Weekend warriors adventure by the thousand at Lorne

This weekend’s Anaconda Adventure Race National Series finale at Lorne, Victoria, is as much about the weekend warrior as elite racers. More than 1200 amateur adventure racers will descend on the seaside township this Sunday and among the individual and team entries will be plenty of inspiring grassroots stories including seven-time stalwarts and a father-son team duel.

Tony Freijah from Belmont, Geelong, Victoria, is one of only four competitors in the Lorne Anaconda who has done the event six times as an individual and is lining up for his seventh outing. The others are Tim Devlin, (Montmerency), Toby Pettigrew (Warrnambool), and Mark Slykhuis (Sandringham).

In a case of like father like son, the latter, Mark Slykhuis, will be a proud father, when his two sons, Jack and Sam, follow in his adventurous footsteps to compete in the grueling off-road, multisport event. Jack and Sam will compete in the Junior Teams category as the St Leonards Young Guns.
Jack will benefit from the experience of competing in last year’s event alongside his dad in the Pairs category, which demands the twosome stay within metres of each other.


Then there’s the all-family team dubbing themselves Wedding Party because that’s exactly what they are:
“We’ve got me running and my husband swimming,” says Katrina Lamb, from Warrnambool, Vic. “My older brother paddling, and my young brother mountain biking. More importantly, we will be competing after my brother’s wedding, which is in Lorne on the Friday.”

The Lorne Anaconda Adventure Race is the Race 4 Finale of the Anaconda Adventure Race National Series on this Sunday 4 December, with Junior Survivor on Saturday 3 December. www.anacondaadventurerace.com/