RACE REPORT

“No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.

Heraclitus

Geoquest 2016… What an adventure!

This weekend we “raced” Geoquest at Port Macquarie, however I think that for the teams in this event like ours,”racing” is not the word that describes it and that perhaps “journeyed” is a better word.

I have done this event enough to understand that if you throw your cards down in the game of Geo that the outcome will always be awesome but never certain.

This year I had collected a few rookies to take them on the journey with me with our goal being to finish the half in good time.

Nik, Tam, E and I had fantastic moments training together and getting stronger and fitter.

Tam had,like me raced 2 previous geos and was experienced and wise and showed us some great ideas on gear prep and sorting gear boxes, which was awesome.

Erren and Nikki had raced smaller events but were fresh blood to the geo sacrificial altar ;).

So to the race..

The first leg was a split rogaine / paddle and we split into teams of two to cialisforsalecanada find CP’s.
With 7 CP’s to find E and I took the ones near the start area and the girls took the far ones.
A dropping tide, turbulent water and mud flats made the going hard for the girls and E and I decided that we could run/ walk faster than we could paddle so we would just ditch our boat to get ours. This proved fortuitous for us and we nailed our bit fairly quickly and then waited for the girls. After a while they returned a bit worse for wear having battled the tide and mud.
Regardless we pressed on to the beach leg and coasteering. Checkpoints secured we had to climb around a headland on a rising tide with waves crashing at the bottom. Not my favourite thing to do it took me a lot of suck it up power and with my heart beating fast and in my throat I tried to go as fast as my sweaty palms and shaking body would take me!
Tam was behind me and kept shouting encouragement and I knew that I wasn’t going to be turning back!
We got through to meet our awesome crew who had coffee for us and then tried to ascertain what to carry for the next 9 hour mountain bike and trek legs.

The mountain bike leg started fast and then we hit the climb to CP 6..

I’ve raced a few races but this was the biggest climb I’ve ever done as a hike a bike.

I felt sorry for Nik who was probably thinking “what the?”

Near the top we were throwing our bikes up the hill and Tam pushed Niks bike up and I pulled Nik up the last bit by hand.

Happy dance as the checkpoint was at the top. Yeah!!!

When you go up so high you must go down and surprise! Checkpoint 7 was down!!

The down track was perilous to say the least and after the storms last weekend was washed out and had a tree across it.

I stayed back of the pack so when Nik did her epic stack scream and heard a crack I was watching. I dumped my bike on the slope and ran to help her – untangled her from her bike and realised she was a bit sore and had hurt her ankle.
Tam and E climbed back up and we managed to get Nik bike etc down to lower ground while barely being able to stand ourselves.

The good thing about big races is you carry a good first aid kit and with the assistance of nurse Erren I assessed the patient, bandaged and drugged her up. Time would only tell if she could keep going.
Realising CP 7 was less than 100m from Niks position Tam and I went to collect it while we left Nik to recover.

Time helped and we got Nik back on the bike with a strategy of seeing if we could collect the balance of this leg and head for the road.

Fast overgrown single track was epic but Tam and Nik seemed to be finding it hard to stay upright on their bikes so I was either following behind untangling them from their bikes or slightly in front hearing them scream.

We found all the rest of the checkpoints and the Travel Play Live girls and got back to the main road.

I knew that at this point would need to reassess the injury and we had a break. Nik’s pain had reduced and we headed off to find CP 13 and our sheet of questions for the next leg..

This one proved a bit tricky because the road we wanted to take proved to be the only one that didn’t match what we saw. We probably spent a bit to long looking in one area, but in the end we used our navigational backstop of Bago Road to realign us.
I found a nice road with a “private” sign on it but told the team it looked like a private residence..
Eventually we decided that it was worth a look up the road. A couple of warning signs made us question our choice and me feeling a bit frustrated at this point made a call to push through this private road to see what happened. Sneaking past a camp with a generator running I was fully expecting someone to challenge us about bring on their property. But then we saw them, bike tracks!! The sign of a million racers having gone before us.. Then the checkpoint – yeah!!!

It was dark now and we set off to what I was calling Panadol town (Herrons Creek) at a rate of knots. Nik could ride flat ok. I was secretly hopeful it would have a pie shop as it was getting colder and I wanted real food.

I took the lead and as I crossed a bridge I saw an official looking car had stopped and a person got out.

