HE may be regarded as one of the toughest men to play football, but North Melbourne great Glenn Archer needs to brush up on his navigation if he is to conquer his latest sporting challenge.
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The Shinboner of the Century openly admits that embarking on his third Mark Webber Tasmania Challenge this week will be tougher than anything he faced in his 311 top-flight games over 16 years.
Archer and his former teammate Leigh Colbert have entered the enthusiast pairs event in this year's 350-kilometre run, cycle and paddle adventure race beginning in Launceston tomorrow.
``AFL training was more explosive whereas adventure racing is long and gruelling and probably hurts more mentally than AFL training,'' Archer said.
``It's probably the hardest thing I have ever done.''
Archer said there were two reasons why he was again competing.
``One, when you get a bit older you've got to have a bit of a goal to keep your fitness up and, two, I'm a massive fan of Mark Webber. He is just a quality person and if I can help out in any way, I will,'' he said.
Colbert, who played alongside Archer for 104 games following 105 with Geelong, joked about relying on his business partner's map-reading skills for the orienteering aspects of the event.
``The thing that we are likely to struggle with the most is navigation,'' Colbert said.
``Glenn is on navigation duties this year. Last year he went off course one whole hour on a mountain bike, which means one hour off course and one hour back - ugly.
``The last time I did this event, I did the first two days with a local Launceston guy (Ian Ferrier) who knew the area like the back of his hand.
``I think we were about fourth or fifth after the first two days and then Glenn arrived, and all hell broke loose. We couldn't navigate, we didn't know where we were and we got lost.''
THE DETAILS
WHAT: Swisse Mark Webber Tasmania Challenge.
WHERE: Throughout Tasmania.
WHEN: Tomorrow to Sunday.
