Geoquest Port Macquarie 2016 - Race Report - by Kim Beckinsale

Mountain Designs Adventure Racing Team

Tuesday, 14 June 2016

Geoquest Port Macquarie 2016 - Race Report - by Kim Beckinsale

This year for Geoquest, Leo Theoharis and I were joined by two fresh young athletes, Alex Austin, and Peter Preston. On paper we had a strong team with Leo, Peter, Alex and I having being on the podiums of previous Geoquest and Geoquest Half races, as well as Godzone finishers back in April. We were all very looking forward to testing ourselves out there against some of the strongest and most experienced athletes and teams in the country; ranked as follows Peak Adventure (1), Thortz Sports Shots Nutrition (2) , Adventure Junkies (3) Dynamite (4) Neverest (5) and other dark horses such as Rapid Ascent (8). Geoquest being a supported race, means that having an experienced support crew can make a difference, so we were pretty excited to have Lea Schloss (wife of my former Team MD Team mate Dave Schloss) there with Adam Mc Kane one of Alex’s best mates and one of Noosa’s best lifeguards.

HQ was Port Macquarie and location for the briefing and competencies, and the most exciting of them all .....Map handout. With the course revealed at 3pm Friday it was obvious we were sitting at the finish line, the ocean paddle was set to start at Bonny Hills and there were 11 legs including one ‘mega split’. After map handout the team rushed back to our accommodation at Flynns on Surf Beach, and started getting stuck into map preparation. While Lea cooked up a storm in the kitchen, with Adam worked on gear land logistics. We heard at about 6pm that the ocean paddle had been cancelled, which was not what strong paddling teams had hoped for. By the time we finished the maps we had a team plan – Peter lead navigator, Leo support navigator with myself on logistics as well as backup navigation on trek legs and Alex too on the role of the ferret. We probably finished all of our maps and gear sorting by around 10pm, so a good 8hrs sleep was awesome, with the later start.

Leg 1 Mega Split Paddle/Trek 8k

Teams lined up on Pilot Beach for a classic Geoquest mass paddle at 8am for an 8.30am start, except we did not have to venture out into the ocean. This leg allowed teams to split in pairs and then split again and go solo, which was an advantage for teams with 4 navigators. Alex and I paddled together and collected CP A & B from the kayak then split. I collected two on foot while Alex paddled to H then picked me up on the way back to the TA. Meanwhile Leo and Peter paddled up towards CP C and split up to also collect CP G, D and F on foot. Our plan worked well as we arrived into the TA in 2nd just behind Adventure Junkies, and near some of the half teams; Linda and Mandy – Wondering Wandering Wookies and Greg Krome’s Tri Adventure M & M’s. I really enjoyed the Mega Split as encouraged teams to use strategy and it once again tested the navigation skills of the entire team.

Leg 2 Coastal Trek 8k

We were treated to a very spectacular run north along the coastline up to Bonny Hills. Alex being a surfer was in awe of the pumping waves and glassy conditions on Grants Beach. It was not long before the lead teams were all together looking for a track on the headland up to Grants Head, we were with Adventure Junkies and Thortz Sports, knowing that Peak Adventure were also hot on our heels. The pace was on, but not enough to stop Leo from having a chat to all of his training mates! Alex and I even stopped for a hug and a chat as we passed the ‘Cowgirls’ doing the Half. It was a pretty social time out there even though we were all racing!

Leg 3-5 Mountain Bike 35k Trek 8k Mountain Bike 10k

The crew had set up an amazing transition spot for us, with our chairs all at four corners of a tarp and all our gear and food spread out ready to pack into our bags. From this point we would not see our support for almost 8 hours so we did not rush this TA at all. We needed maps 4,5,6,7; mandatory gear, tracker and our Ay Up Lights – check!

Not long off the bitumen the ride turned rough and soon we had our first hike-a-bike, actually the only one of the race. We were stoked to find the trail off the spur after CP 6 leading to CP 7, however we were soon stopped in our tracks as Peter had a slash in his tyre. So a bit of team work required to get a tube in, gas it then top it up with the hand pump. Strangely, no teams went flying past us, so we must have chosen a slightly different route to others, as by the time we had negotiated the single track through Spring Gully and made it to the highway, we could tell there were definitely a few extra full course teams now ahead of us, one of them Dynamite. We collected our map from CP 13 and worked out how to complete the Q & A Orienteering at the historical town of Herrons Creek. This consisted of riding around the town and reading all of the historical signs, at places like the old post office and the memorial hall. We then set off to CP 15 for the long climb up Blackbutt Road and Sandy Hollow Road to the next TA at CP16. We weren’t killing ourselves on the bike, we were just riding together as a team and discussing the next leg preparation. We arrived at the TA in 5th spot behind Peak Adventure, Thortz Sports, Adventure Junkies and the men’s team Percival Properties.

At the TA we were required to mark up 6 CP’s on our maps and collect these in any order. We opted for the anticlockwise route (J P O N M L K) as did most teams, however we did see a few teams going in the opposite direction as we headed back up the creek, so I got a hug from Thor and a kiss from Kev along the way. Peter was clearly on his game at this point, and I happily followed behind holding map and compass feeling very confident and as a team we were pretty stoked when we arrived back to the TA in 4th spot. Unfortunately after the race, we did find out that we received a 15minute penalty on this leg, as we did not punch the ‘control card’ just the wristbands – the TA officials told just to punch the wrist bands, but as the CP’s were written on the ‘Control Card’ we just should have known we had to ‘our responsibility to know the rules’, so you do have to be on the ball all the time!

The ride out of this TA was interesting as the track that most teams would have travelled along to CP 18 ended in a creek full of overgrown Lantana, and there was no way anyone would have wanted to back track. So Leo forged ahead through the very overgrown trail and then when it seemed to end, I went to the front and found a way through the lantana to the spur, and then we found the track we were after. We worked out that we had actually travelled down the trail before our marked course, so now it all made sense. At this point we were with two other teams, Brett’s all male half team, ‘Just Ride Run Paddle’ and the all men’s team – ‘Percival Properties’. We all rode into CP20 / TA at Bago Winery together. The support crew had had a lovely time at the winery enjoying the wine and beer and local produce, but it was full on when we arrived just on sunset.

Leg 6 Trek – Abseil – Trek 15k

This leg was a trek with an abseil and the crew did promise us hot chips at the next TA, so we had a pretty slick transition here, leaving ahead of both teams we had arrived with.

The trek to the abseil seemed to take no time at all expect for our brief encounter with a pretty upset resident near the quarry. She was concerned their dogs would be up barking all night and we explained we were in a race, but in an area that was not marked OOB, so politely suggested she go down to the TA and chat to someone down there, as we knew other teams would be going the exact same route as us. We punched CP21 and headed towards the abseil, as we approached we could see the city lights in the distance. The full course all male team ‘Percival Properties’ were catching us, so we did speed up as we approached the top of the hill as we didn’t want to have to wait. It turned out there were two lines set up and the rules were one line per team, so all good. Both teams did the abseil together, then headed off down off the top of the hill on a pretty gnarly bit of steep single track. The next CPs 23 in the creek junction, and CP24 - track junction, were not too hard to find before a 4k run to CP25/ TA in Wauchope. I am pretty sure we got through this leg in less than 2 1⁄2 hours.

Leg 7 Paddle 17k

Lea and Adam had hot chips and our ski’s waiting for us when we arrived. They told us to rug up as it was getting cold and that Adventure Junkies portaged from the TA. We opted not to portage from the start as we thought our boats were too heavy. We seemed to have a lot of glow sticks on us and our craft, as we headed down the river. The story goes....last year our support cut off our glow sticks and we received a penalty for not replacing them, even though it had been a daylight paddle.....so the upshot was we learned from this mistake, so decided if it’s not glowing add another one and keep adding, but never remove. We were enjoying our night-time paddle under the stars until we realised the short option we had marked up was shallow and rocky at Narrowgut. We tried a very short portage over the rocks, however this proved troublesome as both of our ski’s rudders did not function well after that. So as a result we had to paddle the long way, except the problem was we were off the map. We continued paddling, expecting to come to a bridge at Rawdon Channel however the boys worked out as we went past Rawdon Creek, that we had taken the north channel instead, so we would not see a bridge. Thankfully we were going the right way as we were slowly getting very cold. As we were travelling along Balyngara Creek on the final stretch to the approaching the TA we saw Brett and his team heading towards us. Now this was a little confusing as we wondered, what’s happening here? Brett told us they had ridden from the previous TA to our paddle finish TA, and the half course started paddling from Pembroke Village in the opposite direction. We were so frozen at the end of the paddle, I attempted to run from the water to the TA did not warm up at all. Rowdy and Lea went and collected the second ski for us (this was allowed) however were not permitted to punch in until we had our two boats in TA. After we dried off and did a complete change of clothes we were treated to some home cooked pumpkin soup and some hot coffee....just perfect, thanks!

Leg 8-10 MTB 35k Trek – 12-16k MTB 34k

It was 11pm and we were told that the trek could take over 6hrs, and our MTB legs 2-3 each, so we were in for a big night! I was wearing everything Gore- Tex and looked a bit like the ‘Michelin Man’. I didn’t care as last year at Geoquest after the night paddle, I could not get warm on the bike and spent the next 6hrs falling asleep, so just did not want that to happen again. I did soon warm up and after about 20mins off with the Gore-Tex pants! Not long after this our race came to a dramatic halt, and Peter crashed right in front of my eyes and I had to take evasive action to avoid not running over him and his bike. He was riding over a bridge and suddenly noticed an obstacle on the left side, causing him to react and slightly change direction, however this action at speed on a wooden bridge with planks running in different directions resulted in him flying forward over the bars. He certainly hit the ground pretty hard, but like most was more worried about his bike than himself. Leo did a quick bike check for him and soon we made our way up the big climb to the TA at Bellangry .

Alex and Pete sat by the fire here chatting to Linda Davis (TA Official) while Leo and I marked up the maps, it was important for Peter to just rest a bit here and make sure he was ok before heading out on this crucial part of the race. There were 8 CP’s here and we had to find 6. We agreed on a course and off we set, jogging the flats and down hills, walking the hills. All the CP’s were off-track, so there were not to many easy options out there. We opted for CP Q S T then made our way to the Punch Bowl, CP U. This was a pretty spectacular place, but challenging travel, as there were cliffs and waterfalls all the way down the creek as we travelled to CP V. We saw up high above us at one stage another team, we think it was Team Neverest, as we thought we heard Paul Elby’s voice. Travel was slow and I had quite a few falls along the way and felt my luck was running out, so we opted to finish the trek with CP X instead of staying in the creek. It was a bit longer but it meant less climbing and we realised we would be likely to cover the ground much faster than we would in the creek. We hit CP X just as it was getting light. On our way back to TA we ran into Ray, Johnny and Mike - Team Damaged Goods; they had forgotten their maps for the next ride. So we checked at the TA if we could give them our second set, and it was ok, so we did. We arrived back at the TA in around 5hrs 30, similar to the 4 teams ahead. Linda and Suwati the TA officials, were in for a long day and night it seemed as many of the teams were still on their way up to their TA.

Back from the trek getting ready for the final MTB

We knew that Peak Adventure had a penalty, but did not know how much, so we just continued to work well as a team, set a good pace and not make mistakes. Peter now was solo map man and we had 3 CP’s on the way to the final paddle. Most of the ride was downhill, so a great reward for the nights effort. We arrived at the final TA at around 9am, unbeknown to us at the time that the crew had only arrived 4 minutes earlier as our tracker had not shown how close we were till we were just about 3k from the TA. They must have handled this like professionals as we had absolutely no idea, our little set up was once again set up perfectly and our ski’s out ready to go....what an amazing crew!

Leg 11 Paddle 27K

We knew now it was just about staying strong and consistent and getting to the finish. I was a little worried about getting sleepy and cold, so we all dressed sensibly and ate well before we set off. We decided to portage 1k which meant carrying our ski’s but saving 6k of paddling. It took us just 16 minutes, so it definitely worked. Alex and I were having a few troubles with the rudder sticking, so paddled the last 6k without steering, Alex was strong just as he had been for the entire race. After we punched the final CP we had one short portage over the weir to the finish. What a relief the final CP always is to find, but approaching the finish line is the best feeling ever. We crossed the line 5th outright and 4th Premier Mixed and absolutely stoked with big smiles on our faces. We were greeted at the finish by our supporters and support crew who were all pretty confident that we may be upgraded to 3rd Premier Mixed following the issuing of penalties.

Final Results Premier Mixed
1st Adventure Junkies; 2nd Thortz Sportz Shots Nutrition; 3rd Mountain Designs; 4th Peak Adventure

5th Neverest

To finish off the report, here are a few bits of extra trivia for those who are still reading..... Most Interesting Leg - Mega Split - because we had no idea how we would end up

Most Challenging Leg - Leg 7 Paddle - because we got so cold and we were off the map
Most Spectacular Legs - Leg 2 Coastal Trek - the ocean was magnificent; Leg 6 Abseil Trek – the reflections off the rocks as we bounced off the rock were

amazing; Leg 9 Punchbowl Rogaine – spectacular waterfalls and stunning cliffs.

Funniest Leg - Final Paddle - Seeing Leo’s eyes light up when he saw Sloshy on the shore with his piece of carrot cake that he had been promised for the entire race.

Congratulations to all the other teams out there racing the full and half, some of whom we crossed paths with along the way. As always it was a tough event and getting through it always a true test of endurance, mental toughness, team work and sometimes just a little patience.

Thanks Lea Schloss and Adam Mc Kane, our super slick support crew and all the other support crews out there looking after their teams, we know that without you our gear and nutrition would not be on par! We always had the right gear when we needed it; Mountain Designs Gore-Tex Jackets and thermals; Ay Up Lights; Hokas; as well as our trusty Trek Superfly mountain bikes and the list goes on!

Thanks to Geocentric Outdoors for setting such an amazing course once again and allowing us to explore some more of the spectacular NSW coast and hinterland.

Thanks to our major sponsors - Mountain Designs, for not only supporting our team, but for your continued support for the sport of Adventure Racing. Mountain Designs have been sponsoring #GeoquestAR for over 15 years which is testament to the quality of the gear and its ongoing commitment to Adventure Racing in Australia.

Finally I would like to thank my awesome team mates for such an amazing race. Leo Theoharis - The Smiling Assassin (for his never waning enthusiasm) Alex Austin - The Pin Up Boy (for making our photos look good)
Peter Preston - P1 (because he’s our favourite Preston)

I really enjoyed our time out there, so thanks for being a part of the Team and I look forward to getting out there again with you all soon.

Team AdventureJunkie.com.au won Geoquest!

Finished first place in 24hrs 27min 15sec (a new record time for Geoquest apparently)

This was the team’s first hit out since Godzone and we had finally recovered from that epic expedition and were excited and ready to race together again.

