IB Live

Final photos from teams at the final checkpoint, approaching golden hour. We wished them luck and sent them into the wilderness, only for the sun to set on some team’s campaigns soon after. Valiant effort from all!!! …

5pm is the cut off time for all teams to make it to the finish line. Let’s hope they can all get off the hill in time! There might be a bit of traffic……

Chaos, is the answer…

Johns and B&G both sit at the top of the spur, surveying the bush that they'll soon have to bash through in order to reach Endpoint…

The day drags on. I wouldn’t say that teams are enjoying themselves at the final checkpoint, but I’ll let you decide from the photographic evidence…

With 10 kilometres to go, many Div 3 teams are bunched up together, competitive juices flowing…

As the afternoon gets underway, it's a crush to the finish line. A crowd of teams are currently battling the dense bush and sleep deprivation…

No one from Division 2 or 4 yet has attempted the southern route to endpoint - summiting Mount Durras for a 75 minute time bonus (see the yellow star in the image). What's so scary about a little glory?…

Despite being delivered with pizzazz, teams are not pleased to hear how they will end their run…

All Div 7 teams are entering the final stages of the race. Many teams are bunched up, and the leaderboard is up for grabs…

bees thrive in community…

Wamburun Div 6 and Griffin Div 6 are both about to start the bush bash descent to Endpoint. They are neck and neck!…

After B&G impressively took home the win for Division 4, Wright and Johns are looking to make their marks on the podium. Whether or not the two teams know it, they are battling it out for second place for Division 4…

B&G 4 and Ursula 7 are both setting out on the bush bash to Endpoint. They have an impressive lead over their competition, but they are getting a little lost!…

Check out teams’ reactions when we divert them away from the clear trail to the bush bash to finish up their run (not happy jan) …

Unilodge 7 have chosen to head north along Link Road, avoiding the climb up to Durras Mountain (but also the 75 minute time bonus). They probablyyy would have been better off time-wise if they did attempt the climb, but if the team are tired, avoiding that extra effort could ultimately pay off for them…

Burgmann 5 were in danger of hitting private property - it looks like they realised they’d gone the way when they hit a fence, which is marked on the map, and they’re now back on track. Hopefully they’re not too rattled!…

Some experienced navigation has helped Bruce Div 3 charge into a lead - it's seems inevitable that they will finish in first place.As for second place? Who knows. Yukeembruk, Wamburun, Fenner, and Johns are all well-placed to give it a stab. Burgmann and Wright are hot on their heels. It's a tight race.The final result may well depend on a big choice that faces each of the teams - to Durras or not to Durras.The 'Durras' choice is the option to take a southern route towards endpoint, which includes a summit of Mount Durras. As a reward for their effort, teams that summit Mount Durras will receive a 75-minute time bonus.If you're following along at home, hope that your team chooses the 'Durras' choice. We think it's worth it!…

This Div 2 team have found themselves in a spot of bother - after getting a little lost south of Brooman Road, they appear to have accidentally headed down Caves Road into an exclusion zone. Hopefully they notice the marked gate on the map and turn around ASAP…

Final bushbash (2019 flashbacks)…

All three UniLodge teams are currently on the southern endpoint approach, heading via the Durras Mountain bonus checkpoint, which will reward them with a 75 minute time deduction and a special souvenir. This seems to be the better choice for teams that are still moving well. We’re surprised it’s not more popular!…

Ursula 7, B&G 5, and B&G 4 (plus ‘Div X 12’) are reaching the last checkpoint! They’ve all had excellent races, with only a very very minor error from Ursula 7 and no visible mistakes from either B&G team. From the checkpoint, we anticipate most teams to take about an hour to reach endpoint (more analysis to follow)!…

Div E are making great progress towards Endpoint! If you’re watching along on IB live, you might think that they’re not heading down the optimal route - but remember, Div E has different checkpoints to the other Divisions, so they’re on track! Click back to the earlier post to check out their course…

Toad Hall (+ Graduate House)’s three teams have all passed through the road crossing and are thundering towards Endpoint! …

B&G 6 have missed the turnoff onto the Old Princes Highway, which leads directly to the only allowable crossing of the Princes Highway. Their tracker has registered about 100m from an out of bounds stretch of road - hopefully they turn around quickly!…

