Look at the Line up 2009 - Contenders and Pretenders.

Mountain Designs GeoQuest is THE adventure race each year that brings together the very best teams from across the country. Hopes are high but in such a competitive field, few champions are crowned and the hopes of many more are drowned. To sate your hunger, like Pringles and Coke at 2am, here is a preview of the contenders and pretenders for 2009. The authors take full responsibility for inaccurate information and warn you now there is likely more fiction than fact. It has been written over a glass or two of red wine and proofing has been omitted. Enjoy the preview!

Contenders – Looking for a win

APEX (Christie Sym, Hugh Stodart, Simon Manson, Guy Andrews) (NSW)
These are the current super stars of GeoQuest. With the shortest odds of all teams you can expect to see these guys laying down the gauntlet to the others. Christie and the boys came second in 07 then left the field eating dust to win in 08. Down a 4th team member, Guy has been promoted from their high speed support crew driver to their fully fledged number 4. Apex are good at everything, always looking composed, and they like to control and dictate the race from the front. Catch em if you can! 

Mountain Designs (Gary Sutherland, Brett Stevens, Brit Caling, Craig Stevens) (QLD)
Winners of the GeoQuest a couple of years ago, this team has been threatening to retire ever since then. Each year though their wives and families nag them to enter so they can go somewhere for a holiday (join them for a glass of wine near the HQ tent!). Team Mountain Designs are strong in everything, experienced and always pushing to the limit (as proof they have finished on the podium 4 out of their last 6 GeoQuests). They will be hoping for Rubic cubes during the race and sausages at the end to spur them to victory.

Blackheart (Damon Georke…) (VIC)
While Damon is always holding an Ace up his sleeve, unfortunately he often ends up with a team of jokers (so he tells us). Back in the early days members of this team won the GeoQuest and these horses are looking to bring back those glory days. As the current undisputed expedition AR champs of Australia, the punters are starting to again throw some money their way. Great strategy and tactics, top navigation and all round fitness are this teams strengths – but it always comes down too… is the race long enough?? Possibly as a tactic, Damon is keeping his team a secret right to the last. Watch them, they are the Wiley Coyotes of the race. 

orienteering.asn.au/Blackheart (Rob Preston…) (VIC)
While Rob is keeping his team line up a secret as well, authors guess that he has big plans for this race. One of our countries recent jet setting adventure racers Rob has been appearing as a ring in for many international teams recently. He may even bring back some high profile international racers for a crack at first place, who knows… With his orienteering background this team is unlikely to get lost out there. Solid in the other disciplines but with an unknown line up punters are sitting on the fence. Hi Kerry, yes Rob is ok.

Pretenders – Possible podium

Nga Rakau (Tim Cochrane…) (NZ)
A gun team from New Zealand out to show the Aussies how to race. This team won an entry to Geo through placing second in the very competitive ARC 24hr in NZ. Concentration is their weakness as the have a tendency to get distracted while racing (e.g. convincing innocent old ladies to cook for them in the middle of the night). Their strengths are in longer distances (4th XPD 08) so 48hrs may not be enough time to wind them up. 

TBA (Mounty) (Sam Maffet, Richard Mountstephens, Kris Plain, Katrin Van der Spiegel) (VIC)
OK – these guys are here to make an impact. Sam was in the winning team in 07 and Richard has flirted with the podium. Kris and Katrin round out the team giving a depth of individual multisport and mountain bike talent. Don’t let your guard down around this team.

Keen Torqers (Stewart Cowey, Del Lloyd, Grant Suckling, Luke) (VIC)
This energetic group scared a few teams at the XPD Whitsundays race by spending some time at the front of the pack. Eventually they placed 5th but being penalized into 8th place for some dodgy shenanigans on course. Some good placings at other races give them a mention in this category but being their first GeoQuest together this horse will draw long odds.

SCAR (Robbie Andrews, Danielle Gage, Rob Gowland, Mark Cumming) (QLD)
This team from the sunshine coast is yet to hit the big time at GeoQuest. Being beaten by an all girls team last year has the author wondering why they have even made it to this list? Well, based their form winning Hells Bells 24hr race the last two years running, there is an outside chance we will see these spritely competitors on the podium. Good across all disciplines they are worth keeping an eye on. Watch out GOT, the word nemesis has been mentioned once, or twice, or thrice…

Mentionables

The following teams amongst many other, should endeavour to keep the field honest and make it almost impossible for a male team to crack the top 10 finishers. Look out for the following dark horse teams – Tasman(ACT), Phoenix Adventure (QLD), Fugawhe (ACT), Austrelaps (ACT).

The Girls 

Cowgirls Tri Adventure (Jan Leverton, Kim Beckinsale, Narelle Ash, Wendy Read) (QLD)
This is the strongest edition of the Cowgirls that Geo has ever seen which indicates that the gauntlet is down. The all male teams can’t get near them and the mixed category better watch out as well. There is one small problem… their nemesis from across the Tasman is back! A close race in 07 saw the Cowgirls and Girls On Top racing each other all the way to the finish. The cowgirls lost that bout and with no re-match possible the following year, in 2009 they want revenge!

Girls on Top (Debbie Chambers, Anne Lowerson, Britney Ellesmere, Erin Roberts) (NZ)
Despite the humour in their bios, these girls are deadly serious competitors and will trample any team in their way and laugh while they are doing it. The depth of experience from Debbie and Annie form the rock of this team. These girls kicked many egos last year by crossing the line in 8th and beating all the Male teams to the finish line. 

The Boys

Team Red (QLD), More Training Required (NSW) and Echo (QLD) stand out as the All Male teams to watch. A number of first time teams are also entered in the male category that could cause an upset. However it is hard to go past teams with previous Geo race experience – it really does count for a lot.

Final Thoughts

2009 has the biggest field to date with 70 teams starting across both the full and half courses. It is impossible to mention all teams and in fact the wine ran out long before we could tackle the 27 odd teams in the Geo-Half. I guess we will all have to eagerly await the results, either at Forster or from the comfort of our keyboards following the live coverage. We all look forward to an amazing race, be it for the podium, or just for the finish line, see you soon!

