Discussion: XPD

Course schematic just released.

I have pictures, but don't know how to upload them here. Tips?

Upload them to Flickr (or equivalent) which then provides an address for you to link to here.

Does this work?

https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-ZZfHzNW/0/X4/i...

https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-f2VbSgf/0/X4/i...

https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-XwsVfJR/0/X4/i...

https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-MbzXLdj/0/X4/i...

nope. You actually want to embed the image not link to it, sorry.

Yahoo!

Well done! First time I've seen a wildfire warning on a course schematic - fun. ;)

Alas, we will have to watch this race without the help of Broots or Abiperk - unless they can find cell service at the TAs. ;)

Rootstock Racing will be: Abigail Perkiss, Brent Freedland, Eric Caravella, Ryan VanGorder

Have a fantastic time, Rootstock! Race smart, go fast, stay safe and be sure to jump over any snakes or spiders.

Any other Attackpointers racing?

The main race website
http://xpd.com.au/

From FB:

The Course/ Logistic Overview for XPD 10th edition in the Bay of Fires Tasmania, Australia has now been released.

In just one week teams from Australia and overseas will be arriving at the HQ town of St Helens in preparation for this 541km journey on the North East Coast of Tasmania.

The course will feature 14 adventure racing legs including 4 trekking, 5 mountain biking and 5 kayaking as follows:

Leg 1 - Kayak - 11km
Leg 2 - Trek - 16km
Leg 3 - Kayak - 11km
Leg 4 - Mountain Bike - 22km
Leg 5 - Kayak - 13km
Leg 6 - Mountain Bike - 63km
Leg 7 - Kayak - 38km
Leg 8 - Trek - 43km
Leg 9 - Mountain Bike - 115km
Leg 10 - Trek - 25km
Leg 11 - Mountain Bike - 100km
Leg 12 - Trek - 38km
Leg 13 - Kayak - 11km
Leg 14 - Mountain Bike - 35km

The winning team is expected to take 3.5 days to complete the course and remaining teams have 6.5 days to finish.

While the actual course and race maps remain secret until the Lock down just 3 hours before the start, the Course/ Logistic Outline gives teams the chance to start preparing their equipment and food prior to leaving home.

XPD is the second Qualifier race of 2018 for the ARWS - Adventure Racing World Series . Follow teams live from the 18th March at www.xpd.com.au

Excited for this one! Go Rootstock!

Solid mix of teams entered: 8 Mixed Open (4 countries), 6 Mixed Masters, 1 Mixed Youth, 5 All Male and 2 All Female.

Looks like it will be a fast start with a lot of early transitions (up to 7 legs in Day 1). Should be a great race in really an awesome location.

Go Rootstock!!

So looking a little deeper into the competitors (in ARWS races only):

- Rootstock: Ranked #60 with 2 of the 4 racers the same from ARWC 17 and Itera (however Eric and Ryan, #101 with DART, will be strong). First race in Aus for the entire group.
- Hard Day's Night: #131 with 2 of the 4 (Andre #190 on Cameltoes) ARWC 2016 and Exp. Africa
- Aussie Battlers: #167 with 3 of 4 returning from Xtrail last year
- Juggernaut: #206 with 2 of 4 returning from ARWC 2016
- Goldfish: #229 with 3 of 4 returning from ARWC 2016
- Dash: #285 with Andy in Exp. Africa
- Muppets: #300 from Godzone 2016
- Tri Adventure: #313 from ARWC 2016

As expected, many of the teams competed in the 2016 WC edition of the race and have significant experience racing on the east coast of Australia. Should be a fun race to follow!

Thanks jbrown!

We're excited to race XPD for the first time (though I know our teammate Ryan has raced there at least once before).

For what those ARWC rankings are worth....The Tri team has two multiple time XPD champs on it. So, I suspect they will be gunning for the win, rightfully so. And the Nordic team is interesting as well: two top level Swedish racers (Staffan and Marika) with two great athletes but newbies to AR. And I expect there will be some strong locals who don't pop up in the ARWS race scene much if ever.

As for us: Eric is excited to take pictures of every animal we see. I'm looking to capture a Tasmanian Devil for release in the New Jersey Pine Barrens (Jersey Devil for those who don't know our east coast folklore; Eric will take pictures), Ryan sold all of his gear when he moved to Hong King, so he is racing naked, and Abby impaled her foot last night on a brake pad spring. Literally. So, we're going for the experience;)

Race hard dammit! You get to experience it faster that way. There will be plenty more things to impale yourself on so it’s good you have a head start over the others.

Quick like a Bunny! Or like a Tasmanian Devil. (I assume this is what Tasmania looks like.)

In my defense, it was Brent who left the offending spring on the floor of the living room...

In MY defense, she walked through an active bike mechanical explosion and labor zone...:)

Details, details...

Ah, racing with spouses - been there, done that. ;) Sending healing vibes!

Luckily we still like each other okay :)

So do we but that conversation was soooo familiar. :) Hope your foot is good.

Thanks -- feels better today than yesterday!

Schedule details for spectators:

In Tasmania, it’s 15 hours later than Toronto/New York.

Race checkin is Saturday in St. Helens.

Maps distributed Sunday morning 7:30 am with lockdown.

Race starts Sunday at noon, i.e. 9 pm Saturday in Rootstock’s home time zone.

Winners expected to finish on Wednesday.

Course closes Saturday at noon after 6 days.

There are many “short” legs by expedition racing standards so efficient TAs will be key. This may make it challenging for spectators to keep up so I hope we’ve got a few different time zones represented in this forum. We’ll need a night shift!

Reading the schematic required me to go sit down for awhile. I think I just got a spontaneous blister out of sympathy. Good luck to all, but especially @Broots as he attempts to catch and contain his new wombat, Fuzzy.

Rootstock's FB page says the race will start at 9:30 am local time on Sunday so maybe the XPD website is wrong and we can start cheering them on a little sooner!

Live tracking site is up.
http://live.arworldseries.com/xpd2018/

The race organization says they'll also post updates on their FB page.
https://www.facebook.com/geocentricoutdoors

ARWS will be covering the race too. From FB:
_________________________________________

Anticipation is building as teams start arriving in St Helens, Tasmania for XPD 10th edition in the Bay of Fires. XPD, the 2nd qualifier in 2018 in the Adventure Racing World Series, will see Australian and international teams competing to win and secure a berth in the World Adventure Racing Championship in Reunion Island November 2018.
On Sunday 18th March, teams in XPD Bay of Fires will paddle kayaks, mountain bike and trek 541kms in the scenic, pristine and remote areas of North East Tasmania over the course of a week. The expedition length adventure race will see top teams complete the course in 3.5 days and remaining teams 6.5 days.
“The most difficult challenge” says Race Director Louise Foulkes “has been working out what sections to leave out as there is too much to include in one race.”
First team to arrive at HQ was Goldfish, who have competed in every XPD since its inception. Mardi Barnes from the team says ‘We are excited the race is in Tasmania and we are looking forward to where we will be going. Craig and Louise always find special places.”
Team Aussie Battlers, the youngest team to race says “Our goal is to finish. We are looking forward to having a spin at Derby. The weather is concerning and we are not sure we are prepared for the rain.”
Rootstock Racing from USA says “We love the beautiful geography here and can’t wait to get into the aussie bush.”
The logistics commence tonight, as teams must prepare bikes and pack equipment and food to race. Tomorrow sees the teams register, complete compulsory competency tests and ‘pose’ for team photos.

Dot watchers can follow the race online with live tracking:
http://live.arworldseries.com/xpd2018/
Social Media updates will be available on the Geocentric Outdoors Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/geocentricoutdoors/
The AR World Series will also be covering the race:
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/arworldseries
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/arworldseries
Website News http://www.arworldseries.com
Search or use the hashtags #xpdar #arws
You can also add in #arworldseries #dotwatcher #bayoffires

Registration is underway. No surprises in this video but you can see the boats they'll be using.

A couple course changes we learned about today -- due to high winds, they've canceled Legs 1 and 3, and modified Leg 2 to be 13km, from 16km.

Sounds like we may encounter snow and high winds on one of the alpine sections. We're guessing Leg 8, but won't know until we see maps tomorrow.

Have a great race, Abiperk!

Thanks! Excited to get started!

Btw Legs 1 and 3 were paddle legs. Leg 2 is on foot so it sounds like they'll transition from that to the 22 km Leg 4 bike ride.

