Their win was the first time in the history of the sport that an all women’s team has won a major international expedition adventure race.

When the Mountain Designs Wild Women team arrived at the finish line of the Legend Expedition Race at Apollo Bay on the Great Ocean Road in Australia it was a historic moment in the history of Adventure Racing. Their win was the first time in the history of the sport that an all women’s team has won a major international expedition adventure race.

The Legend race was the first Adventure Racing World Series Qualifier of the year and in the 23 years the global series has been running no women’s team has won an ARWS race, or any other major international race, such as Eco-Challenge or the Raid World Cup. Since the Raid Gauloises in 1989 in New Zealand, recognised as the first adventure race, the sport has prioritised mixed gender teams, there have been only a few competitive women’s teams and none has secured a win in the toughest of endurance sports, until now.

The Legend Race was a 450km non-stop race, with the course open for 6 days, including 13 endurance stages of mountain and coastal trekking, mountain biking, ocean, river and lake kayaking. Teams had to stay together at all times and collect all of the checkpoints on the route, navigating by map and compass, and only taking a few hours sleep during the whole race.

The Mountain Designs Wild Women team crossed the finish line after 73 hours and 9 minutes of racing led by team captain Kim Beckinsale. She was racing with Alina McMaster, Cass Kimlin and Del Lloyd and the team has a combined age of 197 years and between them, 78 years of adventure racing experience!