Adventure run organiser prepares for Dirt N Dust

Julia Creek is ready to get dusty for its big event on the weekend, and the adventure run’s organiser is satisfied with the preparations.

Sam Stedman said everything is on track for the fourth adventure run at Dirt N Dust. Picture: Shae Beplate.

The organiser of the Julia Creek Dirt N Dust adventure run said everything is “on track” as he prepares to spend three days installing the obstacle course, which will include a mud pit and a climbing net.

Townsville based Outer Limits Adventure Fitness director Sam Stedman expected more than 250 participants to sign up for the course at the weekend’s event from across the outback and coastal cities.

“The model is that the course is like life in the outback, it throws you a few challenges every now and then and you use whatever you can find to get through it,” he said.

It is the fourth year since the Dirt N Dust committee restructured the event about 650km south west of Townsville, so that the former triathlon was replaced with the adventure course.

Mr Stedman said the adventure run was included to add value to the weekend’s event which will also include country music, a rodeo, the Artesian Express Horse Races, and Australia’s Best Butt competition.

Former Australia's Best Butt Competition winners Scott Banney, Townsville, and Ellen Dallavanzi, Julia Creek.

Thousands of people are expected to visit the town which had a population of 550 people.

Although Outer Limits worked on numerous events throughout the year, the Dirt N Dust adventure run was unique to Mr Stedman.

“And it really only works because people in Julia Creek and their committee and the locals and the council support the events so well,” he said.

“We are able to use with the council’s support the machinery and digging holes and making the mud for us.

Former adventure run competitors Jess Capes, Sam Hall and Isabella Duggan. Picture: Evan Morgan

“And we get hay bales from the farmers and tyres from the tip.”

“All throughout the year I’m kind of stockpiling and then I turn up there and I see what the council has in the used parts department.

“When we build the course, we use whatever we can find and we throw a few obstacles at the people and they finish with smiles on their faces.”

Mr Stedman said there would be people from Townsville competing but also within a day’s drive of Julia Creek including Longreach, Winton, and Normanton.

But he also an expected a strong fitness following travelling east from Mount Isa.

“They don’t have access to events like we do on the coast, so when we put something like this on they turn up and support it,” he said.

McKinlay Shire mayor Janene Fegan said the Dirt N Dust committee had gone “back to basics” when it stepped forward several years ago and that “it’s been amazing what they achieved”.

She said the festival was one of the most important events for the shire and was well timed to bring the community together after the wet season.

Ms Fegan encouraged coastal visits to visit and “rollout a swag” for an action packed weekend.

Originally published as Adventure run organiser prepares for Dirt N Dust