Looks like they’re using Jared’s plastic surfskis. Not bad boats, we used them for 2016 ARWC. Certainly better than the 3 person sit-on-tops we also had to use. Surprised they cancelled the first two paddles, we took them thru some pretty rough water without much trouble.

JayXC, apparently the winds will be rough enough that the coast guard canceled a training and the safety boats told Craig and Louise that they won’t be able to launch, hence the cancelation.

Modifications pushed the start to 10:45am local time. Lockdown starts in 2.5 hours.

And we saw our first kangaroo last night, hopping past our cottage!!

Cool! So the start will be tonight at 7:45 pm in Philadelphia, Rootstock's home town.
Here are some great photos from Rootstock's team photo session - click "see more":

No safety boats, that’s a pretty good reason to cancel. ;)

Here's Rootstock with their maps. Could you please hold them up for the camera? Without Randy's help, this might be as close as we'll get to the race maps.
https://www.facebook.com/geocentricoutdoors/photos...

And they're off! Looks like the rejiggered opening trek is heading north along the coast.L The satellite images show they're on a combination of trails and sandy beaches.

Wild Yaks and Tri-Adventure Antelopes taking it out fast. Elizabeth Dornom of the Antelopes, fresh off an eighth-place finish in the Coast to Coast in New Zealand, talked about her team a little bit on this week's TA1.

Rootstock leading the pack back from the end of the St. Helens Conservation Area peninsula!

Go Rootstock! Here's a video clip from the start.

"XPD Leg 2 - modified weather course: Teams hike, rock hop and raft their way for 16kms around the beautiful coast line of the Bay of Fires. They must navigate to collect 12 CPs in any order that are scattered amongst rocky outcrops, enormous dunes and coastal bushland. They must also battle the tide as they try to raft across Georges Bay."
_________________________________

It says elsewhere it's only 13 km. In any case, it may not be clear who's ahead of whom until the TA.

Rootstock is 5th after the opening trek but the top 6 teams arrived at the TA within 3 minutes of one another so it's wide open. On to the bikes!

Up next: Leg "4". Teams mount their bikes for a short 22km ride through forest trails that are punctuated by sharp inclines and several route options.

I was basing Rootstock's lead off the time-stamp, but I perhaps was over-eager in my statement.

Antelopes out first from the TA and biking south. Bash, have you used your super-sleuthing skills to find the maps anywhere?

No luck but I just posted a comment on the Geocentric Facebook page in case they're looking for extra work. ;)

Rootstock is now in 3rd but the top 7 teams are all close together with a significant gap behind them.

I sent Craig an email asking for maps

All the CP icons on the tracking have photos of the view from the point if you click on them. Nice little feature.

Thanks, Randy. Even when you're not there, you're still our map guy! :)

The Antelopes have a lead of several kms on the bike. Rootstock is part of a 3-team chase pack.

The Replay feature is not super helpful since it thinks the "present" is 45 minutes ago.

The Wild Yaks and the (Mountain Designs) Wild Women are taking a wild route to the east. They will need to backtrack now to get CP7.

Update a few minutes later: The Wild Women have turned toward the CP without losing much time. The Wild Yaks took longer to realize their mistake. Coming from the east may be a decent route choice but both teams missed the turn.

Hope there's a night shift to help us follow this race! Here's what's coming up after this bike leg:

Leg 5 - Teams kayak 13km up the beautiful Scamander River Estuary. It is a tidal river which means the direction of the tide will hinder or help them. All teams will be undertaking this paddle on the first night of the race and in the dark. The final stretch of the river is shallow and may require some carrying over sand banks.

Leg 6 - The race starts to get more difficult as teams leave the coast and climb up to the midlands. Teams must find their way through a maze of forest trails on their bikes from Scamander to Fingal. Some trails are wide and others are ancient and almost closed over with vegetation. (63 km)

Leg 7 - This 38km paddle is on a section of the longest river in Tasmania, the South Esk. Water is moving with small rapids and gravel races. Teams speed will be dictated by recent rainfall which will impact the river levels.

I wonder if the gale-force winds that caused the early paddle stages to be canceled will have come with rain as well? If so, those rivers will be running higher and faster.

Also, I'm headed to bed as well. Good luck, night shift and go Rootstock!

Geocentric is being very responsive on Facebook.

Here is the route book. They say they will link a PDF to the live tracking system soon.
https://www.facebook.com/geocentricoutdoors/posts/...

And here are the maps for this section.
https://www.facebook.com/geocentricoutdoors/posts/...

Now I really *am* going to bed!

Antelopes opened up a decent lead on the rest of the field on the paddle. Not sure if that's a result of tide changes, wind effects or just paddling prowess.

Rootstock dropped three places between the transition to the paddle and during the paddle itself. Wondering if they are having a technical difficulty with a boat or maybe they're just gassed?

Leg 6 maps

Leg 7 maps

Leg 7 updated description from Geocentric:
Leg 7 - This 38km paddle is on a section of the longest river in Tasmania, the South Esk. Water is moving with small rapids and gravel races. There are also a number of log jams teams will need to use team work to get through. The river is low - so organisers have moved team kayaks to CP15 as the first 5 kms of the river was too difficult to get through. Teams now hike with paddle gear across farm land to access their kayaks from cp 14. It will be a slow leg with leaders expected to take 8 to 9 hours to finish.

On Monday at 1 am local time, the Antelopes have a significant lead. They have just started the modified Leg 7 kayak, which means they are hiking with their paddling gear until they reach CP15.

All other teams are on the Leg 6 bike. MMI had been in 2nd place but took a different route choice from CP13 (or made an error) and lost their position.

Hard Days' Night and Rootstock are riding together on the "red line" route in 2nd place.

So far 3 teams have passed the turn off McKays Rd. near Sandy Marsh. There is a route to CP13 from the south but it's hard to imagine that it would be faster than the red line.

Yay! This wasn't working last night but we now get breadcrumbs after clicking on a name on the team list or clicking the "More Info, Routes and Splits" link.

Wow, check out the breadcrumbs for the Wild Yaks, one of the teams taking the alternate route to CP13, which the top 5 teams seemingly found with no trouble. They tried to get there on the red line before turning back.

The other two teams on this alternate route to CP13 - Wild Women and Nordic Islands - also tried the Red Line route first before returning to Sandy Marsh and heading south. It looks like the teams all turned around close to the same time. Maybe the sight of headlamps going the opposite direction influenced one or two of them.

Also, the breadcrumbs show that MMI had trouble after CP13, even hitting a dead end and turning back. They will soon reach the Red Line in 4th place and will not be far behind Rootstock and Hard Day's Night.

Apparently, there is a clear night sky with lots of wind.

MMI just took another wrong turn. I'm not sure where they think they are. Meanwhile, the Aussie Battlers seem poised to move into 4th place on the Red Line route.

Rootstock is now 2 km ahead of Hard Days' Night in 2nd place. There is a big gap ahead to the Antelopes and a smaller - but still significant - gap back to 4th place behind these teams.

And now I'd better go running after all this inspiration!

Yay for tails and breadcrumbs!

The Antelopes are leading on the Slow, Dark Paddle - Leg 7.

Weirdly, the teams that were taking the alternate route to CP13 (Wild Yaks, Wild Women and Nordic Islands) never got within 6 km of the CP as marked on the race map and tracking map - and they aren't the only ones. I'm wondering if CP13 was in a different location from what is marked; I've asked on the race FB page. At this point, the Wild Yaks are tied for 2nd with Rootstock, assuming they got CP13. They're shown as a full course team after TA7, as are the others.

MMI had a real adventure around CP13 (the one marked on the map).

Sleepmonsters report on Day 1:
http://www.sleepmonsters.com/v2_races.php?article_...

Info and maps for the Leg 8 Trek:
"This gruelling 43km trek, expected to take 14 to 28hrs, is the hardest and also one of the most beautiful legs of the race. Most of the leg has no defined trail and teams must navigate to find the easiest route. Teams will hike up Australia’s largest scree / boulder slope and over of one of the most pristine and exposed alpine areas in Tasmania, the Ben Lomond Plateau. The plateau averages around 1400m, one of the highest areas in Tasmania and is fully exposed to the elements."
https://www.facebook.com/geocentricoutdoors/posts/...

Yes, the organizers did move CP13 so teams had the choice of pushing through on a shorter, more technical route or taking a longer, easier route around. (Less risk, more time on the bike.)

https://www.facebook.com/geocentricoutdoors/photos...

