Team No 36 - Dynamite Adventure/Belgravia Leisure
Mixed team of 4 that included - Tim BOOTE, Angus
RODWELL, Liam ST PIERRE and Karina VITIRITTI
After months of training and a final few days
of sorting gear (and most importantly food) we were sitting at race HQ in
Ulladulla waiting for our maps. I was getting a bit nervous knowing the race
was only hours away, but also very excited about getting our maps to see what
we were getting ourselves into. The atmosphere was great with nearly 400 other
competitors in the same boat, ranging from the best in the world, to people
just out for a hell of an adventure. Most people would agree it was the best
start list for an Adventure race ever!
At 7.30am on the dot we are given our 2 sets of
maps (39 maps in each set) and Liam is into it, marking the route we would be
travelling over the next however many days with Angus and Karina filling in the
extra details we would need to ensure we stayed on track. Before we knew it we
were told map marking time was up and to board the buses that would take us to
the start line in Huskisson on the edge of Jervis Bay, an hour away. There was
plenty of nervous conversation and poor attempts at grabbing some last minute
naps on the bus ride.
After arriving at the start line we sorted our
two different boats (we didn’t realise how different they would be at this
point) and double checked our gear, I may have triple checked mine just to keep
myself busy! After some last minute encouragement from our family’s that had
made the trip we were standing on the start line in the very warm sun shoulder
to shoulder with the other 94 teams ready to go. It’s been a long time since I
have been that nervous before a race. I kept telling myself just focus on one
leg at a time, the first would be a 35k paddle in Jervis Bay!
RACE MAP & COURSE OUTLINE
LEG 1 – 35K Paddle in Jervis Bay
When the gun went off we tried not to lose each
other during the short run down to the boats and before we knew it we were
fighting for a piece of water amongst nearly 200 boats. Half an hour into the
paddle things spread out a bit and we were able to find our own rhythm. At this
point it appeared our initial setup of the ever consistent Angus and Karina
pair in the smaller boat was keeping Liam and I on our toes as we tried to keep
up. After 2 hours we hit our first CP in a small bay near the entrance of
Jervis Bay, after grabbing the 2nd CP
we got as close to the rocks as we were game with some decent swell crashing in
them. By this stage we had modified our paddle combinations and were cruising
along at a steady pace. When we hit CP 4 we were given a quick reminder of the
country we were racing in with a kangaroo hoping right by the CP as we arrived
(Much to the delight of the James Pitman who was behind his camera at the CP).
From there on we set a steady pace and collected the final two CP on the paddle
and made our way to the first TA, which was back where we started. After just
over 5 solid hours of paddling we hit the TA and were all very happy to get out
to stretch our legs. Unfortunately our arms still had a bit of work to do,
carrying our heavy boats up the short but steep hill before we could give them
a rest.
LEG 2 – 14K Coastal Trek (Coasteering Huskisson to Erolwal Bay)
Happy to begin this leg in the daylight we were
in good spirits which were increased by some local supports on the beaches that
were cheering us by name thanks to technology. The beginning of the trek
consisted of nice firm beaches, but gradually turned into some rocky outcrops
which included a couple of waist deep wades to stay on course. Again we were
setting a solid pace, but ensuring we were not pushing too hard. As it was
early in the race we were still surrounded by a number of other teams. Just as
the light began to fade we headed inland up over a small hill (the first of
many) along some roads into Erowal Bay hitting the TA just after dark. On went
our headlights and some warmer clothes as we were about to get back on the
boats for another paddle.
LEG 3 – 13K Paddle (Erowal Bay to Sussex Inlet)
Just after 8.30pm we paddled away from the boat
ramp and turned our lights off, navigating by some channel markers where we
could. After the first paddle we had settled on a paddle combination of 3 of us
in the 3 person boat and 1 person plus our gear in the smaller 2 person boat.
Liam was one up in the smaller boat and in charge of navigation while Angus,
Karina and I focused on keeping our 3 person barge moving along. Except for a
little bit of thick seaweed to paddle through this paddle was pretty straight
forward with flashing channel markers guiding our way. I’m sure the
anticipation of getting on our MTB for the next leg spurred us on, which was
good because we hadn’t forgotten about our 5 hours in these same boats a few
hours ago. The bright lights of TA were a welcome sight after over 2 hours of
paddling towards small flashing lights.
