|
|
|
|
 |
||
 |
| Navy conquers three peaks By AB Carolyn Docking Edition 5008, 17 May, 2007 |
||||||||
First conducted in 1989, the race is a major Tasmanian sporting event attracting large crowds and extensive media coverage. It is a non-stop event featuring three mountain marathons with sailing legs in between each run. The race commenced at Beauty Point in Tasmania’s north on Good Friday and over the next four days, runners scaled Mt Strzelecki on Flinders Island, Mt Freycinet on Tasmania’s east coast and Mt Wellington in Hobart. Reservist LCDR David Jones offered his catamaran Absolute Waterfront for the race and carried Team Navy Gold that included runners CMDR Andy Clowes and AB Simon Scott. Team Navy Gold was commended in the early stages of the race to Flinders Island after they provided assistance to another Three Peaks competitor Creative Intension after she ran aground. Skipper LCDR David Jones said they were becalmed when race control requested them to go to the yacht’s assistance. “We were about five miles away and it was dark by the time we got there,” he said. “We disconnected the anchor rope and tied it to his main halyard and then tilted the boat.” It was dark by the time Team Navy Gold reached Lady Barron and the two runners ran the first course in the dark and finished in eight hours, fifty four minutes and thirty five seconds. Clowes and Scott were the only team to run all the legs in the dark and encountered shocking conditions on Mt Wellington with -7 degrees at the pinnacle and sleet. Team Navy Gold finished the 335 nautical mile sailing legs and 131 kilometres of mountain runs in a time of four days, nine hours, twenty minutes and four seconds and came third in the Cruising division. Navy entered a second group Team Navy Blue who sailed on Interum under the direction of civilian skipper Craig King. Four runners shared the burden of the Three Peaks race with Leut Matt Keogh and AB Paul Degelder the first to run on Mt Strzelecki in a time of nine hours, fifty minutes and ten seconds. Leut Debra Neil and LS Jenny Macrow made an all girl team for the Mt Freycinet run and managed a good time of seven hours, thirty two minutes and thirty eight seconds. Mt Wellington was a team effort and all four runners completed the course together. LEUT Debra Neil ran an admirable race with painful knees and LEUT Matt Keogh also injured a knee on the way down the mountain. Injuries and exhaustion were quickly forgotten when they reached Hobart’s wharf area and crossed the line to cheers from team mates in a time of four hours, fifty two minutes and twenty one seconds. The race was a huge achievement for LEUT Debra Neil who had only been running seriously for the last eighteen months. “I was a social runner and then started getting serious and going into fun runs,” she said. “Matt (LEUT Keogh) sent me a defgram and asked whether we should have a go.” “I knew nothing about it (Three Peaks) but decided to have a go at it. “I found out about it in the November and started training as soon as the signal came out to say we had been selected.” LEUT Neil said she progressed to longer runs and did not take any time off from training over Christmas. She said her seven-year-old son rode his bike while she ran. “The hardest thing with training was the longer training runs and getting my son looked after while I was on the runs,” LEUT Neil said. “The high point was meeting all the rest of the team and knowing we have all come from nowhere and achieved so much.” “We came from all over Australia and our personalities have all gelled.” A cocktail party was held to give the runners and crews a chance to socialise and thank reservists who had volunteered their time as support crew. Navy Headquarters Tasmania CO CMDR Mark Burling congratulated the competitors on their success in completing the Three Peaks Race. “You met the challenge and have done yourselves and the Navy proud,” he said. “We didn’t win but placings are of far less importance than the considerable achievement of just completing the event.” “You ensured the Navy had a high positive profile and I know you demonstrated the professionalism, team work and application of Navy’s best. “I am sure the ANR people involved felt part of the Navy and I’m sure you all gained personally from the experience.” |