Geoquest 2009 By Glenn George – team “Coffs Tri”

Well after the months of preparation including a multitude of Saturday mornings sipping flat whites and lattes at the Coffs Harbour yacht club (with the occasional paddle thrown in) the weekend of Geoquest 2009 had arrived. This year it was based in Forster which was a big change from the other two Geoquests we had done based from Sawtell and Emerald Beach, where some local knowledge certainly was useful. After two reasonable years, lots of previous learning and four fit 40-somethings, we reckoned this year was our’s and we were going to give the all-men’s category and 40 hours a good shake. 

The team from last year was largely intact, except for the loss of Mick Dougherty who suffered enormously through last year’s event with the flu and decided to hang up his paddle for this year. His replacement was an ex-local and mate of mine from a Police tactical response unit, Wade (the stunt man). Wade is a big, strong, fit unit but has a couple of serious vices which include alcohol and cigarettes, but neither seem to slow him down at all. The remainder of the team is now well versed in Adventure racing, and included Craig (gadget man) Bulloch, Neil (energiser bunny) Charles and Glenn (guys I think we’re lost again) George. 

For those unfamiliar with the event, it broadly consists of kayaking, mountain biking and trekking, with a whole lot of navigating and rogaining (orienteering) thrown in for good measure. The event really can come down to a hare and tortoise type affair, with the navigating component being a critical part of the whole race. The race course itself is not issued until 3pm on the Friday before the event starts, so much of Friday night is spent plotting and mapping out where you are going to go for the next two days. The information handed out includes a course description, up to about a dozen topographic maps and check point coordinates. From there you are basically on your own to plot the points (hopefully correctly) and hit the course. 

This year the full course broadly consisted of the following legs:
30km bike
6km trek
35km bike
3hr car transport/break
21km kayak
50km bike
19km trek
5.5km raft (build your own with tubes, rope and timber on-course)
22km kayak
19km trek
12km kayak

And of course you could not complete one of these events without a support crew. The core of our support crew is now well versed in what it takes to look after us, and as always they did an amazing job and once again we were the envy of many teams. They consisted of Tim (falling apart) Cotsell, his partner Caroline (the human blanket), Will (Mr fixit), Michael (the tactician) and Irvo (Wade’s mate and another crazy tact-team man). Tim was always on our case in transitions (as he should be) and they are definitely something we will be working on – an average of 20-30 minutes is possibly a bit long but sometimes it’s nice to get warm!! 

From the outset we knew this event was going to be a lot different from past geoquests which usually start with an ocean paddle. The start this year was at the very peak of the Barrington Tops at 1300 metres and 2 degrees celcius for a day of cycling and trekking that was going to see us drop around 1000 metres in elevation. Unfortunately within those big drops also came some VERY big climbs and the ride was much tougher than it sounds. The organisers of these events are most definitely sadists, and they tend to look for the biggest, meanest hills they can find and then send you up some even bigger ones!

Things started well as we arrived at the end of the first bike leg relatively intact and close to the leaders. Unfortunately it quickly went a bit pear-shaped from there as our trek/rogaine saw us take a wrong turn and head down a stream we should have been navigating up – a rookie mistake the likes of which we had not made in the past, and one to put into the memory bank. That small error cost us about 55 minutes and by the time we completed that leg the leaders were long gone as were most other teams and we were already playing catch-up. 

Next leg was a SERIOUS mountain bike which included a very big, long climb. Craig and I both suffered a few cramps during this leg, a result of not replacing salts well enough on the first bike leg when we started out well rugged up for the cold, but quickly lost a lot of fluid. Another lesson learnt. Wade was looking amazingly strong, and even assisted Craig by pushing his own bike and Craig’s up one part of the hill. He would huff and puff, cough and splutter and you could see the effect of his smoking, but he would always reach the top of the hill in reasonable shape and recover almost immediately – go figure?? Following the uphill there was a fun steep single track downhill that brought us out along an open spur that revealed the most amazing mountain scenery you could imagine. The views were so spectacular I think I was even enjoying them as I flew over the front of my handlebars (twice) on the way down. Craig also took a nice spill, but fortunately the only damage was to the pride. 

Into transition around 4pm and Tim bundled us into the car immediately and we headed straight back to Forster HQ to get some warm food into us and prepare for a 21km paddle up to Coolongolook in the dark. We hit the water around 7pm (our only mandatory break for the whole race) and with our fast double racing kayaks things were going along very nicely until Wade and I headed up what we thought was a channel between oyster leases (the area is FULL of them) only to find out the hard way that we had actually paddled straight into a lease. Unfortunately the impact bent our rudder back into the boat and we lost all ability to steer. With 11-12km to go and no steering it really was a long slog from there. Coupled with the extreme cold (another note to self - should have rugged up better for the paddle) it made for a very trying paddle leg. After what seemed like an eternity we finally arrived at the bike transition at around 10.30pm and spent plenty of time trying to warm up and recover, with most of us shivering uncontrollably for about 20 minutes. Then a fumbling text message to our trusty support crew to fix our broken rudder (just to ensure they were getting NO sleep that night – why should they if we can’t!) and we were off on our bikes. 

Well as all long course athletes know, you have your ups and downs along the way. The trick is to be able to push through the lows knowing (hoping) things will get better. And I would have to say the next 30 minutes were some of the hardest (mentally) that I have experienced. The problems with the kayak rudder had meant I had put in a huge effort on the last leg and it was telling on me. I had developed a severe headache like nothing I have experienced before, like someone had my head planted in a vice squeezing on each temple and was turning it hard. And the next creek crossing on our bikes certainly did not do anything to lift spirits. The former bridge had been washed out in the recent floods and the water looked at least waist deep. After just stopping shivering and putting on some semi-dry clothes, there was no way any of us were ploughing straight through that. So it was off with the shoes and socks and carry the bike around the long way – possibly another 10 minutes wasted but it was worth it!!

Soon after I started coming good and we were off again. Spirits were lifting as it was a beautiful starry night – where else would you want to be! A couple of check points down the road and we caught up with some other Coffs friends who were competing in the half and looking great. We did a few laps of a few roads together trying to locate ourselves and find the next checkpoint, which we eventually did before saying adios and riding off into the night on our trusty steeds. The remainder of the night saw us accumulate all but one of the bike check points (we were allowed to drop as many as three) and arrive in Buladelah for the next trek at daylight. 