LEG 4 – 95K MTB (Sussex Inlet to Kioloa, via Florence Head)
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Online Tracking - Seagate leading the way!
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The combination of being cold after stopping
paddling and excitement of getting to ride our MTB ensured we had a quick
transition. After a few K’s on some bitumen roads to warm up we were onto some
gravel and moving along well. Our first challenge was getting under the HWY
which required a bit of hike a bike to get through the underpass and then we
were onto some undulating roads with some short and steep creek crossings. By
now it was the early hours of the morning and we were kept awake by having a
battle for position with another Aussie team, the “Stromlonauts”. We then hit
the major climb on this leg up to CP8; it was a welcome surprise to turn onto a
freshly sealed road that continued to climb. Although we were on bitumen the
climb didn’t become any easier and just seemed to get steeper. We kept climbing
at a steady pace and managed to get a gap on the “Stromlonauts” by the time we
hit the CP at Pointer Gap Lookout. Unfortunately being dark all we could see
was street lights of Ulladulla in the distance. It was a short ride through the fog until we hit the
short hike a bike section to start our decent. From my perspective hike a bike
is usually a bit tough, but this was something else, pretty much dropping off the
side of some rocky boulder cliffs and then traversing along a rocky cliff
trusting that the pink tape on some trees would lead the way. It was such slow
going that there was a back log of teams (including Stromlonauts, BMX
Bandits & many more) so we just had to wait our turn and use it as a short
rest. After some good team work we managed to get both ourselves and our bikes
through unscathed. Next was a sketchy muddy steep rutted out descent, then a
mixture of fire roads and bitumen until the sun appeared, as the sun rose we
were treated with a beautiful view from the ridgeline we were riding along. Not
long after this we descended into Kioloa in good spirts after setting a good
pace throughout the ride and not having any navigational problems to this
point. We were happy to check in and see we were nearly in the top 30,
especially knowing we had not pushed too hard yet.
With a number of teams still close by and some
sunshine we were not lacking any motivation as we began
the trek at around
9.00am. Our first CP on this leg was on a head land close by the TA, as we
neared the CP the Japanese team “East Wind” came jogging by with their personal
camera man in tow. We let them pass knowing the camera man had no doubt given
them some motivation to keep moving quickly. From there on it was back on the
beach heading south picking up CP’s as we went, the sun was out, the water was
bright blue and the sand super white. We didn’t waste much time getting CP16 as
a couple of male sunbakers on the beach were trying to make the most of a quite
secluded beach (so they thought) to ensure a very even and all over tan! A bit
after the 20k mark we turned off the beach and headed inland to Batemans Bay through
the Bush, after spending most of our time trekking along flat beaches some
hills got the legs going! It was at this point we realised that we were running
out of time to get some tidal assistance for our paddle leg that was up next.
Because of this we put the hammer down (as much as you do in these races) for
the last hour or so and made it into the Batemans Bay TA in time to complete
our transition in daylight. This was the most southern point of the race and we
had maintained our position with a consistent leg with no navigational errors. It was great to see Teagan who had driven down to give
us some encouragement.
the trek at around
9.00am. Our first CP on this leg was on a head land close by the TA, as we
neared the CP the Japanese team “East Wind” came jogging by with their personal
camera man in tow. We let them pass knowing the camera man had no doubt given
them some motivation to keep moving quickly. From there on it was back on the
beach heading south picking up CP’s as we went, the sun was out, the water was
bright blue and the sand super white. We didn’t waste much time getting CP16 as
a couple of male sunbakers on the beach were trying to make the most of a quite
secluded beach (so they thought) to ensure a very even and all over tan! A bit
after the 20k mark we turned off the beach and headed inland to Batemans Bay through
the Bush, after spending most of our time trekking along flat beaches some
hills got the legs going! It was at this point we realised that we were running
out of time to get some tidal assistance for our paddle leg that was up next.
Because of this we put the hammer down (as much as you do in these races) for
the last hour or so and made it into the Batemans Bay TA in time to complete
our transition in daylight. This was the most southern point of the race and we
had maintained our position with a consistent leg with no navigational errors. It was great to see Teagan who had driven down to give
us some encouragement.