Hugh Stodart – team captain and chief navigator
Serge Kurov – second navigator on foot
Josh Street – backup bike navigator, team welfare captain and general packhorse/strongman/fix-it-guy Bernadette Dornom – “token chick” (and primary author in case you were wondering)

Ably supported by

Duncan (brother of Hugh) chief support crew officer bringing a wealth of experience and tactical support Jamie (son of Hugh) with enthusiasm and helpfulness to burn just waiting till he is old enough to race himself Jurgen (friend of Josh) chief enthusiast and likely converted participant for next year

Leg 1 Bonny Hills Sea Kayak and Mega Split

With the cancellation of the ocean kayakcomponent of leg 1 we had disappointmentfrom our seafaring captain Hugh, althoughcould not contain the jumps of joy from landloving Josh. The mega split first leg providedendless prerace discussions on strategies andtactics that were debated right up until thestart line. When the start gun sounded Hughand Bern paddled off to collect the 2 CPs inGogleyÕs Lagoon which required a fair bit ofwading with the kayak making us wish thatwe had portaged from the start. Then Hughdropped Bern off at the Laurieton boat rampto run and collect 2 land based CPs beforeheading back to the transition area. Hughthen paddled solo to collect thesouthernmost CP then paddle back totransition. Meanwhile Josh and Sergepaddled north up Stingray creek collectingthe first checkpoint by boat but then leavingthe kayak and splitting up to each collect theremainder checkpoints of foot beforerendezvousing back at the kayak to thenpaddle back to transition together. Turnedout our strategy worked pretty well as not only did Josh and Serge meet up with Hugh about 300m from transition but Bern could see the two boats paddling as she ran towards transition all arriving within a minute of each other.

Leg 2 Grants Beach Coastal Hike 8km

We left the TA in first place but were caught by the all male team Percival Property early on as they took a more efficient route to the 4WD track behind the beach. We were then joined by Thoughtsports/Shotz and Mountain Designs so the coastal run quickly became quite social as we compared leg 1 stories– one of the joys of Adventure racing and Geoquest (particularly when you put Josh and Leo together).

Leg 3 Burrawan Forrest – Heron Creek Bike 35km

Course & Navigation comments: The navigation was pretty straight forward, but the megasplit (ie the team can split up and get the checkpoints individually) made it very strategic with lots of options combining running and paddling.

This was a straight forward run up the coast with a mix of pavement, trails, headlands and beach with two straight forward CPs to find on the way.

The first section was up the hill and through a local MTB park with a few CPs located on various single track sections, followed by a ride inland with a short “history orienteering” interlude at Heron Creek.

This leg on the bike soon had a rude awakening as we hit a steep hike-a-bike section to the first CP. Once again the 4-5 lead teams all swapping position numerous times taking slightly different routes through some single track and fire roads. We cottoned on to the map and signage we had to read for the history orienteering slightly faster than the bunch we arrived with, so left with a slim lead for the ride up the hill to the rogaine.

Leg 4 Fork Creek Rogaine 8km

We managed to come into the TA just slightly ahead of Peak Adventure with Thought sports hot on their tails. We went in a clockwise direction whilst most other teams collected these CPs in anticlockwise direction. We continued to set a steady pace running downhills and flats and walking ups.

Returning to where we had left our bikes at the TA we were back in third position with Thoughtsports having a 15 minute gap and Peak Adventure not too far ahead of us.

Leg 5 Bulls Ground Forrest to Winerey Bike 10km

Short and mainly downhill, but a couple of CPs on old (ie often overgrown) logging trails made this a bit of a lottery for trail selection.

Hugh navigated expertly through the tricky and often overgrown trails in this area, recognising some of them from a previous Wildside AR. Bern had a bit of fun with a small excursion off her bike at one point serving only to cover herself in mud. We came into the TA at the winery having taken a more direct route and jumped into second place. We were met by our support crew and birthday cake as it was SergeÕs birthday. Having just enough time to blow out his candles and Josh to do a short media ÔinterviewÕ we quickly transitioned for the following hike

We got the CP locations in transition so quick assessment of options was required. There was an obvious loop so the main question was clockwise vs anti-clockwise.

Leg 6 Broken Bago Hike and Roping (Abseil) 22km

Simple navigation mostly on major roads and trails so this leg was all about speed.

Leaving the TA as darkness set in we were met by a not so friendly, in fact very irate, quarry man in his grader a little surprised by our team wandering past him. Think he was in for a bigger shock when the rest of the field started to come past. As night fell we arrived at the abseil as Thoughtsports were halfway through. There was a bit of a delay as the second rope was out of action, temporarily having started to fray as it rubbed over a sharp edge. Worth waiting for that to be fixed. We could see the night lights of Wauchope in the distance. We were joined by Peak Adventure as we ran down some steep tracks, then fire roads, then a bit of street race through Wauchope to get to the start of the next kayak.

Leg 7 Balyngara Creek Paddle 17km

Peak Adventure transitioned quickly and we managed to score their leftover hot pizza (Thanks Kim!). As they paddled off down the river we (having been encouraged by reports of Thoughtsports portaging and already being back on the river) carried our boats up and over the bridge, across quite a few paddocks and fencing to put in at the start of a small river tributary effectively cutting off the first 4 kms of the paddle. We later learned that the farmer, whose paddock we had traversed, had called the police, not happy we were crossing his land (Sorry for that trouble Louise.) We navigated the river system in the fog and darkness well somehow. The portage option must have been effective as when we got to the transition we learned, much to our surprise, we were the first team to arrive, having put in after our portage ahead of Peak Adventure and passing Thoughtsports as they did a few extra kms up an ÒalternateÓ river route.

This paddle up the meandering river gave rise so some portage options that had some risk, but gave significant potential gains. Finding the turns in the dark meant we had to keep concentrating.

Leg 8 Bellangry Road Ride 35km

Long plod mostly on bitumen with one token CP.

Road riding but lots of hills especially one never ending dirt road hill up to the transition. We rode most of this ride with team Peak Adventure again having a few good laughs and chats out on course.

Leg 9 The punchbowl Rogaine 16km

The crux of the race and what eventuated as where the race was won for us. Hugh and Serge copied the CPs from the master map and then tried to plot the best most accessible route to collect 6 out of 8 CPs that we needed to get. Josh and Bern managed to sneak in some cheeky fire time as we swapped stories with the CP staff. Well this leg certainly had lots of bush bashing and felt like such slow going as we slogged our way over lots of wind-fallen trees. Our navigation remained strong though as CPs kept appearing in front of us, but we struggled a bit with a number of the trails we planned to use being overgrown and either slowing us down or forcing us to cover extra distance.

As we headed back to the TA after 5 hrs on foot we passed a few teams just heading out. Arriving at the TA we were nervous to check which other teams had already come in feeling like we had taken longer than we should have. Again we were pleasantly surprised to find out we were the first team to arrive back and in the lead. Better keep our skates on then and get on our bikes.

Again we only got the CPs in transition. With the requirement to collect 6 of 8 CPs strategies were plentiful. There were no really obvious options so we chose a route that looked easy for nav and which kept us on trails as much as possible (at least that’s what we thought at the time).

Leg 10 Rollands Plains Ride 24km

Adventure Junkie Australia - Team AdventureJunkie.com.au won Geoquest!

The ride to the first CP was a bit slow on our route due to more of those annoying fallen trees, but after collecting the first one and getting back up on the ridges, the ride down to the TA to the start of the final paddle was largely downhill which was welcomed.

Leg 11 Wilson/Hastings Rivers Paddle 29km less a portage

Straight down the river with the only interest coming from a couple of very attractive portage options.

We knew we had the lead coming into this leg and so it was our race to lose from here. Strategy was donÕt stuff it up. Daylight was just breaking as we paddled off after some warm soup and encouragement from our support crew, which we hadnÕt seen since the end of leg 7. The decision to portage our kayaks across a 1km road section to cut out nearly 7km of kayak was motivated not only by being quicker but it was great to stretch the legs out of the kayak.

After collecting the final CP34 we thought we were doing the right thing paddling behind the ferry (as per water rules) but perhaps went a little closer than we intended due to the tide and the ferry driver did not seem too happy – he was about to meet quite a few kayakers throughout the day some of whom would test his patience more than us.

Our final obstacle was a portage over the weir where we passed some Geohalf teams. Serge and Josh also learnt how slippery the weir was, much to the amusement of Hugh and Bern. In the final few kms of the Hastings River we finally let ourselves enjoy the fact that we were about to cross the line as winners.

The race was a rare and amazing experience and achievement for us as a team. Adventure racing is about minimizing mistakes and recovering fast when you do make them. It was very satisfying to have a race where we did not need the recovery bit.

GeoQuest Report by Type 2 Fun

13 is not a lucky number - but luck is never enough in these races anyway!

2016 marked the 13th time on the beach for me, but the shore was angry and the start was moved to a protected inlet for the 15th running of the Mountain Designs Geoquest adventure race. The six or so kilometre ocean paddle that we were meant to do was the same as the one we knocked out in 2005, and I breathed a sigh of relief when I remembered the channel entry and trying to negotiate a mirage 730 across the bar. It would have been better on the ski this time around, maybe....but low tide and dumping waves usually don’t go well with fibreglass vessels.

This was ‘geo’ number three for our current team, and we had all enjoyed pretty healthy lead ups. Scott had not been hit by a car, Su did not have a torn hamstring, and Nath had just run Ultra Trail fast enough to earn a silver buckle. True to form though, Nath and Su were late to rego and slid into the competencies 30 minutes after they had closed. Scott the early bird ticked off our nav and first aid competencies and narrowly avoided the pre-race walk of shame, with some more notable teams fairing less lucky.

With the annual pilgrimage taking us to Port Macquarie, we were hoping to improve on our 10th place in 2014 and 9th place in 2015, we figured more running was required with faster transitions. We achieved both.....but struggled with the real game changer...navigation. The telling factor was Mr sleep monster at the crucial moment, brought on by a series of sleepless nights in the lead up.

The start was a bit chaotic and knowing exactly how to split up for stage one seemed to mark a trend that would haunt me later on. We sent Su and Scott off in their ski to fetch the checkpoints to the North, racking up some 13km of paddling. Nath and I paddled into the river and then split for the land based CPs. Arriving at the CP2 transition in 45mins, I quickly realised that I had not done enough, and the others would have to do too much. Nath ran in 15 minutes later, and then we began to wait as the leaders charged off for stage 2.... after a further 20 mins, watching the big guns race through, our guys beached their ski and we began the chase.

Stage two’s run was solid and our times showed similar to everyone in front. I love a good coasteer (thanks to a low centre of gravity), and the highlight was popping out at the back of our accommodation at the top of the only climb, after some flowing single track under the shade of beach bush. Sweating bullets, but in good spirits, we thanked our support crew, guzzled some sports drink and set off on stage three.

The road quickly turned to dirt and at the base of the first hill, Calamity Jane kissed us fair on the lips! First up my shoe broke. WTF! Stealing a Velcro strap off my frame bag, we cinched it as tight as possible and pressed on. Then, on the descent, Su yelped and swallowed a mouthful of liquid sealant as Scott’s rear tire sliced open on a rock. It took four stops and lots of vigorous pumping to get it to finally seal. Somewhere in the confusion of flat tires and busted boots, Nath’s trip computer gave up and we were left with just one, on my bike, to call distances and cross check the maps. With teams still all about I found it incredibly hard to concentrate and took a few silly turns before finding a rhythm. Then Scott dropped off the back. Just as I was about to get angry, he re-appeared, sans his map board! A friendly little branch had ripped it off for him and destroyed the mount! There goes the pace notes and a second set of eyes on the maps! 2016 Advantage lost.

The key to these races is momentum. Momentum and minimising mistakes. So far we had fluffed two of the first three stages. Not monumentally, but significantly enough to really hamper our momentum, and in that time the great teams and the good teams were gaining ground and disappearing until next year.

Clearing away from the teams around us just before CP13 and the Heron Creek map, the rest of the ride was pretty straight forward, possibly even fun. We’d learned how to be a better team after XPD Townsville and the quiz ride through Heron Creek flashed by in no time.

Quickly transitioning into joggers and gaiters (thanks Bike Bag Dude for your crack saving seat bags) saw us skedaddle back down a track with photographer in tow to the first of maybe 6 checkpoints on a rogaine leg. I think we did this pretty well, but seeing Peak collect their last CP (our first) gave us some idea of the time we had lost so far. It was pretty gnarly in some of the creeks and there was

just enough lawyer vine to rip us open and call in the leaches. The team worked really well together

th th
-10 were

Scooting downhill is so much fun on the MTB, even with wet mtb shoes, and stage five was short and sweet. It ended with a weirdly marked and random entry into the winery, but the tin spaghetti in TA made everyone feel better. A quick mandatory gear check and an even quicker change into poly tops and running shoes and we are away.

Running was the plan, but 400m of elevation was the reality for stage six. It was the reverse of a bike stage at last years Wildside adventure race, so Scott held the map and my brain had a rest. We jogged as often as possible and the boys were kind enough to tow Su until we reached the abseil while I ate and drank and tried not to fart in front of anyone. Par for course at Geoquest abseils is for yours truly to tangle up with a tree on the way down, which I managed yet again. (One year I descended about two thirds of the way only to realise that the rope beside me was actually the tail of my rope, stuck in a bush above me. It was a 15 minute wait in no man’s land while the climbing guy abseiled to the jagged rope end to free it. The poor bugger had to prussic his way back up, so I didn’t whinge too much).

Hearing “rock rock rock” is never fun, but I figured it signalled Scott was on the line and soon we would be off again, which is better than shivering in a huddle. 30 seconds later he appeared on the ground and off we went, still chewing in as manay calories as the pace would permit. More running,

and it was such a bonus to get out of the bush before dark, knowing that teams placed 5
all fairly close together. Transitioning just on night fall, we were buoyed with the knowledge of cracking into the top ten.

a little looking in a creek, then more running. We were joined by Liam’s team and it was pretty straight forward all the way to TA.

We usually hit the night paddle after midnight, so setting off before 11pm was such a bonus. Forgetting the portage wheels however, was not. Stage seven gave the chance for some creativity, but we muffed the exit from the TA and added about 750m to the portage, before following Adventure Junkies foot prints into a poor farmers land and eventually a muddy mangrove swamp. We had marked following the road to the main river, but a very helpful TA marshal advised us another team had crossed a paddock and shaved even more kilometres off the stage. Our amended grand plan had spared our butts from 40 minutes or so of paddling, but gained no obvious time advantage. Liam’s team paddled past the junction just as we arrived, proving the plan was good but the execution was terrible. The last portage into TA sucked, but would have sucked more at low tide. It seemed we were alternating between well executed and poorly executed stages, meaning the teams in front were getting further away, and the teams behind were being given opportunities to catch up and pass us.

Shiver me timbers! Long road rides in the wee small hours, what a recipe for sleepiness. One sure fire way to stay awake is to watch your compass kamikaze dive off the map board and explode into hundreds of pieces on the asphalt. Lucky there was limited nav. Shame about the relentless climbing and my under prepared hiney though! The end of this race would tally more bike kilometres than the sum of my whole year! Thank Christ for chamois lube. I think someone towed me part way through stage eight, but can’t really remember. Scott calls it my witching hour and it happens on night one of every race! There was a hell of a lot of zig zagging going on and I’m surprised no-one fell asleep at the wheel. The best part was when my trusty old speedo stopped reading and we fumbled our way from there on.