They shouted out and I was thinking it was department of transport or something but surprise! It was Craig and Lou,come to check on teams.

We told them about Nik and Craig gave us some input on the technicality of the next legs in relation to Niks injury.,

We knew the top rogaine would be very challenging and that we also had a 2k very steep bike climb ahead.

I said we would make a call at Herrons Creek and asked Craig if we could get a pie there?

He said it was an “interesting” town and that I would see for my self..

Interesting was true and I swear although the lights were on and dogs barked – no one came out or even looked out their curtains.
We were flashing our ayups around trying to answer questions on our sheet about the towns history and very sadly we may have been more likely to get a pie in 1904.

We took a break and as Nik was a bit sore we made a plan to ditch 15 and go straight to the upper TA, ditch the rogaine and try to abseil.

It was around 11pm now which in hind sight was why no one was awake at Herrons Creek.

We set off on our amended route but with a bit of climbing on the bikes poor Nik was limping badly and we had dropped pace too much to stay warm.

A couple of K’s up the road we stopped and had the “conversation”.

No one ever wants to stop racing but at the end of the day team safety and being able to race another day always has to come into play. With potentially a few bad hours ahead we had to make a call on if Nik’s injury would hold up.

E our awesome on point Nav gave us a run down on the tracks ahead, I explained the risks and Tam provided the voice of reason.

After being pulled off course last year hypothermic I knew the pain Nik was feeling and as I ripped open the sealed phone case to call race HQ and I had a little cry in my eyes for her knowing the hard work she had put in.

We could have elected to continue,but knowing a 16k paddle leg ahead was going to be hard with 3 we decided to withdraw.
We rode back to Herron Creek which was just as well because E’s bike was squeaking loudly and the local dingoes were complaining and getting closer!
Back at Herrons Creek we rugged Nik up and told ghost stories and took ghost photos.

When our amazing crew arrived we stole the car and drove our last leg, it was midnight and we wanted hot food so we called for pizza. Back at home we commiserated, ate pizza and drank tea.,

With too much energy left we thought we could offer our help to the media crew and so spent Sunday letting Nik rest, Tam to get a headstart in the journey home and E and I chasing down teams with our buddy James the event photographer.

I am so proud of my team for the team work we demonstrated. We journeyed well and learnt so much.

” No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.”

When you start a race like Geoquest I really do believe that you are not the same person who finishes it.

And the best bit about an unfinished journey is that their is always the anticipation of next year…..

J

Well it has been just over 6 weeks since our event at Lake Perseverance and what a blast it was!
With nearly 200 racers lining up to take on the wilderness we call home, the sun shining brightly and lots of enthusiasm it was sure to be a cracker of a day.

To say the week before and day of the event were a blur for us would be an understatement, but it was so awesome to see everyone out there having a blast!

They say a picture tells a thousand words so check out the cool video and photo library from the links below, and don’t forget to save the date for 2017..

https://www.facebook.com/TwoCatsPhotography/photos/?tab=album&album_id=686013718218936

https://www.facebook.com/mojoar/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1260858810614743

Do you want to increase your skills in using a map and compass?
Do you want to gain the basic navigation skills required for an adventure race?
Do you want to be able to interpret a topo map for your next adventure?

This session is for you!

Covering the theory of navigation including how to read a map, understanding your compass, as well as other key map interpretation skills, this course will prepare you for your next adventure. The session also contains a practical session where you can test out your skills on our awesome and scenic course.

Cost to attend is only $25 for adults or $15 for children 6-14 with a paying adult. Lunch is included in the cost of this session.

You will need to bring your own water, compass, hat, sunscreen and chair. We also recommend a backpack and basic first aid kit and clothing suitable for hiking.

This will be a fantastic and fun morning hosted by MOJO Adventure.

There are limited places so sign up today. We would love to see you there!

Tickets available at:

https://www.trybooking.com/Booking/BookingEventSummary.aspx?eid=231955

I think I remember saying that this race would be so hot it would melt the rubber off your tyres.. Well Mt Crosby lived up to her reputation.. 35 plus degrees on the day.