LEG 6 – 37K Paddle (Clyde River, paddling from Batemans Bay to Shallow Crossing upstream)
After a quick transition we managed to catch the
last hour and a half of incoming tide and daylight, which helped us navigate
our way out of Batemans Bay through the oyster fields but once it got dark the
tide turned. By the time it got dark we had made it into the narrower section
of the river, but the outgoing tide wasn’t making things easier. At the 12k
mark we hit CP21 which was the only one on this paddle, after changing into
some warmer cloths we pressed on into the night. We had settled on the same
paddle combinations as before with Liam navigating and paddling solo in the
smaller boat while Angus, Karina
and I chugged away in the bigger boat, we were moving and even managed to pass
a couple of teams. As it neared midnight the fact that we hadn’t slept since
the start of the race (36 hours ago) began to hit us. The old sleep
monsters began to pop up, but a few no doze tablets and the cold kept us awake
enough to press on. The last hour seemed to go forever with the combination of
no sleep, cold, tired arms, sore backs, outgoing tide and low water levels
taking their toll on all of us. Poor Liam in the boat by himself was really
struggling to stay awake. With a couple of k’s left we hit some shallow patches
of water that we had to drag the boats across, if that wasn’t hard enough paddling
against the tide, the rocks on the bottom of the river were so slippery we were
barely able to keep our feet. Although it was hard work staying upright
watching each other slip and slide did provide us with a few laughs and kept us
awake. I don’t think I have ever been happier to see a TA when the lights
appeared from around the last corner. After dragging the boats up another short
hill we quickly got out of our wet paddling gear (it’s amazing how quick you
get even colder when you stop paddling) and managed to find an empty tent in
the TA to help warm up and settle down for a well-earned sleep.
LEG 7 – 58K MTB
(Very hilly through Southern Forests to Yadboro Flat)
At around 4am, after
an amazing 2hrs sleep our alarms went off and we woke up to some heavy rain
outside. Luckily, we had positioned our bike boxes under a spare marquee so we
had a semi dry area to put them together and get ready. By the time we took off
it was nearly daylight, the rain had turned to drizzle and again we were
alongside our Japanese competitors “East Wind” and there personal media guy
(These guys almost go as hard as the teams). For some reason I had woken up
feeling terrible and was really struggling on the bike, I tried to eat some
food, but could barely keep anything down. Angus and Liam took some gear from
my pack to help me out and I kept moving forward as best I could. This was made
even harder by the fact that this MTB seemed to be either up or down which is
usually how I like it. After three hours of riding slowly thanks to my lack of
energy (which included a lot of pushing our bikes up steep and muddy hills) the
sun began to appear and for some reason this and a few “pizza shapes” seemed to
get me going again and I began to improve. Unfortunately the terrain didn’t and
the steep hills just kept coming, I’m not sure if we spent more time on or off
our bikes but after about 40k and around 2000m of climbing the hills flatted
out a bit. By this stage I was feeling a million bucks compared to when I had
started the ride, which amazed me having thought that I may not make it to the
end of the ride at one point.
Unfortunately Karina had hit a bit of a wall during
the long hike a bike and then struggled up the next section of climbs, this is
where a couple of the younger NZ gun teams went past us (Bivouac Inov8 and
Cloud Base 9). Angus stepped up and towed Karina along to help her out
while still carrying my extra gear, the “East Wind” media man had already
labelled Gus as the “Strong Man”, this name was very appropriate especially on
the Mountain Bike legs. The last 12k or so was mainly descending into the TA
which was nice as the sun was well and truly out by now and warming things up.
When we hit TA at 12.45pm (2 days into our race) we knew we were half way
through the number of legs we had to complete but were under no illusions, we
had more than half the race ahead of us with a major part of that being the
next trekking leg. Although Karina and I (mainly me) had rough patches on this
leg good navigation and the fact that we kept moving along
had ensured we were still in a good position on the leader board.
LEG 8 – 45K Trek (Budawangs Wilderness from Yadboro Flat to Nerriga)
After an amazing avocado wrap we loaded up with
water and food knowing we would be on this trek through the Budawang Range for
a while. As we took off it was continuing to warm up and we could see we were
in for a big climb to CP28. Angus was wearing some innovative trekking pants (blue
and red striped briefs) to assist with some chaffing issues; I’ll admit I was a
bit jealous as he wasn’t on his own in this regard. His attire made quite an
impression on one of the female spectators as she drove past.
