Another year and another fantastic day….well after the fog eventually lifted! Thank you again to all who participated in the event and for your continued positive feedback. We had a 30% increase in entries this year and having done the event in the past when there were 200 plus teams we’d love to see those numbers again in the future so spread the word for 2018.
With regard to next year, we have been speaking to the owner of Polaris Bikewear and originator of the initial Polaris Challenge, concept in the UK and will be working with him to incorporate his “Polaris Challenge” App into the event. Having each participant using this technology will enable scoring to be updated on a live basis and should see us in a position to be doing the presentations shortly after the last riders arrive back at the Event Centre. We will have further details on this to you shortly.
Now, back to the weekend. Firstly, my apologies again for the incorrect co-ordinates on the Deakin Bus Shelter – that was my fault. As an organiser it’s a pretty sinking feeling when you get a telephone call 15 minutes after the start, but we fixed it quickly and after that there were no more problems. In fact later riders thought it was a gimmick we’d introduced for the day!
But, more importantly, the greatest concern for us is rider safety and I’m pleased to report that there were no incidents this year which is just wonderful. The final results can be viewed here and a big shout goes out to Sam and Doug Moffitt of the Pearshaped Gumbys who smashed the course by visiting every checkpoint, travelling over 160 km’s on the day, but…… they were back late so got penalised 50 points (and saved our blushes in the process!).
The team at UP HQ love statistics so here are some facts from the day:
Most visited checkpoints:
- Waterloo Bridge Stones (South) 114
- Waterloo Bridge Stones (North) 111
- Class “D” bus shelter – Griffith 109
- Class “C” bus shelter – Ainslie 108
- ABC Canberra Studios 107
Least visited checkpoints
- Theodore Grinding Grooves 13
- Tuggeranong Schoolhouse 14
- Tuggers Weather Station 16
- Point Hut Pond 16
- Centenary Trail – Isaacs 19
We know your map reading skills are alive and well given that 40 teams made it to Coombes shelter (Pink-tailed Worm Lizard) despite no streets being marked on the map.
Special team mentions
- “The Carnivores” - only visited four checkpoints but the four they went to were the most Northerly, Easterly, Westerly and Southerly!!!
- “The Crankstein Bros.” – had team bib 13 last year but we didn’t print it upside down as is standard cycle protocol (and had an early mishap). We allocated them a correctly printed “13” team bib this year and they finished overall (you guessed it!) 13th
- “Old Foolds on the Hill” and “Team Bushkin” – the only two teams out of 125 to actually finish in exactly 7 hours
- And, 5 pairs of teams drew – same points with the same time giving the same overall rank (up from only one pair of drawn teams last year)
We will have some photos and checkpoint information up on the web-site soon. In the meantime thanks again and safe riding from the National Trust Urban Polaris Team.