but what the race lacked in numbers it made up for in difficulty. Competitors didn’t seem too keen to dive into the murky waters of Collins Weir for the opening paddle with a cool air temperature and the threat of old major lurking deep beneath the surface. But the show went on and all teams made it through the transition and began the bike leg pretty much simultaneously. Some techie downhills with extreme washouts separated the men from the boys and Peter Andre was able to rein in Pinky and No Brain by the run. And what a run! Steep, difficult ascents and descents, again with some fantastic views and dropping into the Walsh River for some boulder dashing, the two lead teams were even on arrival at the 12m cliff jump. It didn’t let up from there as we continued along the river and finally up and over the bluff to pick up the bikes. After a gruelling bike carry through the butterfly swamp, the final fast couple of kilometres were a welcome spin out for the legs. The winning team punched in at 4h 15min with second place only three minutes behind. All reports from the two hour event were also positive.

On a final note, the catering was amazing and coupled with some fantastic organisation of challenging events, the future of rogaining in North Queensland is bright if this year’s TAFE team sticks around!!! Well done team!

Daniel Robinson

East Mulgrave Causeway

Steve Appelby

Claude at the Courthouse Hotel has got behind Mike Le Roux for his Ultraman Triathlon tours of Canada and Hawaii this year, and he’s arranged a lunch on the 21 May (12-2pm) in their newly renovated restaurant, Watch House (holds 100 people or so).

Interview with Mike Le Roux and Live auction with WIN TVs emcee “Bluey Forsythe” (also on ABC and Zinc Radio sports shows) will be interviewing Mike during the lunch too.

If you know anyone that would like to come along, it should be some fun. And if you have a business service or product you’d be prepared to donate for the auction or door prize we’d really appreciate that.

There’s a flyer attached (thanks Muzza, Extreme Photography for the photo), RSVP to Tammy Doolan tammy@cairnscourthousehotel.com.au

Let’s get a table of 10 together – $35 for lunch sounds pretty cool,

leave a comment below if your keen.

With race No.s capped at 50 it was a full race at Speewah on the Monday Anzac Holiday for the 4,8 and 17klm”s distances. The challenging trail runs had a bit of everything with mud slides,creek crossings,slippery bridges, wait a while ,amazing views, leeches and laughs. I am glad to say I did not know the course which made it interesting and also made it go by quickly . Not for Dwayne who until Sunday night thought he was only going to be the sweep runner therefor had couple of big nights beforehand and paid for it in the 17klm. Kim Close followed the runner in front of her (Gary Cotter) who unfortunately was only doing the 8klm, luckily for her he dropped his water bottle and mentioned this so Kim turned around and got back on the longer course. Binny managed to emerge from the trail with his bright fluro yellow shoes, my guess his feet never touched the ground . (1st place 8klm). There were only a few sprained ankles ,however, more than a few wait awhile scratches.Anita and Ivan both have a few wasp stings to remember their trail run by, thanks for taking the stings for me guys…. This was a fabulous run in a fabulous spot, well worth the short drive up the hill to run somewhere special and off the beaten track..(and in the shade). Get in early for the following trail runs as no’s are capped to run in our national parks. Great Job Shane, Chris and our volunteers .. loved it .loved it…