On paper this ride looked pretty straight forward
and after the fresh bacon and egg roll we were ready to go. On most days I’m
sure we would have been right and cruised along, except this day we had a bit
of wind to contend with. When I say a bit, it was blowing us all over the road
and was some of the worst wind I have ridden in. Unfortunately it was a
cross/head wind, but we just kept battling on trying to keep Karina in our draft and avoid the traffic. We set a good pace in
the circumstances and in the second half of the ride our direction changed and
the wind turned into a cross/tail wind which was nice. At this point we were
very happy as we had planned to hit the caving section around 5.00pm and we
were right on track. Just after 4.30pm we rolled into TA and were keen to get
into the caves to hide from the wind.
You may be wondering why we loaded our packs with
our pack rafting gear, which included everything from the 2 rafts, paddles,
life jackets and paddling cloths. According to our map we had to grab a couple
of quick CP on our way down to the river so at around 11.00pm we headed off
with our packs as heavy as they
had been all race. The first CP was at a lookout, but the second was at the
bottom of the canyon below the lookout, a long way down. The decent into the
canyon was tough, having to contend with heavy packs, super steep loose rocky trails,
fatigued legs and drowsiness. We made our way down as fast and safely as we
could, despite this Karina accidently dislodged a large fist sized rock that
missed my head by 2 foot as it crashed into a tree next to me and stopped at my
feet. It was one of those moments where you remember what you’re doing can be
very dangerous. A lot more awake after this close call we made it to the bottom
of the canyon to the CP. We then made the decision to have a sleep before
continuing along the bottom of the canyon to start paddling at 5.00am when the
dark zone on the river finished. We each found a patch of sand to sleep on
amongst the rocks and enjoyed an hour and half sleep. When we woke up we headed
off quickly to warm up a bit, with only about 2.5k we were confident of hitting
the river at 5am, but not long after we headed off we hit some massive boulders
the size of a car followed by a section of boulders that were bigger than
elephants and saw us assisting each other to get over and down each one. There
was no direct way through so we had to go up, over and around as best we could.
The fact that our packs were loaded up added to the challenge. Luckily we made
it through the worst part before the shower of rain that added a slip factor to
the rocks.
LEG 12 – 56K Paddle down Lower Shoalhaven River from Tallowa Dam to Nowra)
It was nice that we didn’t have to pack our bikes and this ensured a quick
transition. This last trek was pretty straight forward as we headed south down
the coast to Ulladulla and the finish line. With Sneaky Weasel Gang in front,
and the highly rated South African team Merrell not far behind us we kept
up a good pace with our other incentive to get to the finish before dark. We
had two inlets to cross with the first not being long after we started.
The outgoing tide from Lake Conjola was ripping out to sea and we back tracked
to the designated spot to cross. Luckily the tide was low so the water wasn’t
too deep however Merrell decided they would take the risk and swim across the
narrowest and fastest moving channel which provided some entertainment as they
were swept 200m towards the ocean before scrambling out onto a sand bank. Sure
enough Merrell started to jog along the beach looking keen to get to the finish
(they had had a long race with a number of mechanical issues on the bike) we
knew we couldn’t keep up so we let them go and decided to keep moving, but try
and enjoy this last leg also. As we hit Mollymook there were a lot of people
cheering us along which was really nice, we even bumped into some of the other
Aussies that had already finished and were heading out for dinner! I really
enjoyed and tried to savour the last few K’s trying to take in what we had
accomplished. The sun was setting as we approached the finish line and it was
amazing to grab our Aussie flag and jog the last 50m through the arch to the
applause of friends, family and other supporters. We had done it and finished
at 7.18pm after 5 days and 7 hours of racing with only 6 and half hours sleep;
to top it off we were in 28th place.
