Recently I travelled 600km on skidoos and dogsleds up the Iditarod Trail in Alaska with my son Nick. We had an amazing 10 days as we skied, dug snow caves, photographed and survived a volcano erupting! We also raised some money for the ‘Book of Light’, a project to provide kids from the bushfire impacted areas in Victoria, aged between 6 and 12, with a physical memory of their lives. This project is a cyber safety initiative of SuperClubsPLUS. You can read all about the Book of Light project here.

The Mark Webber Pure Tasmania Challenge TV program will go to air on Network Ten nationally on Sunday 12 April at 1.30pm. This is a great opportunity to see all of the action from the event.

Visit the Mark Webber Pure Tasmania Challenge website for all of the details.

The Mark Webber Challenge is a charity event supporting the Mark Webber Foundation. The 2008 Challenge was again a fantastic experience. The Challenge has established itself as one of the most intense adventure races in the world. Telstra employee Jacinta Worland and I, partnered to compete in the Ambassadors Cup. Teamwork was paramount as we traversed a wide variety of terrain including Cradle Mountain, Dove Lake and the cliffs of Fortescue Bay. It was great to see that Team Telstra won the Van Diemen Cup! Mark Comer, Phil Barrett, Keith Mearns and Richard Palmer defended their title in the corporate teams of four.

Many leading athletes participated along with celebrity guests and corporate teams. It was fantastic to be part of the event and to have the opportunity to support such a committed Australian like Mark Webber, who despite living in the UK, sets a great example by contributing to Australian charities year in and year out. Visit the Mark Webber Challenge site to see the full wrap-up of the event at www.markwebberchallenge.com

You can also read how Telstra helped facilitate the immediate response to Mark Webber when he was injured at Now we are talking

Update from Richard Palmer

The day started with a boat trip from Port Arthur that was great fun, however was quite rough and cold. The real race started on top of Mt Wellington with a tough descent followed by a very technical mountain bike leg ending up at Wrest Point Casino. We then did a quick run to the top and a rope section off the top of the Casino. Then we ran to Hobart town centre for a few more checkpoints and to finish off today’s racing and the Challenge for this year. We are all very happy to finish and looking forward to celebrating tonight!

Update from Phil Barrett
Day 4 of the Mark Webber Challenge took place at Port Arthur and commenced with a severe weather warning which bought about the cancellation of the planned paddling stages of the day.

The first leg for the two Telstra teams was a 15km run from Waterfall Bay to Fortescue Bay. This trail run has some of the most spectacular scenery to be found in Tasmania and the Telstra teams ran the leg very strongly. David Moffatt and Jacinta Worland were one of the fastest teams competing in the Ambassadors Cup and Team Telstra competing in the Van Diemen Cup continued to push their lead out and challenge for 3 spot overall. Unfortunately for Team Telstra Mark Comer sprained an ankle just prior to the end of the 2 hour run leg which slowed the team somewhat when they were pressing for 3rd place.

The next leg was a 22km mountain bike ride on very hilly rough roads into a very strong head wind. Again both Telstra teams road strongly and continued to pick their way through the field. The next leg was a 6km run around a wind blown peninsular with some very large sand dunes to be traversed. Following the run it was onto the mountain bike again for a 8km ride to the finish. Both Telstra teams finished the day extremely well.

As the teams cooled down word was sent around that there would be a 10km kayak in the evening and so the teams had to regroup and get back into their wet and sweaty gear to undertake an additional kayak leg to complete an epic day. The kayak leg took place off the Port Arthur historic site with a large spectator contingent and concluded with the competitors kayaking through and under the bow of a very large catamaran. Another example of the mystery legs and spectacular natural environment interaction that this race brings out.
With the final day 5 due to take place in Hobart tomorrow the two Telstra teams are very well placed to take out their respective categories in the event.