Wamburun 1 are currently midway through a series of bushbashes as they strive to avoid exclusion zones and/or looping around them. It appears they’re targeting Black Flat Road; they’ll have to navigate carefully to avoid accidentally entering an out of bounds area!…

Griffin Div 1 and 2 are at End Point, finishing within minutes of eachother!…

Our second team has come through the final checkpoint…

Despite the long night, many are still feeling up for a photoshoot. We’re stocked up on water, snacks and most importantly for one team - Mateo ginger beer! …

Wooooooo, more like moooooo🐄…

Ursies 7 is striking through the pack making it to Princess Highway Crossing along with Div X 12!…

Who will make it to Endpoint first? It’s a race between Griffin 1 and Griffin 2! It looks like Griffin 2 might be ahead at this stage, but with a bush bash finish it’s still anyone’s game…

Fenner 3 and Div X ‘ADFA Bots’ are forging a brave path to the west - the opposite direction to Endpoint! Hopefully they’ll turn around soon and join the rest of their Division on the path to the beach…

Division 4 has been one of the most interesting divisions to track overnight! …

For Toad Hall’s first year of IB, the teams are hopping along well! Div 6 and 7 have found each other and are running along as a group, and it seems as if they might bump into Div 5 around the Princes Highway crossing also! Might we see them all leap into end point together?…

A quick insight to the back of the pack in Division 1 - and while there is plenty of time for our two teams, Burg 1 may have made a critical error. …

Here are the key developments overnight in Div 3! …

Overnight our division two teams have been working hard, with Griffin in the lead for div 2 after crossing Princes Highway! Here are some of the key updates in case you are just tuning in this morning:…

Here’s the key updates for what happened in Div 1 overnight!…

The ambitious Griffin 1 is unequivocally the first to cross the highway. Legend has it they might be looking for a bonus checkpoint too. Their ultra light hi vis may raise some eyebrows, but it won’t stop them from first place!…

Div E has been dropped! This is the first time we have run a Div E and it's great to see it getting going! Div E will run slightly differently to other divs, with 3 Mandatory Checkpoints (see photo attached)…

So much action this morning!…

Burgmann 5 and Wright 5 seem to be out of their Folders Road pickle by now, but Johns 5 has gone for a third option: bushbash south from Folders Road? It's not clear what they're aiming for, but given that they're struggling to identify which roads are the main roads and which paths are fake in this area, this is surely not a good sign…

After striking their own path down Brooman Road east of drop, B&G 7 appear to be heading for disappointment as they have missed the turnoff for Old Coach Road and must turn around to make further progress. For comparison, Wamburun 3, who would also have been on Monkey Mountain Road at the same time, did correctly turn off…

Plenty of teams are currently on the Zig Zags right now (and Griffin 2 is the first team to be past them). However, there's a few teams diverging from the obvious route:…

A lot of Div 4 and 5 teams are nearing Checkpoint 5, however the main difference between the divisions is that Division 5 cannot enter the yellow exclusion zone, whereas division 4 has no relevant exclusion zones on the remainder of their route into the checkpoint. …

Griffin 1 and 2 are setting a blistering pace for their respective divisions, and with Griffin 1 about to reach Checkpoint 5 and Griffin 2 past most of the navigational complexity of the Zig Zags, the question on my mind is - who will get to the highway crossing first?…

Strange things are happening on Folders Road. Both Burgmann and Johns 5 decided that they had to turn back after reaching the Bimberamala River crossing (so it's more likely that Wright also did the same), and now Johns 5 is up Walkers Gully Road (which only leads to private property). Meanwhile Wright 5 is still slowly backtracking up to the Browns Gully FT junction…

Aaaand Div 7 are off! There are essentially two main choices out of drop: North or South. And it seems like every single team has opted for the Southern option!…

As was said before the race "this route wouldn't be optimal but it would be legendary!" and Fenner 2 might just be making it a reality. They've made the trek all the way up north and are nearing in on the pigeon house! 120 mins is a big time bonus for reaching it but have they been too ambitious since this will make their course significantly longer (~ 13km extra). It's a legendary feat if they manage to put it off but a big gamble. …

Since we last checked in on div 5, both Wright and Burgmann accidentally turned off Folder Road into Walkers Gully Road, with Burgmann correcting themselves quickly but Wright going all the way up to a private property boundary before turning back! That's put Wright well behind Burgmann and Johns on their already-extended route - maybe Folders Road is quite indistinct? Ursula managed to find the initial turn off though…

