The Terra Nova 24 hour Adventure Race will return to the Shoalhaven region on the weekend of April 6/7th, and this time the race will be based in the coastal hamlet of Kioloa, on the South coast of NSW.
Kioloa is located half way between Ulladulla and Batemans Bay and known for its beautiful beaches, ocean front camping, family-friendly atmosphere and lookouts to spot migrating whales and other wildlife.
It's close to Murramarang National Park, and has stunning views of nearby Belowa Island which protects the beach from big swells, making it a great beach for fishing, families and most importantly for kayaking!
Chris Dixon, Wild & Co Event Director said, “We’re very excited to be heading to Kioloa at the southern end of Shoalhaven. It's the perfect location to start and finish an Adventure Race and gives us access to the ocean and some of the best trails the region has to offer.
“We've got an exciting new course and can't wait to show off trails Terra Nova has never been to before. For something special, full course teams have an ocean kayak leg to start! After the success of the ocean kayak at the Legend Expedition Race in February this is an experience we want to offer to teams whenever we can.”
The race is part of the Adventure Racing World Series Oceania calendar and is the second of 5 overnight or multiday races on the Wild & Co calendar this year, running alongside a series 6 hour sprint races. Terra Nova is now in its 5th year and growing in popularity, and will once again have a record entry with 93 teams of 2 and 4, and 264 racers taking part. (That’s more than the population of Kioloa at the last census!)
Terra Nova is always held in the Shoalhaven region, which has easy access from both Canberra and Sydney, and offers an amazing variety of landscapes, making the area a perfect adventure racing destination. (In the past the area has staged the Adventure Racing World Championships.) Previous Terra Nova races have been held from Huskisson, Callala Bay, Kangaroo Valley and Ulladulla.
Racers will not know the full course until the briefing just before the start, but do have a race planner to work from. The full course will have 8 stages, including the ocean paddle, a river kayak, 4 cycle stages and 3 treks. Transitions between disciplines are frequent in Terra Nova and well organised teams can gain a lot of time while they are going nowhere!
Transition speed and experience will count and so will navigation. Dixon promises some off-trail travel deep into the local forestry and says, “Full course teams should be ready to take a bearing and push their way through dense undergrowth.” Dixon’s courses always have stages where checkpoints can be visited in any order, allowing teams to use their map skills.
There will be some coasteering of course, as the area is well known for this, and Dixon added, “There will be a bit of adventure along the way too, with creek crossings on bikes, some beach riding, an underwater check point early in the race (depending on conditions) and at least one section where teams will have to ford a body of water carrying their bikes (full course only).”
The race website does say “Expect this to be tough – this event is only for those who can race and complete a hard core challenge.” The challenge is what everyone is signed up for and all of the teams will experience a fun weekend in the great outdoors and have the chance to explore new places as they work together to reach the finish line.
Some will be racing for the win and the race line up looks competitive, but it isn’t easy to find a favourite. There is a new generation of racers coming through to take on the established teams, with a growing base of experience at Wild & Co races to draw on.
‘Resultz Racing’ placed highly at Top Dog 24 last year and at Terra Nova 2022, ‘Jungle Edge’ will be looking to defend their title and the ‘Bridge Jumping Brothers’ with Stephen Maskiell and Jamie Cohen racing will be chasing a win after placing second overall at the Hells Bells race. ‘Team Bolting Ningas’ is the most experienced Premier Mixed pair with Josh Street from Team Thunderbolt racing with Kathryn Morland, who was on the winning team at the 2022 Terra Nova.
The race begins on Saturday morning with teams dropping their bikes off and registering, followed by a race briefing before everyone gathers on the start line and the race begins at 11.30am.
For those watching from a distance there will be live web coverage and tracking which you can find at https://www.terranova24.com.au/live and on the Wild & Co. Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/wldnco
Terra Nova is made possible with the support of major sponsor Mountain Designs, and you can find out more about the race at: https://www.terranova24.com.au
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