GeoQuest, Australia’s Premier Adventure Race, is back on from 8-11 June 2018, with Chris Dixon from Wild & Co organising the event in conjunction with Fully Rad Adventures ‘Wildside Special Edition’ event as part of the A1 Adventure Racing series.
Just two weeks ago Geocentric Outdoors, the event organisers, announced they were putting plans for the 2018 GeoQuest event on hold. This iconic event has been held on the June long weekend annually over the last 16 years, and has introduced thousands of athletes to adventure racing.
Chris Dixon said “I saw how disappointed the athletes around the country were that this incredible event was being postponed, and having been a competitor myself in this magnificent race, I know how important GeoQuest is to our AR community. So I reached out to Geocentric to see if there was anything I could do to keep the event going this year and beyond.”
Craig Bycroft said “There were many factors leading to our decision to postpone, including our increasing commitments to the AR World Series, and with the opportunity now for Chris to take over, we decided it was the right time to step away from running this race. We are super excited that Chris is going to continue the tradition of GeoQuest.”
The race is famous for it’s consistently high quality courses, which are well balanced for both experienced athletes and teams new to adventure racing. Louise Foulkes said “We had already developed a draft course outline for the 2018 event and will be passing this over to Chris to continue planning.”
Fully Rad Adventures have already planned a ‘Wildside Special Edition’ race for the weekend, so for 2018 GeoQuest will be run in conjunction with the Fully Rad Adventures event to bring together a truly historic race. Entries will open on the 4th March and include a special early bird period. The HQ location is approximately 4 hours drive North of Sydney and will also be announced on this date.
The GeoQuest event has been held annually since 2002 and hundreds of teams from around Australia and overseas have been part of this annual pilgrimage of adventure racing. Teams of four athletes race non-stop in the disciplines of mountain biking, trekking and kayaking for up to 52 hours. They choose to enter either the full course or the half course and their team composition can be Premier Mixed, All Female or All Male.
Wild & Co is also the event organiser of the Hells Bells 24hr Adventure Race in Queensland. “Like in a race itself, great team members are critical to successfully organising a race. To ensure GeoQuest maintains its top reputation we are putting together a capable and experienced team to organise the event into the future. David Schloss will continue to work with the team bringing a wealth of competitor and race director experience in the areas of course design, competition management and logistics. Running the 2018 event in conjunction with Richard Old and Fully Rad Adventures and as part of the A1 Adventure Racing Series will be an exciting opportunity to bring together the AR community and ensure that the GeoQuest legacy is maintained.”