It looks like Rootstock had an efficient TA and headed out to paddle Leg 7. The team they'd been battling for 2nd place on the bike, Hard Day's Night, arrived at TA7 21 minutes later and seem to have stopped for a couple hours of sleep. The sun is up now (it rises just after 7 am) and Rootstock has moved 1 km ahead of the Wild Yaks on the paddle. The Antelopes are 4+ hrs ahead, approaching the end of the paddle and will have plenty of daylight left as they start the challenging trek.

Summary video of Day 1. It features a clip of a serious-looking Broots gazing into the distance with a map in his hand. I expect he often looks this way when he is commenting on our discussions here. ;)

Day 1 Photos
https://www.facebook.com/pg/geocentricoutdoors/pho...

...including the same shot of a serious-looking Broots.
https://www.facebook.com/geocentricoutdoors/photos...

There is another North American team, Checkpoint 26. They're not contending for the win but this will be an amazing experience.
https://www.facebook.com/geocentricoutdoors/photos...

The Antelopes started the Leg 8 trek around 9:30 a.m. Meanwhile back in the mangroves, the Wild Yaks snuck past Rootstock on the paddle but the teams are still less than a km apart. It took the Antelopes about 3 hrs to reach TA8 from the current position of Yaks/Rootstock.

Video of the Antelopes, 1st team to TA8. They're going to try to complete the 14-28 hr trek before sleeping.

That makes sense. They’ll have the benefit of daylight for a good portion of it. It’s kind f early to sleep anyways (26 hrs in). Teams a little further back will have a tougher decision as they’ll end up in Ben Lomond Natl Park (1400m) at night.

On this trek, it's especially fun to click the CPs on the tracking map to see the photos. So jealous!

The Wild Yaks arrived at TA8 about half an hour ahead of Rootstock. It's 1 pm now and the sun will set around 7:30 pm. Maps for the trek are here. https://www.facebook.com/geocentricoutdoors/posts/...

This is what the start of the trek looks like.

Anyone know why they're wearing their bike helmets for the trekking leg?

Helmets were required for the Leg 7 paddle. Teams who used bike helmets for that purpose would need to carry them along on the Leg 8 trek so they'll have them for the Leg 9 bike.

By the way, the route book has now been posted in PDF format. It provided the info to figure out this mystery! http://live.arworldseries.com/xpd2018/data/routebo...

The Wild Yaks and Rootstock have started the Big Trek. Rootstock gained some time with their TA and are now 15-20 minutes behind the Yaks. The Antelopes are 4.5 hrs ahead of the Yaks and are not at the halfway point yet. It's 3:15 p.m. so the teams only have 4 more hours of daylight.

There are 5 teams at TA8. Most teams are on the Leg 7 paddle, including the part where teams have to trek with paddle gear. Wolfpack is the only team still biking on Leg 6.

And... over to the night shift! (If there is one?)

Bash, I should assume night shift living in Western Australia at the moment... busy day in the office.

Antelopes continue to move well on the Trek. Yaks and RS are neck and neck but RS appears to be moving a little fast on foot and passed Yaks on the climb to CP18. Changi has opened a little bit of a gap for the fourth position en route to CP17.

Looks like Yaks had some trouble with CP19 and perhaps had a short rest and RS have opened up about a 2.5hr lead from 3rd

It looks like RS may have found shelter for a quick rest near CP 20. Taking a look at the aerial it looks like there are a couple houses and sheds in the area.

(Bash, how do you embed images to the discussion thread?)

Bash’s dayshift hasn’t started yet...
Save the photo to Smugmug or Flickr and then select their Embed option, copy that code here, bingo!

Thanks, JBrown - and JayXC too! I haven’t been online and it’s great to sign in and learn that Rootstock had such a good night. Also nice that they appear to have had a nap.

Looks like Wild Yaks just caught up to them mid-nap. Not sure if they've rested yet or not.
But now I want RS to wake up and move again! :)
Also seems The Antelopes may be get a wee sleepy and sloppy on their nav.
Nothing extreme, but a little.

Yeah, wondered if they were thinking of going go way around on the road but apparently not.

The Antelopes have just finished The Gruelling Trek shortly before 2 am. It took them about 16.5 hrs. Time for a nap!

If anyone wonders why the average paddling pace seemed slow, this Day 2 video summary explains all. Rootstock makes a cameo appearance as they slide under a very low bridge.




Day 2 photos including the start of the spectacular trek:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10156350...

And RS is moving again.

RS should be well rested after spending some quality time resting in shelter (presumably). Off to the night time trek and jumping wombats in the Ben Lomond NP!

Yay! They stopped just under 4 hours so hopefully they had a good rest. The area where everyone is stopping is a former mining area that still has a small number of residents and an outdoor centre. I'm guessing it's a staffed CP since this would be one of the few places to evacuate injured racers by road. Also, racers are required to clean their feet here prior to entering the "pristine alpine area between CP20 and CP22".

By the way, it's great to see some new people contributing. So nice to check in quickly and get news without diving into the details. :)

Antelopes don't appear to have slept yet and are making a few minor errors, occasionally taking the wrong road and quickly correcting themselves. Should be interesting to see what the chasing teams speed through the same section.

Rootstock arrived at CP20 in 2nd place, 2.5 hrs before the Wild Yaks, who were 1.5 hrs ahead of MMI in 4th place. DASH and Aussie Battlers arrived 15 minutes later in 5th and 6th.

The race has spread out behind these lead teams. The other American team, Checkpoint 26, is still paddling under those low bridges. I wonder if the wind has died down yet.

Anyone know the folks from Checkpoint 26? I love the harmonica playing! Though I don't want to give my dad that idea or he will become even more annoying to race with :)

:))

Since JBrown reminded me of the existence of those wild Antelopes, they arrived at CP20 almost 6 hours before Rootstock but didn't stop, as per their plan. They got to TA9 about 5 hours before sunrise, which is pretty much perfect for them.

The zingers were in the group chasing RS (in 4th) but have also bunked down for a couple hours at the houses following CP19. It looks like their pace was slowing, so it was probably a good call

Posting again to keep them handy - maps for the Leg 8 trek.
https://www.facebook.com/geocentricoutdoors/posts/...

I'm loving the place names on the Ben Lomond map!
Tranquil Tarn
Twelvetrees
Land of Little Sticks
Bent Bluff
Ossians Throne

It looks like all trail from CP20 to CP22 except for a couple of options to cross a short distance between trails.

I wonder why the Geocentric site says "Most of the leg has no defined trail and teams must navigate to find the easiest route."

It looks like that was true for CPs 17 and 18 and part of the way to CP19. I'm guessing it might be hard to get permission to put CPs off-trail in the national park. Also, there are a lot of cliffs!

Here is the info on the upcoming Leg 9 on mountain bikes:

Leg 9 - This 115km ride from Carr Villa on the slopes of Ben Lomond to the famous MTB haven of Weldborough is the most difficult ride in the race. It is named the Tin Trail as it traverses through many once thriving mining towns hidden in the forest that are now ghost towns. The ride finishes down the iconic Blue Tier MTB trail, recognised by many as Australia’s best piece of single track.

Maps and photo here
https://www.facebook.com/geocentricoutdoors/posts/...

Is there a way to see two teams dots on the same screen?
I've only been able to switch between them.

With some tracking systems you can do that but I haven't figured out a way to do that for this one, other than setting up two browser tabs. Anyone else?

After 1.5+ hrs of climbing, Rootstock is crossing the cliff line near the top. Looks amazing on the map! In case anyone hasn't noticed, the "stack of pages" icon on the upper right of the tracking map lets you look at different types of maps.

No one else has left CP20. Teams resting there now at 4 am are Wild Yaks, MMI, DASH, Aussie Battlers and Hard Day's Night.

No signal from the 1st place Antelopes but they have presumably been resting for the past 2 hours at TA9. Sunrise is 7:15.

I’m surprised RS stopped for so long. It doesn’t appear it was out of concern for climbing the head wall to the top in the dark as they’re on it now and it’s 4:15am.

And MMI has now left CP20.

while Rootstock has made it up to the top of the head wall.

MMI left CP20 around 4:30 am. They arrived 4 hours after Rootstock in 4th place but departed about 2 hrs 15 mins after RS in 3rd place. Will the Wild Yaks start moving soon?

RS had a long rest but I wonder if it will be helpful later. The fastest estimated time from TA9 (where the Antelopes are resting) is 35 hours. Maybe RS is hoping to get through the race with just this one big sleep and a few cat naps along the trail?

