These days there are plenty of events to cater to the adventure needs of the outdoors lover. From the small fun-runs to the multi-day endurance events, there’s a myriad of events out there to choose from. One such event however is very different from the rest… it’s an event that combines ocean paddling, mountain bike riding and trail running – three challenging disciplines in their own right. Throw them all together and you get one of the toughest adventure events in Australia today. The event, is Adventurethon.

Despite the high level of difficulty, the event organisers have taken the smart step of opening it up to athletes of all abilities. The Adventurethon does this by having five classes of event to cater to everyone, children included. The hardest category is the Ultra-Adventurethon, with maximum distances across all disciplines. This is the balls to the wall, no holds barred event for super-athletes and the fitter of the social adventure crew. Next comes the Dirty Duathlon, a land-based event for those that prefer to stay away from the salt and sharks of the ocean! The Enduro Adventurethon is the slightly shorter version of the Ultra event, giving athletes a decent taste of each discipline as they work up to doing the full blown event in the future. For the social crew, the Taste of Adventurethon is a far shorter version of all disciplines that can be finished in an hour or two. And then last but not least, the Junior Adventurethon, a closely supervised mini event for the under 18s.

The Adventurethon concept has proved so popular it’s rapidly spreading across the country, with five events across QLD, NSW and WA now on the annual calendar. The next event, in NSW’s Coffs Harbour on 12-13 October, should be a highlight of the calendar with rugged coastline and National Parks offering a stunning, if challenging course for competitors.

These are amazing events for the adventurous types and offer some truly spectacular paddling opportunities. Of course there’s only one try way to find out though, and that’s to experience it yourself. The good news is that the Coffs Harbour event is still taking registrations, so there’s no excuse not to get onboard. Cheers, FP

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