The Race for 2nd

Sarah Wins! 

Hitting help.

1200km to go for Sarah Hammond

We have a race on our hands!

The sand beckons

All Aboard the 'Full-Course' Express

NorthSouth R2TR Video #1

Sarah Hammond reaches Devonport first

Battling the cold in Tasmania

Emma Flukes arrived at the finish line in Yulara yesterday, and in doing so became the 4th and final rider to complete the 2018 edition of Race to the Rock. To complete a job that, while not obligatory to register a finish, a couple of riders have nonetheless felt the need to do, she rolled on past the finish line to touch the famous orange rock too.

As Emma's Instagram post below shows, her journey to Uluru has been as difficult as you'd imagine 3,500km off-road through the Australian outback to be. No doubt all riders experienced similarly difficult moments in their respective journeys, but Emma's honesty is a stark reminder of how tough it is out there!

Congratulations to her, and to the other three finishers, on a truly impressive ride.

Stay tuned for a full recap of the race.

<iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FRaceToTheRock%2Fposts%2F692524071121161&width=500" width="500" height="632" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowTransparency="true" allow="encrypted-media"></iframe>

[[ instagram url="https://www.instagram.com/p/Bn4b01dheWp/?hl=en&taken-by=oneflukeshot" ]]

Emma Flukes reaches the rock

Congratulations, Nick. An achievement to be truly proud of!

[[ instagram url="https://www.instagram.com/p/Bn5btpWh4iT/?hl=en&taken-by=racetotherock" ]]



Nick Skarajew rolls in for 3rd!

__Erinn Klein rolls in to take 2nd place after a hard-fought desert battle.__

While Sarah Hammond may have ended up winning the 2018 Race to the Rock by a considerable margin, behind her the race for 2nd place has been a tantalisingly hard-fought contest. 

The day after Sarah rolled into the finish at Yulara, Erinn Klein and Nick Skarajew were just entering the infamously difficult section of route between Oodnadatta and Finke; a 290km slog through remote desert.

The lead swapped multiple times as the two battled through the sand, but Erinn eventually pulled out a lead when he passed straight through Finke in the dead of night, without resupplying. Nick chose to camp out and wait for the store to open in order to tackle the next 150km stretch, and the short layover was to prove pivotal. 
![Screen Shot 2018-09-18 at 10.21.50](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/1BhOAzun7iYqQgM46SIKYs/fbdebaa4c85b6531642518dc74de312e/Screen_Shot_2018-09-18_at_10.21.50.png)
*The Oodnadatta Road*

“Did get a few hours to chat with Erinn over the past few days who's been looking crazy strong, and putting in killer averages,’ Nick would later tell the Race to the Rock team. “He made the decision to not wait around in Finke, which has paid off.”

[[ instagram url="https://www.instagram.com/p/Bn11IkGhRyw/?hl=en&taken-by=racetotherock" ]]

By the time Erinn completed all of the off-road sections of the route, and rolled onto the final 80km stretch of tarmac to the finish, his lead over Nick had gone out to 140km. In the early hours of Tuesday evening, he too rolled into Yulara to claim 2nd place. 

Nick has 170km left to ride, and if he’s planning on doing it all in one stint, should arrive in the early hours of tomorrow to claim 3rd. 250km behind Nick is Emma Flukes, who looks set to become the fourth and final finisher of this truly extraordinary race. 

Keep watching the dots, and get behind the riders as they battle to the finish via the Race to the Rock [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/racetotherock/?hl=en) and [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/RaceToTheRock/) feed. 




__Live footage of Sarah rolling into Uluru just a couple of hours ago.__ 

'Teef', as the Race to the Rock official feeds affectionately call her, retains her title with a time of 14.5 days, and in doing so remains the only person to have ever won this epic race. 

What a performance!

<iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FRaceToTheRock%2Fvideos%2F238844930307969%2F&show_text=0&width=560" width="560" height="315" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowTransparency="true" allowFullScreen="true"></iframe>



Sarah Hammond continues her bid to win a third consecutive Race to the Rock growing her lead over Adam Lana with just 500km left to ride. Sarah currently has almost a 300km lead which will be almost insurmountable before the finish.

The riders have been battered by strong winds over the past few days making progress extremely slow, however they have begun to change direction and give the riders some well earnt respite.

[[ instagram url="https://www.instagram.com/p/Bno_L1kBdZ7/?taken-by=racetotherock" ]]

The run-in to the finish is characterised by some extremely remote sections of riding, up to 300km with no resupply. Road surfaces are rough and corrugated, so riders are really on their own in this physically demanding terrain.

Early this morning, Adam pushed the ‘help’ button on his spot tracker. This sends out an emergency message to friends and loved ones that he needed non-life-threatening help. Adams wife informed the local police who found Adam out in the wilderness with bike issues. Reports suggest that Adam has some bearing issues with his bike and so couldn’t continue to cycle, although he is hopeful of repairing the problem in the nearest town and re-joining the course. This explains the jump in Sarah’s lead over the past 24hours, and makes her odds-on to retain the title - probably in the next 48hours.

Keep watching the dots.