Technology is going to be an issue for race organisers pretty soon me thinks. As more and more companies turn to utilising GPS technology to meet consumer demands in their distance measuring offerings, fewer will build quality ‘old school’ speedo’s and the cheap crap available won’t stand the rigours of adventure racing. What then I wonder? The reason only two of us had speedos in the first place is because we have all been using our watches or phones to record our awesomeness and post it on strava for at least three years now. As the motto goes, ‘if it’s not on strava, it didn’t happen’.

Shebang! There goes your race Type 2 Fun. Two maps makes no difference at all if your only navigator is sleep walking. The boys did a brilliant job deciphering the out dated maps and positioning us pretty close to the first CP on stage nine, but we took an awful long time to get there with Su holding me upright and out of harms way. By the time I had refreshed there was daylight filtering in and based on where we were, holding on to eighth place would be a tall order indeed. The hills were relentless and the creeks fairly slow going, with a few logged areas proving themselves the wrong place to be. Like most forestry managed areas, the tracks on the map were not always there and several new ones appeared without warning. This stage was always going to be for the

real navigators to use their smarts with route selection and checkpoint locating. Unfortunately I’m not one of those. Knowing that your choices are dumb as soon as you execute them always makes the next choice more difficult and seeing three of the teams that were behind us charging past on their way back to TA broke our spirits just enough for Su to admit that she probably should have lubed her feet seven hours earlier....they were blistered to blazes. We sat down and ate while she applied as much lube as possible, but our running was definitely done from that point on. Scott towed her back up the hill and she stoically pushed through without so much as a whimper.

Stage ten was a ripper of a ride downhill and we threw all caution to the wind in the hope of catching teams eight and nine on the final paddle. Then it got boring on the road and with Su on the front, Nathan finally cracked. He’d been carrying more than his fair share all race and his goose was truly cooked. We topped him up with gels as I changed the maps one last time and then headed into TA about 4 hours after we had planned to be there.

Paddling out for stage eleven we noticed plenty of debris floating in, signalling an incoming tide and a slow journey south. This was the same final paddle as 2005, with an obvious portage about ten kilometres in. It was marginal time wise given we had forgotten the portage wheels, but at least we could get off our butts for a while and reduce the risk of falling asleep and capsizing. Once more we managed to make a crucial point before sunset and heaved our skis up onto our shoulders just in time for some light rain. Putting back in was drama free and with a checkpoint and eleven kilometres remaining, we took off in search of pizza. Rating along at about 12km/h Nath and I surprised our

normally stronger paddling team mates for a couple of k’s before grinding to a halt on an unseen sand bar. I knew they were there somewhere, but in the dark it was really just a guessing game. It was a magic feeling to portage the weir near settlement village and turn over the last five minute stretch. Standing in the rain were our ever smiling support crew, tired wet and hungrier than us!

Showering, eating and sleeping a full night makes cleaning up the next day so much easier. Thanks again for inviting me Type 2 Fun. Imagine how fast you could go with a proper navigator! XPD is coming very soon and that’s where the next story will probably come from.

Thanks support crew, Flo, Kym and Terry, you know these things only run well with a support crew.

Thanks Sarah and Eli for letting me keep doing these races and helping me squeeze in some training along the way.

Thanks Craig and Lou for another Queens Birthday Long Weekend.

GeoQuest Report by Quality Nude Time

by Liam St Pierre

Just a quick update back from GeoQuest. If there were any doubts that this race is the premier AR on the Australian calendar, they were resoundingly quashed with the 2016 event. Geocentric Outdoors have their event organisation dialed to a tee. Two sets of maps, new control flags that reflected in the dark, a genuine ropes activity where we didn’t need to provide additional equipment and excellent support crew notes were some of the small touches that make this race special. I was lucky enough to be invited back by Dean to race with Quality Nude Time again after our fourth place success from last year. We were joined by long time training friend (but first time team mate) Luke Goodfellow along with Justin Whitley, who although relative new to AR is strong enough to mix it with the best athletes on the course.

A look at the team list suggested one of the most competitive fields at Geo to date, which was borne out with Adventure Junkies taking a well deserved win in a record finishing time on what most would agree was not the easiest Geo course ever. Given the relative strengths of our team and the fact that my ankle looked like bald puffer fish a week before the race care of a training accident, we were stoked to sneak in with our goal of a top 10 finish.

All told we had a very uneventful race. We got off to a slow start with me opting to paddle a total of 15km in lieu of running to any of the mega split check points. This turned out to be a mistake as the ankle ultimately held up really well and paddling was slower than our top theoretical pace due to tidal influences and having to pick our way through oyster leases to a number of the controls. However from a slow start we steadily picked our way through the field, navigating consistently and working well as a team. Highlights from the course for me were the abseil, stumbling across the Punchbowl Falls from upstream when were expecting a small water hole, Kimberley’s support crew garlic quiche slice, having the legs to race the last trek, bike and paddle hard and finishing in daylight. Lowlights were missing the traditional ocean paddle start, being frozen to the bone portaging our skis at the end of the second paddle from Wauchope, a sleepy and disjointed road ride on stage 8 and the slow start which really does set up the rest of your race.

Race Report from Team AROC Mountain Designs – Mountain Designs GeoQuest 2005

Team AROC which includes Tasmanians Matt Dalziel and Kris Clauson, recently won Australias biggest adventure race - the Geoquest. The winning team of the Geo Half, Shackleton's team, also sported 2 Tasmanians; Alexis Bull and Stuart McFadzean. 

This years Geoquest was held about halfway up Australia’s east coast near Port Macquarie at a place called Bonny Hill. As Australia’s premier adventure race the Geoquest draws together competitors from all around the country as well as a few brave Kiwis. The format is teams of 4, paddling, trekking and mtbing for 48hrs, with some tire tubing thrown in this year. The tubing proved to be a major focus of the race for many teams with a lot of designing and speculating before the race start. We first experimented with our tubes in Manly after jumping off the plane from Hobart (after it landed). However all we really learnt was that wrapping a tube in Glad Wrap and riding it kickboard style wasn’t gonna cut it. We ended up slapping a raft together on Friday morning before the briefing, and I must admit I was a little skeptical as to its prowess.

The race kicked off at 7:30 on Saturday morning with a paddle through the surf. Tom and I got swamped getting into the boat and then lost the hand pump that I had just got out to a breaking wave. With no chance of finding it we paddled on with a boat full of water with Tom making further contributions along the way. After the slow start to the paddle we jumped to 2nd when Landrover missed an obvious shortcut to the first checkpoint and then with the water emptied from our boats we flew past team Mountain Designs to finish the leg 1st.

We held our lead on the trek up the steep 400m North Brother before Landrover caught up to us on the way down to the tubing section. On the way down the mtn the anticipation of the subsequent tubing section inspired Matt into song - his now famous ‘Born to Tube’. It was this musical masterpiece that fuelled us through the tubing section in record time, helped or perhaps hindered by our sleek craft. By the end of the tubing were once again alone at the front with a lead we continued to build on slowly through out most of the race.

But the tubing didn’t end there, Oh no, we had to carry the rafts a full 7km back to headquarters! A leg we dubbed the ‘Death March’ as it felt like we were carry a casket.

Leg 2 started with an mtb along some really nice single track which in turn bought us to the swim. We waded and swam a few hundred meters across a lakey lagoon to fetch a boat which we then paddled back, loaded our bikes aboard and swam and paddled it back again. We then deposited our bikes and once again climbed aboard our trusty raft for the final tubing section. The thing that stuck in my nose from this leg is truly incredible smell emanating from Tom’s posterior. Unfortunately Tom was near the back of the raft and despite all its graceful waterlines, the slight tail breeze was still outdoing us. A short run down the beach saw us back at HQ for the Leg 3 which wasn’t revealed until we’d finished leg 2. This meant we had to mark up the maps in transition.

A long mtb started leg 3 and took us into the night, there were some very steep hills which were a struggle to even walk up. An unrestrained act of kindness saw us move a small friendly snake off the track so it wouldn’t be squashed by the rest of the field. The ride took us along some great cliffs with awesome views, but we couldn’t really see a great deal in the dark, just a few far off lights and the torchlight disappearing into the void below. A puncture on my behalf put a brief halt to proceedings. Then a section of tricky nav and we were at the start of the rogaine section.

Most of the checkpoints on the rogaine were pretty easy but one was a right pain in the ass. We had to bash along a creek looking for a junction but the problem was we couldn’t tell where the creek was, it kept disappearing and only made its presence known every now and then with a small soak in the otherwise flat and featureless terrain. The main highlight of the rogaine was however the abseil, a nice drop with a great view, except is was still dark for us. Once back to our bikes it was but a short ride back to HQ for the final leg of the race.

Leg 4 required support crews to drive teams about 60km to a drop where we’d start racing once again. With 1hrs timeout for the drive and 20mins compulsory rest before leaving we had thought we’d have a hot shower before we left. Sadly it was not to be as just getting ready to go took us the whole 20min. We enjoyed the drive though, first stuffing our faces with real food before slipping into a satiated slumber.

Leg 4 began with a 25km trek, a section which proved to be the most demanding of the race, mainly due to one very troublesome valley. We spend 2hrs making our way a mere 2km to 2 checkpoint located in the bottom of a gorge like valley. It would have been truly spectacular in the daylight, even in the dark its was quite impressive as we picked our way up down and around cliffs, up the creek and through the bush.

Daylight caught us near the bottom of a 500m descent of yet another big hill and nearing the end of the trek. With the end of the race in sight and a lead of about 2hrs we were starting to look forward to the finish. Another short 21km mtb saw us back into our kayaks for the 2nd and last paddling leg. The boats felt so fast! We must’ve become accustomed to paddling tire tubes because these things felt like rockets. We paddled hard for the first hour or so before we calmed down a bit, just in time for a checkpoint and a very convenient portage. A bit of shallow water after the portage almost became our undoing as Alina played princess and insisted on being carried across the sandbar while Tom then wanted to paddle the boat like a surfboard. Luckily Alina kept the whip cracking and we were soon all back in line steaming toward the finish once more.

A rather relaxed transition saw us into the last 7km run and the last section of the race. At the final checkpoint I was finally relieved of the stressful job of carrying the control card. We enjoyed all the beach scenery as we approached the finish line. Our finishing time was somewhere around 29hours. The occasion was such that Matt almost broke into song once more, but was struck down by a dash of stage fright. So it was hot showers and a team sleep before lashing out for a night on the town.

Matt did find his voice in the presentation the following day and treated the crowd to a heartfelt rendition of ‘Born to Tube’. The video will be on sale soon.

Kris Clauson

Race Report from Team Bozones – Mountain Designs Geo-Half 2005

Our first taste of kayaking through the surf was during the competency checks and whatever spare time we had on the Friday before the event. We had plenty of practice in water entry to the inflatables as the surf took its toll of us, both going out and coming in. I was knackered after Friday’s competency checks and that night I had little sleep listening to the pounding surf and thinking of what tomorrow would throw at us.

The 7.00am start, and the vast number of competitors lined up for the start, was a memorable experience. We managed to get through the surf OK but we had difficulty on the trip south with one boat being difficult to steer. We stopped a number of times (bobbing around in the middle of the ocean) and changed crew from one boat to the other to ease the strain. We were the last of all the kayaks to line up for the big swell and charge through the break wall at Camden Haven. Last Geo half boat in but our time of around 2hrs was better than expected.

Onto the 8km trek up North Brother, a good steady climb, we had to give way to many teams as they were running down from the checkpoint at the top. There were still a few teams with us which made us feel a bit better, we then jogged down the mountain side.

Just as we were slowing to check our map, Danny slipped on the only stone on the track and rolled his ankle. It did not look good, Danny strapped his ankle and popped a pain killer and then proceeded to slide on his backside down the mountain to the next transition on Queens Lake.

We got to Queens Lake with only one team behind us, still in it, then on to the tube raft for the 3km crossing of the lake. We could see around 7 teams on the water so we were off after a quick change. We made it to half way across the Lake in 45 min then we ran out of steam, the wind came up and everything seemed to slow us. We managed to pass two teams but it had taken over two hours to do the crossing. I could hardly walk when I hopped out to get the checkpoint.

We then carried our raft 7km back to Bonny Hills with Danny limping all the way and in some pain. We took over two hours to do the trek and on the way we saw several of the leading full geo teams heading out on to Leg 3 and we had not finished Leg one. We arrived back at the start after eight hours.

We were all ready to keep going and the strapping on Danny’s ankle was holding up. We set out on the first bike leg with around 30 mins of daylight left.

The bike leg went well except for turning off before a bridge on the way to CP11 and not after the bridge. This track led us onto a loop road and after the 2nd time jumping the same logs we knew we were in trouble, there were two other teams with us at this stage and after 15 min we were all back on the right track. The bike ride then took us to a river crossing.

We arrived at the river crossing around 7.30pm. It was getting cold and the rain had just started. We stripped off after leaving our bikes on the bank and joined a number of teams wading, then swimming, the cold water crossing. I must admit that I hated every minute of this section. We got to the other side, picked up a boat then swam it back to pick up our bikes. Load on all the bikes and gear then back into the water for the last time. It seemed to take forever. Once on the other side our support crew cleaned up, gave us our wet suits, then we were on the raft paddle back to Lake Cathie.

There was one CP that we picked up off a compass bearing which saved wandering around in the dark. We were joined by another team which waded down the river faster than we could paddle. We were on and off the raft a few times as by now we were all done with paddling. We eventually made it to the next TA were we changed again into dry clothes for the trek along the beach back to the start.

The only problem with this leg was that the tide was in and we had to scramble around the rocks/cliffs for half the walk, can’t take a trick. It was still an enjoyable walk and by now the rain had stopped and it was a pleasant night. As we were scrambling over the rocks we frightened the life out of some young couples enjoying themselves before our head lamps made them get dressed in a hurry.

We finished the second leg at around 11.30 pm, still in good spirits with one leg to go.

We still had a long way to go, we all had a shower and some hot food, Danny and Gina had 30 min sleep and Tony took it easy till it was time to go. I did up the maps for the next bike leg and took my time as I was having trouble finding grid squares on the map as it was way past my bedtime. We plotted a longer route which was hopefully easier at night when we are all a little tired.

We left on the next leg around 1.30am. There were still 5 geo half teams yet to leave so this gave us some motivation to make the next leg a good one. We started working well as a team, calling out distances, roads, features etc and we made sure we did not take any wrong turns. At one stage we saw two teams moving quickly towards us from the direction of a checkpoint. We plodded along got the checkpoint turned around then back came the two teams. Have you seen CP 16 came the shout? Yep! Keep going, next right, then walk up the muddy hill. It was good to know we were doing things right. By now we were meeting more teams along the way and we seemed to be making good progress. We picked up CP 18 easily and as we got out to a main track we thought it was time for a bite to eat and a short rest. After 20 min laying on the track another team came by and asked if we had seen CP18. I looked at his map and noticed straight away that they had the CP marked in the wrong grid square. They had been riding around for over an hour, a few short directions and off they went in the right direction. It was a bad move to stop when we did as the cold and tiredness had caught up to us and it took a while to get going again. 

