Mates Race




Wicked camper gets MatesRace spray tan

Yo Yo Merry Christmas to all our fans up at Wicked Campers especially the Marketing Man of the Century "Puff Daddy Paul" up in Brisy for hooking us with a WICKED Wicked Camper that both myself and Will Petersen will be travelling across the country in. Pics of the van will be uploaded on our press page from our awesome Launch night. This thing will be our 24 / 7 motel - home - support crew base - party mobile for the entire trip. They are seriously fun to travel in and a big hit with blonde Swdish back packers who are looking for a good time. Thanks again to the whole Wicked crew for being a supporter of this years event.


Teams stalked with GPS

thanks to Pivotel, Australias leading satellite voice and data provider, our teams wont get lost in the woods ( we hope). We have kitted them out with the latest in GPS tracking equipment. They will each have a device known as "Spot" allows us to stalk them all over the country and know exactly where they are with a flick of the switch. Some teams have requested hiding these in their girlfriends hand bag.....sorry guys business use only this time!!


MatesRace making a Splash of PR

i tell you what my headings are getting better with age. thats what happens when you read 5 newspapers per day including the Tibetan Times (good cartoons). So are super duper excited to announce that the very Sociable PR princess Mikaeli Costello from Splash Group is our full time publicist. Now we can make as much mess with the press as we like and we have someone to cover up for us. 


Nudie Juice jump on board!!

Our dear friends at Nudie (the coolest juice brand on the planet) have jumped on board as our major sponsor. sweet i know. they are going to put out a new Nudie Juice label for MatesRace which will go all around the country. if you havent joined up yet i suggest becoming a nudie addict on their website www.nudie.com.au so that you can receive updates on the teams during the race.

Thanks to all the awesome people at Nudie for getting behind the event.



Its all about our Mates...


Hellooooo there. My name is Adrian (friends call me Trippa) and together with my colleague William (people call him Will, go figure) we are hosting the first ever MatesRace.

With a whole lot of help from our friends “in the biz” we are pretty stoked to be brining you the BIGGEST fundraiser on the planet. Obviously without their fanatical support and dedication to this event it wouldn’t have the same AWESOME vibe.

Before the formalities a little background info on where it all began. Will and myself have actually completed the course (cue screaming fans) in the 28 day period. We set off on Boxing Day 06 with no money from Sydney Markets and caught our first truck to Melbourne. 35 cars, 3 buses, 2 trucks and 10 kg lighter we surprised our family and friends by making it back to Sydney in one piece. It was definitely the best experience I have ever had and Will says its right up there with the time he got Peter Costello’s autograph on a High School excursion in Year 8.

I will be your captain for all the “latest and greatest” headlines so that, as they say, when the news hits us first it hits you second (or something like that).

Anyway during the lead up to the event, which kicks off Boxing Day from Mrs Macquaries Chair, we will be bringing you all the latest news and anything else that we regard as “News Worthy”. To give you an example of what we classify as “News Worthy”, say Japan decided to stop Whaling, we would probably not publish that because who would believe it. Credibility is our motto.

So sit back relax and enjoy the show.
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First team announced...


Its been a long time coming but with great pleasure we introduce you to …

The first team to enter MatesRace, work buddies, Mark Foy and Andrew Colagiuri. Mark and Andrew reside in Sydneys Eastern Suburbs and work for Real Estate Agent Bresic Whitney. They have chosen Cure for Life for as their Charity and will be raising money for the brain tumor research facility at the new Lowy Cancer Research Center at UNSW. Andrew recently lost a family friend to a brain tumor and with the help of Mark is looking forward to helping out a great cause.
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Second team announced...


The second team to put their hand up are Robert and Richard the father / son team from Sydneys South. Rob and Richard are really close and are excited (scared stiff!!) about the unknown. Robert thinks that it will be a great experience for his son and hopefully relieve some of his stress as Richard is studying for the HSC. They have chosen Father Chris Reilys Youth off The Streets as their charity.
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YHA Australia gives teams a little break... 