Currently, Bruce 3 and the ‘DIVA X’ team (love the name) are soaring out in front. Bruce has really put in a shift as the gap between them and YKB which was in the hundreds of meters into pigeon house now spans kilometres…

Let's check in on everyone in Div 2 who recently attempted to or is attempting to cross a river without a road…

Wright, Burgmann and Johns 5 appear to have elected to follow Folders Road northeast at a fork instead of turning south onto Browns Gully Firetrail. It doesn't seem like this turnoff would be easy to miss, so is this intentional? It's definitely a longer route, but maybe they are betting on Folders Road having a nicer crossing the Bimbermala River than the firetrail? The crossing can't be too bad; both B&G and Toad Hall managed it. (But also, it looks on the tracker like Wright is turning around, so maybe it wasn't intended?)…

Johns 3 have reached Pigeon house, collecting their time bonus!…

Toad has managed to come out just ahead of Wright after forging their own path, with Johns, Burg and Ursula trailing just a bit behind. Bruce has taken the high road and been setting a blistering pace, looking as if they’ll just come out in front…

Johns, Wamburun and B&G 4 have all chosen to follow the Southern route along the Western Distributor - a longer and steeper option from the Eastern and Northern routes. B&G leads the group, having now started on the overgrown Western Link trail…

So far, the race is firmly split into two routes, that of Div X ‘Sister from another mister’ and everyone else. Whilst it seems unintuitive, if the Div X team can execute it well, taking the west route out of drop gives them around 5km less to run but with the tradeoff for a bit more vert. Who’s to say if it’ll pay off? …

Just a brief update on Division 1. …

Division 2 is pretty exciting at the moment. Since we last checked in on the whole division:…

Bruce 4 looked like they were going to join Burgmann 4 in being the two Division 4 teams passing through Pigeon House, but they have well and truly passed the turnoff and are on their way to the Division 3 drop site! Will they eventually notice their error and turn around? And will it still have been worth it if they manage to return and collect their 90 minute bonus?…

Burg 4 has come in with a double whammy of Div X ‘Old Fenner 2.0’ and ‘ADFA Bots’. Hot on their tails are Ursula 3 though who arrived shortly after! Perfect spot to collect their buckles, have a boogie with the volunteers up there, and make sure they know where they're going next…

Johns 2 have successfully crossed Bimberamala River as well now, and hot on their tails are Burgmann 2, Yukeembruk 2 and the Div X team 'SPIDERC_CKS', who appear to be bunched up at the crossing. Wright 2 will also be coming up to the river soon..…

The course setters clearly intended for Checkpoint 4 not to be a viable route choice for Divisions 2 and 3. However, there are some gaps around the Division 2/3 exclusion zone which would lead into / out of Checkpoint 4, and it appears that a couple of teams are trying to exploit this fact…

With 67 minutes of scout time you’d hope they knew EXACTLY where they were. Bng Div 6 set off first with everyone else following close behind💪 Maybe it was the pass through from Div X DOGS that had teams all heading this way🤷‍♀️…

Pigeon house is busy for a 2am meeting! Burg 4 is set to bump into B&G, Ursula, and Johns 3. Spirits will be high seeing other teams but was it the right call for them to go for the bonus points and deviate from the more popular Div 4 routes, or will it pay off at endpoint?…

A couple of Division 4 teams have been heading down Mares Hill Road on their way to Checkpoint 5. However, Fenner 5 is not in Division 4, and looks to have fallen prey to a Division-specific exclusion zone on that road..…

Since we last checked into Div 1, plenty of decisions have indeed been made! Griffin 1 were successful with their bush bash and are almost at the highway crossing, B&G 1 are just starting their bush bash, Fenner and Johns 1 have opted not to take the western bush bash and are going all the way out to the Quark Pot Rd x Bolaro Mountain Rd intersection. Meanwhile, Burgmann and Wright 1 have opted to go west at the fork. That just leaves Wamburun 1 to choose east or west…

Bruce 4 have done a small bush bash to get up to Gaps Road on their way to Pigeon House without passing through the Yadboro Road exclusion zone or detouring into Yadboro itself. Neat!…

