The Stromlonauts made it to Tea Gardens, for the 2015 GeoQuest half. Blue sky and summer time holiday feel. A nice change from -6 morning bike commutes to work. No apprehension about the race. The tricky bit of wrangling a team together, finding support crew and getting an entry in a sold out event was behind us.
Competency test was a bit hectic, but the weather and water were pretty nice and the course reveal was cool with some sweet coasteering sections and lots of paddling. We seemed a bit rookie belonging to the handful of teams who has less than five Geos experience between us. But the team had a enough race experience and all members could navigate. Planning and packing began and we didn't come up for air until 7 hours later. How was that possible?! Still, all details were covered so early to bed.
Race start was a leisurely 8am with a splash and giggle 5k kayaking leg. The bay seemed protected, but got a bit bumpy half way across. Somehow we managed to stay upright, despite one boat having a gimpy rudder. Field splintered already.
Second into transition and first to trot off down the beach for a 7k beach trek. We were all springing along, even Brad who was comfortably slipping into his pack horse role. Oops forgot to punch the checkpoint, so turned around springing back to TA, grinning sheepishly at the stream of teams who'd been behind us. Otherwise, a scenic leg, and spot on navigation by Craig.
Into TA2, and our support crews’ first ever TA experience. Ooh, fruit platter, peeled kiwis, Vegemite sandwiches, chocolate. They had got the swing of it. On the bike now with Kieran navigating. Superb effort with a tiny pause at an intersection of some unmarked trails around CP C. Pretty funny standing there with teams flying past in every direction. Looks like the maps tripped most team up. Annoying as we did ride past the CP! Recovered quickly.
Snorkelling leg. Kicked off our shoes and trotted off to get the first checkpoint. The map wasn't matching the trails and we were very muddled. We got sore feet running back and forth from the underfoot rocks and sticks. Brad also stepped on a bindi patch. Once we were in the bay looking for the submerged checkpoints completely forgot it was a race. The water was warm and clear, and it was fun floating around. Finally back on our bikes for a short ride to TA. We think we were leading the half field but hard to know in all the confusion of teams around the snorkling.
Quick TA, Craig grabbed the map and we jogged off. Soon bumped into friends That's Cray on a coasteering section feeling navigationally challenged.Trekked through sand dunes that were complete with camels and then a 5k highway trudge. Hit all the checkpoints easily.
Rafting leg - we had two blow up boats and a missing compass mystery solved by uncovering Craig as a closet race kit thief. Craig and Clare paddled from the front and Kieran and Brad sat in the back having a rest. Was very squishy with Brad involved in some flexible spooning with Craig. Brad’s decision to store bananas in his shorts almost caused a mutiny. Kieran raided the snacks from Clare's backpack while going along for the ride. Decided to remain as innocent bystanders to Neverest’s frantic efforts to stay afloat.
Another quick TA and into a 13k kayak leg. Easy navigating for Clare with some small deviations around oyster leases. Warm, sunny and still. Three full course teams got back ahead of us with their boats superior speed, one was That's Cray.
Bike next and Kieran was back navigating. The full course teams went a different direction and we realised we were in the lead. Nice sunset, temperature plummeting, flat and easy navigating for Kieran. The 33k leg finished with a bit of muddy hike-a-bike, which made it feel like a proper AR. Was nice to be laying first tracks in the mud. Slipped into the dark and muddy TA.
Finally a trek leg for Clare to navigate - dark, steep and off track. Carefully moved across a thickly vegetated ridge line picking up the checkpoints without much trouble and taking care not to slip off. No lights spotted behind us. Found a magic trail from the last ridge CP back down to the fire trail. Much nicer than the planned bush bash. Long and hard 7k shuffle out to the highway. Pace picked up and Brad took the map, following our progress and ticking off the kilometers for motivation.
Finally reached the highway and a depressingly slow bush bash to the mandatory highway crossing. Passed quite close to TA and could see our support crew shining their lights to us. We were still an hour away. Developed close relationships with numerous barbed wire fences. Undertook a thorough structural assessment of the underpass looking for the control which ended up about 20m away. Brad was certain we’d chosen a slow route and had a few teams sneak past, but it depended if the following teams had made the same route choice. We were surprised to still be in the lead with no difficult nav left. Maybe we can win this thing.
Last paddle leg. Was really special under a full moon, starry sky and no pressure of a chasing team. It wasn't until after the race we realised that super team BMX Bandits/Over Yonder racing had been not far behind us and had spotted our lights a few times on the hike.
Last bike ride and a fast ride to the finish line. Pressure off, no one behind to catch us. Our support crew had just clocked 300km to reach this TA and had a hectic day of it. Really incredible effort given this was their first experience and on reflection had no proper briefing from us on what to expect.
The team had a pretty solid hit out for this race moving well through the course and quickly through transitions without any rest stops. Everyone happy to come away with the win given the quality of teams on the half course.
Next up for Stromies: Kieran and Brad turn attention to running, Craig moves overseas and Clare wonders how she’ll get to GODZone 2016.
