Luke Haines, not a stranger to the multisport scene, phenomenal athlete, dad and business owner. He's sharing his amazing adventure journey with us.
Your racing career highlights.
I have been fortunate to really get going since 2007 with good results. My first multisport win at the Mars Challenge in 2007 is one I will certainly remember. Having come from learning all disciplines to training hard to improve fitness and learning the skills required was great. Back to back UMC wins in 2009 and 2010 (then three 2nds in a row) along with Australian multisport champs win in 2009 was amazing as only 1 week apart.
The story of this race starts well before the actual date it took place.
Twenty years ago, when I had just started adventure racing and it was still all very new to me, months before an upcoming event, I was carefully assessing every piece of equipment to the best of my ability, making sure it was all correct and exactly as required.
The number of races had increased to a frequency of almost 1 per week at some stages and it was handy to have all equipment maintained and ready to go at all times.
Following the success of the inaugural edition of Alpine Quest Falls Creek, brought about by the Adventure Junkie team over the Australia Day long weekend, all efforts are now being thrown into bringing the 8th edition of X-Marathon Adventure Race to the next level, and delivering a high standard expedition adventure racing event.
X-Marathon is the toughest Adventure Junkie race, which since 2011 has been delivering spectacular and challenging courses. This race usually attracts the majority of top Australian teams.
Kathmandu Coast to Coast is one of the toughest multisport events in the world with 243 km of cycling, running and paddling. It attracts a 1000 participants field and requires a lot of endurance, skills and simply luck to finish. Here is cross-interview with Aussie AR and multisport stars - Tim Boote (VIC), Guy Andrews(QLD), Bern Dornom (VIC), James Pretto (VIC) and Alex Hunt (TAS). We've asked these questions - scroll down for some inside, pain and good advise.
1-2 sentences to describe how was your C2C 2019.
Your highest and the lowest moments and how you pushed yourself through.
“The trekking leg was like a mini Godzone ” said Leo Theoharis from team Thunderbolt at the finish line, while Kim Beckinsdale’s first phrase was: “This is the hardest course I have ever done”.
The inaugural edition of Alpine Quest finished yesterday and participants faced the extreme weather conditions only possible in the Australian Alps: 35 degrees temperature on the first day with teams trying to keep cool and hydrated turned into +5 and pouring rain on the second day with teams struggling to keep warm.
The epic 140 km course took teams on a journey from the Omeo Valley over the Bogong high plains into the Falls Creek resort with 5200m of elevation gain.
After a 2 hour bus drive descent to the start at the historical Hinnomunjie bridge teams took off 30 seconds apart to negotiate rapids of the famous Mitta Mitta river.
The probability theory did not fail us this year and brought stunning weather to the East Gippsland. The Event had clearly seen increased numbers and local support. Inclusion in Adventure Cup series brought a few star athletes in; James Pretto from Melbourne managed to secure neck to neck win over his long-time rival, local adventure star Tim Boote; whilst Bern Dornom proved to be fastest lady over her rivals Maria Plyashechko and Marlena Ahrens. First team home was local "VT and The Meat Eaters" with Rod Smith, Joel Claxton and Patrick Howlett showing great performance in bike, run and kayak legs respectively.
AJ Crew asked a few questions to Lesa Muir, East Gippsland Challenge participant:
- How did you get involved into Adventure Racing?
Stage 4 melanoma cancer diagnosis prompted me to get out and start living life to the full, and nature was where my heart and soul wanted to be.
My first race was a 48 hr adventure race in Albany WA and because we needed to be able to navigate I also fell into Rogaining. After many 24-hour races both in Australia and overseas I moved onto longer distance expedition races (XPD, Expedition Africa, GodZone). I would now say that most of my downtime is spent adventuring in some capacity, it’s more just a way of life than a sport these days.
Check out how good you are as a team player and how you will fit in your Alpine Quest team
Imagine you can get anyone into your team.
I am talking all the fastest guys from Coast to Coast or other events.
I’d join Avaya or Silva.
I would like to have a team of good friends who are similar level to mine and keen to train and race with the same goal as I have. Would be good if we can train together from time to time, catch up for a chat and know each other really well.
What role will you play in a new team?
I’m a captain of course, I’m the most experienced in my team and know what it is all about.
I will just follow everyone, I haven’t done a lot of races, my team mates know what to do.
Read more
King Valley Challenge has been on my bucket list since its inception back in 2010. The first attempt I made was in 2013.
I woke up unwell on the morning of the event and battled with FOMO, while helping with boats in between paracetamols.
Since then I had participated in only one other relay race, where I took turns with Serge, juggling participating and parenting.
This year somehow the stars aligned and we hit the road to King Valley late Friday afternoon, with me planning to race and Serge there to support me.
A lack of training never could stop me from racing, but it was a slightly nerve-wracking atmosphere on the eve of the race, my emotions all over the place, regretting going somewhere and whinging about getting too lazy. However there could be no turning back, except maybe if I fell sick (that had already happened once, so I could not be that unlucky!).