On our way down to the adventure gain some teams passed us at a Y intersection, they went right and we went left, we never saw them after that. We knew we were right as a few minutes later the two white dogs we were told about at the briefing came into view. Shortly after sunrise we made it back to Queens Lake for the start of the adventure gain. We had a slow, but good bike ride! 

When we arrived at the TA we were surprised to find that we were currently in 7th place but there were a number of teams close behind. We selected our route around the course and went for a few of the more difficult checkpoints in the creeks. We were glad that we were doing it in daylight as some of the creeks were very thick. We found all the CPs quickly and made our way to the top of the mountain for the abseil. We were joined by another Geo half team at the abseil, they had elected to have a good sleep during the night and had enough energy to run the adventure gain course. The abseil was quick and easy and all the team members enjoyed the view and the experience. We had a quick walk back to the TA then onto our bikes for the short ride back to the finish line.

We went through the finish line just after Aroc had completed the full course, the crowd gave us a big cheer and Aroc sprayed us with champagne. What a way to end our first attempt at Geo.

To sum up it was a great experience for all of us to finish our first big event. Our introduction to ocean kayaking was an experience in itself. We learnt a lot about ourselves. We did not break any records but we just kept going without making any disastrous errors on the course. We came in 3rd in the mixed class and eighth overall, not bad when for the first leg we were running at the end of the field. 

Thanks to the organizers for a great event and choosing a great location. Thanks for all the friendly smiles from Transition helpers, support crews and competitors.

For two first timers at distance events Tony and Danny held on through some tough times to make a strong finish. Gina was as strong as usual and her happy nature keeps everyone in tune on the course. Me, I just love adventure racing and if anyone over 50 reads this story, come out and join us, it’s a great experience.

Greg Bacon

Race Report from Team Crank – Mountain Designs GeoQuest 2005

Team Crank lined up at Geoquest to compete with the cream of Australia's adventure racers. After a hard fought and close contest they emerged on the podium. Read more for details.

Bonny Hills on the NSW mid North Coast was the location of headquarters for the 2005 Geoquest 48hr Adventure Race. Since its beginning in 2002 this event has attracted the best adventure racers in Australia and this year was no exception with AROC back to defend their title.

Team Crank was unchanged from the Arrow 24hr raced 3 weeks earlier with Tim, Myf and Matt support crew for Matt de Belin, Jane Cooksley, Andrew Cooksley and Michael Meryment. Yes, the support crew are part of the team and this event had them working extremely hard with multiple disciplines per leg, a car shuffle out to the top end of the course and just to make things interesting we through in a raft rebuild to keep them on their toes. As well as mountain biking, running, roping and kayaking this event included tube rafting with each team required to build a vessel with 4 inner tubes as the primary means of floatation.

Although the official start was a 7am on Saturday the event commences on the Friday with the briefing, gear and competency checks and the course is released. Bonny Hills is on a surf beach so the kayak competency had us out through the breakers to do a deep water re-entry and back through the breaking waves. This accounted for one team's double boat on its re-entry when the sand bar came up to meet it too quickly.

The unveiling of the course showed that is was in 4 legs with multiple disciplines in each leg thus ensuring the support crew were kept on their toes with gear drops and pick ups throughout. At this point we were happy to have a trusted and reliable team backing us up. The disciplines and distances were as follows:

Leg 1
Kayak 14km
Trek 10 km
Raft 3km
Trek (with raft) 7km

Leg 2
Mountain Bike 30km
River Crossing x 3 500m
Raft 2km
Trek 5km

Leg 3
Mystery 60 km MTB and 15km Trek
Roping

Leg 4
Trek 23 km
MTB 24 km
Kayak 18 km
Trek 7 km

Although there was a mystery leg we were more concerned with the 2 tube rafting legs and the trekking section with the raft. As it turns out, we weren't the only team concerned about this section and there was frantic activity throughout the teams with fast re-engineering a priority. Fortunately the Crank raft was light but extremely short on testing as it was first paddled by the team on the Friday afternoon. The verdict was - very stable, better with single blade paddles and roomy !!

At 6.45am on Saturday we assembled on the beach for the kayak start. Again our crew were the envy of all with wetsuits on, showing their dedication to the cause (and desire to remain warm). The entire field paused for a minute reflection on the task ahead and those who are part of the AR community who are no longer with us. 

The first wave to leave was the Geo "Half" competitors. We watched as these teams battled in the surf with the slow moving inflatables and noted that for most it was brute strength that got them through. When our turn came it was on with the decks and point the nose of the VOK Explorer at the surf and go. Once around the headland we watched the faster skis move away but held our own in the top 5. As we moved through the break wall at Laurieton we made good use of the running water and kept the lead teams in sight but then as we moved into the channel we found that the outgoing tide and shallows made it a tough paddle. After collecting 2 controls we were surprised to see Landrover-G4 behind due to a poor nav choice, putting Crank in 3rd place. This was to set the scene for the rest of the race with places constantly changing.

A quick transition saw us out on foot and setting off on the 600m climb up Big Brother Mountain to find Mountain Designs running back towards us. It seems Doug left his race bib behind. But 20mins later and MD's pass us at a run up the steep track. We all had the same thought here "ouch !, they'll pay for that later". With a control at the lookout on top we momentarily enjoyed the view and then headed back down to a roadway passing several teams hot on our tails still heading up - Mexicans, Tangerine, Blue Edge-Stingers, Hardtale. The descent off the mountain is good and we navigate well, catching MD's on the way. We saw AROC again on the summit, not realising that this would be the last time we would see them for the remainder of the race.

The next transition was to get onto the raft and paddle 3km across Lake Cathie. We hit the water with MD's and quickly realised that our raft was of "sub optimal" design. This was a temporary low point and the only time in the entire race that a Cooksley marital tiff looked on the cards. We lost around 20 minutes to some teams here with the most frustrating element being that the body of water was so wide you could see them paddle away for a long time. The Mexicans came past us like there were outboards hidden in their tubes, so it looks like the engineers on the team did more than drink beer at uni. But, all was not lost and what we lost on the 3km raft, we nearly gained on the 7km raft carry. We passed Landrover and the Mexicans while running along the 7km track with our trusty contraption. 

The start of leg 3 was on bike and took us back up the trail we ran down so we could see how other teams managed with the large portage, and some were managing better than others. As we knocked off controls we caught the Mexicans, who had beaten us out of transition, and we continued on for much of this section with them. The bike section finished beside another lake and involved us swimming across to pick up an inflatable kayak, hand paddle/swim it back and ferry the bikes to the other side. Originally this was to be done using the rafts and ours was setup perfectly to do this. However, after the first raft fiasco, we had issued modification instructions to our support crew who managed to rebuild the contraption during the bike leg and get it to the transition point. We jumped onto our modified raft only to all fall off. We began swearing and ripping at duct tape with teeth and as we'd left the TA the crew couldn't assist. 5 minutes of further modifications and we were off paddling at snail's pace once more. Luckily, this raft section was short and soon we were running down the beach, again with Landrover.

We arrived back at Bonny Hills to find a shocked support crew who had only just arrived themselves. This TA was where the Leg 3 mystery course was unveiled and we spent time marking up maps for the MTB section and were told that the adventuregaine controls would be given to us at the beginning of that leg ensuring that no teams could pick up any foot leg controls on bike. After taking time to eat while doing the maps we flew out of transition and were all sitting comfortably in the saddle, ready for what was to be a mammoth ride. Along this leg we rode with Stingers, Mexicans, Mountain Designs and Landrover and managed to pull away from all except Landrover by a combination of route selection and bike speed (I think we make up a lot descending in the dark and wonder what we'd be like with more effective lights). The push up to the Bago ridge trig was tough although faster than the route taken to ride around and made us a lot of ground. 

After climbing to around 600m (again) we descended to the lake bank to begin the Adventuregaine 1 minute ahead of Landrover. We plan the course and leave at the same time as them, but in different directions. After collecting 60 points we get to the abseil point to once again find Landrover and while waiting for the rope Blue Edge-Stingers arrive. We all get down the 60m rope and head in opposite directions- we head into a lantana maze where we waste so much time that we are sure other teams like Stingers (self-confessed navigational legends) have passed us. We get our last CP and arrive at TA to be greeted with the news that we are 2nd !! Landrover come in two minutes later and no-one says anything. At this stage the race is on and we want to get rid of each other. Back on our bikes and it is an adrenaline-rush of a ride with Landrover into HQ. Janie stacks in the mud, but we manage to arrive back with Landrover with Matt on driving duties doing a big turn on the bitumen. The rules for leg 4 called for a mandatory 20 min break at HQ and gave 1 hour for a car shuffle before starting the leg. At 3am, 1 hour and 20 minutes later (and a snooze in the car) and we are running the start of the leg we have been dreading - 25km on foot. The first 5km and 3 controls take us 3 hours ! This is due to mainly to a canyon section of creek between 2 controls that saw us climb upstream, search the banks for easier routes and wade through the water. The canyon was beautiful in the dark with glow worms all over the cliffs. Matt disturbed a bat cave looking for an easier router and Cookers thought he found breakfast when he caught a good size crayfish. 

The remaining 20km take us 5 hours and included another large climb, Big Nellie. We didn't see Landrover again after this section as they started only a minute behind. We made a good call at the start by using a trail to move upstream then hit the creek via a ridge and that put us ahead of them, but then the pfaff factor crept in and we became indecisive and made a mistake coming out of the gnarly 5km creek section. The sun came up as we left the creek giving us all a boost as well as for the next 20km being pushed along by the thought that a number of teams were close behind us. 

Hannan Vale, the location of the bike transition, could not appear quickly enough and again we were happy to get back in the saddle. The 18km to the river was uneventful although we were worried about Blue Edge - Stingers and others that may have had a faster trek. At the river banks we learned that the next team was Tangerine who had a 'blinder' of a trek and had picked up 4 teams on foot. They were still over an hour behind which gave us a feeling of relief and with Landrover an hour ahead we weren't in a position to push to catch them. Janie relaxed so much that she was nodding off in the kayak. At one stage she wakes up suddenly when the boat nearly tips in and Cookers gives a yell. Luckily, they have a good repertoire of 'stay-awake-songs', so the rest of team Crank got to listen to the wiggles, playschool, the BEE Gees, Rolf Harris and the HooleyDooleys.

After the kayak CP and portage the bridge at Laurieton can't come quick enough. We are flagged in by our 'Nuded-up' support crew (thanks for putting your gear back on before we got too close Timmy) to the TA. One last Le Rice is downed before we run down the beach for 7km. We were all working well with no other teams in sight until Janie stops for a quick pewk. Assuring us that alls better now, we climb the headland to find Timmy again. He has his clothes on! We stop for some photos (we can see well down the beach behind us and no teams are in sight) and then head to the finish line. 

YAHOOOOOO! It was such a great feeling to hit HQ in daylight and cross the line in 3rd place !!! 

Probably more so that any other in the past, this race was about team work and we found that CRANK teammies and crew are a well-oiled and great to be part of machine. We have fun, be serious when we have to and get out and enjoy the course and racing.

In a bit of a race post mortem over pizza we tried to figure out what we'd done and how we'd achieved what we had. The summation:

Janie is the backbone and drives us on, knows when she needs towing and not and has a good pfaff meter
Cookers has the nav on foot, excellent map to ground and bearing work. He moves quickly as well
Matt's ability to read a map while moving quickly on the bike is 2nd to none
Mike - to quote Janie 'just solid all over', route selection, planning and attention to course details
After Arrow we found the paddling combination that worked best and with all our backgrounds in cycling of some form we made the most of those legs.

We couldn't have done this without support - Myf, Matt B and Tim are the greatest. Bikes never missed a beat thanks to Bike Addiction and we all kept it together in iRule's adventure racing clothing. 

Till next time,

Team Crank 

Race Report from Team Tangerine – Mountain Designs GeoQuest 2005

Where to start? We'd really been focussing on this race all year, with a number of other events as lead up - AROC 24 urban, Jindabyne multisport, rogaines, 6 foot track, Canberra marathon, etc. Things were falling into place as Andrew Rowe, Julie and I lined up Gary Lilley as our 4th team member. We had two double sea kayaks and were getting into regular paddle training to work on our weak leg.

In early May Andrew decided that his legs wouldn't be up to the trekking after a hip operation the previous November, but would still be prepared to support us. Several frantic weeks of e-mails and phone calls followed before we settled on a 4th member, Karl Strode-Penny, highly recommended by Tom and Alina of team AROC. Support crew was Andrew and Brock Mckinlay, both with previous Geoquest experience. Gary and I had both done the race in the past too.

Our training as a team was mainly focussed on getting our paddling up to a passable standard. Early morning and evening sessions on the lake 2-3 times/week. Also did a bit of riding and running together, but the real team bonding was achieved with the prototyping and construction of a raft made from inner tubes which we would need for the race. How significant the rafting would be only time would tell. The week before saw endless preparations, lists, equipment checking, packing, etc before we met on Thursday morning to load the boats and head up to Port Macquarie. The drive took nearly 10 hours, arriving just after dark and finding our cabin at race HQ, the Rainbow Beach Holiday Village in Bonny Hills.

Friday morning we organized our gear, then in the arvo had a briefing and competency and gear checks. Down at the beach we had some pace-counting practice and had to paddle out past the breakers, capsize, get back into the boat and get back to shore. After a kayak skills weekend in early May we thought we'd have this wired, but the re-entry through the surf saw Gary and I accidentally surf our boat all the way to the beach (heap of fun), and Julie and Karl take a big swim.

Friday evening we were given course descriptions and control grid references, so spent an hour plotting them all up and coming up with questions to the race directors about some specific sections. Legs 1&2 were pretty straightforward, both including substantial tube raft paddling (3km in leg 1, followed by a 7km trek carrying the raft; 2km in leg 2). Once these details were clear we refined our raft and a carrying system with climbing tape going over our shoulders. Many teams were seen making modifications.

Saturday morning we carried our boats back to the beach ready for the start. A glorious sun was rising over the sea. The race would start in 3 waves - first off were the "geo-half" teams doing a short course and paddling inflatable kayaks supplied by the race. Next would be mixed division, then the all-male and all-female teams. The surf was fairly quiet - around 50cm with a few larger waves. The first wave started, then we got ready.

On the signal we carried our boats to the water. Brock held the back of our boat while Gary and I climbed in and attempted to fit our spray decks. A couple of waves swamped the boat and I turned on the pump, but the water made us unstable and we got overturned by another wave and we were swimming! Triathlete habits of starting races with swims are hard to break it seems. We pulled the boat back to shore, emptied it out and started again, 5 minutes or so lost. All good on 2nd attempt and out through the breakers to find Karl and Julie waiting for us, then off down the coast for about 5km to the Camden Haven entrance. We passed most of the inflatables on this section and a number of the slower teams, but the leaders had pulled well ahead. Some big waves at the entrance, but we got in safely and rode the swell and current in to the estuary and a couple of controls in a flat-lying area of mangroves before heading back to the boat ramp transition.

