Adventure racer testing the limits
Mon 21 April 2008
Benn Dorrington, Journalism
Having lived life to the extreme, University of the Sunshine Coast (USC) sports coordinator Jordan Hougan has a passion for adventure racing, and the endurance and determination required.
Adventure racing involves races that last for up to 10 days, and requires much greater endurance than races over shorter distances like marathons.
Ms Hougan said the psychological challenges in the events were as important as physical fitness, if not more so.
“It’s not so much about fitness, as much as it is about heart,” she said.
Group dynamics also play an important role in adventure racing.
Ms Hougan said that even the strongest team could fail if it lacked the right combination of personalities.
“The biggest task isn’t the race; it’s getting to the starting line,” she said.
Ms Hougan has also applied her drive and determination to other areas of her life. She worked as a sports coordinator at Woodford prison when it first opened, which she said was like no other workplace.
She recalled the first riot at Woodford prison, when she was chased by maximum security prisoners across the sports oval.
“I remember running over the field, looking behind me and seeing the prisoners following me,” Ms Hougan said.
“They weren’t out to get me. They liked me because I was the sports rep.”
With her background in exercise science, Ms Hougan has transformed many institution’s sports programs such as that of the Queensland University of Technology (QUT).
At the QUT gym she organised many events where she tested the limits of not only students but also her peers.
She once tested her group on sleep deprivation, conducting a weekend of arduous physical activity including riding to the Gold Coast.
Her staff member was the only person to not complete the experiment.
“I remember a girl with tears streaming down her cheeks who said that it was the hardest thing she had ever had to do,” Ms Hougan said.
Ms Hougan has also worked for James Cook University (JCU), training Cairns fire fighters. The training was conducted with a research study for JCU to test the fire fighters against training and extreme heat.
Ms Hougan hopes that with the opening of the new USC gym in August she can test what the students are made of here.
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