Summary
We set a steady
pace as we climbed along the ………. Track passing day walkers and photographers
who were on their way down. As we neared the top of the first section of
the climb we made our first major navigational error by following the older
trail that seemed to match the map. This soon turned into a traverse along a
steep hill below a cliff and created our first and only (surprisingly)
encounter with a slithery friend. After a while the decision was made to
investigate higher up the cliff to see if we could locate the main trail, this was
a good move as after a short scramble/climb we located the main trail. We were
glad that we only lost 30min or so with this choice as further along we came
across two NZ teams (Cloud Base Nine and Bivouac Inov8) who had made the same
initial route choice, but persisted with it and lost nearly 2hrs. Again we kept
a steady pace along the rough trail that continued to climb right through to
CP28, once we hit this CP things flattened out, so we picked up the pace to
make the most of the daylight we had left, which meant we didn’t really get a
chance to take in the amazing scenery of massive rock features. As the light
faded we did our best to stay on
the trail and came across some other teams as we went, the trail consisted of a
narrow boardwalk track amongst knee high grass and rocky sections that were
marked with things called “rock cairns” (which is a pile of rocks stacked on
each other, google it!). Angus went through a bit of a low patch, but just kept
pushing on and didn’t slow us down. We managed to keep on the trail which
required paying attention while getting tired. As we neared CP29 we passed a
few teams having a sleep and after punching CP29 we did the same and
grabbed an hour and half sleep. We regretted the decision to sleep on top
and not in our tent as the mozzies buzzing around were quite annoying. We woke
a bit before day break and took a bearing back to the trail, but discovered
that the trail wasn’t marked 100% correct again (we had been warned) so after
bush bashing around for a hour through some very spikey vines (thank goodness
for my moxie gaiters) we doubled back onto the trail and pressed on. A short
time later the walking trail turned into an old 4x4 track which helped us move
quicker and pass an Aussie Tiger team who had a few injury issues. We were
lucky on this trek that there were numerous places to get fresh water that
didn’t require treating. As the sun came up again and we could see we were
getting through this trek our spirts lifted which was good as we still had a fair way to
go. At around 11.00am we hit the TA which was at the Nerriga Hotel which was
open and busy, unfortunately there was no beers for us, but they did have some
bacon and egg rolls (they were amazing) being freshly made. These nearly made
up for the no beer. We were stoked to finish this leg as it had been noted as a
tough one for our team and we had even moved into 30th place!
LEG 9 – 70K MTB (Mainly on bitumen road from Nerriga to Bungonia National Park)
On paper this ride looked pretty straight forward
and after the fresh bacon and egg roll we were ready to go. On most days I’m
sure we would have been right and cruised along, except this day we had a bit
of wind to contend with. When I say a bit, it was blowing us all over the road
and was some of the worst wind I have ridden in. Unfortunately it was a
cross/head wind, but we just kept battling on trying to keep Karina in our draft and avoid the traffic. We set a good pace in
the circumstances and in the second half of the ride our direction changed and
the wind turned into a cross/tail wind which was nice. At this point we were
very happy as we had planned to hit the caving section around 5.00pm and we
were right on track. Just after 4.30pm we rolled into TA and were keen to get
into the caves to hide from the wind.
LEG 10 – 5K Caving at Bungonia
After a quick transition as we had to pack our
bikes after the caving we were given our map from the 1800’s (a bit an
exaggeration, but it was pretty old school) that showed us the location of the
cave entrances and after our briefing we set off. We had a mandatory 5 hours to
find 5 out of 6 CP’s that were located in 6 different caves that were all of
different sizes. Our first cave we found easily and after a little bit of a
squeeze (mainly for Angus and Liam) we had our first CP. From then on the
challenge was locating the cave entrances using the old school map, we were
lucky we had the last of the daylight for the first part. After crossing paths
with a few teams and hearing stories of Nathan Fa’avae getting stuck in the
cave called the “Flattener” I couldn’t convince Angus or Liam to try that cave
so that made our choice of caves pretty easy. We did have some fun (if you call
it that) in another cave that was pretty tight, but we all got through
unscathed. When we returned to the TA in the dark we were happy to arrive with
10 minutes of our 5 hours to spare, it turned out that a number of teams lost a
bit of time in this section. After a warm meal we decided not to sleep at TA
and start the next leg so we packed our bikes and loaded up our packs with our
pack rafting gear.