We quickly pulled the boats up and got our gear together. Julie was carrying just a Camelbak, but had a drybag of compulsory gear that one of us would be carrying. It was nowhere to be found. We checked all the hatches and double-checked before starting to scratch around in our gear bins for replacement items. Finally I had another look in the front of the boats and found it wedged in the nose at full arm's stretch and was able to retrieve it. Crisis over we headed up the street to the foot of North Brother Mt, rising to around 500m. We pushed the pace up the hill passing many teams. At the top my legs were starting to twinge a bit. We punched the control and started the descent, but I could feel the dreaded quad cramps coming on. We stopped several times to stretch letting teams through each time. This was the section I'd been dreading, and I knew if we got down this hill I'd be OK for the rest of the race.
A steep shortcut down a ridge turned out to hae an overgrown track on it, and finally we reached the houses at the bottom and a short run to the transition at Queen's Lake.

Our tube raft was waiting, and we stuffed gear into dry bags for the 3km crossing. My wetsuit booties had been left in the kayak, so I was barefoot, and I had my backpack on too which made paddling pretty awkward, finding it hard to get a balanced position on the back of the raft. The others were paddling strong though, so we were making steady progress and overhauling many teams whose rafts weren't as streamlined as ours. We finally reached the far shore and pulled up to put our shoes on for the trek back to HQ. My dry bag had leaked, so 1 shoe was full of water, but it wasn't a problem. We got our slings in position and started jogging down the track. It took a while to get used to the rhythm of the raft. If you were out of synch it was very rough, but by keeping in time we managed to maintain a good pace and overtook a couple of teams. Coming into HQ a few other teams were starting out on their bikes, so we transitioned as quickly as we could and set off in pursuit onto the 2nd leg.

We had about 20km to ride, mostly on fire trails, but including a nice section of trailbike singletrack. A couple of trails were a bit overgrown at the end, but we found our way to the shore of a lake for a water crossing. First we had to wade/swim across 500m wearing our PFDs.
Mostly the water was waist deep or less, but a couple of spots we had to swim about 30m. At the far bank we grabbed an inflatable kayak and headed back to where our bikes were. There were about 5 teams who had just completed the crossing as we headed back, so we weren't far off the main pack. We stacked our bikes on top of the kayak and attached some towing straps on the front, then Gary and I towed the raft while Karl and Julie ran alongside. At the final deep section Gary and I were able to swim and tow while the others swam.

The crossing complete, our support crew had our raft waiting for a 2km paddle. This time I didn't have a pack on and was able to paddle much better. We followed the river channel down to Lake Cathie and the transition by the road, then pulled on our running shoes and packs for a 5km run along the beack past some magnificent rock formations down Rainbow Beach back to HQ. It was now about 4pm and the first 2 legs were complete. We grabbed some food (Gary's wife Angie had cooked up a fantastic chicken lasagne which went down a treat) and instructions for the surprise 3rd leg and plotted up the route on our maps. There was about 45km of MTBing up to Bago Bluff trig and back, then a rogaine section near where we'd finished the first rafting section, followed by a short ride back along Tube Highway. We had only about an hour's daylight remaining, so were carrying heaps of batteries for our bike lights.

We headed out along Tube Highway again. A couple of big puddles were starting to get seriously churned up now that many teams had passed through. The first couple of controls we chose to take tracks we'd ridden before, then we were heading NW out towards the Pacific Highway as darkness fell. Some nice riding on trailbike singletrack where we negotiated a few unmarked tracks before crossing the highway and heading out towards the hills. After a tricky to find control on a creek junction we started the long climb to Bago Lookout at 360m. Julie got a tow some of the way, but our route up Lookout Rd wasn't too steep and she rode most of the way. We passed the turn off to Boundary Rd which led to the next control and reached the end of the track and clambered up over rocks to the trig and found the control. Back to our bikes and a steady descent for a whil ebefore the last big climb of the leg of 200m up to Rollover trig. We passed another couple of teams around here looking a bit lost, but had no real trouble finding the control at the trig.

Next was a whizzing descent down Rollover Rd back down to about 80m altitude in about 4km. We turned right at a T-junction at the bottom and did and out'n'back of 1km to the next control. As we came back past the T-junction team Hardtale was coming down the hill. About 100m past the junction I looked back and they had turned to follow us! We strung them along for a couple of km before I casually asked them if they'd got control #20 yet, and mentioned it was back the other way. They quickly stopped in a chorus of muttered accusations and we left them behind as we headed back to the highway and our last couple of controls before the rogaine. A short diversion down a wrong track then past some farms, we pulled into the picnic area at the lake shore at 10:45pm.

A master map was in the picnic shelter, and I transferred the circles onto our map. There were also some track corrections which for some reason I didn't draw on. This was a big omission as we later discovered.
We dithered a while about which controls to go to. We had to climb Jolly Nose Hill (250m) and do a 50m abseil, plus pick up 80 points visiting any of the controls which were 10 or 20 points each. We headed off in the direction of the abseil, picking up a 20 pointer on the way in a gully. The bush was mostly easy going, but there was a big lantana patch which we could easily bypass by taking a track up the hill rather than following the gully. Having punched the control, we climbed out of the gully and did the steep climb to the summit of the hill. A marshall fitted us with helmets and harnesses and we were led through the scrub to the edge of a cliff. In turn we were clipped onto the rope and descended off into the darkness. The last 20m of the abseil were hanging in free space. When we had all descended, we next had to find our way back from the bottom of the cliff. This was quite rugged and we skirted the bottom of the cliff on steep slopes before eventually reaching the track we had come up on.

Our next control was down in another gully. We set off on a bearing from the track, and after realizing we were on an unmarked track (turned out to be a marked map correction), we headed north to the marked track and descended towards the control. The contours showed the control at around 80m, so we planned to hit the gully at around 100m by our altimeter then drop down to the flag. As we were making our final approach to the gully we hit an impenetrable patch of lantana. We dropped down the hill and skirted it to the gully, hitting the creek at around 80m by various altimeters (we had 3 between us!). Progress up the creek was blocked by an impenetrable wall, so we headed downstream thrashing through various thickets. When we got to 70m we were too low. I headed up the hill and stumbled onto an unmarked fire trail which looked like an extension of a short dead end trail on the map. A quick trip down the hill proved the case, and following back from the junction I crossed a minor gully then climbed to another minor gully. Hopefully this would lead to the creek junction with the flag, but on reaching the main creek we were back where we started. Further progress along the track was blocked by more lantana jungle. Even though the flag may have been less than 50m away (we had no way of knowing), it seemed easier to cut our losses and try our luck elsewhere. Fortunately there were plenty of options and we quickly bagged enough points. Coming back from the last control to the picnic area we made another diversion onto an unmarked track (also on the map corrections), before finally getting back to our bikes. A few lessons learned here!

A short ride along the now very muddy Tube Highway had us back at HQ.
The mud was bad enough that Gary's Time pedals clogged up totally. A bit of work for Andrew to do while we were on the next leg before we needed our bikes again... We had 20 mins allotted to repack and grab food before Brock drove us out to the drop point for the last leg. We power-napped in the back of Gary's car which unfortunately had a very uncomfortable seat. At one point Brock took a corner fairly hard and I woke with a start thinking he'd run off the road. I dozed off again only to be awoken by a bumpy wooden bridge, again convinced we'd left the road and woke everyone else up in my panic. We all had a good laugh, and were shortly at the drop point. We had 10 mins or so before we could leave (1 hour was allotted to prevent any need for unsafe driving). Two other teams, Mexicans and Mountain Designs had just left and we were in 7th place. At 5:40am we started the long trek of the final leg.

The first control was down the hill along a track at a creek junction.
We caught up to the Mexicans again here, and the sun had come up so we could put our torches away. Mountain Designs had apparently taken off up a gully somewhere on business of their own, so we didn't see them. The next control was up the creek - the Mexicans headed up the creek, but we took a track up the spur and then cut down to the creek about 2/3 of the way there. When we got to the creek the Mexicans were nearby, so there was no advantage either way. Past the control, we got into some very rugged gorge country as we headed further up the creek to the next control. Although only 1km, it took over 1 hour to get there. Teams who came through here in the dark reported glow-worms, bats, crayfish and even a giant python! We reached the control a little ahead of the Mexicans and charged off up the hill to the nearest track. Unfortunately it was overgrown, and we climbed higher and higher on the hill, knowing we'd missed it. Our altimeters clocked an extra 150m before we finally hit Big Nellie Rd and the descent to the next control at Waitui Falls.
From here we had to climb 400m in about 6km to Flat Rock Lookout. We passed the Mexicans again 2km up the road, just as we started the really steep climbing. Keeping the hammer down, it took us just under an hour to do the climb, and after briefly admiring the view over Lansdowne Valley we started the descent over about 6km to 50m, with the final 350m in under 2km taking us just under 20 mins! We were flying! At the bottom we found the NSW Stingers team. Christie was suffering very badly and in great pain. Another 6km of road bash with a few more hills into dairy country and finally we reached transtion at Hallam Vale Hall. Gary ran out of water here so we gave him what we could from our own supplies, but he was starting to suffer.

I'd been promised some cold pizza, and Andrew was as good as his word - it was delicious. We also found some sodium-encrusted shapes which went down well, and refilled our camelbaks before heading off down the valley on our bikes. We were now in 4th place, and determined to hold that to the end, but knowing that 2 teams behind us were strong paddlers, and an 18km paddle yet to come. Gary started complaining of calf cramps, and shortly had to stop. We tried massage and stretching, and he got going again, but for the rest of the 20km or so MTBing was forced to walk many of the hills and had to stop several times. He was slowly coming good though, and as we passed through the town of Kendall and across the river we were all feeling strong for the paddle.

The transition was well laid out, and Judi and Halina the marshals gave us plenty of encouragement too. We put on shoes or booties since we knew there would be a portage and possibly some shallows to negotiate. We were soon on our way paddling as strongly as we could. We guessed we had
15-20 mins on the chasing teams, hopefully enough of a margin to hold them off to the start of the run. There were some headwinds on the first river sections, but we were soon passing under the highway then onto a sweeping bend. The control would be on the left bank, and I watched the landmarks pass by before finally the flag came into sight. Next was the portage, which turned out to be just 200m across a flat grassy paddock - perfect! Still no sign of our pursuers. Back onto the water and we searched across the broad reach for the buoys marking the channel entrance about 2km away. Once spotted we paddled hard again. A sand bank or two on the way didn't slow us much, and as we reached the channel we looked back and could see a chasing team carrying their boats. Into the channel we skirted oyster beds and picked our way past the channel markers, under the bridge and into the stronger tidal currents. For some reason I didn't pick that the current was running with us, so tried to stay out of it. Julie and Karl pulled away easily no matter how hard we paddled. Finally we wound our way into the main channel and tried to spot the transition. Eventually we spotted Brock and Andrew waving wildly from the shore and headed directly for them.

The transition was well set up again, and in less than 3 minutes we'd changed and charged off. We had about 9km to the finish, with a last control at the end of the breakwater along the sea wall. I ran ahead of the rest along the breakwater and punched the flag, then we headed back to hit the beach. We were about 6 min ahead of the Mexicans and could see then coming along the channel before we jumped onto the sands. We were holding a good pace though, and ran solidly along the firm sand, glancing back occasionally. The gap seemed quite big, and 4km after the breakwall we had climbed onto the top of Grants Head. The chasing team was about 1km behind still. We ran down the footpad back to sea level and negotiated several rocky sections before finally hitting the beach for the last 1km to the finish. It was in the bag now, and we held a steady pace to the finish, clocking 54 mins for the last 9km - not a bad pace after over 33 hours of continuous racing! 16 mins later the Mexicans finished - we'd pulled 10 mins out of them in the last section.
Even more satisying, we were only 4 hours behind team AROC, a truly world-class team.

Time to relax. Back to our cabin for a shower, then off to grab some takeaway. It was now dark and rain had started to fall - things were getting tough for the teams still battling it out on the course. By 9pm we had stuffed ourselves silly and were tucked up in bed. The next morning teams were still finishing as we sorted through our gear and started packing. A breakfast feast was laid on mid morning after the last team had crossed the line. Presnetations followed, then it was time to hit the road for the long haul back to Canberra and back to work the following morning.

‘More Training Required’ do the ‘GEO’

‘More Training Required’ might reasonably have been called ‘More People Required’ up until the week before the race. Matt was injured in an event in May and we thought that he would be fit for the GEO – but it was not to be. Tim had been roped in earlier but we were now down to two – Tim & Charlie – not even enough for a start.

So, to the website and Paul, who bravely agreed to race with us at short notice. This was as much as we had hoped for – but very late in the day (the weekend before the race) Hal equally courageously answered the call and all of a sudden we could rank as a team. What’s more, Hal wasn’t just pleased to see us he did have a canoe in his pocket! Two canoes in fact (Hal’s got pretty big pockets), saving us a logistic headache and several additional hours of driving. 

So, the advance party arrived in Eden, organized gate codes and ate pizza. The main body arrived at various permutations of ‘oh my god it’s early’ and we were complete. 

Now, here’s a thing: We arrived with bikes cleaned, prepared and recently serviced by (assume John Laws voice) ‘our good friends at Bike Addiction’ so there was nothing to do other than put the lights on and check tyre pressures and tool kits. But on Friday morning we saw everyone else stripping, servicing, spraying and generally fiddling and felt constrained to do the same. Surely this is simply a manifestation of pre-race nerves – a desire to do something rather than sit around and wait. Or am I – an AR new boy – missing a point. Maybe that’s why Team AROC finished nearly a day in front of us. 

Competency and equipment checks complete and following a surreal briefing from the NPWS we received the course and got down to the business of planning the route. Our plan was to mark the maps, contact them and then have dinner at the Fisho’s club in Eden. Said plan not helped by those inconsiderate buggers who went and got pizza! Still, it was eventually done – our support crew doing exemplary work with the contact and generally setting the scene for their utterly superlative performance during the race.

Out through the surf on a cold Saturday morning and into a spectacular day – a perfect day for a paddle. Somehow, my footplate had come dislodged during the entry and slipped a long way down the boat. I’m not overly endowed in the leg department and had to slide a long way forward to reach it (important as I was supposed to be steering). Still, with only a small amount of winging on my part we made it to CP1 and I could adjust it properly – improving both the boat speed and my comfort at a stroke. Tim took some big hits for the team here – he was seasick the whole way (the first person I have ever met who has been seasick in a kayak) – but managed to save some of the big bits for later.

Back through the surf – both boats onto the beach intact and upright. Hal wins the ‘Brace’ award with a textbook example to prevent his boat from rolling in the lumpy seas. This was caught in an excellent photo sequence by our intrepid photographer – although it suggests the boat rolled which it didn’t.

Following a reasonably quick transition we were into the snorkeling. Late enough in the proceedings to not have to attempt CPs 4 & 5, we headed up to the other end of the beach. I swim with all the grace and fluid-dynamic perfection of a house brick so I thrashed around in the middle of our team while the aquanauts found the checkpoints.