The number of check points you needed on the next trek depended on how many you dropped on the bike leg. Unfortunately we had elected to drop an out and back check point on the bike that was an easy, flat ride - another small tactical error for next time. Our team was definitely far stronger on the bike than on foot, and it is amazing the amount of time you can waste in the hills, in thick scrub, on foot. 

Heading east from Buladelah we encountered an unexpected obstacle – a very colourful local female resident had not taken well to the sound of people’s voices passing her house since 2am and had taken it upon herself to provide most of the early teams with a nice cold shower from the front-yard hose. Fortunately all we received from her (even though we were not talking) was a good verbal spray. Naturally Wade gave as good as we got and we continued on our merry way. At the top of the cliffs above Buladelah there was another interesting leg – one of the team members had to climb to the top of a sheer rock wall (with rope safety guides in tow). Of course Wade was quickly nominated (the man rappels down elevator shafts and from helicopters with no safety gear, who else!!). While Charlie, Craig and I enjoyed a nice 10 minute rest, Wade was off and into the climb. We were told nearly every team so far had made the climb within the allocated time, so of course this would be a snap for our stunt man. So you can imagine our surprise when the radio message came back – team 42 fail, 18 minute penalty!! Unfortunately for us it had just started drizzling about ½ hour earlier, and the slippery rocks had made the climb all but impossible. So we all sucked it up and sat there having a very nice rest for another 18 minutes (funny how no-one complained). 

The rest of the trekking leg to Myall lakes was through some extremely steep, thick scrub country and was very trying at times. Some of the trails were very overgrown and difficult to spot, and at one stage a wrong decision saw us trying to travel down the side of a heavily overgrown mountain looking for a mystery track below. After hitting impenetrable lantana about half way down the 30 degree slope it was a quick consult and backtrack up the hill, re-group and re-assess. Eventually we got out and even managed to run some of the flat sections (which were rare) as we neared the lake around midday. 

The next leg was an interesting one. We were required to construct a raft using 8 tyre tubes, four lengths of framing timber and two lengths of rope, and then paddle 5.5km including a short section where we would have to carry the raft across an island. By all accounts there had been some very good ones and some major disasters prior to us. As it turned out our boat, which we had designed with the expectation of only having to paddle across a river for a couple of hundred metres, held up OK. It was a very difficult, trying leg and certainly we were passed during the leg by a couple of teams with far superior designs, but in the end we got there. 

Straight off the rafts and naturally the shoulders and arms were seriously tired. What more could you want following a two and a half hour rafting session on a complete piece of crap than a 22km paddle on the pristine waters Myall Lake, just to burn off a bit of the lactate! Well pristine it was and pretty quickly the rafting debacle was forgotten and we were into our rhythm. There was no wind, few clouds and it was just on sunset. The lake was superb and this leg actually flew by very quickly indeed (except for the 1km boat portage across land from one lake to another). 

Our arrival just after dark at the next transition again saw our trusty crew awaiting us with all of our gear set up and ready to go. However there was to be absolutely nothing quick about this transition. As luck would have it a very enterprising coffee shop owner (who usually closes at 3pm on a Sunday) was still open about 50m away and there was only one thing for it. The orders were submitted and in between handling gear and keeping me warm, Caroline found some time to pick up four take-aways that were made in heaven! 

The logistics of what to take and wear for this last 19km trek were interesting. Near the start there was a tubing section, meaning we had to cross a large body of water using one tyre tube each and our life jackets, which we had to then carry for the remainder of the trek. On top of that there is a range of compulsory gear you MUST have on you at all times, including thermals, medical, goretex jackets etc. etc. At 35 hours and no sleep just thinking straight about what to take and what to wear was getting difficult, but we eventually sorted it and following another slick ½ hour transition we were off. 

After negotiating the tubing section quite quickly we were on our way into what turned out to be a very eventful leg. On plan the navigation on this leg looked simple, however in the dark it was far from. The tracks and trails were very difficult to find and more than once we had to hike it cross country and off-trail following a compass bearing. Then to throw a real spanner in the works, about half way through this leg Wade tore his calf muscle while negotiating a fence. From there it was a very slow walk/stumble dragging/pushing Wade up some very big hills, but fortunately we eventually came across some other teams that were also finding the navigating tough and together we found a way through to Blueys Beach. A quick call to Irvo and he was on the way to pick up Wade. With only an hour and a half or so of trekking left but some big hills still to negotiate, Wade was in no shape to continue on foot so we handed him over to the car and he took a well earned rest near the next transition whilst waiting for us. 

After doing some slow walking for the last hour or two, we were now getting a very strong second wind and started running again. It was amazing to see just how many teams you pass and how much time we were making up whilst running. The remaining hills and a final 4.5km beach run to the final transition saw us feeling really good, possibly the best of the whole race. Maybe it’s because we were so close! At one point along the beach without about 1.5km to go we became perplexed by the sight of a light headed our way. Our first guess turned out to be right, it was our nutter mate Irvo going for a nice light run at 1am in the morning! He had taken it upon himself to “cache” Wade in his car in the sandhills to wait for us, so Wade could walk with us into the final transition. These tact team guys really are endurance fanatics, and after doing security stints in places like Iraq and Afghanistan I guess a run at 1am on a Monday morning is small-fry. 

As it turned out, many teams had huge problems with the final trek leg, and several actually pulled out due to a combination of hypothermia and getting lost. We had made up a lot of places and were now actually leading the all men’s teams race. 

The final transition must have been our slickest of all, 10-15 minutes and we were in our boats and gone. On Friday night we had set a goal to make the outgoing tide and we had done so by the skin of our teeth. One more checkpoint on an island on the way and we were paddling back into Forster and the finish. The finish has very little fanfare (as you can imagine at 3am on a Monday morning), just a little different to an ironman! But we had our support crew there, and that’s all the fanfare we needed. Some pizza and beer to help “come down” and by a bit after 4am we had all crashed. All in all it was another amazing event. Unfortunately, although we had crossed the line first in the all men’s teams event, we were placed un-ranked due to the transport Wade had received. But who cares, we had competed and we had finished in 42 hours and 40 minutes. 

