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2009 ENTRY NOW OPEN
2009 Competitor List
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2009 Results
Check out the Results from this year's Mars Challenge...more
Race day fast approaching.
As race day nears, once again over 300 of Australia's finest competitors will embark on there journey from the Goldfields of Ballarat to the Ocean at Barwon Heads. As always, thanks to Tim Blee from Radent Kayaks, we will be drawing a major spot prize of a TK1 Kayak at the start line, so one of you will be a winner before the day even begins, all competitors are in the draw for this fantastic prize, good luck.
A reminder that you can collect your race kits (not all team members are required to do this) from the entrance to Sovereign Hill between 5-7pm on Saturday night, for those that are unable to do so, you can collect it on Sunday morning from 5.45am, obviously the less we have to process in the morning the better, so please try to get there on Sat if as it helps with a smooth start to the day.
As most will have been keeping an eye on the weather charts for the weekend, at this stage we are promised a coolish day of around 18-19 deg, possable shower, with a strengthening southerly building to 20+ kmh to slow you all down. The tide is predicted to be low at 11:53am, this usually means calm conditions for another hour or so, before turning and starting its journey back in. A southerly and incoming tide means only one thing, its a "Challenge".
Full entrant list is up on the web site for you to size up the competition, good luck to you all and we will see you on the weekend.
Cheers
Phil Waters
Race Director
Mars Challenge
www.ballaratcanoeclub.org.au
03 5334 3080 - 0438 343080
ENTRIES ARE NOW DUE
Entries are bulding for this years challenge and I encourage anyone intending to race to get there entry in asap. We have no course issues at this stage, and the only thing new for 2009 is some traffic lights at the end of the cycle stage. Police will control the lights up until 12.00pm. After this time all competitors must obey the traffic signals as per normal road rules. If you wish to enter by means other than online, dont hesitate to contact me phil.waters@bigpond.com 0438 343080.
If you are looking for a team member, or to join a team, please use the "Notice Board" to help you out.
Mars Challenge Sunday 19th April 2009
In 2001 a group of old tired wannabe athlete's who had been enjoying the JLL Mt Buller to Melbourne race for many years decided to put on their own event. Why? Because there was not enough of this type of racing around. Over the last 8 years the sport has grown a lot, Upper Murray Challenge, Rapid Ascent events, Maximum Adventure, Geocentric Adventure and TriXseries (all links on this website) have introduced quality events giving athletes a wide range of events from 3hrs to 4/5 days to choose from.
The "Mars" is proud to have been at the front of that growth and offers competitors the chance to push themselves on a very demanding course. For some it is an opportunity to race, but for many its not about racing, its the challenge of the course, its about getting to the finsh no matter what time they take. Its about the office group who put together a team, many have never done these distances before, but with a group of mates they will have a great day pushing themselves on their individual stages before enjoying a get together at the Barwon Heads Hotel to complete the day.
We look forward to staging the 9th Edition of this great race made possible only with the continued support of our long term major sponsors Mars Snackfood, and Radent Kayaks.
All the info you require is available on this site, however, if you require any further assistance don't hesitate to contact me at any stage.
Kind regards
Phil Waters / Race Director
phil.waters@bigpond.com 0353343080 / 0438343080