Another transition and off to Mount Imlay. The spirits got us here: Tim and I were lead navigators at this point and we didn’t pay enough attention to our compass (and too much to a likely looking track). Still, we didn’t let ourselves go too far wrong before re-adjusting and getting onto the proper track. Designated ‘overgrown in places’ on the master map it could well have read ‘visible in places’ instead. We managed to get off the mountain in daylight and with a (modesty aside) neat bit of team navigation hit the bike transition at CP13 without any further dramas. The bike leg was cold but largely uneventful. Paul wins the ‘first night navigation prize’ for selecting the longer but much easier and faster route to CP17 and the less said about the push under the power lines the better.

Into the transition at the end of leg three and we were starting to feel the pace. Cold, tired and hungry we spent too much time in the transition. But it’s tough to leave when the ministering angels that are support crew are pandering to your every whim. We eventually got our act together and got on the road. On the track to the transition at CP22 we were all feeling sleepy so Tim suggested a game of ‘who am I’ to revive our flagging spirits. When it was my turn I chose Genghis Khan and Guy Fawkes guessing (correctly) that I didn’t have to be too accurate with my answers because no one else knew either. It kept us going for half an hour until dawn and the adventuregaine planning at CP22 came to our rescue.

The adventuregaine was fairly straightforward (if a bit slow) until I tried to finesse one of the checkpoints (the one with the Pringles for those in the know). A predictable result that probably cost us an hour – and when we finally went back to a known start point and did it properly it only took us 20 minutes. The bike component was a bit lumpy but not taxing from a navigation point of view, although the bikes were covered in dust from the rally that had been going on for most of the afternoon. 

Into the transition at the end of leg four and another extended break. Things were starting to take longer now but we got off to a reasonable start with CP24 and then headed up to CP25. We were all a bit wobbly on our feet at this stage and took a fifteen minute power nap to restore ourselves. Astonishing how, although you are still tired, a short nap can dispel your sleepiness. CP25 was Jurassic Park and an overly conservative approach cost us more time although we nailed it in the end. CP26 was one of our best check points and we found it quickly, but we were starting to run out of time. We got down onto the beach and headed north, electing to forgo two checkpoints in order to keep pushing on to CP29 and the final kayak leg. We were all carrying a few ailments by this time: Paul, Hal & I had various interpretations of chafing and sweat rash and Tim was inflicted with an entirely unreasonable good humour. When we got to CP29 we found that surf had forced the entry to be changed and the support crew, who had had to carry the heavy boats down steep stairs to the water, had been required to carry them back up again and move them to another location with an even longer carry.

Finally onto the water again and grateful to be sitting down. It was about an hour before dawn and the sleep monsters bit hard. Both Paul and I had to strive to stay awake – splashing the chilly waters of Lake Pambula on our faces to prevent ourselves nodding off. Falling asleep in a kayak (even one as stable as a mirage) can have lamentable consequences. At this late stage in the race I became convinced that the surface of the water was covered in small alpine chalets some of which also had signs designating them as oyster leases. Luckily the sun came up clearing our heads and warming our backs. After a little confusion borne from tiredness at the start, we quickly found the two CPs on this leg – the boats gliding smoothly and fast across the still water and carrying us into the transition at CP 33. 

Away from CP33 and on the final leg. My spirits lifted here – I knew we would go the distance and finish from this point. Conscious of the looming 52 hour cut off (which we were still trying for even though the delay at CP29 had bought us a reprieve) we elected to miss CP34 and push for home. We arrived at the finish at 11.07, 52 and a bit hours after starting and to a hearty round of applause from those teams who had already finished and were awaiting Craig’s presentation. We inhaled bacon, sausage and egg sandwiches and orange juice and applauded team ARROC’s win – their time nearly a day shorter than ours. But we were very happy: We, a scratch team, completed the event as a team, without a cross word, without any significant injuries and all keen for the next event. Sure, we need to get slicker in the transitions, tighten up our navigation and go faster on both the trek and bike legs, but we fulfilled all of our expectations and we’ll be back (after more training) better and faster next year.

A few words about our support crew (Jen, Jen and Katrina the 4WD woman) collectively known as ‘The Goddesses’, and about support crews in general. 

If you, dear reader, are not a racer try this: Go to your significant other and say ‘because I have a mental disorder I am going to do this thing where I stay up for two days and travel 200km or so, using bikes, kayaks and on foot. I need someone to load, unload and transport this stuff around the place for me, think and plan ahead, be more organized than I can hope to be, have equipment and hot food waiting at unpredictable times when I arrive in transitions – often later than I predicted, look after me, do some thinking for me about equipment and race-food when I start to get tired, respond to the unexpected, stay up most of the night, get cold, cheer me on, hug me at the end (when a dung beetle which was down on its luck and had really let itself go wouldn’t want to get within 10 feet) and a whole lot of other stuff that goes on quietly and efficiently behind the scenes that I never know about. Oh, and drive most of the way home afterwards. I want that person to be you’. If the answer is ‘yes’ become an adventure racer – you’ve done the hard part, the racing bit is easy.

Those of us who have never been support crew don’t really understand all that it entails. We only know that you do it brilliantly, that we couldn’t race without you and that we love you for doing it (even those of you who have to shave your face!).

Charlie
More Training Required

Race Report from Team Crank – 2004

Eden on the NSW far south coast was the location for 2004 Geoquest. iRule's own Team Crank earned a hard fought 5th place outright on tough and scenic course. A lot happens in 38hrs so you might want to make yourself a cuppa before sitting down to this report from the Team.

In only the 3rd year of its existence, Geoquest has earned a reputation as Australia's premier adventure race and rightly so with a beautiful and challenging course. The 2004 edition brought 50 teams, including most of the best teams from around the country, to Eden on the NSW Sapphire Coast, close to the Victorian border. Team CRANK's combination of Matt de Belin, Jane Cooksley, Hugh Flower and Michael Meryment were stepping into the ultra competitive mixed category in this event for the first time. As it turned out the top 5 teams were all from this category showing the depth of talent in Australian AR teams.

The event got underway with compulsory competency checks with all teams having to launch their kayaks from the surf beach, paddle beyond the breakers, perform an unassisted self rescue and return to the surf beach. The surf wasn't huge but enough to see a few breaches and capsizings on the way out and in. Surfing a 7.3m kayak was certainly a new sensation for all on Team CRANK. If that exercise wasn't wet enough it was followed by a 50m swim with snorkelling equipment. Little were the competitors to know that they had been exposed to a small taste of the cold and wetness that was to come.

Next section of the event was the course giveout. Racers knew they were in for something special after the advice of the local ranger regarding the significance of Mt Imlay to the local aboriginals and the number of sacred sites in the area. National Parks had allowed the race through on the condition that they could brush the dirt off every racers shoes before going over the peak to prevent the spread of a fungus. It was great to see them accommodating the race. After pouring over the course we discovered that there was a section still unknown, an adventuregaine on foot and bike that had to be plotted sometime on Saturday night or Sunday morning depending on how fast teams were travelling. In summary the course was:

Leg 1 - Paddle
Leg 2 - Snorkel with running between water entry points
Leg 3 - Run, Bike
Leg 4 - Run, Adventuregaine on foot and bike
Leg 5 - Run, Paddle Ride

Like soldiers waiting to go into battle we all stood on a mist covered beach waiting for the 7am start. The surf appeared bigger than the previous day or was that just pre race nerves and the fog rolling in gave you a sense of heading into the unknown. After a short briefing the siren went and we were off. Around 100 boats headed straight at the breakers. Crank decided that the surf was nicer a little further down the beach ,took straight to the water and blasted through the breakers with little incident. It wasn't until we were clear that Matt realised that the map was no longer attached to the front of the boat. That map hadn't been cut down and was marked with several checkpoints required on later legs. The decision was made that Matt and Mike would go back and get it while . After a less than grace full exit on the sands we were back on terra firma with a very confused support crew. Soon all were looking for the map and after 15mins we gave up and decided that we would replot the course and the end of the snorkel leg.

Back into the boat and out through the breakers again with minimal fuss, we stormed along picking up teams en route to the first CP in Leather Jacket Bay. The time loss was being minimised by some great navigation and inspired paddling as we moved our way back up through the field. I couldn't help remembering last years sufferfest in the boats and how much more enjoyable this leg was. 

After an even less graceful beach landing ... um yes Matt and Mike's boat was flipped and had to bail, we set off on the snorkelling leg wearing a PFD, thermal tops, iRule Ninjas and carrying small fins, goggles and a mask each. The plan was to spend as little time in the water as possible so we moved along the headland and entered the water from the rocks to join several other teams swimming around in circles at the southern most checkpoint. Bearings were taken over again from landmarks and distances checked and rechecked. All this time the swell was increasing and the visibility decreasing do after over 40 minutes in the water we decided not to risk it anymore and got out willing to accept the time penalty. The other end of the beach proved to be much clearer and calmer with each checkpoint punched by Janie with minimum fuss. Our decision to get out of the water proved wise as teams would later suffer with hypothermia. 

The next leg required a car transfer to the start of the Mt Imlay climb. After checking out of race HQ each team was given 1 hour to start the next leg. With a 25 minute drive this should have been more than ample time however an untimely gearbox problem with the 2nd support vehicle saw Matt and Mike have to get their bikes off the roof and ride to the start of Leg 3. Fortunately no time was lost and the team started the trek at the scheduled time. Mt Imlay's 888m peak could be seen in the distance and any cold from the previous leg was soon replaced by warm sweat. Over the top we were constantly running off the non existent trail and made the slog to the creek at the base in good time. From here Crank chose to bush bash up a ridge to take out 6km of road. This proved to be a good move with the discovery of a fresh unmarked logging road to make progress easier.

Darkness was approaching as we mounted the bikes for a long journey north on reasonable fire roads. Routes to checkpoints located in pine forests were treated with care as foresters have a habit of cutting new roads as needed and in the dark bearings are easily lost. At CP 16 we joined 2 other teams to make a call from a public phone to race HQ as per the race instructions and had enjoyed a gradual descent from the ridge behind Mt Imlay. This soon changed with an incredibly steep bike pushing slog that seemed to go on forever and as we found out later broke the spirits of a number of teams. After that climb every stop involved putting on another layer as the temps started to plummet. We collected the rest of the CPs without incident (except maybe a few over cooked corners by Hugh) and returned to HQ to start leg 4.

Leg 4 saw us leave on foot only to meet up with the bikes soon after. At this stage we had been running everything where practical and found it a good antidote for the sleepmonsters. With tows in place where needed we made our way to the course give out to spend time marking up maps. This is the first time we've been required to actually plot points in order to pick a route as previously they have been given and a route selection made based on the number of CP's required to be collected. All we knew prior to plotting the CPs was that 10 of the 12 were to be collected and 7 were on foot and 5 on bike. The logical course for us was to collect 5 of each and leave the farthest foot points out. We left on bike picking up one CP along the way to get to the bike storage CP around 11pm. From here we decided that watches were no longer required and were not to be looked at. Getting onto the course on foot proved to be interesting as the route we wanted took us over a sizeable river. This wasn't flowing but no one was prepared to get wet again with temperatures dropping quickly, so we looked at alternatives. Heading west and upstream we went in search of a easy crossing point and found one where the river became a trickle. Foolishly we convinced ourselves that what we had crossed was a side creek and proceeded to follow the river downstream until the directions made no sense and Team Life wanted to know how we'd crossed. With that sorted out we went in search of the remaining CP's.

After picking off a few relatively easy points and finding the stash of Pringles beside one we tackled CP L. This was at the base of a gully on a creek junction and seemed no worse in vertical drop or location than previous CPs. In all the race post mortems to date we still can't pinpoint where we went off course and when we eventually found the control the description "north side of creek junction" seemed misleading as it was on the north creek bank opposite a cliff face. Anyway, it was dark and we had wasted over 90mins combing the area with 2 other teams before deciding to blow it off. It was only on the walk out that we stumbled across the control. The best thing to happen during this time was Janie's alarm going off. It had been set for 5.30am to get up the previous morning and hearing that alarm held mixed emotions. We were pissed off that we were still in the same creek bed and at the same time glad to know the sun would be up soon and no one had fallen victim to the sleep monsters during the night.

The return to base was uneventful and the river crossing made way more sense during daylight. Back at HQ we were unsure where we stood in the rankings but knew we had to keep up the pace. Mike had his wrist heavily strapped to cope with next paddling leg and the team was back out on foot heading up the coastline to Pambula. Along the way we were treated to spectacular views, especially from the cliff tops of an island separated from the mainland, became up close and personal with too much tea tree scrub and slowed to a trudge on the 6km of soft sand run. Janie was the driving force behind keeping us all moving along the sand with her crazy theory that it was easier to run than walk in the soft stuff. After being on the go for around 30hrs it kind of made sense. After the trek we were back on the water in much gentler seas than the previous day. It seems that we were fortunate with the tides as later teams struck breakers at the river mouth and the start of the leg was moved up the river further. The paddle was magic as the river was dead calm and sun was setting. Unfortunately it was over too quickly and we had the challenge of keeping warm with wet gear on the bikes.

This was it the leg to home. It seemed easy enough, collect a few CPs in a loop to the south and return on a trail that had been used previously. No one mentioned the 5km road climb that seemed a lot longer. Matt was still way too strong rode away from Hugh and Mike with Janie on tow just showing what a machine he is. And just in case we weren't finished off completely we sighted 4 tail lights about 500m ahead within the last 2km to the finish and decided to chase. We caught and passed the team only to discover they were finishing the Geo Half. 
Team Crank finished 5th in the mixed class and overall against possibly the strongest line-up of adventure racing talent in Australia so far. As in every race we learned lessons and have a long list of "could of, should of, would of" scenarios.

Our support crew are amazing. Marti, Myf and Ani never missed a beat, dealt with our dramas (map and car repairs) and proved once again how integral the crew is in any adventure race. They were the envy of many other crews with their setup and never ate any of our race food ..... we think. We can't thank you girls enough !! Keeping us fuelled with Hi-5 and Gu as well as regular food, washing and going without sleep are not anyone's idea of a fun long weekend away. Overheard at the last transition "Wow, you guys have the greatest support. Look how organised they are. We've just been following what they've been doing". 

Credit must go to the crew at Bike Addiction for the flawless operation of all four bikes. The only mechanical was a bent chain joining link, due to Janie's huge power output on a granny ring climb. They stood up to 120km over all sorts of trail conditions with little more than chain lube each time we got off them.

Thank you to the organisers, Craig and Louise for putting on yet another outstanding race. The planning, preparation and on the go administration of 50 teams is a challenge and Geocentric organisation pulled it all together well.

Lastly, I'd like to say that Australian AR scene is going from strength to strength and it is as much the good nature and approachability of the participants as the fantastic events that are driving this. Can't wait to see what next year's race has to offer.
Till next time 

Cranky Mike

Cranks Keys to Success

Below is a report from Team CRANK on some the keys to a successful adventure race. They first raced in 2002 and over the past few years they have been on a very steep learning curve absorbing information from other teams and learning by trial and error. They have certainly learnt something as they are now consistent, strong and top placing finishers in just about every event they enter!

