Mountain Designs Wild Women become first ever all-female team to win adventure race
A teacher has helped rewrite the history books after guiding her all-female adventure racing team through a gruelling 450km, three day event tackling everything from mountain biking to river kayaking to beat the blokes.
Sunshine Coast
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A Sunshine Coast teacher has helped rewrite the history books after guiding her all-female adventure racing team through a gruelling 450km, three day event.
Sunshine Beach State High School teacher Kim Beckinsale, 56, captained the Mountain Designs Wild Women team and was joined by Alina McMaster (55, Jindabyne, NSW), Del Lloyd (44, Mt Macedon, Victoria) and Cass Kimlin (43, Hervey Bay, Queensland).
The Legend Race at Apollo Bay was a 450km non-stop race, with the course open for 6 days, including 13 endurance stages of mountain and coastal trekking, mountain biking, ocean, river and lake kayaking.
The four women were able to cross the finish line on February 28 with a time of 73:09:27.
Full male team MMI ‘The Band’ crossed the finish line with a time of 71:04:53 but were docked a four hour time penalty for failing to reach two checkpoints.
The Wild Women’s victory was the first time in the 23 year global history to be won by an all-female team.
Teams had to stay together at all times and collect all of the checkpoints on the route, navigating by map and compass, and only taking a few hours sleep during the whole race.
The Wild Woman endured a tough start to the race when Beckinsale and McMaster fell ill.
“Alina (McMaster) got seasick on the first paddle and I got sick on the fourth leg (mountain biking),” Beckinsale said.
“This meant we had to go slow and or stop to rest and recover.
“We stopped for 45 mins, I spewed up and then we kept going while I took it easy for the next 10 or so hours and the girls carried my gear.”
Beckinsale said she was extremely proud of her team.
“It was so uplifting to think that this was the first time an all-women’s team had won an ARWS adventure race, I was so proud of the girls and our team as I could not think of a more fitting team to achieve this honour,” she said.
“We are still on a big high and it is so fantastic that the wider community is finding out about our achievement and asking us so many questions, as usually we just slip back into our normal roles of work, life racing and training and forget about just what it is that we have achieved.”
She said historically the mixed teams are considered the premier category.
“As we were not racing as a mixed team, we were not eligible for the spot to race at the World Championships or any major prizes,” she said.
“This moment is life changing for women as it just shows the world that anything is possible and that women can do anything, gender is no barrier.”
To put their victory into further context, the mixed gender team that will be going to the World Championships (Blunder Bus) crossed the line in a time of 98:18:52.
Beckinsale, who also runs Tri Adventure coaching business with her partner, thanked Mountain Designs and the team’s wider sponsors for their support.
“Adventure racing is not a sport to be feared, honestly almost anyone can sign up and develop the skills to have a go at a small race, then if they get hooked like we all did, well then go out and learn more from those people who you meet at events and step up to something bigger,” she said.
“You get to travel the state, country and even the world by immersing yourself in nature for the duration of the event.
“We remove ourselves from technology and just embrace whatever comes our way, and we usually have so much fun and get to meet so many amazing people along the way.
“My partner and I launched the first ever all women’s adventure race in Australia in 2012 called the Wild Women AR and this year’s event is on the Sunshine Coast.”
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