Logistical planning is possibly one of the biggest areas that really sets this event apart. There is no food or water out on the course, it’s just you and your team and your backpack. A great deal of thought needs to be put into planning what you will eat and when, where you can re-stock and what clothes and gear you will need. Add to this the fact that your planning can really only be finalised on the Friday night before the race when you know the course (while you are still trying to map it out and plan it) and it really does make for a massive logistical exercise. 

The navigating also offers a very different, technical element. Couple that with the constant changing from bike to boat to foot and back again and it is an extremely challenging event. There really is no point watching the clock, you just go and you keep going and going and going. If you need to walk, you walk, no ifs or buts. The time you spend actually running is quite limited, it’s just too far to run up (or sometimes even down) hills, especially given they are mostly in scrub and very steep. You have four people out there to look after, so you also need to think a lot further than just yourself. You must all stay within 100m of each other at all times, always watching each others backs. 

A lot of people from our local triathlon club have asked how the difficulty of this event compares to an ironman triathlon. This type of event really is a completely different mind-set, and I can’t answer that question. Both have their difficult elements, and it really comes down to your own personal expectations and how hard you can (or are wiling) to push. In ironman it’s just you and the course and your body. In this event there are so many other elements thrown into the mix. I guess what I would say is that mentally this event is possibly tougher, and I think you learn even more about yourself in an event like Geoquest where you are committing to go almost non-stop for two days – in anyone’s book that is a hell of a long time. Bring it on!!!!!!

Gloucester to Forster (Only in Australia would that rhyme!) by Dave Ellis

Team More Training Required 

Quick bit of background for those who don’t know me – or I haven’t talked to for awhile…
I always thought that when I got old (i.e. turned 30) I would maybe settle down, do a bit less on the adrenalin side and try my hand at some endurance sports. So I bought my first XC mountain bike and entered my first XC race since I was 15 – Dirtworks 100km. It was pretty fun, so I did a couple more, extended it out to 100miles and then a friend of mine got talked into running the 6 ft track marathon; I had a bit of a crush on her so next thing I know I’m doing a bit of running as well. Fared pretty well in that race so came to the conclusion that maybe I should try and combine these sports. 

Add to that the fact that living in Manly, there are lots of days where you want to be out on the water but the waves are pretty small. So I’d bought myself a surf ski to fill in the gap.
Did the math and adventure racing seemed like a great next step. So I did a 3hr Kathmandu race, went pretty fast but was terrible in the Nav department – confident that our team covered more km than anyone else in the race (quick note –often a tell-tale sign you are going the wrong way when you see a race committee boat out on the water and they are trying hard not to laugh) 

So decided to build a team for the Geo half to see what full-on adventure racing was all about. Unfortunately I lost my entire team to injury and work commitments, so ended up with no team 2 weeks out from the race. Luckily, hopped on Sleepmonsters and convinced a team that I could last for the full race and wouldn’t be too much of a liability out there…

Fast forward to 4pm Friday 5 June, and Craig & Louise are handing out the race booklet and it’s all on from there. The next 4 hours is a bit of a blur – but at the end of that point we had a whole series of waterproof maps with our optimal route, distances, key bearings and time estimates. Came to the conclusion that you might not be able to win the race during the planning phase - but you can definitely lose it… 

Next thing I know its 8:30 sat morning and everyone is huddled above Barrington tops with a great downhill bike descent in their immediate future. Living in Manly and training early in the morning (occasionally at least) you often see the walk of shame – people stumbling home in their suits and slinky dresses at 7am. But by 9am Sat I was introduced to the ride of shame – glad I wasn’t one of the teams pedalling back uphill to hit the checkpoint they’d blown past – great motivation to nail your navigation! 

After a quick and fun bike descent we transitioned into a short but sweet Rogaine section – 3 checkpoints that required some quality creeking, bushbashing, taking a compass bearing and hoping like heck the trail you were aiming for still exists. Conveniently the trails did – inconveniently they were so overgrown I heard tales of teams jumping from 8ft in the air to try and break through the bushes. I’d officially like to thank those teams for making our trip through relatively easy – a few stinging nettles but nothing to write home about

A second bike leg took us through to the next transition – where a white water paddle would have followed if it wasn’t for the week of torrential downpour preceding the race. Special mention should go to the final descent onto the road – I felt like I was back on my downhill bike as we hammered down super steep waist high grassy fields – brilliantly fun. 

We then hopped into the truck for a 3 hr commute back to the next start – which sounded like a ton of time to relax – but by the time we had our gear set up at the next checkpoint and a bit of food in our bellies we were out in the kayak for a scenic paddle out of Forster. Beautifully clear night – totally relaxing except for the high tech racing skis that kept trundling past our Mirages… Balanced out a bit right near the end though – a ski tried to follow us through a shortcut which was only 4inches deep – which was fine for our boats with 3inch draft but sure didn’t sound too healthy for them…

Set off on the bikes once again around 9pm into a relatively cold night. The “Bridge out” sign 10 minutes in was a bit inconvenient – the river crossing was rideable but it meant wet feet for the next 8 hrs – think there are some good photos of what those feet looked like by the next transition. Lots of criss-crossing logging roads meant good nav was essential in the woods – our navigator did an amazing job and we stayed out of trouble for the most part. Only minor lapse (apparently when he was distracted by towing his brother up a hill) turned into the best recovery I’ve seen – looked at the map – decided where we thought we were, bashed up to the top of a knoll and found the trail we were expecting to be there – complete with an old rusted out sign saying “Broken Broad Axe Trail”. This was the source of the greatest emotional turnaround for my entire race - first hit rock bottom: suspected we were pretty lost, got the tow system on the back of my bike caught in my spokes and thought my rear wheel might be destroyed, and when I stopped to fix it didn’t call out loudly enough to the first half of my team didn’t stop – and they had the map. So there I am on a sketchy trail, no map, possibly broken bike, middle of the night – and then it all worked out – the spokes held up, and there was our team sitting about 100m ahead at the end of the trail – right next to a checkpoint. Beauty.

