Who is AROC?
AROC Sport was established in early 2003 by Tom Landon-Smith and Alina McMaster. Their inspiration originated from participation in the international series of Discovery Channel Eco-Challenge events organised by Mark Burnett between 1995 and 2002. Tom and Alina have extensive experience in outdoor sports. They were members of the Australian Cross-Country Ski Team between 1985 and 1994 and were the 2003 Australian 24 hour rogaining champions which was the first time a mixed team had won the championships. Between 1997 and 2006 they competed in numerous adventure races both locally and internationally. Starting out in adventure racing, Tom and Alina placed highly in Eco-Challenge events- 4th Australia 1997 as Team Red Hot (Alina, Tom, Novak Thompson and Tim Smallwood), 7th Argentina 1999 as Team Fosters Australia (Alina, Tom, Tom Crebbin and Keith Tuffley), 3rd Fiji 2002 as Team Air Pacific (Alina, Matt Dalziel, Novak Thompson and John Jacoby). They also came 3rd in the 2001 New Zealand Southern Traverse event as Team Wombat (Alina, Tom, Nigel Aylott and Tom Crebbin).
Tom and Alina formed Team AROC in early 2003 and competed in Australia mostly with the combination of Matt Dalziel, Nigel Aylott or Tom Crebbin but also sometimes with Kris Clauson, Karl Strode-Penny, Adam Hunter, Rebecca Rusch, Andrew Crawley or Rosi King. They won the XPD twice, Geoquest three times, Cairns Eco-Adventure (The Quoll) three times, TEVA Championships twice, Hells Bells twice, Arrow 24 Hour Race and many Maximum Adventure Races.
Internationally, Team AROC raced as Tom, Alina, Matt Dalziel and Nigel Aylott. They came 2nd in The 2003 Subaru Primal Quest in California against the top teams in the world and shared in $250,000 of prize money, and then won the Chicago Wild Onion Urban 24 hour Adventure Race 7 days later. In 2004, they returned to The Subaru Primal Quest in Washington State. However during an orienteering leg in a treacherous mountain area, Nigel was killed by a dislodged boulder as AROC were leading on the third day of the race. Their support crew, DJ Brooks, wrote an article on the incident 5 years later after he and Nigel’s brother, Mike, visited the area to place a plaque in memory of Nigel.
Our Aim
The aim of AROC Sport is to share the exhilaration, camaraderie, fitness, sense of achievement and ultimate sense of freedom and calm that challenging outdoor adventures can provide. We love what we do organising spectacular, interesting and challenging events in magnificent places and understand that the more we can get people active in nature, the more people will appreciate and hopefully protect our pristine natural environments for the long term.
Our Business
AROC Sport is an outdoor event management business which specialises in:
- Ultra-Marathon Trail Run. Ultra-Trail Australia is held annually in mid May in the world heritage listed Blue Mountains National Park, just west of Sydney. It is the 4th largest trail run in the world. It began in 2008 as The North Face 100 with 170 runners. It now attracts an international field of over 4000 runners across a 100km, 50km, 21.6km and 1.2km stair climb.
- Mountain Bike Races. Capital Punishment was held between 2010 and 2015 in Canberra in mid March. It attracted 2,000 riders to either a 50km or 100km course. The event took riders across Canberra between Bungendore and Stromlo, utilising the best single tracks on offer. Other AROC Sport mountain bike events were the 100km Angry Doctor and 50km Irate Intern events at Mogo near Batemans Bay on the South Coast of NSW.
- Adventure Races. AROC Sport began as an adventure racing company, and over the years has conducted approximately 60 adventure races in Canberra, Sydney, NSW Central Coast, NSW South Coast and Mt Buller. These events were held between 2003 and 2011 and included the AROC Adventures and Paddy Pallin Adventure Race Series (2.5 hour to 6 hour events), The Rat Race, Mouse Chase and The Urban Debacle in Canberra (6 and 12 hour events), AROC 24 in Canberra, AROC 24 in Batemans Bay and The Mountain Hardwear Edge of Reality 50 in Tuross.
- Kayaking Event. Lifestart Kayak for Kids is held annually at the end of March on the spectacular Sydney Harbour. The event is for all ages and abilities, and is a fundraiser for kids charity, Lifestart. The course follows the northern shore of Sydney Harbour between Blues Point Reserve and Clontarf Beach and is 17.5km. The course goes into the beautiful harbour beaches where relay teams can swap paddlers. The event can be done in an AROC Sport triple seater kayak as a team of 3 paddling the whole way together or team of 4 to 12 doing a relay. It can also be done in an AROC Sport double seater kayak as a team of 2 paddling the whole way together or team of 3 to 8 doing a relay. It can also be done by people with their own kayaks. It is very popular amongst corporate teams. AROC Sport has a very large fleet of 3 person, plastic, sit-on-top kayaks which are used in the event and are also available for hire at other times.
- Corporate Team Building. Our corporate programs emphasise team building, fitness development, work/lifestyle balance and fun for participants.
- Programs For Kids. Our school programs include adventure style activities for personal development, fitness and improving self confidence in an outdoor environment. Contact us for more information.