Rootstock is taking a different route from the Antelopes, now that they're up top - more direct. I wondered if they would get their feet wet but it seems to be working out!

Looks like the weather is improving - less wind and virtually no precipitation in the forecast.
https://www.meteoblue.com/en/weather/forecast/week...

With daylight and improving weather RS should be able to make up some time across the plateau. Footing and terrain look pretty good from 20,000’. ;)

The route from CP20 to CP21 is along a ski trail and the map indicates there’s no track but there may be trail markers.

Ah, I was thinking that was a track off to the side but you're right; it looks like they mean the marked trail is actually just trail markers in the summer. So that fits with their description.

Looks like the Wild Yaks are moving around and ready to start the climb up the bluff in 4th place. They arrived in 3rd with a 1.5 hr lead.

MMI is in the boulder field on the last part of the climb to the plateau. It will be interesting to see their route choice compared to the top two teams. Rootstock is only half a km from rejoining the Green Line route but they seem to be moving slowly in what looks like very rocky terrain.

The Antelopes continue to nap at TA9.

And they just jumped! Almost at the Green Line now. :)

Unfortunately, it doesn't look like the direct route paid off. The Antelopes took about an hour from the top of the cliffs to the place where RS will join the Green Line. It will take RS about 1.5 hours. Good gamble though!

The Antelopes haven't started the 115 km Leg 9 bike ride yet but Geocentric has just posted a photo and maps of the Leg 10 trek.

Leg 10 - Teams traverse the magical Rattler Range on this 25km hike. Nick-named “Lord of the Rings territory”, they will navigate their way under a thick canopy past enormous trees hidden in Gondwana rainforest.
https://www.facebook.com/geocentricoutdoors/posts/...

Bikewhack to the NE leaving CP22?

The Wild Women are fourth out of CP 20.

Has anyone else noted that the tracks for teams are more detailed than the breadcrumbs alone would indicate? It seems like the trackers are pinging more frequently than every 10-15 minutes which appears to be the typical time gap between each crumb. For example, see the track for Rootstock around the SE side of the knoll just after timestamp 5:25 Mar 20. One breadcrumb at each end of that segment, but several other inflections in the track between. Never mind the big left-turn looking inflection with no crumb just after that.

Yay, Wild Women!

I’ve noticed that with the track too.

Lots of teams on the climb at first light. Also, the Antelopes are biking! I can’t see breadcrumbs on my phone. When did they start?

They started about 45 minutes ago. They must be zooming down the hill as they haven't tracked for a good distance.

Did MMI drop something or is the track wonky? They seem to be going backwards.

Ah, just a wonky track for a bit. Let's see which way they go now that they're up top.

What the heck are the Antelopes doing? Must be a darkness induced detour. Did I miss a route update that moved CP23 to the south?

I suspect wacky tracking since that's a heckuva lot of elevation to gain in that short amount of time - esp with no visible roads/tracks there.

Strange to get 3 consecutive weird points but looking at the map, there doesn't seem to be another explanation. (Back on my laptop again. I missed my breadcrumbs! :) )

The Antelopes and Rootstock stopped for 3 hrs 50-ish mins at TA9 and CP20 respectively so they've had a chance to be equally "rested". RS is currently at the place on the plateau where the Antelopes were a little more than 10 hrs ago. However, RS will probably take less than 1 hour at TA9 so the real gap is around 7 hours.

MMI is about 2 hrs behind Rootstock in 3rd after stopping for 2 hrs to rest at CP20.

The Wild Yaks and Changi are a few hundred metres apart about 1.5 hrs behind MMI. Both teams have rested more than MMI. The Yaks stopped for 5 hrs at CP20 and Changi stopped for 4.5 hrs in the small village of Rossarden.

Rootstock is within 2 hours of TA9 at 9:30 a.m. so they'll enjoy daylight for most of the Leg 10 bike. This may provide a significant nutrition advantage, according to the route book:

"‣ There is a pub and tiny shop in Mathinna (CP24)- both with intermittent opening hours
‣ There is a famous “Pub in a Paddock” with meals past CP 25. Open 10:30am-10pm
‣ There is a famous cheese factory with food/ coffee at Pyengana Open 9am-5pm
‣ When you arrive at CP26, you are at the trail head of the famous Blue Tier Single Track trail. It is compulsory to follow this trail to the TA (CP27). It is well marked, enjoy!
‣ The TA at the end of the leg is located at the famous Weldborough Pub. Meal times are 11:30am to 2pm and 6pm to 8pm. Coffee, drinks and snacks are available when the pub is open - from 11:30am to late."

Good to see RS moving well over night and maintaining a two hour lead over third. The Blue Tier trail network boasts of several nice descents, looks to be a fun leg of the race.

Good to see Checkpoint 26 arrive at TA8. They have a lot of daylight now to make good progress on the trek.

RS arrived at TA9. Antelopes have a 9.5 hr lead checking in to this transition. Plenty of racing still to come...

GO RVG! Go RS!!!!
Guarantee they take advantage the pub stops and cheese joint! So awesome!!!

Wow, lots of food options, Bash. Makes me hungry thinking about it. If it were me, I would definitely be turning this race into a culinary tour of Tasmania.

The Rootstockers, while tougher and much faster than myself, aren't above stopping into eateries that happen to be conveniently located along their route. I literally bumped into Abby and Brent as they stepped out of a pub during the last trekking section of ITERA Ireland in 2016.

I hope they weren't out too late drinking green beer the night before the race!

As expected, Rootstock spent less than an hour at TA9. They're now 6 hrs 20 mins behind the Antelopes on the Leg 10 bike.

As a reminder, here's what Rootstock's Broots had to say about the Antelopes before the race: "[The team has] two multiple time XPD champs on it. So, I suspect they will be gunning for the win, rightfully so."

It's AR and anything can happen!

Only the top two teams have finished the trek so far. MMI is 1 km ahead of the Wild Yaks about 45 minutes from TA9. Changi and DASH are about an hour behind them. There's a 1-1.5 hr gap from those two teams to the next group consisting of the Aussie Battlers, Wild Women and Hard Day's Night. After that, it's a big gap.

Meanwhile back in the mangroves, the Wolfpack is still finishing the paddle and Checkpoint 26 is playing the harmonica at the paddle/trek TA8.

Tight battle for 3rd right now as the tracking sheet shows Yaks and MMI checking in to TA9 within a minute of each other.

Nothing like a sprint after 51 hours of racing!

Bad news for the Antelopes. At 2:30 pm, they're on the final stretch of single track with about 8 km to go to TA10. However they've missed the 11:30-2 lunch at the famous Weldborough Pub and they'll be way too early for the 6-8 pm dinner.

It's not looking good for Rootstock making it in time for dinner either. But there will still be snacks, coffee and drinks.

Bash - you make it sound like they are on a tour of Tazmanian food joints...which, maybe they are at this point given the time gaps.

Podium struggle party at TA9 right now. All those teams are surely feeling some extra pressure.

I'm sad that Rootstock will be doing the Blue Tier single track in the dark. I didn't watch all 12 minutes but it looks like sooooo much fun.

I was going to comment that MMI has had less sleep than the other three teams at TA9 (Wild Yaks, DASH and Changi) but I just noticed that they took a 2 hr 43 min break at TA7 after the bike leg where they had nav issues and lost 2 hours to Rootstock. So they're not that far behind on sleep compared to the others.

Wild Yaks left TA9 first at 2:40 pm. They are currently biking 2.5 hrs behind Rootstock.

The antelopes didn't stop long for much of Bash's food tour and on the next trek that concludes with Ralph Falls.

The Antelopes talk about The Gruelling Trek (mostly) including their small error near the end.

Time gaps remaining very steady as the sun sets for the third time:
1 - Antelopes
2 - +7 hr Rootstock
3 - +2.5 hr Wild Yaks
4 - +1 hr DASH
5 - +:10 min MMI

Back a little farther in the race, it appears the Bulk Nutrients may have elected to skip CP18 heading out to the road (but they did double back and grab CP19). Wine & Cheese grabbed CP18 but are also electing for the longer but easier navigational route on the road to CP19.

Rootstock still holds a 2.5hr lead over Wild Yaks as they hit CP26 and enter the night time single track riding. They are about 1 hr 45 min from the TA and may have to settle for the late night snack options much to Bash's disappointment.

Aww, too bad. The route book doesn’t advertise any food options for the next leg.