LEG 11 – 44K Pack Raft (Upper Shoalhaven River from Bungonia to Tallowa Dam - Including Trek to the
river in Shoalhaven Gorge)
You may be wondering why we loaded our packs with
our pack rafting gear, which included everything from the 2 rafts, paddles,
life jackets and paddling cloths. According to our map we had to grab a couple
of quick CP on our way down to the river so at around 11.00pm we headed off
with our packs as heavy as they
had been all race. The first CP was at a lookout, but the second was at the
bottom of the canyon below the lookout, a long way down. The decent into the
canyon was tough, having to contend with heavy packs, super steep loose rocky trails,
fatigued legs and drowsiness. We made our way down as fast and safely as we
could, despite this Karina accidently dislodged a large fist sized rock that
missed my head by 2 foot as it crashed into a tree next to me and stopped at my
feet. It was one of those moments where you remember what you’re doing can be
very dangerous. A lot more awake after this close call we made it to the bottom
of the canyon to the CP. We then made the decision to have a sleep before
continuing along the bottom of the canyon to start paddling at 5.00am when the
dark zone on the river finished. We each found a patch of sand to sleep on
amongst the rocks and enjoyed an hour and half sleep. When we woke up we headed
off quickly to warm up a bit, with only about 2.5k we were confident of hitting
the river at 5am, but not long after we headed off we hit some massive boulders
the size of a car followed by a section of boulders that were bigger than
elephants and saw us assisting each other to get over and down each one. There
was no direct way through so we had to go up, over and around as best we could.
The fact that our packs were loaded up added to the challenge. Luckily we made
it through the worst part before the shower of rain that added a slip factor to
the rocks.
By the time we made it to the river it was nearly 6.00am, which was
a bit later than planned but thanks to our electric pump that Angus had carried
our rafts were inflated in no time and we set off. Again “Team East Wind” were
putting their rafts on the water near us and there media man was most impressed
at our electric pump. Unfortunately that was the last we saw of them until the
finish. It was a beautiful morning on the water and we made good progress in
our rafts through the small rapids even though they are not the most
comfortable things to paddle. By mid-morning the sunscreen was out and things
had warmed up which brought out many water dragons sunbaking on the rocks.
Due
to the low water level, the rafts got a workout on some rocks, but they were
impressively tough and up to the job. The Kiwi team Bivouac Inov8 came past us
like we were standing still which made us lift our work rate. Just after
midday we hit the pack raft CP, our legs and backs enjoyed a bit of a stretch when
we stopped to punch the CP. We were informed that we had a flat 12.5k to paddle
to the next TA, making the last part of the pack raft drag on. 15 minutes from
TA Mother Nature unleashed a rain storm on us, but in hindsight we were
lucky when it hit us as we were able to get warm and dry when we hit the TA.
Thanks to an awesome official who supplied us with a thermos of hot water we
were able to have a coffee that along with a Nutella and banana wrap hit the
spot. Team 23 Ecuador Movistar headed off down river during this rainstorm
however we prepared ourselves for the long night ahead.
LEG 12 – 56K Paddle down Lower Shoalhaven River from Tallowa Dam to Nowra)
We made the decision to press on with the next
leg and got back into the kayaks for the last time just before nightfall. With
some reasonable rapids in the first section of the paddle we changed our boat
setup to Angus and Liam in the big boat while Karina and I paddled the smaller
one. `We were glad to have a couple of hours of daylight to begin with, this
helped us to get through the initial rapids and enabled us to see all the
amazing carvings in the cliffs along the edges of the river (May have been some
more sleep monsters, but there was no way you could convince us otherwise at
the time). We still had a few rapids to contend when the light disappeared which
we managed to negotiate all be it in
an unorthodox fashion at times, these were made more difficult as the fog made
our head torches useless at times. A special mention goes to Angus and Liam for
getting that big boat through relatively unscathed. After navigating well
through a tricky section of channels we hit the main river at around 11.00pm
which was wide and flat. Now that we had settled back into rhythm paddling and
we began to get tired and cold, so we reverted to our original paddle setup
except I remained in the smaller boat by myself and the other three in the big
boat. The moon light was a great help, even though it was overcast it was
bright enough to assist us. We kept chugging away until we hit CP39 just after
midnight. It was at this point that I think the combination of being tired,
cold and the last few days of racing caught up with us and things went a bit
pear shaped with tensions fraying. After a few words were exchanged things
calmed down and we changed paddle combinations before pressing on. After
probably the lowest point of our race things didn’t get much better, with
nearly 15k to go we all began to struggle to stay awake with Angus suffering
the worst. He was struggling to stay awake and when he was awake he thought he
was on some River artists trail with sculptures and rock paintings adorning the
river banks and cliffs. Karina was also struggling with the cold and a really
sore back. I inadvertently put my police hat on and took charge trying to keep
Angus awake and Karina from freezing. I would say that the high point of our
race was us pushing through this stage of the paddle which lasted for the next
3hrs as the river twisted back and forward until we saw a bright light flashing
at the TA in Nowra. The bright light turned out to be Teagan who had woken up
at around 2am to be waiting for us at the TA. We were all cold, but
Karina was sent straight to a warm shower in the rowing club building at TA
(what a luxury in an adventure race!) while we sorted our boats. It was then
straight to the last spare tent and into our sleeping bags. Also at TA were
Merrell, Ecuador Movistar and Terra Adventura Blue.