“Loved the variety, this is the best Sprint Series race so far” -was the most frequent phrase heard at the finish line a of inaugural Anglesea Sprint Series Adventure Race which was on this Sunday on Surf Coast Victoria Australia.
Adventure racing lovers from around Victoria converged on picturesque Anglesea on Sunday to compete in the Anglesea Adventure Sprint race and were treated to near perfect conditions as they ran, rode mountain bikes and paddled kayaks around the scenic coastal area.
Melbourne team “Triple R Thursdays” Deanna Blegg and Gavin Allen were the winners of the Classic course, with Deanna’s previous experience as a racer helping her team-mate Gavin over the line as he enjoyed his first ever adventure race. Deanna and Gavin said they enjoyed the variety of the course, from rock-hopping along the stunning coastline to navigating the single tracks for mountain bike, as well as the river paddle.
The exciting first race of the Adventure Cup Series Upper Murray Challenge was greeted by a beautiful Spring day as participants set off in Khancoban last weekend. The sun was shining, the breeze was cool and the beautiful blue sky and surrounding mountains made for an ideal background for the event. Much like the weather, the Upper Murray Challenge was challenging, brutal and spectacular in all of its glory.
Racers lined up for their race at the main plaza of Khancoban and soon took off for a 28-kilometre cycle. This track consisted of 4WD trails, three sections of single tracks filled with steep hills and descents, and some spectacular paddock sections along the river. This course was a great opportunity for the racers to check out the nearby rapids before paddling back through them afterwards. The ride was slightly modified this year and has since received a lot of positive feedback.
It has been discussed for a while and now Adventure Cup is finally official - three of Australia’s best Multisport races have been united into one ranking system to inspire and motivate participants to put their kayak, mountain bike and running skills to the test.
If that isn’t enough there is a $4000 cash prize pool for individual winners of the Adventure Cup series! What is somewhat unique is that all categories (not just solo competitors) can compete for the title and the series points are given according to race overall ranking positions.
Sprint Series Adventure Race in Anglesea is fast approaching, and we welcome onboard a new partner Brubeck Australia/New Zealand with high quality thermoactive wear.
Which means more quality prizes for you!
Brubeck is a company located in Poland that positions itself to be a leader in the thermoactive clothing market. It prides itself on the fact that the company is located in a town in Poland that has long been known for its wool weaving tradition thus giving full control of the quality of production from creating the yarn to packaging finished products.
Spring has finally sprung and we are thrilled to announce that registrations are now open for the 2018 (the second edition) East Gippsland Adventure Challenge. The first Summer race will be held within the stunningly scenic East Gippsland Lake Entrance.
This exciting event will take place over the weekend of 1-2 December and we encourage you to use this event as an excuse to have a fun weekend away prior the start of the Christmas chaos! Three separate races will take place over the two days, including the Multisport race, O-Duathlon and Kids Challenge.
This European summer I took an opportunity to visit parents and to do few races, including three rogaines. One of them - 10 hour “Dusk till dawn” – as the same suggests- was overnight race we finished 1st, then 6 hour Solo –in pretty tough conditions- 30+ degrees, with detailed map- I came second. Finale was 18 hour Russian Championships on mountain bike we made couple of serious mistakes and came 4th.
I had a bit of re-thinking afterwards how it could be done better and here is a collection of thoughts which can be helpful for beginner-intermediate rogainers/adventure racers.
There are lots of rumoгrs about Tiger Adventure and Trevor Mullens, the man behind it. We know, Tiger Adventure signed up four expedition course teams to Alpine Quest, and we decided to interview Trevor and get some insides:
Why Adventure Racing? What do you like the most about AR?
I love exercise, I love adventure, I love going to places most people don’t go, I love the journey, I am competitive by nature, I love to challenge myself, I love team sports. AR is the ultimate physical and mental challenge. It has everything an adventurous person loves. Best sport ever created.
We didn’t go get it like one other team. Start was go and swim across the river. Nearly at the other side and Tim Boote's team turned around and swam back for something they forgot. And then I heard another team ask if they had their tracker and I thought we didn’t get ours or talk of this. Haha. Serge suggest we be quiet and continue and they will bring it to next TA and we get penalty.
I love Rogaines. By saying that, I also love racing well, racing in new places, and racing on difficult maps. I think these three usually do not peacefully co-exist. Anyway, I’m in Melbourne, and family is still back in Russia, so I thought I might do some training – racing – scouting and hanging outdoors on weekends as much as possible.
With Josh we planned to go to the Hells Bells race in Brisbane straight after our win at Geo-half back in June. We were thinking to get together a team of four, but it is always a hard work. I was lucky enough to meet Sorcha, her athletic bio and attitude was looking promising, so I just went straight and proposed to race with us. She said “yes” in a matter of minutes and we started our dialog.
Upper Murray Challenge is one of the oldest and toughest Australian Multisport races and will be held on 6th of October in the Kosciuszko National Park foothills. The race features an exciting 25 km downriver paddle, challenging run with a stunning off - road section through Mt Elliot and demanding 28 km mountain bike leg.
With less than 2 months to go we have finally confirmed a new MTB course
