February 5th 2006 – Kathmandu Melbourne Sprint, Yarra Bend Park, VIC

It was a beautiful, sunny summers day when Mick & Andy, ‘Double van Damme’, ventured off to Yarra Bend Park for the Kathmandu Melbourne Sprint, our first event for 2006.

We were feeling quite confident as we both had mountain biked the area before, being a popular spot in Melbourne for some single track fun, and cruising the Kew Boulevard.

The first leg was a quick dash to the Yarra to launch our inflatable Sevylor K79 two person kayaks as provided by the race organizers. This proved quite a mess as eighty-five teams all tried to launch from the one boat ramp, and suffice to say there were a few thrills and spills.

Although not a great distance to paddle, perhaps a couple kilometres, the boats were very touchy and turned on a dime, making steering very difficult for the uninitiated (us). This immediately put us back in the field in the first leg.

We were fairly slick on the bike, solid on the run, and knowing the area well, found all the checkpoints relatively easy. We made up good ground and joined the first half the field again.

Back to the water, and back to the end of the field again for us. I think the photographer was really lucky just to get a picture of us going in the right direction. Frustration set in, and I took an unintentional swim, with a little help from Andy.

On the final bike & run we made up some more time again, and finished in around 3 hrs placing us midfield. A nice bbq & drinks supplied by the race organizers and a lie down in the shade capped off the day well, as the rest of the field came in. Overall a great day and not too bad an effort first up for the year.

NB:We REALLY need to do some work on the paddle!

The Kathmandu Sprint is a good, fun, easy race, particularly suited to newcomers to Adventure Racing. Check out other events by the organizers at www.maxadventure.com.au

Regards
Mike – 0411 888 735
‘Stay Strong, Stay on Target’