Apparently, Bulk Nutrients advised the organizers that they were fine but planned to shorten their course a bit.

Here’s another video of the Antelopes including some GoPro on the single track. They aren’t certain but they might have another sleep break. They also mention burgers and chips!

http://www.sleepmonsters.com/v2_video.php?video_id...

Rootstock is just arriving at the famous Weldborough Pub (TA10) around 11:30 pm. Hope there are still some snacks!

The Antelopes are just arriving at TA11, the end of the next trek.

It took the Antelopes 8:30 hrs to complete leg 10, close to the slow estimate, over half of that time was in daylight. RS will be in a similar situation as its about 12:30am Wednesday there now assuming they leave soon.
From the Antelopes current position its just under 24 hours to the finish if they travel close to the fastest estimates or 36 hours if on the slower side so plenty of racing left.

Photo and maps from the Leg 11 bike ride.

Leg 11 - Teams mount their bikes for a 100km ride that will take them from the subalpine region, through rolling countryside and right up into the forgotten corner of Tasmania, the far North East. The going is relatively easy as over half is on sealed road.
https://www.facebook.com/geocentricoutdoors/posts/...

Video of teams on Ben Lomond. The XC ski trail is marked with posts.

This doesn't happen very often in ARWS events. Marika Wagner of Nordic Islands apparently posted on Facebook during The Gruelling Trek.
https://www.facebook.com/marikawagneradventurerace...

Rootsotck has otped for rest in the back of a truck at TA 10.
Seems they had some debate about where/when to rest a bit while warming up around the campfire, but opted to hunker down in the back of a truck there for a bit.
Looks like Wild Yaks may catch up with them at this point.
Lots of racing left!

Wake up and get moving Rootstock!!! The Wild Yaks are right on ya!

Rootstock is off, with the Yaks still in TA. Looks like they got in a good snooze! Thanks @vnerd for the videos on Facebook - nice to see those sleepy faces :)

https://www.facebook.com/val.nordquist.5/videos/10...
https://www.facebook.com/rootstockracing/videos/19...

.... and the Yaks are right on their heels. Looks like they opted not to sleep. They are a little over 1km back. Exciting!

Also good to see Checkpoint 26 moving well through the big trek. They passed a couple of Aussie teams who wandered off course.

.... and since I'm on a roll, Antelopes now veering off course on the bike down the Tasman Highway A3. Only about 1/2 k off for now, wonder how long it will take them to correct?

No time at all apparently. They took a slightly different route than expected by the RDs but are back on the expected route now.

Oh man, Rootstock is wandering the woods back and forth near CP28 but not able to find it yet. Ugh!
And the Yaks are gaining! Oh my!

They've been in that area for about 90 minutes - yikes! The photo shows dense forest and the sun is just rising now. It's hard to tell from dots but it looks like the Antelopes may have found CP28 a little north of its position marked on the tracking map. [Edit: Looking at the race map, I think that was just when they tracked on their way to the CP.] Rootstock seems to be looking a little south of the CP on the tracking map. Here's hoping it becomes more clear in daylight! The Yaks are less than an hour behind now.

Looking at the map, it appears RS has gone a little too far south on the trail and is looking on the wrong spur - very easy to do in the dark and may be related to the fact that the trail bend at their current location on the map is drawn with a much larger angle than the Green Line indicates. They need to descend about 100' in a northerly direction.

The other possibility is that they *did* find the CP and have moved away from it to stop for some other reason. Their dots have been on or near the trail and the distances between tracks are small.

You guys are making us nervous. Come on, Rootstock!

While we're waiting, here are Leg 12 photo and maps.
https://www.facebook.com/geocentricoutdoors/posts/...

That is a tough location. Parallel features on the trail and the spur.

The sun is up and RS just jumped toward CP28. Fingers crossed!

Aack, there's no breadcrumb showing where they jumped north and now they're back where they were so maybe it was an anomaly. Hoping the next dot moves them along the trail.

Yayyyy!!!! They're moving on!

Looks like the 3rd place Yaks are just 1.5 km behind now.

DASH is about an hour behind the Yaks in 4th place; they left TA10 about half an hour ago.

The Aussie Battlers are at the Weldborough Pub (TA10) in 5th place, waiting for morning snacks to be served. They arrived at TA10 two hours after DASH.

DASH spent almost 3 hours at TA10. Rootstock spent almost 4 hours there.

Looking back at the Leg 9 bike, the Wild Women, Changi and MMI are all on the Blue Tier single track now and will reach TA10 in that order in 6th-8th.

Meanwhile back in the mangroves, Checkpoint 26 is nearing the end of the climb from CP20 to the Ben Lomond plateau. They've moved ahead of a couple of teams over the past day so their harmonica playing must be working!

Oh no, RS is heading backward on the trail after hitting a road that would have told them exactly where they were.

The only silver lining is that this rules out the possibility that they stopped because of injury or illness.

Interestingly, the Yaks are also going in circles just north of the CP.

Maybe there's a Tasmanian Devil in the area!

Unbelievable. The Wild Yaks continue to move north away from the CP. Rootstock seems to be on track now.

DASH is only half an hour behind the Yaks now.

Come on, Rootstock - grab the CP before anyone else sees you!

Who else is out there hitting the Refresh button?

While we're waiting, here's a photo of Rootstock on Ben Lomond.
https://www.facebook.com/geocentricoutdoors/photos...

We are...from my count Rootstock has been after this CP for 3 hrs. Must be getting frustrating...would be motivational to grab the CP in front of the Yaks. Or maybe meet up for some good Aussie banter?

The leaderboard reports Rootstock reaching CP28 just 7 seconds - seconds!!! - before the Yaks.

And the race is ON. This will be a huge - and motivating - surprise for the Yaks.

Although in a forest that thick with leaderboard times obtained by geofencing, there is a small chance the Yaks weren't aware of Rootstock. That would be better.

At 9:02 am, Rootstock is on the trail about 600 m ahead of Yaks. One of my AR friends said he thinks about what people are saying in the Attackpoint discussion at times like this. I hope that's not true but if it is, then "GO ROOTSTOCK!!" is what we're saying.

Both the Antelopes and the Yaks had the advantage of approaching CP28 in daylight and it still gave the Yaks some trouble. It will be interesting to see what happens to teams behind - unless there are now footprints in the mud showing the correct place to leave the trail.

The Yaks have only stopped for one significant sleep during the race - 5 hours at CP20 about 30 hours ago.

Rootstock stopped for 3 hrs 45 mins last night at TA10 after stopping for a similar length of time at CP20 the night before.

The Yaks only spent 1 hr 14 mins at TA10, which would include putting their bikes away in boxes.

As JayXC pointed out above, there is more than a day of racing left for both these teams so the Yaks will need to sleep. Rootstock might be able to push through or just take a short nap. (I also said that after CP20 but the race course has been slower than estimated.)

DASH either found CP28 very efficiently or they've gone past it.

The Antelopes are going to finish the Leg 11 bike (100 km) by 10 am. Estimated time to the finish from TA11 is 12-19 hours. So they will likely finish late tonight (Wednesday in Tasmania) or early Thursday morning.

I can't remember the last time I had this much fun watching dots.

It's highly underrated! My favourite was Expedition Africa the year that several teams got hung up above the cliffs near the finish line.

It turns out DASH *had* gone past CP28. All good now. It will be interesting to read some race reports.

I'm in the RS cheerleading camp. Wearing my Bshoots commemorative tie right now.

Any ideas on what's going on with Wild Yaks?

And did Rootstock turn back towards CP29?? Say it ain't so.

Weird! CP29 is supposed to be a mandatory shoe cleaning location so it shouldn't be hidden. After that, racers are supposed to follow a route marked with pink tape. Maybe the first piece of tape was hard to find?

Good question about the Yaks!

Sleep monsters getting the Yaks during mid day?

CP29 appears to be fairly straight forward with mostly road travel.

Rootstock is back on the road heading to Ralph Falls! Edit: The tracker turned back again. It could be possible they took the western road and just missed the CP on their first pass... Go Rootstock!

The Antelopes are trekking along the coast now. Here are the Leg 12 photo and maps again. Nice wombat!
https://www.facebook.com/geocentricoutdoors/posts/...

Rootstock is moving well after their out-and-back around CP29, which added half an hour. Another story for their race report!

The big news is who is chasing them. DASH is in 3rd place as they arrive at CP29 but I doubt they know since the Yaks were off the main route when DASH went by. The Yaks are 30+ minutes behind DASH in 4th.