After 8 hrs of pedalling we hit Bulahdelah and chucked on our running shoes for the next leg. Started off with a steep enough hill I was kind of glad we’d dropped the bikes. Then came the section I’d been looking forward to – a promised 5.13 top-roped climb. Unfortunately, we came in just after Girls on Top, and they got the choice of climbs – not surprisingly they took the rolling corner section that may have been 5.13. I, however, ended up on what appeared at first sight to be a featureless vertical wall. In daylight, with climbing shoes, fresh muscles and my chalk bag I might have been able to figure out a sequence to climb it. 6am, 22 hrs into a race – not so much. But slowly the headlamp picked out a couple shadows; a few crumbly cracks and a potential route appeared. In what must have been the single ugliest climb of my life I smeared up the wall one move at a time – and definitely need to thank the girl on belay for giving me tension after any number of uncoordinated stabs at holds on the rock – would not have made it up otherwise!

This led us onto a good technical navigation section where we had to find the quickest way to get off the mountain we were currently on and over to the next ridgeline. We went the easy route – found a road over to the powerlines wandered up the nicely mowed slash to the top of the hill – where a convenient trail ran past all sorts of checkpoints. Made it into the next checkpoint in time for breakfast – which may not have been all that leisurely, but did include time to build a raft. Loved our raft design – and think it was pretty unique. Modelled it on the Star Wars X –Wing fighter – if its good enough to blow up the Deathstar it had to be good enough to paddle 5km! 

The best part of the design is that the front 2 paddlers can take full strokes – and it has sufficient buoyancy to support our team – likely one of the few in the “Clydesdale” category for team members over 100kg… 

This was one of the hardest sections of the race – luckily warm and sunny for us – but wow did you ever have to paddle hard to get the boat moving – and the angled cross-braces did not make for the most comfortable of seats!

It was a pleasant relief to get into the kayaks again – our Mirages felt like they were floating through air in comparison! Hit the kayak portage perfectly – nosed up into the swamp right beside the road, and didn’t even collect any leeches (wish we could say the same for the rafting leg).

Hit the next tubing/running leg just as it was getting dark – and the thought of floating across Smith’s Lake (greatly bloated due to hitting it bang on high tide) didn’t have a lot of appeal from either a warmth or tide perspective. So we wandered around the edge as far as we could go without hitting the Out of Bounds Area – judging by the lights we could see and the other race reports it seems like this was a pretty popular option! Ran into a few rednecks truck camping on the beach – they definitely were having a hard time comprehending what they were seeing – much to our amusement. That amusement came to an abrupt end as we tried to work out how to get out of Cellitos and up towards Bluey’s. Wasted about 30 minutes, then just hit the high ground and took a bearing towards the closest rd on the map – a plan we should have adopted 20 min earlier. And that’s where it all started to go pear-shaped. None of the roads we found quite matched what we were looking for based on the map and the contours we could vaguely make out in the darkness. So we tried numerous roads & explored all over the shop – but never just sucked it up and climbed Mt Taric – the obvious feature and the simplest way to guarantee we got where we needed to be! Suspect that 40 hrs without sleep may have had a negative impact on our decision making…

Ended up following a road that we didn’t think was the right one, but optimistically hoped it would take us where we needed to go anyway. Was definitely not to be – next thing we knew we were on Lakes rd – out of bounds and not at all where we wanted to be. Here came the most difficult decision of the race: do need try and walk to the next checkpoint anyway and accept our penalty – or do we pack it in and chalk it down as a learning experience. We made it to the shops in Bluey’s by about 1:30am (7hrs after we left the last checkpoint) pretty much shattered and unstoked that we were off-course – and unsure whether we would be disqualified totally or just heavily penalised. And so we decided not to find out: instead packed it in – called up our support crew and threw in the towel. 

Still not sure if it was the right decision or not – first time in 6 yrs the team hasn’t finished the race – not a bad record at all; but I’m personally 0/1 – not a result I’m comfortable with in the least. And when I think back to some of the adversity of persevered through just to finish races in the past (pedalling 25km with no seat in the highland fling, pushing a bike 17km to the kayak transition in the Upper Murray Challenge) it seems ludicrous in retrospect that I was happy to pull out just because we had wasted 5hrs and were going to be penalised. But I suspect it’s useful to have these experiences as well – now I know what it feels like to pull out and sit at the finish line watching all the teams that made it successfully…

And I think I’ve got a pretty good plan to redeem myself – the preparations have already commenced for XPD 2010… Look forward to seeing you there. 

Dave Ellis

Race Report Team Echo

“Good morning” my team mate, Alistair, calls with a friendly half wave as we pass a local drinking a cup of tea on her front porch in Bulahdelah. I had to agree with him: it was a good morning. Sure, it was overcast, we hadn’t slept for over 26 hours since setting off for the GeoQuest start line the morning before and we’d just finished almost 8 hours on the bikes battling hills, faulty derailleurs, mud and the night, but the rise of the sun always seems to pick sleepy racers up again. 

The lady on the porch seemed to think differently though. “Don’t you give me good morning you stupid f@#&ing b@#%&ds! Waking me up at f@#&ing 2am in the morning with your talking you bloody a@#%holes!” Craig, another team mate’s response of “Well, I guess a cup of tea is out of the question then?” seemed a much easier response then the full explanation that the noise wasn’t our fault, but that of the leading teams. This small tirade certainly served as a pick me up though, putting an extra bit of spring in the step of the team, however this was rapidly ablated by the first climb up into the surrounding hillside.

The 2009 GeoQuest represented our second foray into this race after a successful outing at Emerald Beach in 2008. The team included one new member, Alistair, along with a new team name: Echo. This year we were hoping to improve on our overall placing in the rankings and possibly take out a win in the men’s category. A look at the line-up suggested one of the largest and strongest fields ever to front a GeoQuest with a lot of tough competition. As with any big race, the logistics started months earlier with a multitude of emails. Getting any team of four healthy racers together and to the start line of a race is half the work itself and I’m sure we all felt like we could have done with a bit more training in any one particular discipline. 