Matt, Hugh, Jane and Michael explain:

Below are a few points that we've learned along the way, if they work for you then we'll take the credit if not we probably still have some more learning to do!

Tips for Teams

• Get organised, communicate, have team meetings etc in the lead up.

• Have an awesome support crew. These people are as important as the racers and should never be taken for granted. Don't sell crewing as a nice weekend away as its not. Crews need to know they will get their share of the sleep deprivation as well. See below for the tips for crew. 

• Train and work on improving for your weaker legs. You will see the biggest gains in your overall race. 

• Lots of rest the week before.

• Eat and dink copious amounts leading up to the race.

• When racing, eat before you get hungry, even if you find it hard, which you will. Some teams set an alarm every 20min just to remind them. 

• Get to know your body eg when are you about to bonk, what food stays down.

• Do rogaines for navigation experience - cheap and a fun way to see new places. 

• Look after your feet - Gurney's Goo is your friend, tape ankles if you are prone to rolling them. They are going to hurt until you toughen them up. 

• Team dynamics play a huge role. If your team doesn't get along and work together your race is affected and the fun factor dies off. 

• Keep an eye on your team mates, help them before they ask for help. 

• No brand new gear on race day, have at least trained with all the kit you are using. 

• Check and double check your gear well in advance. Its no good turning up to a wet race to find your brake pads half worn. You won't have any by the end of the race. 

• Go for reliability over the lightest and fastest equipment. Crank bikes are around the 12kg mark except Hugh's cos he has easy access via Bike Addiction (www.bikeaddiction.com.au) to all the latest Bike Porn, is a chronic weight weenie and can fix just about anything with zip ties and gaffer tape. 

• Basic layer principles for warmth - synthetic or wool next to skin layer through to a windproof outer with layers in between as required. iRule (www.irule.co.nz) have excellent AR shorts called Ninjas made from a fabric called Meryl rather than lycra. These are almost like a microfibre wool and when combined with the small chamois they are perfect for a base layer for multisport events. Polypro is your friend as well. 

• Regulate your body heat - In cold look after the hands, feet and head. Even a bandana makes a difference under a bike helmet. 

• Race smart. Adventure racing is long, so don't get to carried away at the start. Hitting the wall in the early stages messes with your head. We've found out the hard way.

Tips for support crews

• Write lists, check lists, and more lists. Allocate who brings what gear. 

• Meet with the whole team and work out the logistics for everything. 

• As a crew member you are an important member of the team. The whole team should work together - support and competitors. 

• Work out who is responsible for what within the support crew. Allocate yourselves competitors who you are responsible for. If possible know that person well. This is your person for the race. Unless asked, leave the rest of the team to themselves in transition 

• Race food - each competitor is responsible for suppling race food. Go shopping with your competitor before the race so you know what they eat. Use your judgement on what they might have forgotten but if they don't have it on race day they probably don't want it.

• Get your competitor to write down mix ratios for Hi-5 or Gu sports mix - when its 5.30 am and you haven't had any sleep, it helps to have things written down. Laminate these instructions and keep them with the sports mix. 

• Remember to eat, sleep and be merry. When it all gets going and your trying to pack cars, deliver bikes and remember directions, sometimes you forget to do things for yourself. 

• Listen to others - some people have done this many time before, learn from their experience. 

• Remember the better job you do the happier your team as a whole will be. Whether your there to help them win, place, finish or just survive the support crew is what makes it all happen.

• During the race, keep food and water/mix in a tub, and gear in another tub. Simple but effective, it helps the support crew pack a semi trailer worth of gear into the back of a car in a matter of minutes.

• It is better to be organised 3 hrs before your team turns up in transition, than 5 minutes after. 

• Fast transitions are good transitions - don't burden you team with useless information, don't give them too many choices or ask to many questions. Ask them what they want and follow it through. Your job is to get them back out there in the quickest time that might mean telling them to hurry up. 

• Give all members of the team space to do what is needed. If your not needed stand back and wait. 

• Know where other teams are so the team knows if it has to push or if they can slow down. 
  When you have a problem talk to other support crews, its amazing what skills you may find (eg broken down car on Geo - found a mechanic). 

• Find someone else to drive home with at the end of the race. When everyone’s tired and there’s still a long drive home, keep an eye on each other so you can both go to the next race.

• Finally what happens at the race stays at the race- GOMO- Get Over it and Move On.

Mountain Designs GeoQuest Reflections

Some time has passed since we disappeared into the sea-fog and humping surf as Team 19 for our GEOQUEST and adventure-racing debut, and like the texta marks on our crumpled topographic maps, the memories are a little smudged, but sharpen up nicely with the thought of a thundering beach-break stabbing sea-kayaks into the sand like perfectly weighted javelins. 

It’s pretty hard to crystallize two days of hard play into a few words, much harder for the fact that those days afforded us only a couple of hours sleep, and in reality, the race was much more than that long weekend. Over many months, three towns, and a thousand emails, the runningwater adventures team took shape, the mould finally cast at a brilliant gathering in the Grampians just a month before the race. I think those days set friendships in gold and gave the team a backbone that would be hard to break.

Along the way we met some damn fine people, and I think etched out a pretty nice groove in the minds of those that crossed our path. That was important. I’ll only mention Rob the kayak instructor because he is the first person on the planet to purchase a runningwater adventures garment, and fits nicely into the good bloke category too.

And so to race day and those heaving swells that played havoc with the fleet, emptied Damo’s stomach, and had Shandor fairly inclined to give the rocky coastline good clearance. The boats seemed so small in the rolling blue water, and a bright sun shone on a perfect, almost ‘fatal’ shore, but more than anything I’ll remember the dolphins that decided we were just the right team to play with. I’m still not sure how we paddled so far, too far, down the NSW coast, but it makes me smile to think of the water police encouraging, “might want to check your map, fellas?” before we crashed into Gabo Island.

A gaining sea-breeze that pressed against our faces for much of the return to dry land, did nothing to dampen spirits, although Mitch and Nick must surely have wondered whether their support crew skills would ever really be needed? We did run a little late.

The snorkel leg was deemed unsafe in the big swell and closed to all but the fastest teams. No complaints on this outcome after our extended stay on the water but underwater mischief always shaped as good fun and I hope will be a considered inclusion next time ‘round. 

Bike thoughts are only about hills, those endless hills, and then a few more, but nothing to slow our relentless progress through forests of pine and eucalypt on cracked tracks, fire trails, and occasional bitumen. A telephone booth checkpoint in tiny-town was novel and remains a beacon in our adventure that flashes memories of a cold, cold night. Thank God for thermals.

An on foot we marched as troopers, never too quickly. Sometimes we closed our eyes and dreamed and walked all at the same time, never more so than on that vast expanse of soft beach that begged and provided an immaculate, painted sunrise in our final race hours.

In the hard light of retrospection, I don’t think GEOQUEST ’04 was ever a race for us. Not that we planned it that way, but arduous navigation, a legacy of inexperience, forced us to take a slightly different path. Our ‘race’ became a simple test of human endurance. Did we pass the test? 

Of course! Fifty hours competing on a couple of hours sleep with a bagful of checkpoints and memories to last forever will do nicely for now. Unfinished business? Yep.

To Chris, Damo, and Shandor….I’ll race with you any day. To Mitch and Nick…a support crew without peer. 

Until next time. 

Mark Wilgar.

Geo report in Part! Torque / Land Rover

"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

Geo 2004, Q Kayaks/Parkside Sports Physio Pt 1

Thanks to everyone for an interesting Geo weekend. 

The race for us started with the long haul south as it did for most people, first stop Jervis Bay Sea kayaks to collect our boats, the end result being we didnt arrive till 3am in Eden, not perfect race prep but at least we got there in time for competancies.

The wet exit and re entry of our boat showed the first hitch, namely a faulty electric pump connection, we fixed this but on race day decided we had better put a manual one in just in case, yep , we needed it, as it turned out on race day as we launched into the fog we took a fair qty of water onboard and the electric pump didnt work again.

after clawing our way back into the top 10 we started the snokelling, this proved to be the albatross around our neck, and it certainly seemed to spread the field out, after seeing landrover take the lead in the kayak we were more than surprised to see them pop up next to one of our team. we ended up having 2 members in the water and 2 on the rocks applying the 100m rule, it worked for me as i was hammered getting though the surf.the end result for us being we pulled the pin on the south end after 90mins of frustration and headed for the north end, i had more luck here and was able to get out and regain some confidence in the water and we got all the controls.

from here it was of to mount imlay,for what could be described as a climb and trek or a savage attack on our fun meter as one team mate put it. we missed the ridge on the descent and found ourselves on the wrong ridge, but thanks to the view of a large cliff to our south knew our position and went about fixing the problem, this involved rather a steep descent for a 100m or so and then a traverse under the afformentioned cliff to pick up the trail beyond, apart from a rapid descent by one of our crew, thankfully only brief we rejoined the trail, only to lose it again. then darkness fell as did our world. the team plunged into Imlay creek, however the team had the uncanny ability to know exactly where to go and where they were once the mistake had been realised, this has to be fine tuned so that in future races we know exactly were to go and were we are before we make the mistake.

the end result being we collected 3 or 4 other teams on route to checpoint 12, nice to have you all along guys and girls. alas there was no sign of the guys we had seen disappearing of the wrong side of the wrong ridge earlier,(as it turned out they decided to extend the trek leg to about 12hrs, made us feel better about 7). the next choice was easy, as we had thought we would be doing the trek in the day we cut of part of the map that we didnt need, thus leaving 1 option a shortcut back down the creek and up a ridge line, this would hopefully line up with the buldozed trails evident on the rerverse side of the map we had seen earlier.it wasnt long after leaving CP12 i started having visions of the arrow race and CP3,4,5. this was not good as in that race my head was doing circles and didnt know were to go.this was now going to be more serious as we didnt have the same guys leading us out, it was us leading us out and i am sure 3 or 4 other teams would have had words had we not got to the TA. The conga line hit the ridge and the bulldozer tracks and then the road, and ultimately the TA.

It was now time to restock food drink tend our wounds and mount our bikes for the next few hours. We had arrived in 29th spot some 6hrs behind the leaders, who by now were well into the adventure gain leg.

We headed out as usual i was cooking and started to peel layers of i had only just put on, but at the same time another team mate was freezing and starting to succumb to the cold. TBC

It was starting to become evident as we rolled towards Towonga that this was not going to be our night, with the temp dropping rapidly keeping moving was a priority.Mechanical probs were starting to hit the team, well more 1 memeber as we had to remove his rear derailier from his spokes, the result being his hanger was deformed un naturally and meant dreggy the mechanic turned rods bike into a single speed, this also meant we were stopped and dreggy was getting colder, we got moving again and jumped from eucalypt to pine forest in a search for the main road. Upon reaching the main road it was evidently cooler and it wouldnt be long before a frosty covering would be on anything stationary. at this point dreggy continued to layer up, putting on his gore tex as well as mine, we new shedding those pounds had a down side he could not get warm, luckily i still had a few to keep me warm.

On the descent to Towonga we sensed things were awry, Dreggy who normally would revel in this terrain had faded badly or dare i say fell in a hole that only the longest rope would reach into, not even towing him was an option, as this would have resulted in dragging him off his bike.we were now only a couple k from towonga, his balance was gone now and it was a matter of getting him warm ASAP
we finally reached down and the descision was made if we couldnt continue with him we wouldnt continue.We got to the bus shelter and pete set off for the phone it was now 2am, i set about making a fire, (not out of the bus shelter) dreggy now had all his gear on and was wrapped in a space blanket and resembled a xmas turkey. i cranked up the fire on the roadside and soon we had 3 or 4 guys around it getting warm, dreggy included, after about some 15mins we were in no uncertain terms told to put the fire out by someone we later found out to be the local town busy body, we did this in order to keep the peace and save the organisers any trouble, luckily our support crew werent to far off and it wasnt long before we all huddled into pauls yellow bus. The teams race was run, Thanks to the guys at Parkside sports physio engadine, Jervis bay sea kayaks, and mikey and norm for their support. and the pizza, although i have to admit i am normally a kebab person at 3am.we were all grateful none the less.
Little did i know this food was to be my fuel for the next leg of the race, although ther teams race was run, i didnt know mine wasnt.

The day continued back at camp at around 3am, as the team consoled themselves with pizza, thanks mike (our regular team mate) and Norm of batemans bay sea kayaks, this was followed shortly after by sleep and apparently we had snorers, team mates now nicknamed Buzz, Chain and Hack, but i didn't hear a sound, we awoke around 8am, we started eating again as 1/2 the team prepared to head home. Once packed we headed for eden in search of morning tea. Someone had eaten all the bacon and eggs so it was pies and cappucinos, Rod and I bid our farewells to the rest of the crew and returned to Race HQ to check out race progress, since we wouldnt be out again we packed and cleaned down the boats and surveyed the massive qty of food that remained for what was supposed to be the rest of our race.

After seeing the lead team come home, well done AROC we decided some respite from the AR world was in order so it was off to check out the petrol heads flogging thier cars through the forests of Eden, one thing was for sure the last thing on these guys minds was slowing for some strange looking folk wandering the forests in groups of 3 or 4. After reminising my petrol head days and satisfying Rods curiosity it was time to leave the smell of beer and petrol fumes and return to the smell of clothes worn for 2 days and the crisp salt air. We decided on take away for lunch so it was hot chips accompanied by a nice bottle of red. Lets just say Iwas glad I hadnt had chance to return to the cabin for the glass of red, as not long after consuming the chips and some left over pizza the camp was a buzz with more teams coming in, of which i was witness to. 

At this point my night changed dramatically, somehow (thanks Craig) my name was volunteered to take the place of a fallen team mate and accompany Chris Milne and Andy Harmer for the remainder of the race, as they could only continue with 3, I agreed to help as best I could, I did however offer 1 warning, i had been eating for many hours and may need to use the orange trowel,(enough said). My team mate from the previous 21hr sojourn in the wilderness was now recruited as landcrew and joined his new found landcrew freinds to help out.(thanks heaps rod). So it looked like that food was going to get eaten after all, i then commenced repacking gear and food after finding what stages were left to do. It seemed i had done well, i had missed the nasty bit in the middle and ended up with the cafe latte version of the geo, all we had left to do was a pleasant walk to pambula a nice paddle up a river and a gentle ride home. this was going to be a piece of cake. 

Soon we were heading out of camp and in darkness to find a trail around the headland, it took some work but we found it and only sustained one injury, that being to me resulting in a black eye and cut eyebrow after i stood on an unforgiving branch, this resulted in the same action standing on a garden rake has, it wasnt long before i worked out why the guys were happy to have me along, lets just say when you are 6ft 2 and 95+kg its hard just to leave footprints in the bush, i was the new bulldozer that was to be used to clear tracks. this ability was to prove useful as it wasnt long before we were heading for an island paradise on the coast, yeah right. How the Geo crew set this point we will never know, how we found it we will never know, in geo history i have never seen scrub that thick, at one point i was reduced to the recommended form of motion for the island, on all fours and crawling through a tunnell of tea trees, we had a brief stop to check out a local inhabitants but in the end were glad to see the back of that island, some more food was consumed, sticks and branches were removed from any orrifices and we continued on. 