Western Distributor Road is carnage at the moment. Most of division four is running south, some division two teams are running north, and division 5 are doing a bit of both…

Fenner 3 (and possibly 'ADFA Bots 2.0'?) have arrived at Pigeon House!…

'DIVA X' (a Div X team running in Div 3), is the second team to make it to Pigeon House! And we might have 'ADFA Bots 2.0' (another Div X Div 3 team) and Fenner 3 there soon too!…

Griffin 2 are on the way to try and cross the Bimberamala River on their way to Checkpoint 3, a bush bash that saves many kilometres if done correctly? Will they be successful?Most of the other eastern teams in Div 2 have not reached the point where they need to commit to a decision yet, but the Div X 'Can-Bruh Advenchur' have taken a fork that indicates they aren't attempting this crossing, whereas Johns, Burgmann, Yukeembruk and the other Div X team are past that fork and still on the way towards the crossing…

Most Div 5 teams are still at drop, but Griffin and Fenner 5 have started their journey, heading in opposite directions. Griffin's choice of route is a little longer and hillier (by around 4km), but their initial decisiveness might prove key in a division where all the route choices have similar distance and vert…

Earlier there were four different Div 4 teams heading to Checkpoint 2. Bruce 4 has made it well past the checkpoint, but the remaining three teams - Griffin, Fenner and Ursula 4 - have all turned around, with Fenner back at drop, Ursula still making their way back, and Griffin past drop and heading southwest. Wonder what made them second-guess themselves?…

The situation in Division 3 is still very hairy. Yukeembruk 3 has been circling around the northern slopes of Pigeon House for about 45 minutes, and have almost completely lost their initial navigational advantage…

Some interesting action could be set to happen on the westernmost reaches of the map. Bruce and Fenner 2 are committing north along the Western Distributor Road (and possibly Wamburun and Ursula 2 might follow them), and depending on how long they take to run along this section, could end up bumping into Division 5 at their drop site after they get dropped. If they are heading for Pigeon House, it would be a big mistake for Division 5 teams to follow, given that that it would be a huge detour and also worth fewer points for it. Even if not, the Division 2 teams would have to pass through Checkpoint 3 along a convoluted route to avoid exclusion zones, whereas the Division 5 teams are free to continue on to Checkpoint 4 (and they would lose a lot of time by simply following Division 2)…

Despite some wildly divergent paths in the first section of the Div 1 course, teams are now well on their way towards the Kings Highway crossing, and their second decision of which way to head from Ross Ridge Road will also prove important. …

The good news is that all of Division 3 has now turned around…

After a fair amount of thinking time, Division 4 trackers have started to split away from dropsite, and there are some pretty big decision for teams to make almost immediately. The shortest routes head northeast from drop, with the opportunity to visit Pigeon House for a 90 minute bonus, but involve trickier navigation through the "Zig Zags". …

The real Inward Bound race looks to be over ... as Bruce 3 edges ahead of Yukeembruk to be the first to claim the bonus checkpoint! Photos attached - check out the pigeon token!…

It looks like Division 3 are on the move… as you watch them catch up, remember that Yukeembruk 3 originally went down the right trail before 9:40pm, and passed the intersection with the road that the pack of other Division 3 teams are now heading towards before 10:00pm - absolutely huge headstart for Yukeembruk 3!…

Griffin maintain a strong lead in division 1 as we pass 3 hours on course. Our race predictor has them arriving in endpoint at 10am (the next team at 4pm)…

Bruce 3 appears to have overtaken Yukeembruk 3 on the way up Pigeon House Firetrail. Keep your eyes on the tracker as both teams will soon have to make a decision as to whether they will head south via the bonus checkpoint, which is worth 20 minutes, but is also potentially the shorter and flatter route if they choose it!…

Several hours into their journey, Division 6's spirits look to be high ahead of several more hours of driving…

Four of our lovely volunteers have summited Didthul (Pigeon House) and are ready to begin their shift at the bonus checkpoint!…

Shoutout to DIVA X and Griffin 3 for being the only teams so far to realise they’ve erred. It looks like a lot of teams are now gathering at one of the two intersections to the north. I imagine this looks a bit like Dropsite 2.0 at the moment: maps on the ground, teams plotting routes, hopefully just working out where they are this time……