After a long drive from Brisbane down to Forster we arrived with bikes, kayaks, tubes, wood planks and support crew in tow. Friday morning was almost a relaxed affair, passing all requisite competency checks. The Geocentric crew had a surprise in store with a 5-legged race to rank start-times the next morning (suggesting that the opening leg would be on bikes, and not the traditional paddle). After a quick practice, we were one of the first teams to have a crack at this and it was with much amusement that we later heard ours was the second fastest time of the day. At map handout it was revealed that the much anticipated white water section was cancelled due to high water levels in the Barrington River, which was a disappointment. I can’t say I’ve ever actually had fun in a Sevylor kayak before, but I was hoping this would be our first chance. Maybe next time.
A quick look at the course revealed only two stages to this year’s race. The first stage would be a short bike-run-bike with a long 3Hr car shuttle followed by a much longer stage looping out from Forster into the surrounding mountains and back up the coast via the large inland waterways. It was also apparent that there would be a lot of paddling this year, with most of the biking finished on the first day. Marking up the maps took all of the next five hours and it was close to midnight by the time we made it to bed.

An early rise at 5am saw a procession of teams and bikes make the long drive up to Barrington Tops for a high altitude, cold start. I have to admit being a little nervous starting second off the line. The first leg was a 40km bike ride with a lot of descent down the Barrington Range to the Bowman River. After our 20 seconds of fame, we were quickly passed by a couple of the gun teams, however APEX, winners of last year’s GeoQuest managed to break a chain just 5 minutes into the race. Amazingly, they had the chain fixed and caught up to us just as we reached the first checkpoint. After leaving this checkpoint we were witness to the lead teams riding back up the hill to where we just came from, obviously over shooting the CP, which was a nice little confidence boost for our navigation. We were then passed twice by team Mountain Designs on the way to the second checkpoint and then a third time as they rode back to CP2. All too quickly the ride down to the Bowman was over and we had the first trekking loop of the day, requiring the collection of 3 CPs in any order. We settled on an anticlockwise loop which was made a lot easier by the earlier lantana bashing efforts of the Geo Half teams. The last leg of the first stage was a purported 23km ride over the Copeland Ranges. This ride had a few stinging hills in it, and it was on one of these hills that I started to feel the first effects of dehydration. Big efforts by my team mates with towing on the bike (in the first few hours of the race!) saw us make it in to the transition area. In a way we were lucky to have the white water section cancelled as it gave me a chance to come good again. It’s amazing the difference a bit of food and water can make and a great lesson in that no mater had bad things seem to be heading, you can always turn them around again. The first stage wasn’t quite done with us however. Organisers had allowed a generous 3 hours to drive back to HQ, dropping off gear along the way, before the start of the second stage. This 3 hours, however, blew out to longer when we suffered a flat tyre on our support vehicle. Fortunately, it was our only flat for the race.

Stage 2 started with the first paddle of the race just on dark, with a lot of tricky navigation to pick the right passages and quickest routes around the islands. We were fortunate to have the tide with us on this and all subsequent paddle legs. The kayak was followed by the last and longest bike leg of the race. The next two legs required collecting 11 out of 14 checkpoints over a bike and trek leg. We decided to collect all but one of the bike leg checkpoints, and settled on a longer route that cut out some of the worst hills and included a section of bitumen for some of the worst climbing. I think we all struggled with lack of sleep at some point on this stage which, combined with some tough navigational decisions on old tracks, made for a slow time.

Never-the-less we made it on to the trekking portion of this leg by morning, past our lady friend on the porch, up into the hills and to the ropes section just in time for the rain to start. Unfortunately the rain made the rocks too wet to climb (as evidenced by the fact that neither our team mate or a climber from another team were able to make it up over the rock face despite only two other climbers from the lead teams also failing to do so). We were made to sit out our 15 minute time penalty in the cold and rain after which point I heard rumours that the ropes section would be closed down. We then collected the 3 remaining CPs on the ridgeline, spiking each dead on. Perhaps I let my navigational guard down, perhaps it was the lack of sleep or perhaps it was just too much social chatting (probably a combination of all three), but I managed to take the team on a 20 minute loop starting and ending at the same set of powerlines on the walk out to the transition area.
The next leg was actually a really strong one for team Echo, requiring construction of a tube raft, followed by a 5km paddle across the lake with a portage halfway. Knowing that these legs can really sting a team, we had practiced building and paddling our raft on two separate occasions prior to the race (probably the only two times we got together as a whole team outside of the pub). Our design was essentially a long line of tubes with overlapping planks of wood strapping them together on each side. Alistair demonstrated some hidden talents with ropes and knots which alone justified his inclusion on the team. I assumed every team would have a similar variation on our long skinny raft, but this was far from the case. I saw rafts which were 4x2 tube arrangements, rafts stacked two tubes high and cross shaped rafts. These alternate designs culminated in a team starting just in front of us, who had a gondola-designed raft, complete with a tiller-man standing on the back of the raft. We were fortunate to make a lot of ground on this leg.

The next kayak stands out as my favourite leg of the race. Over a 20km paddle across Myall Lake with a portage three quarters of the way through, we were lucky to have flat water, trailing tide, an awesome sunset and full-moon rise on this leg. Thanks to the inclusion of a trolley and a few tie-downs in one of the kayaks by Alan, we were able to portage both kayaks on the 2.5km portage at a slow jog, overtaking about 5 teams struggling with skis and mirages on their backs. It was probably the only time during the race our shorter, dumpier kayaks were a blessing. Over taking so many teams put a new wind into the team, and we breezed through this leg so quickly that we caught our support crew, Scott and Bill, by surprise, interrupting them just as they were about to dig into some well earned burgers. 

Struggling into wetsuits, we set off for what looked like, at a glance, an easy 20km coasteer north with some inland tracks thrown in. This leg was to start with an 800m tube swim, but when we got to the shore, we realised we could wade around the edge of the lake and not go any deeper than our waist. It was a longer distance, but would be at a quicker pace, less effort and a lot drier. It unfortunately meant that our wetsuits were redundant weight (along with our now deflated tubes and PFDs) for the rest of the leg, but probably the right decision in the end, even if it cost a little extra time just to stay dry. The next section of the trek caught a lot of teams out with the confusing absence of a marked trail around a golf course combined with the dark, cold and fatigue. When about 6 teams all caught up together and no one could find the track, we decided to just take a NW bearing and hopefully hit the trail further along. Twenty minutes later and we had just given up on ever finding the trail, deciding to just bush bash it north, when literally 10m later we stumbled across the track, giving us the chance to make some good time on the teams behind us. 

