Race Report

Race1: Battle The Barge 2014 March 15

Man Vs Machine

Man Vs Machine in "Battle the Barge" The Humans went out hard during the battle with Johnathan Crowe leading the charge against the machines and with only 1km to go. It looked as though a Human Victory was immanent however we know that part of the takeover of the machines is that they become "self aware". Unfortunately in the final kilometer the Fantasea Barge took the lead straight from Johnathan Crowe's hands taking the win by a boat length.

The Top 3 paddlers across the line overall were:

1. Johnathan Crowe 01:10:01 (only 31 seconds behind the Barge) 2. Ian Wright 01:14:53 3. Johnny Gray 01:15:21

FULL RESULTS PAGE AVAILABLE ON NQOPS SITE: CLICK HERE With the Sprint series points going to:

1. Troy Bower (by a boat length...this guy can sprint) 2. Charlie Wilkie (dusting off competitors 20-30 years his junior) 3. Adam Smith (close and aggressive sprint carried over well from last season)

The Top 3 Long Course female competitors:

1. Tanya Moohin (Ski) (actually beating most of the men's field and placing 9th overall)

2. Coral Darbishire (OC1) (also beating most of the men's field and placing 13th overall)

3. Jo Koy (Ski)

Saturday we saw a great line up of paddlers "Raging against the machine" and with a target of around one hour twenty to beat the Barge it looked as though we were set for Human domination against the machines. Looking down the results page you can see many paddlers less than 1 hour 20 which was the expected barge time. Based on this we would have had 7 of you beating the Barge and a heap of you get really close!

FULL RESULTS PAGE AVAILABLE ON NQOPS SITE: CLICK HERE Here are some other paddlers that got really close to beating the Barge: Lee Sennet 01:18:47 Charlie Wilkie 01:19:32 Adam Smith 01:19:57 Sam Stedman 01:20:22 Tania Moohin 01:20:40 Luke Smythe 01:22:16 Ryan Holdsworth 01:22:47 Jake Taylor 01:23:21 Coral Darbishire 01:24:53 Troy Bower 01:25:33 Brad Skinner 01:25:43 Dave Symington 01:25:51 The Day Started very calm but once the paddlers got out into the open ocean the conditions quickly became testing with a technical wind direction change and increase in wind power creating less stability on the menu for most (of course this is what the best paddlers dream of and used it as a ride home). Others tacked East early to quickly ride the swell; some actually passing paddlers that were in front in the process.

(Some great reports of catching a few great runners back to the finish area after the wind came up)

The 6 Man Outrigger teams put together by Townsville Outriggers & Magnetic Island Outriggers set a cracking pace, keeping up with the ski's for a long time and then passing half the field by the conclusion of the race. The Outrigger team option is a great way for people to be part of a group enjoying the ocean where you can be more social and enjoy the experience together (certainly a change from most solo endurance sports). In the end the Townsville Outriggers 1 team edged in just ahead of Magnetic Island Outriggers 1 team by 19 seconds.

The crossing from the Townsville mainland to Magnetic Island is quickly becoming a must do for paddlers traveling to the region and this year we have seen a large increase in the amount of paddlers that have travelled from Cairns and Mackay. It was also great to see so many people returning a year later to try and beat their time and performance in the same patch of water (some with new boats and new skills). The Short Course was a real hoot & for many with the new 5 lap Short course keeping entrants in calm and controlled waters with a 750m length between buoys (which blew out a couple hundred metres more per lap to around 900 per lap).

The New Multi Lap Short course made for some great spectating and the ability for new paddlers to take on some paddling with less exposure to the elements. This year we were joined by some lovely SUP racers from In the loop who were getting ready for some SUP racing soon to launch at the NQ Games in April (we look forward to helping integrate a larger number of the SUP racers into the series for the 2014 series).

The Short Course was lead early by Brendan Lulham, Jaime Symington & Peter Mckillop. Very close at the start with first time Female entrant Maureen O'Connor keeping very close to the male lead bunch & Ally Lawler a boat length behind.

Brendan soon got a descent lead on the bunch of over a minute and the top 3 males were about a minute from each other, each speeding up a little as they spotted how close they were at the turns. The top 2 Females were hitting it out in a very competitive manner with Maureen continuing her amazing technique and building a lead of up to 4 boat lengths at one point.

Young James Symington made a great move pulling back some time on the last 2 laps with Brendan showing signs of fatigue but he had built a solid enough lead to come in 51 seconds ahead by the end.

By lap 3 The Female Leader Maureen called out to the race director if she could have some water as she must have run out but as the race director had none on board the Jetski so she had to go on with no extra water.

Let us remember that this took place during the hottest part of the day and athlete's water intake could go up as much as 60% during this time (hence why she may have run out). With 2% loss of hydration leading to a 10% reduction in athletic output it was a race of attrition and Ally Lawler went past her eventually with Camelback in her PFD.

Keep tabs on Maureen as she has only been paddling 3 months and is showing great signs of a competitive streak and great technique.

It's great to see the first glimmers of friends and family being introduced to ocean paddling in the Short Course. make sure you check the full results page FULL RESULTS PAGE AVAILABLE ON NQOPS SITE: CLICK HERE We would like to thank all our volunteers for Battle The Barge including our water safety & Arcadian SLSC. This event would not have been as successful without you guys! We look forward to seeing both the Long and Short Course competitors at River Rush April 26th where the long Courses will travel 18km from South Townsville boat ramp to Pallarenda Beach & the Short courses will do a similar Short multi-lap style event (this time 8km on the dot) heading into the wind/swell and back with it.

Find out more info on River Rush: CLICK HERE

Upcoming races: