"Nazi's and Vampires"
The coastal town of Eden about 600k’s south of Sydney was this year’s venue for the 4th running of the Mountain Designs Geo Quest.
Our team Torque/ Land Rover came together at the death after our girl Narelle suffered a pinched nerve in her lower back only days before the event.
We were very lucky to secure the services of Canadian Athlete Emily Miazga now residing in New Zealand.
Our new guy for the race was regular team man Brett Stevens younger Bro Craig, also living and breathing the Multisport and AR scene in NZ.
After collecting our Fast Kayaks (thanks Steve "Q Kayaks")and fellow team mates and filling two landies to the brim, we headed south, way south. Remember I’m from Queensland!
We were lucky enough to have my mate Jason along as our one and only support crew. Poor bloke had a big job on his hands but luckily had some idea after crewing for me at the coast to coast earlier this year.
The night we arrived we decided a pizza would go down well and we found a place that actually turned out a pretty good one, although we ended up dubbing the owner the “Pizza Nazi” oh my god, I know some other competitors went in there and came away feeling more than a little concerned for her berated husband manning the cash register.
We woke on Friday morning to a crisp layer of silver frost covering our tent city. Some 50 plus teams of four and their support crews had set up all sorts of marvelous transition area come Head Quarters. Everything from a fully self contained 30 foot caravan to our shambles that resembled a third world refugee camp. After borrowing some sugar from the “Taj Mahal” next door to sweeten our coffee we were eager for the race briefing and release of the course info to get underway.
High Noon Friday 11th June Competency checks
Due to there being so many teams this year the checks were run in two groups according to your race number.
Our first task was to show we could paddle out the back of the surf line in our double Kayaks and perform a self rescue. Emily and I tried in Vein to complete an “Eskimo” roll in our kayak so as to not need to have a complete swim and subsequent bail out of water. As I looked over the upturned hull of my boat I saw Craig and Brett pop up in a superbly executed roll over. Not bad considering they had never sat in this Kayak before nor paddled together.
After confirming to organizers we could Navigate and we had all our compulsory gear we then had a first aid questionnaire to fill in. While I was quietly recalling my bronze medallion training and glancing at the answer sheet I heard some quite entertaining answers. “What is D.R.A.B.C? “During Race Always Be Careful” was one response. I thought it was a goodie.
4.15pm release of race course
This is really where the race begins. Once we received our race booklet containing detailed information to exactly how much suffering was about to be absorbed during the next few days we found a nice area of floor in the local school basket ball stadium to spread out our five topographical maps and start planning the race course.
It was to contain 40km of Kayaking to two sections and 60km of running/trekking in at least five sections, over 100km of Mountain Biking in hilly terrain and a snorkelorienteering stage. Estimated time to complete for a fast team 30hours.
While amidst the planning our collective tummies started to growl,” I’ve got an idea lets get some ‘Pizza Nazi’ Pizza” we all turned and looked at our one and only support crew, Big Jace. “Ah bloody hell, what did D.R.A.B.C. mean again? I may have to revive her bloody husband at this rate! With that Jace was off on a mission..
7am 12th June The big day.
“F@#K ME!! Was the first call for the day from our team mate of the fairer sex.
Emily reckoned she had slept down hill in her tent and woke with a Fat face.
“Mmmm…yeh it’s pretty fat I guess” was my response. It got me to thinking Emily wouldn’t make a real good Vampire! Could you imagine? “huh you gonna bite me with that fat bloody face? No chance” I know when I come up with stupid stuff like that I’m feeling frisky. I was quietly confident of having a good race.
I have been racing a lot this year and working on Navigation real hard as the competition in OZ is awesome a truly International standard when you can see a team like AROC place 2nd in Primal Quest and scalp all but one of the best teams on earth it’s a challenge. A challenge I have been relishing and Geo was to be my chance to Navigate against the best.
The beach was shrouded in fog and the sound of a 4/6 foot surf rolling in. I was kinda glad that I had my helmet on considering there was 50 odd double Kayaks about to Launch.
After a challenging "put in" due to the guy’s having an under slung rudder we were off and chasing a pack of about five teams made up of the usual suspects.
About 4 teams hit the most southern point and CP One about 15k south of race HQ together. We re- launched in third but were soon to pass “Millie” having rudder troubles.
We worked away at the deficit to the leaders and caught them as we rounded the point only to be over shadowed by an Awesome wood chip ship being loaded at the wharf.
The Mexicans had been the team we were chasing and no sooner had we all come together, we were heading in different directions. I took a bearing to our next CP and the Mexican’s well, the last time I saw them they were indeed heading for the border!
“Going to bed Stay tuned for the next installment”
Guy Andrews
Head to www.guyandrew.com for the next installment