LEG 13 – 99K MTB (Morton & Conjola National Park from Nowra to Bendalong)
After our final sleep (another hour and half) we woke up and setup our bikes
in first light before heading off through town. We had received a tip off as to
where to get the best coffee in Nowra (thanks to Angus’s cousin Ange who had
also been dot watching us all night made the effort to visit us when we arrived
at TA) so we made a small detour and after one of the best coffee’s I have ever
had we set off on our final ride. The ride undulated with some solid hills until
Danjera Dam where we had a solid climb up onto a plateau. We were in good
spirts and moving along well knowing that we were nearly on the home stretch,
this didn’t stop our legs feeling the last few days. Teamwork came into
play on the hike a bike climb and across the ridgeline with both Gus and myself
helping out Karina on tow and pushing her over the top of some of the climbs. We hit the highest point on this MTB about
half way through and then had some good descents which were welcomed by our
tired legs. CP44 was at a lookout and we took the chance to have a look at the
view of where we had been racing over the past few days and also of where were
heading on our way to the finish line. As we continued on the afternoon began
to warm up and our fatigue began to show in the way of a couple of small
navigational errors. It was nice to hit the small section of beach before our
last TA and even nicer to roll into the TA knowing we were now on the home
stretch. At TA we were greeted by Liam’s wife Sally, his two girls, Liam’s
father John and Teagan.
LEG 14 – 18K Coastal Trek along Conjola Beach to finish line at Ulladulla, Woo Hoo)
It was nice that we didn’t have to pack our bikes and this ensured a quick
transition. This last trek was pretty straight forward as we headed south down
the coast to Ulladulla and the finish line. With Sneaky Weasel Gang in front,
and the highly rated South African team Merrell not far behind us we kept
up a good pace with our other incentive to get to the finish before dark. We
had two inlets to cross with the first not being long after we started.
The outgoing tide from Lake Conjola was ripping out to sea and we back tracked
to the designated spot to cross. Luckily the tide was low so the water wasn’t
too deep however Merrell decided they would take the risk and swim across the
narrowest and fastest moving channel which provided some entertainment as they
were swept 200m towards the ocean before scrambling out onto a sand bank. Sure
enough Merrell started to jog along the beach looking keen to get to the finish
(they had had a long race with a number of mechanical issues on the bike) we
knew we couldn’t keep up so we let them go and decided to keep moving, but try
and enjoy this last leg also. As we hit Mollymook there were a lot of people
cheering us along which was really nice, we even bumped into some of the other
Aussies that had already finished and were heading out for dinner! I really
enjoyed and tried to savour the last few K’s trying to take in what we had
accomplished. The sun was setting as we approached the finish line and it was
amazing to grab our Aussie flag and jog the last 50m through the arch to the
applause of friends, family and other supporters. We had done it and finished
at 7.18pm after 5 days and 7 hours of racing with only 6 and half hours sleep;
to top it off we were in 28th place. |
| Final Trek walking alongside Merrell from South Africa |
A few days after the race I have to say I really
enjoyed the experience (maybe not every single bit but most of it) and am keen
to go round 2 at some stage in the future. I was amazed at what we were able to
achieve in relation to how far we travelled and were able to function,
especially on very little sleep. I think it’s a great lesson in this day and
age where everything seems to be focused on making things easier in life, it
shows what people are capable of achieving with a bit of hard work and effort.
That said I hope this will inspire somebody to get out there and challenge
themselves.
The team would like to thank our sponsors
Belgravia- Leisure, Verge Sport Australia, Active Feet, XTM Performance, Moxie
Gear and Kwik Kopy Braeside. Teagan and Sally for the food and race support,
our families who support us going on and training for these crazy adventures ,
Paul Gruber (adventure face booker, race analyst & teammate), Craig &
Louise from Geocentric who put this awesome course together, all of the event volunteers
and of course all of our very supportive Dot watchers, we hope you managed more
sleep than we did.
By Tim Boote
