SPINY CRAY – ENTRIES ONLINE ONLY

Trail runners keen to get high (altitudinally) at the 2^nd running of the Spiny Cray have until Friday, 23^rd September (5:00pm) to enter. No entries will be accepted on the day (Sunday, 25^th September) but entering now is cheap, quick and painless – start by clicking here!

Important Participant info will be sent to all registered runners prior to the event i.e. this friday.

PUB SHOUT!

Antony and Rebecca at the Highlander Tavern have welcomed the trail running crowd back and have kindly offered to shout finishers of the Half and Ultra events. Those hardy enough to complete either of the two longer events will be rewarded not just with their own personal sense of satisfaction, but with a pot of beer (or softdrink if preferred or legally restricted) along with two free issues of Runners World (for finishers of all events). Runners World (International running magazine and website) have also offered to support the event and will publish a Spiny Cray article in an upcoming issue. They are also giving away two 5 issue subscriptions as random draws. Throw in a shot at some other groovy random draws, the chance to carve your name on the fancy new perpetual trophy and all the usual fun of a trail run in the tropics, for just $10, its gotta be the best value run around!

THE SPINY CRAY WEEKENDER

Runners in the Ultra and Half events can register (from 5pm) and be briefed (at 5:30pm) on Saturday afternoon (preferred rego and briefing for ultra runners). You may need to organise some accommodation now – Kingfisher Park (40 941263) is a short warm up run from the start line and still has some cabins available with camping also. The Julatten Tableland Caravan Park (40 941145) also has cheap camping still available ($7pp), is 5 minutes down the road and has offered late check out if you need to leave your tent up til after you finish. The Julatten Birdlovers is booked out but some other options are linked to the website.

VOLUNTEERS

If you know anyone keen to be a part of the Spiny Cray but not up for a run, they may very well be able to help us out. We are chasing a couple more lovely volunteers and would love to line up a couple for suitable roles asap. Give Shane a ring on 0438 758 862 or email shane@adventuresportnq.info .

Yes no cups, none, nought, nada, zilch, zero, zip, who would have thought? It makes sense really. Consider this:

The paper cup is made from a composite of materials: kraft bleached paper sprayed with a polyethylene coating, or sometimes even worse – polystyrene. Paper cups are often impregnated with toxic dyes which make them difficult to recycle. The plastic lining in disposable paper cups means they are not recyclable. Biodegradation of a paper cup can take 50 years or more (~500years for a Styrofoam cup!). On average, each disposable cup contains 5% of the raw materials involved in the process of making and delivering it.

Small acts can make a big difference – for better and for worse. The environmental impact of all single use items is phenomenal. Through good design and a little effort we can easily incorporate reuse into our events and daily routine for that matter.

Lost cost events – Metrogaines and Rogaines and the like (Trail Runs have been cup free all year) are all reasonably priced and are well catered for considering the entry fee. Reduction of overheads like single use disposable cups goes a long way to allocating the monies else where – like (every athlete’s friend) food or prizes!!

I cannot think of why anyone who participates in an Adventure Sport NQ event would not have a water bottle of their own either at work or in their car or in the cage of their water bottle holder on the MTB. We all know the importance of adequate hydration.

Recycle – next event when you get to the finish, think first before you go straight to the water or staminade drums. Walk over to the car grab your sports bottle and fill it up instead of using a disposable cup.

Or BYO cups – keep some in your gym or event kit and be prepared before heading to the event. One leading contender in the Dirty Northern Trail running series simply keeps a plastic measuring cup tied in his drawstring and scoops a drink from the nearest appropriate creek!

Rubbish – the most common complaint I hear from organisers is about cleaning up after the event. And the worst offender is . . . you guessed it disposable cups! While our events may not be as bad as the high profile marathon pictured above, The events are all held in beaut parks and reserves in our region and are left disgraceful, littered with paper or plastic cups. The Trail running crew have set the precedent - a competitor was disqualified for littering last year. Its not hard just put the cups in the bin, if there is no bin (or its already overflowing) take yours with you and dispose of it at home, or even better – don’t use em!

The Adventures on a Summer Weekend started off like any other North Queensland weekend…it rained during the kick off event, the 1-hour “Tear around Tinaroo” Metrogaine. This event was a huge success. It was set up for anyone, with the course able to be done within the hour, for the elite athletes. The course had a variety of different point markers scattered about to attract anyone to give it a crack.

Then after at 4:30 out at Barabadeen there was the 2-hour “Bash around Barabadeen” Rogaine out in the scrub. This was supposed to be good fun, which it was, and be filled with beautiful sites, which I missed out on because my partner and I got lost. Our team was called “The Lost Boys”. All this was followed by a successful BBQ, which had every one talking about their day and the big day ahead.

Sunday was huge with four different events, the “Off-road Multisport long and short course. The multisport and triathlon long course, called the “TERRA” consisted of a canoe paddle or swim, an off road mountain bike leg, a run leg and finish on the bike. The short courses were 500m paddle or 300m swim, 10km mountain bike ride and finish with a 3km run. The mountain bike ride was quoted as “different” and “hard”. By the end of the events almost everyone was ready to go home and rest but despite this fact, everyone was generally happy with the way the weekend went, with thanks to the people who made it happen, they way it did. I really enjoyed the weekend of sport and hope that this “weekend” continues in the future.

Entries are now open for the 2009 QUOLL.

An exciting and challenging course has been designed with extreme adventure racers and new comers to this style of racing catered for.

Take-off will be September 12 & 13th. Click here for race info & entry