With 2,500km having now passed under the wheels of race leader Sarah Hammond, and less than 1,000km to go, there is no let up for the two-time champ, with 2nd place rider Adam Lana just 100km behind. 

Based off reports from the ground, it appears that Adam is going to be pushing until the end - meaning that 100km could disappear at a moment's notice. 

[[ instagram url="https://www.instagram.com/p/BnkIA1xh6x-/?taken-by=racetotherock" ]]

No Let Up from Lana

Sarah Hammond continues to forge ahead in the Race to the Rock. She has maintained her 100km lead of Adam Lana as the riders pass along the Mawson Trail. This section of the trail is set to be particularly physically challenging with plenty of tough rocky terrain to traverse and no doubt a few hike a bike sections to boot. 

[[ instagram url="https://www.instagram.com/p/BngFc7sH2Rf/?taken-by=northsouth" ]]

However both riders have now broken the back of the event with just of 1200km remaining until the finish. 

Meanwhile further down the trail Emma Flukes is currently battling the incredibly sandy sectors in Fauna reserve. News and images have been thin on the ground during the race however Emma has posted images of the trail conditions. Deep sand has been slowing all of the riders down and now we can finally see exactly what the riders have had to deal with.

[[ instagram url="https://www.instagram.com/p/Bnco1Q2B-Cp/?taken-by=racetotherock" ]]

A close battle is developing for the lead of the Race to the Rock. Sarah Hammond still leads, however the gap to second place Adam Lana has reduced from 120km to just over 30km at the time of writing, and the lead has changed hands multiple times in the past 24 hours. 

Both riders have been tackling the extremely sandy tracks and trails north of Renmark, and it’s here that Adam has taken a substantial amount of time back. This section has very few resupply options, other than a small gas station which shuts at 11pm. Timing is essential here to ensure the riders resupply during opening hours of they face a long wait. 

![Screen Shot 2018-09-07 at 14.04.14](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/2B38S5kdPOy0Wg6MYym6Cy/3e4cdd33fec00ecace7cd16aeedc66f9/Screen_Shot_2018-09-07_at_14.04.14.png)

News on the ground is thin due to the remote nature of the course so we can only speculate as to the reasons for the gap closing, but we do know that Adam is known as a fantastic technical rider, with a history in motocross racing. It could be that his technical skills have allowed him to ride more of the deep sandy sections than Sarah. However, the fact that Sarah has been in the lead could well have proven to be a disadvantage as she has had to break the trail. Pushing the bike through the deeper sandy sections will leave a tyre track which would be easier to follow and ride for Adam. It also provides a mental boost for Adam as he knows that Sarah is walking due to the footprints and wheel marks ahead. Manging to ride sectors that you know your opposition can only walk will be a huge boost for morale.

Only time will tell what happens from this point. Will Sarah begin to accelerate away again when she reaches firmer ground? Did Adam start easy in Tasmania to conserve energy in order to make a big push out in the desert? Has the sand taken a physical toll on then both? Stay tuned and keep watching the dots to find out.


Race to the Rock chief instigator Jesse Carlsson joins Ryan Flinn in the latest Daily Update broadcast from Down Under. Both Jesse and Flinn are experienced ultra-racers themselves, and know the race route better than anyone else, so the insight they are able to provide in these updates is quite fascinating. 

In this episode, the pair analyse the incredibly tight battle now happening at the front of the race between Sarah and Adam, and the effect that the long stretches of sand are having. 

<iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FRaceToTheRock%2Fvideos%2F241799889852603%2F&show_text=0&width=560" width="560" height="315" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowTransparency="true" allowFullScreen="true"></iframe>

Facebook Live Daily Update with Jesse and Ryan

Day 6 of the Race to the Rock and Sarah Hammond maintains her lead. Adam Lana sits in second position around 120km behind. Riding since Melbourne has been relatively straightforward so far, with a few stretches of rocky trail providing the only stretches of harder riding.

[[ instagram url="https://www.instagram.com/p/BnVI8S3B-eU/?taken-by=racetotherock" ]]

However, Sarah is about the hit a long sandy section of the course. Sand will mean the riders will be on and off the bikes continually. Deep sand is almost impossible to ride and very energy inefficient. The riders will have to take into consideration that average speed will be halved at least and distanced that they were covering with ease of the past few days will be a struggle. Extra food and water will need to be carried and careful attention paid to resupply points.

The biggest challenge will be the mental hit of spending lots of energy for very little reward in terms of distance covered. This is the true test of the ultra-distance cyclist and over the next few days we will see who is motivated the most.


Sarah Hammond

Race To The Rock is a 3,500km off-road epic held annually in the wilds of the Australian Outback. Uluru Rock has marked the finish line every year since its 2016 inauguration, but the start line, and route to it, have always been changed - with Tasmania marking the start of the 2018 edition. Dreamt up by the 'chief instigators' of the Indian Pacific Wheel Race, and with Sarah Hammond as the race's only ever victor, the race is anything but a ride for the faint hearted.

DotWatcher.cc

Race to the Rock

Total Racers

Distance — Elevation

Terrain

Website

Last Year's Winner

Leaderboard

Events Feed