Looks like CP29 has Rootstock, then Dash +1.5 hours and Yak +2 hours.

Also looks like nearly every team now through CP28 has had some difficulty locating it.

Keep at 'em Rootstock!!!

c’mon Rootstock and thx everyone for the updates !!

The geofencing gave Rootstock credit for finding CP29 the first time they went by. (And maybe they did!) So they are shown as finding CP29 at 10:27 but their track returned to the vicinity of CP29 around 11:15. So DASH was only 45 minutes back at CP29 but Rootstock has put some time into them since then. They're about an hour apart now. Rootstock has just tracked off the trail but hopefully that's a GPS anomaly.

I'm going to sleep on my bare back patio with no sleeping bag in solidarity with RS....Ok, maybe I won't.....

Phew! Yup, they're further along the trail now.

I think you're allowed a lightweight bivy bag, bpg459!

The Wild Women have gone exploring in the area where the Wild Yaks went off course. There must be a confusing, unmapped trail/road.

So far the only teams to pick up CP28 without walking in circles were the Antelopes and the Wild Women. Rootstock had the bad luck to be the only team so far to approach CP28 in the dark.

Here's the map for Leg 13. The Antelopes are about 60% of the way through the Leg 12 coastal trek now.

Leg 13 - This is an 11km paddle over the tranquil, tannin stained Ansons Bay. The last section of this paddle enters Ansons River and winds amongst tall forest trees.

https://www.facebook.com/geocentricoutdoors/photos...

Looks like the Wild Yaks might want to take that nap soon. They've fallen off the Green Line to the east side between CP29 and CP30. So far it's been almost a 1-hr detour and it looks like it may take a little longer to sort out. The Aussie Battlers are close behind and may pass them shortly to take over 4th place.

Rootstock has almost reached CP30 at Ralph's Falls. TA11 is about 600 m away. They'll be glad to be done this leg!

DASH is about 40 minutes behind in 3rd.

Almost 3 hours back, the Aussie Battlers have just met up with the sleepy Wild Yaks, who have returned to the trail. They're tied for 4th.

Rootstock has arrived at TA11 at 3:15 p.m.

Their upcoming ride looks like a great leg for food and shopping:
_________________________________________

‣ There are bike mechanics in the town of Derby. If required, you may ride to Derby using the roads not marked as out of bounds. Shops are open 8am to 5:30pm 7 days.
‣ There is a general store in Ringarooma
‣ There is a small supermarket in Branxholm open 6:30am to 7pm, 7 days a week
‣ There is a pub with food in Winnaleah. They serve pizza Tues-Thur 5-8pm.
‣ There is a general store open in Gladstone. This is the LAST shop on the course. There are NO more.

A chat with MMI during the Leg 10 Rattler's Range trek



And a chat with the Antelopes at TA12 before the coastal trek

A nice Rootstock pic, then it's over to the night shift!
https://www.facebook.com/geocentricoutdoors/photos...

OK, one more. DASH just arrived at TA11 49 minutes after Rootstock. Everyone must be a little surprised!

Actually, no. Rootstock has already left on their bikes. Signing out for real now!

Antelopes have reached TA13 and have only two more legs before they reach the finish line. They were able to finish the trek in the daylight and will be making the push through the night to the finish.

Current standings w/ time gaps:
1 - Antelopes TA13 - transitioning to the paddle
2 - +11.5 hrs Rootstock - receiving loud cheers from friends on attachpoint
3 - + :45 min DASH - made up a lot of ground on the last trek
4 - +2 hrs Yaks - went in too many circles on the last trek
TA11 - MMI, Aussie Battlers, and Wild Women are all at the TA or the falls

A little farther back: CP26 has reached TA9 and the start of the long bike leg. Don't forget that this team will reach the actual CP26 during the next leg. On the last trek the were able to pass two teams in the standings.

Rootstock had just about an hour's lead at the last CP34 over 3rd place DADH, but appears to have stopped in town for a bit (food? rest?). Team DASH is now probably only about 15-25 minutes away.
It's gonna be a real nail biter here in this home stretch I think.

Meanwhile, the Antelopes should be crossing the finish line in the next couple hours I believe.

Looks like Rootstock may have visited the last shop on the course in Gladstone - if it was open.

And like Dash is having some trouble deciding which way to go just past CP34.

Ant the Antelopes are just about to cross the finish line. Amazing race by them!

They executed their race just about perfectly. Congratulations, Antelopes!

Finished at 23:30. The pubs should still be open. :)

The pre-race press release said the winning team was expected to take 3.5 days. The Antelopes took just 45 minutes longer than that. Speaking as a race organizer, hats off to Craig and Louise!

DASH has just arrived in Gladstone an hour after Rootstock left. It’s just after midnight so there may be no reason to take a break.

Rootstock is within half an hour of TA12, where they’ll transition to the coastal trek. From their current position, it took the Antelopes 14 hours to reach the finish line, mostly in daylight. I wonder if they’ll dare take a quick nap. It’s been 24 hrs since they last slept but that was almost a 4 hour break.

Rootstock is at TA12 and will soon be on the final trek leg... getting close now

The champions!
https://www.facebook.com/arworldseries/photos/a.37...

Day 4 photos
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10156356...

I vote for a fast transition - easy nav and a beautiful nighttime beach run/waddle. Seems like Rootstock has banked more sleep than the chasing teams, time to use it!

Impressive race, Antelopes! Congrats on the total domination! I'm also impressed by the RDs and their spot-on estimate for finishing time.

I'd vote the same way. Stopping at Gladstone may have been their plan for a final break before pushing to the end.

Video interview with youth team Aussie Battlers

Maps for the final legs - just keeping them all together.

Leg 12 - This 38km hike follows one of Tasmania’s Great Walks along the edge of Mt William National Park. It is a stunning coastline of white sand, turquoise water and orange boulders. It is also known for it’s abundance of wildlife. The final challenge of this leg is a swim across the outlet of Ansons bay to Policemans Point.
https://www.facebook.com/geocentricoutdoors/posts/...

Leg 13 - This is an 11km paddle over the tranquil, tannin stained Ansons Bay. The last section of this paddle enters Ansons River and winds amongst tall forest trees.
https://www.facebook.com/geocentricoutdoors/photos...

Leg 14 - The final leg of the race, this 35km ride home to St Helens and the finish line is relatively straight forward, through bushland and scenic farmlands.
https://www.facebook.com/geocentricoutdoors/posts/...

Just noticed that 2nd prize is a 50% discount to XPD 2019, a value of more than $3,000 U.S. However, there would still be the flights to Australia, hotels, gear, childcare arrangements, etc. I wonder if RS will be tempted (assuming they hold their position)!

Rootstock tempted? No doubt.
Able to get the time off during the school year again? Unlikely.
I'm pretty sure this race was a long time dream and took some finagling to make happen this time of year.
All the more reason to love how well they've been taking on this course! Rooting for them til the finish and excited to hear their stories! (and watch the podium race unfold here...don't want to jinx the position holding!)

That's what I was thinking, Val. They seem to have chosen a terrific race for their dream trip. I wasn't that jealous of the GODZone racers but I'm jealous of this one!

By the way, 3rd prize is 30% off XPD 2019.

We have our answer. Rootstock is out on the trek less than an hour after arriving at the bike/trek TA.

Go Rootstock!!!

Also, looks like the Yaks are taking an alternate route into Gladstone. Not sure whether it's intentional but I imagine they'll figure it out when they don't pop out in the town.

Dash did the same thing so there must be something going on there.

Poor Yaks! There's still no evidence that they've slept since CP20 two days ago.

Btw I lived in Australia for awhile and learned that you should never say you're "rooting" for a team. :) There's not much RS can do about their team name, however.

(You're going to have to google. This is a family discussion forum.)

Great shot of Abby!
https://www.facebook.com/geocentricoutdoors/photos...

HA! Wonder what the Aussie's have thought of "rootstock"... and nice pic of Abby! Looking badass as usual. DASH about to roll into TA12.

Ha! Looks like she's dreaming of a nice, warm sleeping bag.

Oh dear. Urban Dictionary clarified the name. No wonder the townspeople were screaming and covering the kids' ears when Rootstock passed through. (Really, not really).

I've been so focused on the front of the field, and just checked on Wolfpack. Hang in there, fellas.

And lots of teams still having trouble near CP28.

I was also asked not to say “fanny pack” around Aussies.

