Dirt N Dust run on track
‘The model is that the course is like life in the outback’
The organiser of the Julia Creek Dirt N Dust adventure run says everything is “on track” as he prepares to spend three days installing the obstacle course, which includes a mud pit and climbing net.
Townsville-based Outer Limits Adventure Fitness director Sam Stedman expected more than 250 participants to sign up for the course at the weekend’s event from across the outback and coastal cities.
“The model is that the course is like life in the outback, it throws you a few challenges every now and then and you use whatever you can find to get through it,” he said.
It is the fourth year since the Dirt N Dust committee restructured the event, about 650km southwest of Townsville, so that the former triathlon was replaced with the adventure course.
Mr Stedman said the adventure run was included to add value to the weekend’s event which will also include country music, a rodeo, the Artesian Express Horse Races, and Australia’s Best Butt competition.
Thousands of people are expected to visit the town, which has a population of 550 people.
Although Outer Limits worked on numerous events throughout the year, the Dirt N Dust adventure run was unique to Mr Stedman.
“And it really only works because people in Julia Creek and their committee and the locals and the council support the events so well,” he said.
“We are able to use with the council’s support the machinery and digging holes and making the mud for us.
“And we get hay bales from the farmers and tyres from the tip.
“All throughout the year I’m kind of stockpiling and then I turn up there and I see what the council has in the used parts department.
“When we build the course, we use whatever we can find and we throw a few obstacles at the people and they finish with smiles on their faces,” Mr Stedman said.
He said there would be people from Townsville competing but also those within a day’s drive of Julia Creek, including from Longreach, Winton and Normanton.
But he also an expected a strong fitness following travelling east from Mount Isa.
“They don’t have access to events like we do on the coast, so when we put something like this on they turn up and support it,” he said.
Mckinlay Shire Mayor Janene Fegan said the Dirt N Dust committee had gone “back to basics” when it stepped forward several years ago and that “it’s been amazing what they achieved”.
She said the festival was one of the most important events for the shire and was well timed to bring the community together after the wet season.