The 2010 XPD Australia, taking place in Cairns over the past week, is over, with BlackHeart.com.au crossing the finish line in first place after more than seven days of racing. They were joined on the podium by McCain Adventure Addicts of South Africa and Team Merrell/Akali, a mixed team from France, New Zealand, and Canada, in second and third place respectively.
The expedition length adventure race challenged teams of four to run, trek, mountain bike, paddle, and navigate their way through some of the most challenging backcountry that Queensland, Australia has to offer. The athletes found themselves in kayaks on wild whitewater rivers as well as the sea, while they hiked through rainforests and biked challenging single track.
The winning team reached the finish line several hour ahead of the second place finishers, but it was not as easy as it would seem from just glancing at the leaderboard. Team Orion Adventure was at the front of the pack, pushing Blackheart hard late in the race, but that outstanding team was forced to withdraw due to an ankle injury to one of the team members when they were on the final leg of the race.
Congratulations to BlackHeart.com.au on an outstanding race. To find out more about the XPD, head over to Adventure World Magazine, where they’ve followed the events much more closely than I have this past week. They’ve even posted a very good profile on McCain Adventure Addicts, a team that recorded their best finish ever in an International race.
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Congratulations. I'm hoping that the team will take home the gold prize this year once more.