Mark Webber Tasmania Challenge gets underway

The ninth Mark Webber Tasmania Challenge was kicked off by the man himself in Australia yesterday with an adventure run through the streets and hills of Hobart.

The event is a five-day, multi-discipline challenge that covers some 350km of Tasmania’s most vivid and picturesque areas. Participants mountain bike, kayak and trek across different courses each day while also facing a variety of other surprise challenges along the way - created to push competitors to their physical limits.

Money raised from the event entrance fees goes towards the Mark Webber Challenge Foundation, an inititative set-up to cover all of Mark’s charitable activities. The Foundation has raised over $1 million since its inception in 2006 and enables Mark to be hands on in selecting who benefits from his fundraising efforts and in making sure that all funds raised are applied direct to the source. The Tasmania Challenge is the major player in raising money for the Foundation.

Yesterday was the first official day of the event and Mark got fully involved with the physical side of things today too. He took on the mountain biking, kayaking and treking elements in the Freycinet Peninsula.

The active sportsman said of his feat: "Loved my day racing on the Mark Webber Challenge today, mega weather, and amazing spirit from all that are taking part. Perfect."

Red Bull clips Webber and Vettel’s wings

Red Bull has clipped Mark Webber’s wings as the Australian attends his regular outdoor adventure challenge in Tasmania this week.

The event has not been run since 2008, when the now 35-year-old badly broke his leg on a mountain biking descent.

It has returned for 2011, but the local Mercury newspaper reports: "Webber was grounded (on Wednesday) by a climb deemed too dangerous for the formula one star to tackle".

And his participation will be further shortened when he flies to India on Thursday ahead of the FIA prize-giving gala.

"I’m disappointed," Webber said. "I would have loved to have been here for more of it, but it’s not to be."

He insisted, however, that he does not allow his non-driving activities to be too controlled by his nervous F1 employer.

"I’m not going to wrap myself in cotton wool," he is quoted by The National newspaper.

"Formula one rules my life for most of the year, but I am going to go away, train and have fun doing it and nobody is going to stop me."

Recently, Webber’s teammate Sebastian Vettel wanted to try German compatriot Stefan Bradl’s Moto2 motorcycle, but Red Bull disallowed it.

"Not our champion, no," Dr Helmut Marko said firmly on Austrian television Servus TV.

Now, Volkswagen is said to be keen to get the back-to-back world champion at the wheel of its world rally car.

"It would be great for the sport if it was possible," the German carmaker’s spokesman Kris Nissen is quoted by Sport1, "but it’s not easy (to arrange)."

Video - Day 1 highlights