From this last trek, it was just a battle against the sleepmonsters for a final quick paddle home. Another twist came at the TA when we realised that there was an extra CP that we hadn’t punched yet, but hadn’t marked on the map. We were lucky to find out that it was part way along the final paddle, and lucky to find it without a written description or grid reference, just the information that the punch was at the end of the point. During this paddle, I could hear Craig chuckling in the other kayak as Alan was talking in his sleep while paddling. According to Craig, he could feel the boat slow as Alan nodded off, followed by some mumbled gibberish. At one point however, Al could clearly be heard asking “What’s a tea filter for?” - we’re still not sure what a tea filter is for at this point.
We were just finally paddling in to the finish line when no sooner than someone had finished saying “Let’s just enjoy this moment boys” when Craig called out “S#@t, there’s another team!” Sure enough, appearing from a side channel and just ahead of us, another set of headlights was steaming to the finish. Judging from their pace, they had obviously seen us before we saw them. The race was then on in earnest. I don’t think I’ve ever paddled as hard as I did then, even after 43 hours of racing – it’s amazing the reserves the body can dig into when the mind thinks it’s exhausted. We knew that there was another men’s team in the mix for the lead and that they were on skis just like the team we had spotted. They hit the beach about 20m ahead of us, and we nearly wrote both kayaks off when we collided amongst ourselves in our rush to get through the break water. When we hit the land, it was skirts off and a crazy scramble of bodies up the path, through the gate and over the finish line. In the end, we got all four team members over the line first, but it was quickly realised that the other team were mixed team. We were then greeted with the news that we were the first ranked men’s team across home.

Despite being awake for almost 46 hours, it was still almost 90 minutes before we made it to bed as we relived moments from the race between team members and support crew. A big thanks must go to Scott and Bill who did another stellar job this year, backing up from their efforts last year. I’ve done a number of 24 hour races with Scott, and I’m convinced racers make the best support crew: they know how your feeling and what you need done to get you back out on the course functioning properly. So, Geo ’09 was a successful outing - a win in the mens division and a 13th place overall after time penalties were taken into account. The course was brilliant with a great mix of trekking, biking and paddling on different terrains with the right balance of novelty disciplines. Just a shame it’s another years wait until the next race!

Liam St Pierre, Team Echo.

Team Dude Where’s My Bruno

KATRIN VAN DER SPIEGEL Mountainbiker, mum, lawyer

Geoquest, June 5-8 2009 (Forster NSW)

Racing with Richard Mountstephens, Sam Maffett and Kris Plain as team Dude Where’s my Bruno. Words by Richard Mountstephens

Mountain Designs GeoQuest 48hr is Australia’s premier adventure race. It involves 48+hrs of non- stop endurance racing in the major disciplines of trekking, mountain biking and kayaking. Mixed, Male or Female teams of four must navigate their way through an arduous 200+km course that is only revealed to them the evening before the race.

It was a bit of a trip in to the unknown for this year’s June long weekend adventure racing pilgrimage to Geoquest. Katrin’s decision to swap support crew duties for a racing bib triggered the construction of a new team with newcomer Kris Plain, who’d never raced more than 6 hours before, and the experienced Sam Maffett joining us to race as “Dude, where’s my Bruno” in honour of Bruno the support crew van. A flippant last minute choice of team name that would turn out to be slightly embarrassing when, to many people’s surprise, we won.

The course handout on Friday night promised an interesting linear trip from Barrington tops back down to Forster and a journey through the Great Lakes region. Much to Katrin’s horror, it also promised a sh*tload of paddling with over 60km on the ski almost double what I told her she would be getting herself in to.

Cycling 2:02:00

Absolute cracker of a first leg, dropping 1000m on the bike from the peak of Barrington tops with a couple of checkpoints on the way. As expected the lead teams took off like nutters and duly overshot the first checkpoint. Partly I suspect because the leg was slightly wider than an A4 sheet and no one dared stop to refold the map, which meant getting caught out when the map turned out to be a bit wrong around the control.

Ride of shame back past the field to collect the checkpoint, then settled in for a quick ride down to the rogaine in a group with Apex, Blackheart (Rob & Kathryn), Keen, Mountain Designs & Austrelaps.

Orienteering 1:03:00

Quick transition in to a short but steep rogaine through some very pretty rainforest, and obligatory pleasant creeks. We stayed out of the creeks which seemed to be a good choice as we got back first. I also discovered with my forehead that the big green leaves are stinging nettles.

Cycling 2:09:00

Back on to the bikes and a solid 400m climb up over a range towards Gloucester. Katrin snapped her chain halfway up, which meant for 10 minutes of pfaffing that let Austrelaps and MD’s past. Then onto a highlight of the weekend, a classic descent down a huge very steep farm spur – not really on a track – with spectacular post card backdrop if you dared to look up.

Life’s little lesson #239. If you ride through a cow paddock, the mud on the nozzle of your waterbottle is not just mud. Urgh.

This meant the end of the first section as the white water paddle was cancelled due to river levels. We arrived at TA 5 minutes behind Austrelaps and MD’s, with Apex, Blackheart, Keen and co. spread out over the following 20 minutes.

Race then stopped with 3 hours allocated to transport teams back to Forster for a restart in the boats. Notable on the drive back was being stopped by a breathalizer, and the confused look of the cop upon seeing the van’s occupants and equipment.

We were pretty happy with how we’d gone so far. Still trying to get the hang of moving together as a new group – a bit disjointed on the bikes – but getting on well and enjoying the journey. Katrin was a bit suprised by the pace of the riding the field set, but on the flipside I was suprised that her

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Geoquest, June 5-8 2009 (Forster NSW) | Katrin Van der Spiegel

running was showing early signs of impressiveness. Kris was cruising and starting to relax, and Sam was enjoying himself.

Kayak 2:15:00 22.0 km

The first part of the course had felt like a bit of a prologue, with the race proper starting back at Forster after the 3 hour break. From here the course was a big day-long anti-clockwise loop down to Buladelah and back through Myall lakes.

Every now and then in the long races, you find yourself somewhere at just the right time. And so it was at the beginning of this paddle, as we headed out of Forster at sunset up a glassy Wang Wauk river, dodging dolphins out of the boat ramp and with a strong following tide to keep things moving. Made sure we enjoyed the moment.