DASH appear to have wasted little time in the TA and are out chasing after RS.

In general, do teams find out at the TA's the status/time checks of other teams?

I see that DASH is hot on their trails, yep. They also seem to have opted for a brief road section instead of the coast to start out. Interesting.

Meanwhile....I've just been school on what rooting is in those Aussie's minds. Oh, Rootstock.....

Sometimes teams are able to see when the teams ahead of them passed through via a check-in log.
They are not supposed to be told if other teams are close behind or any such info that could be gained from the tracker. That said, I can't say such hints or vague alluding to such things never happens....

So interesting to watch the races within races. Places 2-3-4 and then 5-6-7. Will the Wild Women sneak past MMI as they appear to have taken a wrong turn?

Good thing school was canceled today for snow here in Philadelphia!

MMI appears to have missed turn and will be taking the main road around and back tracking to CP34.

Ack! And now the Wild Women have gone off course. Will the Aussie Battlers be able to take advantage??

Wild Women solved their problem. Lucky for them the wrong road was short, so they hit the dead end quickly.

MMI lost two places on the "ride around".

And the Wild Women are taking the same roundabout route to Gladstone as the Yaks did. MMI have come around already past that intersection going the other way so won't make that mistake. Will they be able to make up some time?

And it appears the Wild Yaks are resting a bit at TA12.

Aussie Battlers also taking the around route to Gladstone. Will MMI be able to sneak back in front? That would be crazy!

DASH is about 80 minutes behind Rootstock on the Leg 12 coastal trek. Sunrise is an hour away. Tonight they'll all get to sleep in actual beds!

A Facebook comment about the Aussie Battlers: "The team first rode a mtb just over two years ago and two of them first sat in a kayak last May. They feel their current position is absurd based on their lack of experience but they know how to nav with sketchy maps."

Here's the map showing the two routes from CP34 to Gladstone.
https://www.facebook.com/geocentricoutdoors/photos...

Nordic Islands might hold the record so far on CP28 - about 4 hours lost in the dark. Check their breadcrumbs - yikes, that would hurt.

Hmm, I think I over-estimated their gap before but DASH does seem to be speeding up. They are less than an hour behind Rootstock now.

RS and DASH will certainly be able to see each other on that coast once the sun comes up. Its essentially a foot race to the kayak ferry across the tidal outlet at this point.

I was thinking they might have seen each other's headlamps in the dark, too!

I’m guessing RS is savy enough to have them off. ;-)

Good point! :)

The Wild Yaks have been at TA12 for 2.5 hrs getting some much-needed sleep (we hope). In theory, they don't know how far back it is to 5th place but it should be 1.5 to 2 hours until they have company there.

In the tight battle for 5th to 7th place, all three teams took the southern route to Gladstone so it's still the Battlers out front, followed by the Wild Women and MMI. They're all within 15 minutes of one another.

A little more than 45 minutes between DASH and RS. Eeek!

dicing to the finish!!

Dice, RS, dice!!!!

Meanwhile back in the mangroves, Wolfpack (the Lanterne Rouge) and Whine & Cheese are on the Ben Lomond plateau. They both spent the night at their current positions.

Checkpoint 26 and Tri Adventure are ahead of them at TA9. However...

Tri Adventure arrived at TA9 yesterday afternoon and set out on the 115-km Leg 9 bike ride after a few hours of rest. They returned to TA9 an hour later as the sun set and they are still there just after sunrise.

Similarly, Checkpoint 26 arrived around sunset yesterday and have not moved on.

A couple of things about DASH:

1) Like Rootstock, their last significant rest was TA10. They stopped for 2:51 whereas Roostock stopped for 3:45. Rootstock's break started just before midnight on Tuesday but DASH arrived at TA10 five hours later so their rest was more recent - just before sunrise on Wednesday morning, a little over 24 hours ago.

2) More importantly, DASH is an all-male team so they are *not* racing Rootstock for 2nd place in Premier Mixed, the category that gets the major prizing and the ARWS ranking points.

Regardless, GO ROOTSTOCK, GO!!!!!

Gap is now 35-40 minutes.

Update from the organizers re back of the pack:

"...Some teams will opt to take short coursing this morning. Whine & Cheese tour, Tri-Adventure, Checkpoint 26 and The Wolfpack will be moved up the course today."

The Yaks stopped for 2.5 hrs at TA12 and are now trekking along the coast.

The 5th place Aussie Battlers turned on the jets and put half an hour between themselves and their pursuers, MMI and Wild Women. They are almost at TA12.

Rootstock hit CP27 at 93:45, DASH is close, very soon we will have an updated split

(but now that I know that DASH is all-male, I am less anxious for Rootstock)

dang, DASH is 20min back at CP37!

19 minutes! And looks like continuing to gain and close the gap! Don't stop now Rootstock!

Anyone have an idea of the relative strengths between Rootstock and DASH on paddling and bike?
Dash is nearly going to be on top of them by the time they hit the transition to paddle.

Val, click on the timing tab top right of the tracking screen. FWIW Rootstock appears to have the advantage biking and paddling.

I know Rootstock loves a good swim...hopefully, at 11 a.m., it's warming up down at sea level so they're keen to take a dip in Anson's Bay.

Swimming it depends on the tide I think.

If you switch to the aerial map, it looks like low tide right now. ;)

Rootstock arrived at TA13 at 10:52 am. [Edit: It was later updated to 11 am.] They're all experienced enough that they can do a fast trek/paddle TA in their sleep, which will be handy right now.

The Antelopes took a little more than 5 hrs to reach the finish line after arriving at TA13. So if you want to cheer Rootstock to the finish line in eastern North America, it'll be a late night!

Rootstock is on the water! They passed DASH as they were swimming (or strolling) across to the TA.

The 4th place Yaks are more than halfway through the coastal trek.

The 5th place Aussie Battlers have a 30-minute gap to the chase teams, the Wild Women and MMI. They're all just past the first CP on the coastal trek, CP36.

Juggernaut is the only other team on the trek so far.

The last three teams on the full course - Nordic Islands, Fuse Creative and Goldfish - are together a few kms from the end of the Leg 10 trek. Synergy is 1 km ahead of them.

If you check their breadcrumbs for Leg 10, all of these teams had more adventure than they'd hoped for.

DASH arrived at TA13 25 minutes after Rootstock. Like RS, they wasted no time getting on the water.

Less than 20 mins apart on the water.

Oh man! I want to see the end of this Rootstock/Dash battle.
But it'll be 1am! Waaaay past my usual 9p bedtime.
Good thing it's another snow day in Philly tomorrow......

https://www.facebook.com/jarad.kohlar/videos/10155...
Swimming across the outlet is not allowed. Teams have to figure out how to shuttle 4 racers across the water with one kayak on each side. Mensa puzzle level 2.

Team is working and traveling well although RVG is digging pretty deep.

Antelopes took the long switchbacks on the paddle. Is bushwacking allowed to cut the corner?

Both Rootstock and Dash together at the final TA14 - it'll be a 35k sprint race on bikes to the finish for 2nd versus 3rd place!

Photos of Rootstock at the final TA
https://www.facebook.com/rootstockracing/posts/197...

They got a head start and should be out of the TA shortly. It's about 2.5 hrs to the finish line. Go, Go, GO!!!

And there they went. :)

Super exciting finish, go Rootstock!!!

Jbrown, the rules just say there is no portaging on roads or private property on the Leg 13 paddle.

Go faster!!!

Is the tracker just being jumpy, or did Rootstock leave TA and then double back?

Rootstock had the fastest time of any team on the last two bike legs (including TA time before riding) and they were 2nd fastest on the bike leg before that. Just sayin'. :)

Oh geez, it looks like they really did leave and come back. Did they forget something?

Weird - their icon is shown in the TA but with an older timestamp than the breadcrumbs on the road beyond the TA. I'm going to be optimistic and say it's a tracker error.

Refresh...

Refresh...

DASH is riding.

I hope so!!!

They just updated way down the road! And yes, Kateness and I are watching and APing at the same table :<)

Steer straight and pedal hard, Rootstock!

YES!!!!!!

The family that APs together, stays together. :)

Woooo go Rootstock! No mechanicals!

Aye aye! No mechanicals is right!

So what was the time difference in leaving the TA, and/or between them right now. ~15minutes?

It looks like just under 15 minutes now.