We soon rounded a corner at a juction to find a scene resemblng something from cocoon, 4 foil bags on the side of the trail, they also reminded me of BBQ chickens, we let them be later to find out it was X factor grabbing a nap,we were now heading back to the coast and needed to pick up some pace as we had a cut off to get around some rocks at quoraburagun point, the pinnacles were located by following the copious amount of tracks into the trail up, but the flatest part of the terrain so far resulted in me rolling my ankle badly, this couldnt slow our progress and soon we were heading for pambula, other teams around us were now starting to omit checkpoints in favour of time penalties but andy and chris were determined to get through and not drop any.

As we followed the coast to the TA via cp 28 we witnessed a bizarre moonrise, we noticed something orange on the horizon and initially though it was an orange sail of somesort(hence the viking funeral)a small crescent of the moon poked over the horizon and soon after seemed to sink back into the ocean, then it rose again for good, this had the team perplexed for some time probably due to 2 of them being awake for way to long and i was just delerious,mean while back in reality Knight frank and X factor had gone and we rolled in to pambula just before dawn. we were greeted by smiling faces not only of our crew but AROC who were now manning the checkpoint, thanks guys.

The start of the leg had been moved for safety reasons at the river mouth so we were put onto the water about 1km inside the inlet.either way i was glad to be in a kayak, ironically i had set this boat up for chris the previous day and guessed he was of similar build to me, so the boat was perfect when i got in, andy and chris were in the double and we set out into the river. The sunrise was making visibility easier and within 30 mins it was light enough see pelicans standing in front of us in the water, realising pelicans arent renowned for having the longest legs we took a course around them and the shallows they were standing in skimming the oyster leases, the inlet was like a mirror and we revelled in the calm conditions, we had the paddle over and done with in around 1hr and once again our newly formed landcrew were waiting for us,this was the last leg and took 2 of the team into some familiar country for which i was greatful and probably thankful also that i had missed it, however i sure we would have enjoyed it either way.The leg was to take us back through Nullica state forest and via nethercote falls, this was a great little descent followed by a walk to the falls and then a vishus little climb out. soon after we hit bitumen and were lulled into a false sense of security as we headed into nethercote rapidly. 

Pt 4 finale coming soon

Steve Cooper

Race 03 - Wrap Up

Thank you firstly to the sponsors, Mountain Designs, Land Rover and Red Bull. 

Well, the race has come, gone, and it is now a couple of weeks on. Those tired legs and blistered feet have probably healed, the painful memories are fading (ironically leaving only the good ones), and support crews have probably extracted their payments from you for promising them a “good fun weekend”.However lets go back for a minute to re-live Australia’s toughest adventure race…

After an extremely difficult course in 2002, that defeated all but a few teams, entries to the 2003 event almost doubled! All up there were 28 teams in the Full Course and 3 teams in the Geo-Half. It is still a wonder there was so many teams as logic said they should have halved. Anyway, in a further attempt to scare off competitors, the weather gods threw gale force Westerlies at the race HQ the night before the start. Tents were damaged, trees fell down and locals reported cattle being blown over. Even this was not enough to rattle the super human spirit of the athletes in this sport we call adventure racing.

A deceptively calm Callala Bay saw competitors lining their kayaks up along the edge of the water and preparing for the start. Teams were in place, the Coastal Patrol boats were positioned and Mountain Designs founder Rick White was preparing to give the start signal. Competitors were given 30 seconds of silence to calmly observe the day dawning and to mentally prepare themselves for that which was to begin. “GO!” was yelled by Rick and support crews and spectators watched teams run to their boats to begin leg one. Then to the surprise of many, a good portion of the field ran in the opposite direction to continue unloading their kayaks… Oh well, hopefully they will get to the start earlier next time! 

The calm waters didn’t last long, no sooner had the teams raced across Jervis Bay with the wind behind them, than it was time to turn back and head West, directly into Neptune’s fist. The battle against 20 knot winds and 1 metre chop began in earnest and took it’s toll on many of the teams. However, all but one team (who lost a rear hatch on their kayak and filled with water), gallantly fought their way across the bay to the more protected westerly shore. A short transition at Iluka, ride to Cave Beach, then a beach trek/ coasteering all the way back to Bendalong rounded off the first leg. It is also worth mentioning (or maybe it shouldn’t be mentioned!) some of the displays of the less than modest competitors as they swam across Sussex Inlet, to the cheers of locals who were playing cricket on the beach.

Leg 2 began with all teams still racing and no withdrawals. A short cycle to Lake Conjola had teams again in their kayaks, paddling up to Murrays Road bridge. Back onto the mountain bikes, teams then embarked on a grueling and energy sapping hill climb up to Pointer Lookout. The highlight of this leg for many was the moonlight abseil off Florence head, which included descending with their mountain bikes. Once at the bottom some great downhill riding followed. However due to the wind knocking so many branches down, the trail became littered with dangerous bike breaking branches. What resulted was M.R.D.C. (Mass Rear Derailleur Carnage). With so many teams suffering broken bikes, the race HQ was a-buzz with support crews madly chasing spare parts or spare bikes for their teams.

What came next in leg three was what most teams had feared….. the adventuregaine. This leg allowed teams to choose their own trekking route through a subset of all the leg 3 CPs. It put navigational and decision skills to the test with most checkpoints involving a large amount of cross country travel. The highlight of this leg for many was the surprise ice chest of Red Bull waiting in the middle of the bush at a remote checkpoint. One story heard in race HQ afterwards, was that one team member went in to clip the CP while the rest of their team waited nearby. The team member then returned to the them with 4 cans of Red Bull and a story something like “I have been carrying these as a surprise for you all, waiting for a time when we are all really down and could use a bit of a boost….” etc. Good work that person! 

As had to happen, the attrition of teams began. By the end of leg 3, only 18 teams were still racing in a ranked position. Many of the unranked teams however were still pushing hard and determined to continue on to finish the course. The fourth and final leg was a mountain bike through Conjola National Park. To their credit all the teams on this leg hung in there, trying to concentrate and make sure of their navigation right to the end. It was also impressive to see one of the teams, who were tired, worn out and had not slept since, leaving at 8am Monday morning (49 hours after the start) to “just collect a few CPs before the BBQ”. Inspirational.

All in all the Mountain Designs GeoQuest 03 had 18 of 28 teams finish the full course (64%). Although each team in the Geo-Half had rule infringements, these first time adventure racers all learnt a great deal and all made it to the end. Hopefully they will be back next year trying the Full Course. On the whole this year’s race showed the growth in experience of all the competitors since last year. It was plainly evident to all those watching and it was an encouraging example that teams were still out on the course after 48hours giving it a go. Without doubt all the teams and support crews in this years race were friendly, supportive, and encouraging, before, during and after the race. These qualities, along with the lack of arrogance and hype, are defining characteristics of Australian adventure racers. It is something to strive to sustain through the coming years. 

Inaugural Mountain Designs GeoQuest

"Keeping the Adventure in the Race" was what race organiser Craig Bycroft promised and delivered, with many competitors proclaiming that the Mountain Designs GeoQuest Adventure Race was the best and worst weekend of their lives.

"Definitely the most incredible weekend of my life and believe me I've had loads of great weekends," said one competitor.

Seventy competitors lined up on a beach on the south coast of NSW with their sea kayaks in the early hours of the 8th of June to commence the 48 hour adventure race. As a testament to the nature of the race, only 12 of these competitors crossed the finish line.

Racers headed off on a course that saw them sea kayaking, trekking, mountain biking and roping their way across some serious country. Cross-country navigation and the odd mental exercise were all a part of the game.

The course consisted of four distinct legs. The first leg saw teams sea kayaking 30km (accompanied by curious dolphins) through spectacular coastal scenery. Bemused local fishermen looked on not quite comprehending that these teams planned to race for 48 hours - "but what about sleep?"

"Continuous physical exertion for 48 hours at 80% capacity - that's more than what most people do in a year." (unknown competitor)

The Mexicans and Mountain Designs teams finished this leg powerfully in a time around 3 hours. A mad scramble out of the boats and through the transition area saw teams heading off on their bikes to the beginning of a foot rogaine. Teams dispersed into the bush and began emerging again with full check cards 10 hours later. In this leg teams were forced to make navigational decision such as whether to take fire roads to a check point and cover more distance, or whether to trust their navigational abilities and take cross country "short-cuts".

The Mexicans arrived at the start of leg three first, at 21:21 (14 hrs into the race) with a three hour lead over Latrobe Valley Tri Club. Many teams chose take a break from the rigorous navigation and terrain, put up their tents and wait for daylight to collect their final checkpoints. This saw a flood of teams return from this leg between 5:30 and 10:30 in the morning - 24 hours into the race.

In order to commence leg three, teams crossed a waist deep creek with their bikes and roping equipment above their heads. Once on the other side, teams began peddling their way 60km to the north to a monolith aptly named "The Castle". From here they would trek up to the top of the castle (an elevation gain of 500 metres) often being forced to don their harnesses to traverse steep rocky sections of the track. Once at the top they were greeted with a multi-pitch abseil that while greatly shortening their return journey, required significant courage to descend.

While the leading teams were up on the castle the trailing teams were further back on the course tackling the hills on their bikes. Teams were starting to admit defeat and drop out for reasons varying from injury, arguments to plain exhaustion. 36 hours into the race, darkness began to fall and faced with the prospect of another night out and the likelyhood of not meeting a cut off at the end of leg three, many teams chose to withdraw.

39 hours into the race and only 8 teams out of 17 remained on course.

The leading teams had since descended from the castle and peddled 45 kms over more forgiving terrain to the end of leg three. A last minute course re-route meant teams no longer kayaked as originally planned in from this leg.

The Mexicans returned from this leg at 18:00, 35 hours into the race. Latrobe Valley Tri-Club was next at 22:14 (38 hours in) and Team Mille at 22:58 (39 hours in). Team Two Inspire / Salomon arrived at 23:50 (41 hours in) and made the anguished decision to withdraw due to injury.

Desperately tired and gulping coffee, bleary eyed competitors extracted themselves from the transition area and struck out across the river on the final leg, a 40km bike rogaine over moderate terrain.

Just before midnight, the Mexicans gathered on the far side of the river preparing themselves to row across to the finish line. Trying to coordinate wooden oars at this point in the race meant there were a few circles and hesitant strokes, but soon they overcame these obstacles and made their way confidently the finish line.

"After all we had done together - that row was nearly the undoing of our team!" said one Mexican.

The Mexicans crossed the line 41 hours into the race looking calm, collected and looking even clean, they helped themselves to the pizza and beer provided by their support crew while answering questions and posing for photos, prior to heading off to well deserved sleep.

The remainder of the night saw several teams emerge from leg three. Unfortunately due to a cut off they could not proceed with leg four. Their achievements were still outstanding - 45 hours of non-stop racing.

48hours into the race saw team Mille appear on the other side of the river, only 5 minutes in front of Latrobe Valley Tri Club. Race rules meant that Mille had first preference to row the boats across to the finish line. 10 minutes later they crossed the river to finish in second place. Latrobe Valley Tri Club finished 20 minutes after to take out third place.

And so the inaugural Mountain Designs GeoQuest came to an end. A presentation session left the winning teams and teams who put in outstanding efforts with over $9,000 worth of prizes generously sponsored by Mountain Designs and Cheeky Monkey.

As teams mingled in race head quarters prior to heading off to their normal lives, some offered or sought advice, some swapped "no we did it harder" stories and most talked about how they would utilize the lessons they learnt this time around to improve for next years event.

"Those of the 2002 Geoquest who go on to compete in future GeoQuests will look back realize that we took part in something quite special with a small group of like minded weirdos. Whilst the number of entrants will no doubt increase I can only hope that the level of challenge remains. The most intriguing facet of this race that remains with me is not so much that 'I did not finish' as that 'I could not finish'. This means that I pushed myself until I could not go on. And for that revelation I thank you all very much," said a 'Made in NZ' team member.

For detailed results and further information please visit www.geoquest.com.au

The Mighty Mexicans

The Team: The Mexicans all hail from Victoria (around Melbourne) and met through multisport races such as the Buller to Melbourne and Winter Classic. They now regularly train together through rogaines, marathon and white water kayaking, mountain running, cross country skiing and cycling. A big performance saw them convincingly win the inaugural Mountain Designs GeoQuest 02.

We caught up with the team to ask them some questions on the gear they used in the Mountain Designs GeoQuest, and gear for adventure racing in general:

How important do you think a gear strategy is for a team, like what gear you actually take, who carries it etc?
We don’t usually discuss each other’s personal gear too much, it’s up to the individual – unless we see someone trying to pack a dolphin torch, drizabone or similar into their pack. Apart from food and water we generally only take the compulsory stuff. Compulsory team gear normally comes under some scrutiny though and we get the stronger people to carry more. This can change throughout a race as well and gear can be swapped amongst us depending who is feeling good. Flexibility is the key here I think. The guys try to help out Kim as much as possible, and then give all the heaviest stuff to Nigel to slow him down to our pace.

What sort of things did you do to lighten up the gear you had to carry?

The only thing I can think of did not actually lighten the load, just made things easier to manage. We cut the maps up and only took exactly what we needed. We see people taking the whole collection of maps out on the course and constantly unfolding them and trying to work out where they are again, which is particularly difficult on the bike. We cut the maps up, fold them over each other and laminate them so you only look at a small map and can be done while riding.

What sort of clothes and footwear did the team wear both trekking and biking?

For trekking we wore runners, nothing special, just stock standard road shoes. For a longer race we might have considered something else such as the Salomon style shoes. For clothes on the trek and cycle we all wore the same – shorts or cycling nicks, cycling top or thermal. On the bike section we wore mountain biking shoes.

How did you carry your water?

We all used bladders, 2-3 litre, in the backpack and boat/PFD as well as a bidon or two on the bike.

How much water did you carry and what was your water strategy?

We each had full water bladders at the start of each leg, so probably up to 4 litres. We also refilled at natural water points on the course. 

Was this a good system?

We got pretty thirsty by the end of the 2nd leg which took us longer than expected. Other than that we had plenty of fluid.

What sort of food did you take on the legs?

We had sandwiches, lollies, bananas, tinned rice, muesli bars and some leppins.

What did you do for light while you were riding?

We all had the Vistalight style riding lights, with a 5 watt single globe. To conserve batteries, which would only last about 2.5 hours, we would share lights while riding and use head torches when possible. I had a 10W globe also in case some serious downhill was encountered but did not use it. 

What gear improvements would you make for your next race?

Probably a smaller and lighter tent.

Do you have any secret tips you want to let us in on?

Nothing secret. Just try to plan your race beforehand. Plot all the checkpoints, mark the maps, laminate them, work out your route as best as you can, let your support crew know what gear to have ready. We heard of teams plotting checkpoints in the transition mid race, which just wasted their time. We were surprised the night before the start, that when we went sleep, everyone’s lights were already out and they were in bed. Also, it’s important to remember that this isn’t a “follow the witches hat triathlon” and that you can save a lot of time by slowing down and making sure you know where you are.