The weather for the fourth Arrow 24 Hour Sydney adventure race was the complete opposite of last year’s event. This year we had twenty-four hours of superb weather compared to last year’s five days of rain leading up to the event which certainly made the weekend’s activities more enjoyable. 28 teams contested this year’s event, of which two were from New Zealand. Long time Arrow competitors Sierra International, and Stuart Rankin’s team from Wellington making their 24 hour debut. With 100 competitors from Victoria, Brisbane, and Melbourne the competition was going to be strong.

The event was contested an hours drive north of Sydney in a small town called Swansea on route to Newcastle. Taking advantage of the many salt-water lakes in the area, race director Richard Anderson started the race with a 30 km kayak leg that covered three lakes during the pristine conditions. No later than the starting hooter had sounded, Team Sierra International broke their rudder. Showing their experience and preparation for all contingencies, Sierra returned promptly to shore where they had a replacement rudder to make the required repairs.

First off the water in 2 hours 32 minutes was team Mountain Design - Gary Sutherland and Darren Clark. Second and only three minutes back was the first four person mixed team Millie - Toby Cogley - Matt Blundell, Rosi King and Jason Wilson. Sierra recovered from their 30 minute deficit to complete the paddle in 2 hours 58 minutes.

Next up was a 55km Mountain bike ride that included urban areas, rough 4WD tracks and sudden cliffs where the trusty map indicated good roads… Some teams chose alternative routes and a few were stumbled by the cliffs, but all made it to the finish of the leg. Maintaining their led was team Mountain Design completing the two legs in 5 hours 30 minutes, gaining an additional 3 minutes on team Millie.

Following the MTB was an “adventure-gain”, similar to a rogain where teams find orienteering controls and received time penalties for missing controls. This leg was specifically designed to allow inexperienced teams the option to choose time penalties over difficult navigation off track. With the sun still in the sky team Mountain Design completed the adventure-gain in 3 hours 30 minutes and headed out on their second mountain bike for the day. Meanwhile team Millie struggled during the difficult navigation and allowed four other teams the pleasure of catching them up by the end of the leg.

Race organisers were pleased to see inexperienced teams choose the easier yet still challenging navigational course options. This resulted in all teams being out of the bush by 2am.

From the mountain bikes it was on to the final leg a 21km kayak leg during the night. With no moonlight, navigation was going to be difficult. Mountain Design - Gary Sutherland and Darren Clark, were first to reach the finish line, completing the last leg in exactly 2 hours and finishing in a total time of 12 hours 55 minutes. Team Millie recovered from their trekking errors to hold off all challengers and win the four mixed category in 13 hours 27 minutes. However other teams were not so lucky with their kayak navigation. While manning the finish line, Richard Anderson had the pleasure of a few teams confusing the finish line for the checkpoint that was 6km away. They must have been suffering from sleep deprivation. They did however continue to find the elusive checkpoint and then return to the finish line to complete the event.

In all only one competitor pulled out of the event due to stomach cramps while the rest of the field completed the event. The team that showed the most endurance and completed the entire course was team Nitro in 24 hours 12 minutes.