Reflection from Jen Knowles: Family Growing Up With ARC and the Coromandel Community
Long before eventplus, before registrations, technology or business plans, our lives were shaped by a community, a coastline, and a race that became part of our family. Andy’s new book Are You Trying to Kill Us captures the wild history of ARC events, and for us, as we flick through the pages it also captures the backdrop to raising our children, from newborns to teenagers helping run the show.
When I look back over the last 20-plus years, my story in sport doesn’t begin with technology; it begins on a gravel road in the middle of the night, waiting with a thermos, food and a headtorch, helping my husband chase the finish line of another ARC 24-hour race.
And honestly, “Are you trying to kill us?” felt just as fitting for the support crew, managing all the team logistics, navigating to remote transitions before Google Maps, in the dark, often in the rain and wind, racing to reach the next checkpoint in time to whip up a feast and get the gear ready for the next leg.
Those early years were a blur of support crew missions:
- Moehau Man multisport race, multiple ARC 24-hour adventure races, Intrigue, Kauri Ultra, K2 Cycle…
- Packing the kids into the van in the dark…
- Driving between transitions…
- Trying to keep everyone warm, fed and laughing… looking after the kids while helping our team chase a win
- Then later with a camera in hand, capturing the action and kids progressively joining the film crew once they were strong enough to hold a camera.
Photo: Working with a van full of kids — and somehow managed to pick up a few extras along the way!
We weren’t “professionals”, however the passion for the outdoors and united community filled any voids. We were just a young family out to help, enjoying life in the outdoors, cooking noodles at 2am, and cheering on athletes who had become friends.
But somewhere along the way, ARC became more than an event for us. It became a community, a place where we learned from those who lived at a slower pace of life, were deeply connected to each other and the land. A place of humour, generosity, and a kind of connection that only comes from sharing passion and hardship in wild places.
Photo: Page from “Are you trying to kill us?” - Steve (Sportzhub/eventplus) and Neil (Spirited Women) - a throwback to when we were all a few years younger!
The ARC community helped raise our kids
Our children grew up between the startlines, ridgelines, transitions, rivers, roads and finish lines of ARC events. They watched kindness in action, saw adults solve impossible problems together, and learned that community doesn’t come from convenience, it comes from showing up, embracing the unknown, and discovering new limits. The Coromandel didn’t just host events. It helped shape our family as we watched people unite to overcome obstacles, whether on a course, or in their everyday lives.
Photo: Our youngest, Jamie - very small here at the ARC rifle shoot! And he was actually a pretty good shot!
Behind the lens
As the years passed, I did one 12 hour adventure race in the Coromandel, but mostly moved from support crew to driving, filming, photography, social media, all while being Mum. There’s something special about capturing athletes emerging from the bush at sunrise, the kids sounding the alarm, documenting Keith and Andy’s legendary banter, or soaking up the nervous energy at the start lines, to exhausted jubilations at the finish lines.
When eventplus kicked off back in 2012, it grew out of time spent on the ground with event organisers, learning what made their days easier (and harder). After decades working in the ICT sector, we could see exactly where technology could remove friction, save time, and give organisers the tools they deserved.
We’d seen first-hand how much effort they put into their events, how much they give back to their communities, and wanted to create something that genuinely helped. What began as a simple vision to make life smoother for organisers has since evolved into a platform helping shape the future of event management across Australasia.
The dream behind ARC
ARC was never just a race, it was a journey to build the future, ironically without the ARC. It existed to build something bigger, a community-driven adventure park for the region. Event after event, year after year, they raised money, awareness and momentum. It was a vision born from the hearts of two men who believed in the Coromandel more than anyone, Keith and Andy.
Photo: Coromandel Bike Park!
Losing Keith
Keith’s passing left a hole in the adventure racing world that can never truly be filled. He was half of an inseparable duo, funny, stubborn, brilliant and deeply community-minded. Together, Keith and Andy created experiences that changed lives. If you're in the Coromandel and hear a faint whisper in a cave or a chuckle on a high ridge, or a dead possum sitting on the side of the road smoking a cigarette (a favourite sideshow for K2 riders) it’s probably Keith still doing what he loved, scouting an ARC Revival course.
Photo: Keith being Keith — full of love for his competitors and community
The ARC journey taught me that:
- community matters
- people are generous
- events are about far more than results
- Family is about enjoying the journey, learning through experience of others (budget for a lot of broken sleep) and shaping work around life, because by the time you retire, your kids will be off raising the next generation.
Our family is deeply grateful
To Andy, to Keith and Rita, to every volunteer, every athlete, every supporter/family and person who was part of the ARC world. They started the ball rolling on the family chasing and covering adventures, some of which aired on Sky TV, Eurosport and in cinemas..
Thank you for helping shape our family, our values and our journey. We feel it gave us more than we ever gave you. And finally, as Andy’s book reminds us, in the old ARC photos everyone looks young, fast, fresh…
Checkout the book here.. arcevents.co.nz
