Participants in previous Adrenathon events
Photos Gordon Millar
Adrenalin junkies and fitness novices alike will convene at Glenworth Valley over the weekend of August 30 and 31 to compete in a test of mental and physical toughness, skill and adaptability, all in the name of charity.
Adrenathon consists of a blend of challenges designed to stretch the boundaries of individuals and groups alike.
Founder Briel Uriel said he was proud of how far the event had come from its modest beginnings four years ago.
He said the idea for Adrenathon came from wanting to share his and his wife’s experiences of life and travel.
This transformed into the idea of a race that would “let people get away from their everyday lives and experience some true adventure”.
Despite the growth of the event thus far, Briel said he was adamant that it was the sense of intimacy that differentiated Adrenathon from larger, more commercialised adventure races.
“The vision of Adrenathon is to keep the races quite small in the size of participants, but really reaching the correct crowd,” said Briel.
The overnight camping and the opportunity to meet people around the campfire was one factor which Briel said set Adrenathon apart from other adventure races.
“It really makes it different from going to a race for two hours, sticking with who you know, and then going home,” he explained.
Another key feature of Adrenathon is its longstanding association with charity.
After previously aligning itself with larger national charities, Adrenathon 2014 will be supporting Central Coast charity Homeless No More.
Briel praised the work of the local charity and said that in larger organisations “a lot of money tends to fall between the cracks”.
With Homeless No More, “I know that every dollar that is given is going to somebody’s home, somebody’s rent, somebody’s food”.
He cites a “100% success rate” as another reason the race has thrown its weight behind the small charity, specifically mentioning Homeless No More founder Elissa Scott.
“Whoever calls her office and says ‘I don’t have a home or food’, she finds them that,” said Briel.
With such positive traditions already evident in the event’s short history, it’s no surprise that Briel has trouble choosing just one special memory from over the years.
He nominates a moment last year after the event when he and volunteers had finished packing up and were enjoying a rest, sitting and eating leftovers from the dinner the night before.
“I was staring around at about 15 people and I was saying to myself, ‘I’m the luckiest person in the world to have these 15 people helping me out’,” he said.
He praised the work of all the volunteers that help out with the event, calling the amount of effort that goes in to setting up the two-day race “crazy”.
Another feature of the race that changes yearly is the theme, with this year being the ‘battle of the tribes’.
Briel said his inspiration for this year’s theme was from seeing videos of tribes in the Amazon rainforest.
“It made me think, what would a tribe need to survive?
“What would make a strong tribe?
“What are the morals and ethics we have?
“It really suits the type of race we run, the working as a team,” he said.
Adrenathon itself consists of three different races, each containing different events to suit a variety of competitors.
The Day Adventure, held on Saturday, August 30, includes a navigation race, lunch and a photograph.
The Ultimate Adventure is over both days and includes a night camping in the valley, as well as an orienteering trek, a kayak race, and a mystery event.
This year will also see the introduction of a trail run at 7am on the Saturday with 5km, 10km and 21.1km lengths offered.
Various obstacles are scattered through the races, promising to test the strength of individuals and teams.
“We want it to be a get together where people sit around the campfire and have a drink, a good feed, get to know each other, and then say ‘I’ll see you next year at Adrenathon,” said Briel.
Lachlan Leeming,
5 Aug 2014
Interviewee: Briel Uriel
Website, 9 Aug 2014
Adrenathon