The event that sets competitors up to fail rather than finish has been conquered by not one, not two, but three competitors. Austrian Louis Schindler and New Zealanders Angus Watson and Shaun Collins all finished the gruelling Revenant Ultra Adventure Run under the 60-hour cut off time to create history in being the first to ever successfully complete the event.
The event, which was held at Welcome Rock, above Garston, on Blackmore Station, saw competitors challenged over more than 190km and 16,000m of vertical ascent in 60 hours with no support team and only a map and a compass to guide them.
Race director Scott Worthington said he always knew the race was doable and that everything came together on race weekend (January 17-19) to allow the race to finally be conquered.
“The start this year was in the light, the weather was perfect, the competitors had seen the checkpoints from last year and we introduced a new feature called The Box which contained some good news that would encourage them to go deeper into the race. So with all this the stars aligned and a finish required a supremely fit athlete in both body and mind, and we got three of them.”
Angus Watson was one of the first to ever to complete the gruelling Revenant Ultra Adventure Run
The event lost several competitors before it began, he said, with several of the entered runners being deployed to Australia to help fight bushfires currently burning in the country.
A total of 25 competitors took part in the event, and the response from them had been “overwhelmingly powerful” Mr Worthington said.
“Now we have had some finish, the question everyone was asking was ‘will the course change?’. The answer is there will be some small modifications to keep the course fresh. This means those that have attempted it will be able to profit from their learning but they will have some new challenges to face, otherwise it wouldn’t be the Revenant.”
The date for the 2021 event would be announced this month he said, with entries opening soon after.
US Navy Seal Chadd Wright (left) and German competitor Andreas Borger battle through the 2020 challenge
“I have a feeling we will fill all the spots very quickly, so incredible has been the response,” Mr Worthington said. “I’m still buzzing from the race. You will not find a better group of human beings, competitors and volunteers.”
This article was originally written for The Advocate. You can read the published version here
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