We are extremely pleased to announce that YHA, part of the Worlds LARGEST low cost accommodation network, has decided to give each team a little R&R on the trip by throwing up 2 nights in any YHA around the course. With over 120 locations in Australia it is going to be very interesting to see where the teams decide to pull up stumps for the night. During our (Will and I) trip a good hearted truckie gave us $55 when we were stuck in Port Hedland. We used some of this money on a wicked YHA in Broome. We chilled by the pool and sank back a couple of WA’s finest lager. The best part though was probably having a good shower, washing the clothes and sleeping on a mattress.
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Greyhound Coaches

give 2000km “get out of Jail” bus pass


Our good friends at one of the oldest coach companies in the world “Greyhound Australia” have kicked in a 2000km bus pass to each team to use anywhere on the course. When Will and I travelled around Australia, Greyhound, were like our safety net because literally they are the only buses that go through all the remote towns. When we got stuck in Mataranka (little town in NT) we used some of the money that we worked for in Perth to jump on a Greyhound because we were counting only 5 cars per day going past us. Getting on board was one of the most relieving moments we had on our trip.
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Supporting the Salvos in Brisvegas


The 1st Charitable Challenge has been thrown down to our competing teams with the super supportive Salvation Army jumping on the wagon. Each team upon arriving in Brisbane will have to find the Pindarri Mens Hostel and serve meals to the homeless. This will be an awesome experience for teams and one which we are grateful to the good people at the Salvos for providing. Teams must complete this challenge before heading on home to Sydney.
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Team 3 announced


Team 3 are ready to rock and roll. Originally all the way from Sydney’s Sutherland Shire (aka Gods country to some raving fanatics) Andrew and Matt spent their childhood growing up together. Matt is being labeled the Steven Bradbury (Gold medal Winter Olympian who won after everyone else fell over) of the event after Andrew had several first round partners fall over before he could officially sign them up. Matt doesn’t mind though he reckons rejection, especially during his days at High School dances, has made stronger and a winner to his biggest and only fan his mother. The boys have chosen Variety as their charity and are looking forward to helping out Kids in need.
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Team 4 announced


Christian and Max bring us the team with more as number 4. These are two young, crazy dudes who look like they are going to have some real fun on this trip. Even though I haven’t met Max being that he lives in Brisbane from what I can see of his photos he is a bit of a chilled out muso just like I was before I gave the recorder away in primary school. The boys are still getting their charity on board and are looking at Parkinsons NSW but nothing is final yet. Watch this space…seriously.
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Team 5 announced


Yes……. Leaping Lizards we finally have a girl in this years event. I thought we would struggle but Chandler the beer drinking, band bashing Adelaide chicka has signed up with good mate Ben. The two are going to be very interesting to watch. I have not met either. They came on board via our video production king of sting Mr Sammy Hastwells social network. They have chosen the ever super duper Oxfam as their charity. They do awesome work all over the country and are a great addition to our growing list of charitable charities.
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Team 6 announced


Well I didn’t actually think we would get this far but we have allowed an extra team to enter this year ONLY because they are super fly like a sourdough rye. Humphrey Dove (yes you heard right) and Gabe Collelo (sounds like a Spanish dancer come spiritual novelist) are our final entry to MatesRace. The boys have chosen Camp Quality to represent, West Side, and are in the process of raising the bling as we speak. They are our carefree, spiritual, artistic and creative team. Should be good to watch.
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Charitable Challenge II

– Banking Blood in Adelaide

for the Australian Red Cross


The second Charitable Challenge has been finalized with the Australian Red Cross joining in on the fun. Teams have to “Bank some Blood” for them by recruiting, willing and eligible, donors off the street to register and give blood before they can head to Perth. This is a great cause and during this time of year can be hard to get people donating blood. We are sure the teams are going to do a fine job.
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1st Team back gets a Bridge Climb


Thanks to Kevin Barker from Bridge Climb the first team back to Sydney will have to complete the BridgeClimb to claim victory. It will be a fitting end to a very challenging journey. What better to cap off the race then celebrate ontop of Sydney Harbor. Thanks again for the support.
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