Whilst Div 1-4 are enjoying having their vision back, Div 6 is approaching hour 5 of being blindfolded on the bus (proof of life below). One can wonder when they’ll reach drop… …

Everyone in Div 2 has made it past the first fork in the road. Wamburun, Ursula, Fenner and Bruce have headed north along Western Link Road and are roughly bunched together, whereas everyone else has gone east on Mines Road, with the Div X team 'Can-Bruh Adven-Chur' well ahead and Johns and Griffin out in front of the rest of the pack…

Let’s jump up north to Division 3, where something pretty interesting is happening: most teams are currently heading in the wrong direction! …

Toby Kitchen and Oliver James seem to be having a delightful outing in their Division X team. The adventurous duo is the clear leader in Division 2 and the only team that can say they went the right way out of drop the first time. Their expediency has certainly paid off…

It’s always satisfying when IB teams within the same Division go different ways; after all, this is more than just a foot race…

In good news, Wamburun 1 are almost back on track! In less good news, they are almost back on track after embarking on a rather unnecessary bush bash in not quite the right direction. Still, they’ll get there soon. Let’s hope this doesn’t shake their confidence: there’s a long night to go…

Thus we are taught, and it appears that in the early stages of the race this wisdom is true once again…

There's some movement in the Div 3 trackers, and like Div 2, there's only one correct direction to head out of drop. Yukeembruk 3 have committed correctly down the Jindelara Creek Trail to the southwest, whereas Wright 3 have committed up towards Mount Kingiman and like their Div 2 team might be in for a painful backtrack. Everyone else is huddled around the fork between those roads, although it looks like Wamburun, Griffin and Ursula might have also followed Wright up the wrong trail - watch this space!…

Bruce 1 have almost found their way back on track. Or, maybe they did? They either hit the track or came tantalisingly close, before heading south east up to the knoll. They seem to be heading back in the right direction - hopefully they will work out where they are soon…

Wright 1 appears to have just done a little bit of an out-and-back. Although they ideally would not have gone left at the intersection their tracker is currently located at, they’ve done really well to realise they were in the wrong spot and turn around away from the exclusion zone…

Let’s look at two teams that appear to have set off on a bit of an adventure: Bruce 1 and B&G 1. Both teams have veered north from the anticipated route, which means they’re currently enjoying a bush bash. I hope Dooga Creek to the northwest isn’t too deep, or they’ll also get to enjoy wet feet for the rest of their journey…

Good evening to all tracker-watchers! IB 2026 has begun and it’s already off to a cracking start…

Division 2 was dropped at 8pm and teams are getting underway now after a 32 minute scout time…

Watch here!…

Hopefully you all saw our live stream!…

Wondering what your team is in for tonight? Tap Course at the top of the feed (next to Leaderboard and Progress)…

Want to know how far through the course your team really is, not just where their last dot landed? Head to the Progress tab, next to Leaderboard and Course at the top of the feed…

Hello everyone ! This year we are live streaming division 1 drop! Join on this link to see our amazing media team and our incredible division one participants!…

This bonus checkpoint is worth 75 minutes for all divisions…

(This road is also effectively excluded from Division 5 from a separate Division 5 exclusion zone.)…

(Despite being marked Divisions 2, 5, 7, this exclusion zone is only present on the Division 1-3 maps and does not affect Divisions 5 or 7.)…

Get excited to dot watch all night because I know we sure are!!! All smiles from our amazing race directors (we are missing you Matt)…

(Despite being marked Divisions 2, 4, 6, this exclusion zone is only present on the Division 1-3 maps and does not affect Divisions 4 or 6.)…

(Despite being marked Divisions 2, 5, this exclusion zone is only present on the Division 1-3 maps and does not affect Division 5. However, the upper part of the exclusion zone is excluded by a separate Division 5 Exclusion Zone)…

(Note that this overlaps with two other division-specific exclusion zones: to the south, a Division 2 exclusion zone which extends to Clyde River, and to the north, a Divisions 1-3 excluded road.)…

The west side of checkpoint 5 is mandatory to visit for teams in Division 3…

This year, the approach to endpoint will only be possible via a bush bash*. Teams must make their way up the road and then bush bash along the spur. This means they will get an incredible view of all the spectators waiting for them at endpoint!…

This bonus checkpoint is worth:…