And equally quickly it gets tough again, as the sun drops, the temperature plummets, and the course takes you to a shallow, smelly section of rock-filled river under a highway bridge. Noice.

The navigation on this paddle was tricky, so we pushed hard to get through the crux of it before the light faded completely. Sam and Kris set the tempo in the XT double, and Katrin had a crash course in wash-riding in the front seat of the Mark 2. Reasonably happy with how the boats were moving, but impressed by Blackheart’s form as they came past near the end.

No major dramas on this paddle, expect for Katrin being a bit under-dressed and hence cold for the last hour. Also lost a few minutes when we ran in to a submerged tree and got pinned against it by the tide.

Into an absolutely freezing TA next to the highway, and the race proper began. We saw all of Blackheart, Apex, MDs, Austrelaps and Keen at this transition and headed out on to the bike rogaine within 20 minutes of each other. Game on.

Cycling 65.0 km

Slow transition for us – dropped 10minutes – but the only bad one for the race which in the scheme of things was pleasing for a team of newbies and support crew all over 70.

The next section had 14 checkpoints spread over 60k of riding and 20k of running, of which you had to collect 11. We opted for skipping one CP on the ride, and taking the wider road options to avoid what looked like a potential mudfest through the Wang Wauk state forest.

Party time for the hour or so with the top 5 teams crissing and crossing each other, with route choice and small mistakes offering plenty of opportunity for banter. A ripper of a steep rocky descent in to the 3rd checkpoint with the group before things spread out and quietened down.

Tracks were less muddy than expected, but we stuck with the originally planned low-risk route. One thing we hadn’t factored in to planning is that riding on bitumen for long periods in the middle of the night sends you to sleep, and Katrin (mountain biker at heart) began to fade with the snoozies. When she eventually fell asleep and rode in to the long grass along the side of the old highway, decided a 5 minute powernap was worth a try and she settled in for a kip on the verge.

Seemed to work, and we slowly regained momentum with the only remaining frustration a turn down an unmarked track to waste 10 minutes.

Rolled in to the Buladelah show ground around midnight together with MDs to dump the bikes with Blackheart and Apex 40 minutes down the road and Austrelaps 20 minutes behind them.

Running 3:44:00 20.0 km

Across the Pacific highway and up the hill overlooking Buladelah for a spot of rock climbing before descending in to the annual Geoquest scrub bash on the other side.

Another one of those entertaining race moments, with MD’s and the volunteers at the rock climbing checkpoint knocking out a rousing rendition of Happy Birthday to herald the beginning of Katrin’s birthday in the scrub.

Dodgy descent off the other side of the hill, with Sam doing an excellent job of ferreting a way through a large lantana patch before we stumbled on to an unmarked track. At this point we went right and MDs went left, giving me a feeling that one of us wouldn’t be coming out of there for a while.

http://katrinvds.wordpress.com/race-reports/geoquest-2009/[19/06/13 10:56:20 AM]

Geoquest, June 5-8 2009 (Forster NSW) | Katrin Van der Spiegel

Our call turned out to be the good one, and we found ourselves having reeled in Apex and Austrelaps at the final CP overlooking the lakes.

Real race feel now as the 12 of us ran as a pack for the next 5k into transition with a steadily increasing pace – Christie doing a good job of jumping on the front to raise the tempo if things slowed with thoughts of Blackheart up ahead.

Arrived at TA suprised to find no one there yet, and into the raft building race.

Rafting 2:12:00, 6.0 km

Next leg was to traverse 6km across 2 lakes using 8 inner-tubes and 4 planks of wood, with a 1km portage in the middle.

Ex-scout Kris constructed our raft in the time it took me to put on my wetsuit, and off we headed in a head-to-head 2km/hr race across the lake in the dark. Consensus was that we looked absurd.

Missed the portage entrance with Apex, and spent 10minutes bashing around in a swamp looking for it before trudging across to the next lake.

Rafting across one lake was kind of fun. Rafting across a second was like being told the same joke again – not funny. Grumpied our way across then in to the skis for a big paddle across Myall lakes to the coast.

Kayak 2:32:00, 22.0 km
Timing for this one not great. Just happened to arrive at the same time as a squall, so rather than

a glassy cruise we had a 15kt breeze and windchop right on the beam.

Katrin hasn’t paddled rough water before, so doing it in the reasonably twitchy Mark2 (and steering) was a bit comfort-zone expanding. A tad zig-zaggy but we got there.

Did the 1.5k portage in the middle well, and was suprised to see Apex not that far ahead when we hit Smiths lake, suggesting either they’d missed time or had some tiredness on board. In the end our split on this leg looks pretty good – not really sure how.

Running (with a lake wade) 3:19:00, 20.0 km

20km run now from Smith Lake sandbar, through Booti Booti national park and up 7 mile beach to Wallis Lake.

But first a 1km crossing with redundant inner-tube and PFD to sandbar beach, as the lake was mostly wade-able. Wouldn’t have minded so much, except it meant carrying a 4WD tube and PFD for the next 20k. Thanks.

We were all feeling pretty good at this stage, and with Sam knowing the area pretty well decided to put our heads down and see what happened. We got through the dodgily marked track area around the golf course well thanks to Sam, and came across Apex just ahead at the CP at Bluey’s beach – they’d lost some time around the golf course.

Apex hadn’t seen us, and when the opportunity to take a parallel street through town came up we hammered to try and get past without being spotted. We did in fact get past and stayed out of sight for a couple of k, but were seen just before leaving town.

With a 12km paddle to come, we had 9km of running to try and build a gap – not particularly confident in holding off those guys in a paddling race.

Pedal to the metal for the 4km up 7 mile beach, and then an all-time pb transition in to the boats on Wallis lake.

Kayak 1:13:00, 12.0 km

Support crew had it dialled for this one – boat, paddles, map, etc were all ready on the water’s edge, and as we’d just run 20k pretty much in paddling gear it was just a matter of chugging a Red Bull and jumping in. Were there for about 30 seconds I think.

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Geoquest, June 5-8 2009 (Forster NSW) | Katrin Van der Spiegel

Pushed up the lake for a cracking paddle split and first home with a nice reception from the kids and crew.

Big day out. We had a ball.

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