Thanks to Rebecca Hall from Adventurethon for supplying this article. Adventurethon’s organisers put together this adventure event.

The International Adventure Games sent families, friends and corporate teams on an ‘Amazing Race’ around the tropical Magnetic Island on Saturday. The weather offered the perfect weekend as the sun blazed; light winds soothed and the crystal blue waters set the scene for adventure…

As well as covering distance, there were a range of mini activities and puzzles to be solved which kept the crowd active, entertained and engaged. From abseiling to kayaking, and basketball to taste testing beers and soft drink; these challenges were designed to test competitors’ minds, luck and skills.

The event coordinators admit the secret was all about analysing, familiarising and working around the bus timetable: Using the island bus service offered a great advantage in covering maximum ground to reach each checkpoint as contenders were able to comb the island a lot faster.

RESULTS

Long Course – five hours

The five-hour long course was suitable for the more competitive or confident, allowing more time to reach those far checkpoints at Picnic and Horseshoe Bays.

The SeaLink Dugongs.

Corporate Category

Corporate teams were the most determined to gather as many points as possible before the five-hour time limit with a $4,000 marketing spend by 106.3FM and Harshmellow Marketing & Design up for grabs. A big congratulations to the Sealink Dugongs for swimming into first place on 1455 points and scoring this amazing prize; especially with tough competition from Team Outer Limits. Comparing theses scores really shows how strategy can put you in front of the game, as Team Outer Limits covered 40km in comparison to the 25km covered by Team Sealink Dugongs. It’s safe to say it all comes down to your success at each checkpoint rather than just reaching it. Team Tropical Punch was close in the ranking coming third place with 1210 points.

Abseiling was one of the many challenges.

Mixed Category

It was only a five-point breaker between first and second place with Team Paw Paw Pants coming through on top with 1460 points: the highest scoring points overall on the five-hour long course. Team Lady Bugs flew into second place with 1455 points, followed by Team Yoghurt in third place on 1370 points. It was a great effort by The Frizzies Team: They were able to crank up their points by completing the majority of challenges. They would have secured a spot in the top three if it wasn’t for points being deducted for incorrect answers.

Men’s Category

Team Safety First secured first place with 1370 points and certainly had our vote for being the best partiers at our X-Base After Party on Saturday afternoon! We are tossing up whether Team Drunk Compass lived up to their name and had too much fun at the Picnic Bay Hotel Beer tasting challenge, but they did make it back before the five-hour time limit in second place on 1265 points.

Female Category

We had a great amount of girls’ teams on the weekend with Team Spider Pigs trotting into first place with 830 points. Team Blew Past You did, in fact, blow past a number of teams to claim second position on 765 points. On 735 points, Team The Long & Short of It took third honours.

Short Course – two hours

The two-hour short course was perfect for families and friends to get together and have a fun time. It was fantastic to see parents and kids have a ball and we were so glad Captain Active could make an appearance and get involved to encourage healthy eating and physical activity.

Captain Active taking on an entire team in the Tug of War Challenge.

Family Category

It would have taken great family cooperation to take on the challenges and solve mysterious puzzles within the Nelly Bay and Arcadia area. Team Island Skylanders placed number one with 665 points, followed by Team Dastardly Dummets on 615 points. We have no doubt Drew’s Birthday Adventurers had a great weekend celebrating Drew’s Birthday, topping it off with a third placing on 610 points.

Mixed Category

First in this category was Team Latitude 19, which did a fantastic job netting 785 points; especially considering one team member was injured. A huge thank you goes to Linda and Adrian from Team Latitude 19 for their fast and hard work on scoring. These guys have great knowledge and experience about orienteering events that are very similar to Adventure Games, which gave them a great advantage. Team Maggie Island Bootcamp claimed second place on 615 points with Team Cleaky not far behind on 595 points.

For full results see here: www.iatgames.com.

Taste testing gives you wings.

How to get involved in something similar

If you would like to participate in more events like this, Linda and Adrian from the Totally Tropical Orienteering Club organise orienteering events in the Townsville area. Head to the TTOC Facebook Page to find out more.