While we have a moment to breathe between tracker updates, the Yaks are about 1.5 hrs from the end of the coastal trek. It's still the Aussie Battlers behind them in 5th (well behind them!) but the Wild Women have pulled away from MMI and are trying to bridge the gap to the Battlers.

Juggernaut has been moving well too. They're about 35 minutes behind MMI. Farther back on the coastal trek, Hard Day's Night are closely followed by Changi.

Wolfpack?

They were going to be short coursed by being driven forward on the course. Since they're not being driven toward the finish line, I guess that's happening now. Looks like they might be taken to the start of the coastal trek.

Rootstock is just over an hour away from the finish line, based on the Antelopes' breadcrumbs. And the Antelopes were not being chased.

Also, the Antelopes did much of the final paddle and bike legs in the dark. Rootstock's time is going to be faster. Val, you're going to get to bed well before 1 a.m.!

We are off to bed, dreaming Rootstocky finishing dreams. Go team!

Yes - I think I could nearly hit a midnight bedtime at the pace they're going!
Amazing what being chased does.
Tho hopefully never closer than the 4k they're holding.
Making me nervous!

Almost there. Go Rootstock

About 10 km to ride and DASH is not getting any closer. No mechanicals, no mechanicals, no mechanicals...

From Geocentric FB at the trek/paddle TA: "Rootstock Racing said the team were travelling Ok, however they had been triaging injuries during the race." :(

More Rootstock-related info from Geocentric FB, while we wait:
__________________________________________

Bay of Fires is only the second time XPD has had a dedicated referee who follows the race ensuring both the spirit and rules of adventure racing are observed.

This year Igor Dorotic from Croatia is the man with the task.
Igor refereed the Cameco Cowboy World Champs last year and says adventure racing in Australia differs strongly with the scene in Europe with a greater diversity of age groups and ability involved.

This means the referee is spread across the course checking for compulsory kit, watching dots to ensure out-of-bounds areas are respected, and racers are not missing CPs.

Igor may have even been spotted waiting in the bushy wings for any unsuspecting teams who decided CP 12 could be collected by a lone rider in an out-and-back mission!

Igor is a race director himself and says not being local helps him to apply the rules objectively and without bias. Igor says only one team passed his pre-race rules check satisfactorily - Rootstock. Most know some or only part of them and Igor feels it is a challenge for our sport to improve their understanding. We have relied on the ‘spirit’ of adventure race to define the nature of the sport but as it grows rules will become more important.

They're in St. Helen's. Just a few kms to go!!!

By golly, I think they just did it!!!

At 15:02, their tracker is "not moving"!

Congratulations - well done!!!! Enjoy your well-deserved cheers, food and sleep.

Broots and Abiperk, we're looking forward to your side of the story. :)
(I don't think the others are on AP.)

Race time: 100 hrs 13 mins 55 seconds.

Yay Rootstock!!

Rock on Roostock.
Been a pleasure ya'll.
Bedtime for me.

Good night!

It's an indoor finish line. No photos of RS yet but here's what it looked like when the Antelopes arrived.

DASH has finished 17:24 after Rootstock.

A final check before the night shift comes on (hopefully):

The 4th place Yaks are doing the kayak do-si-do across the water by TA13.

The Wild Women have been chasing the 5th place Aussie Battlers and were a bit more than 10 mins behind until a questionable route choice just now near CP37.

MMI is clinging to 7th but Juggernaut has been chasing hard and is now only 300 m behind on the beach.

After a big gap on the coastal trek, it's Changi in 9th followed closely by Hard Day's Night, whom they passed in the last hour.

Congrats Rootstock!!! My inside intel confirms that the guys are all snoozing while abiperk enjoys some light reading over a beer :) Thanks APers (especially Bash!) for keeping these updates going when work or parenting stole me away from dot-watching.

Nice work Rootstock - Congrats!

Since we've been following the journey of other teams while rooting for Rootstock (ahem), here is an update from the finish line:

1) Tri-Adventure Antelopes 84:45
2) Rootstock 100:13
3) DASH 100:31
4) Wild Yaks 105:33
5) MMI Adventure Racing 107:45
6) Aussie Battlers 107:51 (That must have been a great sprint to the finish!)
7) Juggernaut 109:14
8) Mountain Designs Wild Women 109:20 (Another sprint!)

Changi has just started the final bike ride in 9th place.
Hard Day's Night is in 10th place on the final stretch of paddling before TA14.

Interview with the Antelopes after they've showered, eaten and slept

They saw a Tasmanian Devil!

The Wild Women were interviewed in the Rattler Range. They're having too much fun!

Rootstock looking happy after the finish with their champagne. Eric: "I never biked that fast, even in a 6-hour race!"
https://www.facebook.com/geocentricoutdoors/photos...

Day 5 photos, featuring mostly Rootstock!
https://www.facebook.com/pg/geocentricoutdoors/pho...

One of their many excellent finish line photos
https://www.facebook.com/geocentricoutdoors/photos...

I'm confused about the short-course -- when/where are teams being moved ahead in the course? So far it seems they have gotten to TA10 via their own power and some are now starting the trek.

I share your confusion! It was announced on Facebook yesterday that Wolfpack, Tri Adventure, Checkpoint 26 and Whine & Cheese Tour would be moved ahead on the course but it appears that only Wolfpack was moved ahead by vehicle. Adding to the confusion, Wolfpack is still shown on the full course on the leaderboard whereas the other three are shown on the short course, even though they still appear to be traveling on the full course.

The final members of the top 10 are:

9) Changi Zingers 112:29
10) Hard Day's Night 115:13

No one else has made it to the finish yet but half a dozen teams are on the coastal trek. At least one of them, the WOgainers, is unranked. I'm not sure why since it appears that they've visited all the CPs. Maybe they've lost a member. They were another all-female team.

This vid is kicked off by Abiperk and Broots of Rootstock who are having fun. Check out Goldfish's tandem bike!

Broots here. Re: Wogainers: one of their teammates had a significant health issue and had to go to hospital. I think she is ok, and I don’t think it was race specific other than the big strain.

Otherwise, THANK YOU for all your support here on AP. We did have a couple of “I wonder what the APers are saying now?” Moments.

It was an absolutely stunning course. Until the final two legs, every stage was hard, often really hard and epic. Nothing looked too crazy on paper, but exceptional journeys on each stage. We thought we had enough of a lead to “coast” in, and RVG’s back had folded in half for the big beach trek, literally, you saw the video. So when those final legs turned into a 6 hour sprint race, it felt like Craig and Louise went all hunger games on us. Thought I might have a heart attack on that bike ride:)

Ok, off to more meals. Thanks again for following along so closely and for “rooting” us on. I’m now going to google what Rootstock means here. No screaming children, but I’m curious:)

Great to hear from you!! Congratulations and enjoy your post-race recovery. We're looking forward to a longer epistle when you're back home.

P.S. Just google "root".

Organizers just explained on Facebook that the short course teams will be finishing the Leg 10 Rattler Range trek, then they will bike directly to the finish. Except for Wolfpack, it looks like the other short course teams did the entire course until this point. Wolfpack was picked up from CP21 on the Ben Lomond trek and driven to the Weldborough Pub, TA10.

Hmm... when people asked about the team name, I’m glad I didn’t say, “it’s my favorite thing to find in the woods!” (-abby, now)

Haha! Welcome back to the land of showers and sleep, Abby. :)

Great fun watching the dots as they made their way across Tasmania. One cool thing is that aside from cheering people on during the race, one becomes acquainted with the beauty of faraway places. The scree climb into Ben Lomond alone. Very cool that the races brings all of us there in our own way.

Very cool....

It really was cool - and beautiful. I'd like to see some of this race course some day and we have the maps now!

In this video, Goldfish eats burritos and talks about doing the Blue Tier single track on their tandem mountain bike. They've declared a world record on the trail for a tandem bike with a pannier.

An interview with the lively Muppets at Ralph Falls.

Nice to see Checkpoint 26 heading to the finish! Only 2 teams left on course, then the real party can begin.

Course looked good. I've done 7 previous XPDs but had to forego this one in favour of our National MTBO selection trials, of which two of the three races in Vic were cancelled due to 'severe weather warnings' :-( Needless to say I joined the media team and got to do a lot of interviews with my own twist!

Awesome photos taken by Rootstock during the race. Great view of the race from the inside!
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=ms.c.eJxNl...

Abiperk's report = awesome! Here's what was happening inside the dot.
https://rootstockracing.wordpress.com/2018/03/27/t...

Thanks, Bash :)

Great report Abby - thanks.