Mark Webber has relaunched his gruelling end of season adventure race the Tasmania Challenge, despite it almost costing him his career in 2008 when a serious bike accident broke his leg and shoulder. And he’s not ruling out taking part in it again.
The event will take place on December 7-11.
Webber: Extreme sports devotee (Darren Heath)
Webber has secured sponsorship from Swisse Multivitamins, an Australian brand and backing from the Tasmania Tourist Office and other sponsors like LG and Red Bull, which means the event will take place for the next three years.
The five day event challenges competitors to kayak, trail, trek, mountain bike and climb in the wilds of Tasmania. It is a fundraiser for various Australian charities and environmental projects.
The event is aimed at elite adventure athletes as well as amateurs and even celebrities. As for the question of whether Webber plans to compete himself, after a couple of off track injuries in recent seasons, he is cagey, “Once the season is over, I will be able to decide whether or not to compete,” he said.
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1. Posted By: PaulL
Date: March 23rd, 2011 @ 2:53 pm
It’s a great initiative.
Mind you, if he takes part I’d advocate training wheels.
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2. Posted By: .
Date: March 23rd, 2011 @ 3:35 pm
If he confirms he will take part in it, it means he won’t be driving next season.
No way he would be that disrespectful to his team’s wishes…no F1 team (so not just RBR) would allow this guy near a mountainbike.
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3. Posted By: andrew
Date: March 23rd, 2011 @ 3:37 pm
welcome to Aus James.
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James Allen Reply:
March 23rd, 2011 at 8:32 pm
Thanks
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4. Posted By: Conrad M. Sathirweth
Date: March 23rd, 2011 @ 3:43 pm
I always find it ironic that Vettel is the favoured son at Red Bull yet Webber embodies their whole ethos so much more.
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Fergal Reply:
March 23rd, 2011 at 9:15 pm
exactly, I’ve always thought this – Red Bull claim it’s because they Vettel came up through their development programme, but does that distinction really matter to anyone outside of Red Bull? Nobody care’s where a driver started, from what I can tell!
I mean, when Schumi was the star Ferrari driver, did the fact that he was trained up through the Mercedes young driver programmes stop them promoting him as a true red-blooded Ferrari man?
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. Reply:
March 23rd, 2011 at 9:22 pm
You mean ironic how an F1 team gives both drivers equal chances and the fastest guy in the end wins?
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Roger Reply:
March 24th, 2011 at 5:42 am
Wow, way to miss the point…
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er,go Reply:
March 25th, 2011 at 7:15 pm
yeah, where did that come from??
5. Posted By: wayne
Date: March 23rd, 2011 @ 3:58 pm
Sounds like a Webber retirement project to me?
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Damien (aka Frenchie) Reply:
March 24th, 2011 at 12:09 am
I think it will largely depends how his season goes.
Personally, I doubt he’ll take part.
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6. Posted By: Michael T
Date: March 23rd, 2011 @ 4:00 pm
“Once the season is over, I will be able to decide whether or not to compete,” he said.
Dependant on retirement plans or not???
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7. Posted By: craigyj85
Date: March 23rd, 2011 @ 4:48 pm
“Once the season is over, I will be able to decide whether or not to compete”
Am I reading too much into this James, or could that have double meaning, i.e.
“Once the season is over, I will be able to decide whether or not to retire from F1, and therefore compete”?
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James Allen Reply:
March 23rd, 2011 at 8:32 pm
He says he wants to carry on, but it depends on Red Bull’s plans. i guess if they decided to go with someone else, he would probably stop and would thus be free to do the Challenge. If they retain him, he won’t
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8. Posted By: Josh
Date: March 23rd, 2011 @ 4:52 pm
If he doesn’t have a contract with Red Bull next year, he’ll be doing it
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9. Posted By: Paul H
Date: March 23rd, 2011 @ 5:11 pm
I so hope he refrains and gives himself the best chance he can to compete this season. Not so much because of the injury risk to himself, but because of the extra spotlight it would bring onto him following Kubica’s accident and the amount of negative press this would gather in relation to drivers ‘unnecessary’ risks outside of a race weekend.
If we were to have a new champion I would love it to be him, really wish he could win in Australia to get the season off to a flyer.
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10. Posted By: Phil Bishop
Date: March 23rd, 2011 @ 6:06 pm
are you up for the challenge James?
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James Allen Reply:
March 23rd, 2011 at 8:30 pm
He asked me the same question, but when I looking in my diary I saw that I was watching TV that day.
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Kieran Reply:
March 23rd, 2011 at 10:04 pm
good reply – sounds like an absolute killer to me.
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Jo Torrent Reply:
March 23rd, 2011 at 10:10 pm
can I replace you. I got a belly I wanna get rid of.
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11. Posted By: Bill Day
Date: March 23rd, 2011 @ 7:02 pm
OT but James, where is the countdown clock?
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James Allen Reply:
March 23rd, 2011 at 8:29 pm
TAG Heuer had a big event this week (yesterday in fact) and wanted to use that space for a link to the announcement. It’s a watch that will measure time to 1/1000th of a second. Just been reading about it now.
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Alistair Blevins Reply:
March 23rd, 2011 at 10:52 pm
I found their reference to the Apollo moon landings a little odd. That’s Omega’s territory!
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Phil Reply:
March 23rd, 2011 at 11:16 pm
Does that mean the clock, and we can now count down to the start of the grand prix to 1/1000th of a second? That’ll make it easier to plan my weekend around the GP now. No chance of wasting any time!
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Bill Day Reply:
March 24th, 2011 at 12:56 am
James, glad to see all the sponsorship your extremely worthy blog is picking up. You’re the best, glad it’s working!
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