With my usual navigator on family duty it was time to recruit anyone who had a heart beat and shoes, or enter the solo division. Because I like to chat as I race I thought the solo might be too lonely so I slowly sussed out a few friends. My powers of persuasion didn’t seem to work and it was then I found him.. My 13 year old computer geek/ wanna be music producer son. I didn’t have to look hard as he doesn’t stray far from his computer. The conversation went like this:
Me: ” do you want to race with me?”
Him: “why?”
Me : ” so you can see what I do and because I no one else is available”
Him: ” I can’t run and I get puffed when I ride”
Me: “we will just do it for fun”
Him: “ok, can you listen to this song I just made?”

So I trained a bit more and he.. Well he just played mine craft and made more songs.

Race day dawned and if you have ever attempted to wake a sleeping 13 year old boy you will know it is nearly impossible. Fortunately he woke up straight away, perhaps spurned on by the Russian adventure racers he confessed he had been watching on you tube.

It was already warm by the time we got to the race and while I marked up the map he took selfies and spread GU all over the car. Ride, run,kayak, ride, run..sounded pretty easy.

Like a shot we were off, in the excitement we sped past CP 1, but this was to be the first and only navigational error. We even took a great shortcut through the creek.. A trick my usual nav likes to do (thanks E!)

Bike leg done, the temp was soaring and we started leg 2. By now we were starting to feel the heat and we walked fast, but still had that goosebumpy heat feeling. We hydrated slowly but religiously every 15 minutes or so. It was as we reached the kayak transition I realized we had not packed our bike bottles with electrolytes. A dumb mistake on such a hot day. We assessed our water and drank sparingly knowing we didn’t have any water source until the very last TA.
We couldn’t wait to hit the kayak, however Jacob had trained once in the pool. After flailing about for a bit I concluded a time penalty for missing CP’s would not be as draining as trying to paddle by myself. We grabbed 2 checkpoints and took the opportunity to jump in the river to cool down.

Back to the run on low water and we found two tricky CP’s with ease. After getting number 14 we watched a number of teams trek cross country back to the TA. By all accounts it was very hard going and we elected to take the longer but easy trail back, given our dwindling water supply. I think at this point Jacob said his legs hurt a bit, and it was a bit hot..

Finally last TA and fresh water in our backpacks we set off on the home stretch. I had said to Jacob I wanted to be back by 1230 (4 and a half hours racing is a big ask for a kid) and we found ourselves streaking towards the finish nearly at our goal pace.

12:35 we crossed the finish line still smiling, very hot and thirsty.

Jacob had a great time racing and regaling his tales to the rest of the family. I am proud of his effort but overwhelmed by his good attitude. He has inspired some of my other friends to have a go at Adventure Racing too.

This wasn’t my fastest race, but it wasn’t my slowest either. It was awesome to see so many new faces having a go!It was very cool to have a few of our local riders join us in this race. Well done T’bare and Man overboard!

Also well done to Matt and Amanda at iAdventure for another awesome race. Thank you for the time and effort you put in to giving people a chance to run through the wilds looking for orange and white things.

And next time your friends say “I could never do that..” Tell them about a 13 year old computer geek who did!

Amazing Race in the Burbs’

This Summer the MOJO crew decided we want to see more of you get active and to see a bit of what we do in Adventure Racing.

For the month of January and February we ran two training rogaine events in Toowoomba. (Rogaine is finding a clues using a map on foot)

During the course of the 3 events – 1 night rogaine, 2 Saturday afternoon ones – over 100 people (some return from the January event) ran, skated or rode (kids only) finding clues over approx 18k of course.

It was so awesome to see mums and dads, kids and dogs, babies in prams..skateboards and bikes – all heading off on a big adventure!!

Thanks to everyone who came and joined us. We hope to see more of you in the future.
We hope those who participated enjoyed the MOJO challenges! Stay tuned there will be more!!

Jo and E

I once heard a saying that goes like this, ” the further you go the further you see and the further you see the further you go.”
Adventure racing is definitely a sport like this.. Every time I race I see life and racing differently, and there is always so much more to do and be and achieve.

So enough philosophy.. Geoquest 2015…

After racing the half in 2014 I was keen to have another crack at one of the best races on the calendar.. We have lots of up and coming racers in the MOJO crew and it was actually pretty easy to pull together a team of wiling victims. We spent a lot of time training and the team trained a lot without me as I had a few MOJO commitments and a family wedding that meant I was away a bit.

This year my team consisted of Jaime – who had raced with me in 2014 and two new comers to the sport Sue and Graham.

We were all pretty excited and because Sue and I work together we often spent lunch times sharing tales of training adventure to unsuspecting work mates.

The race this year was in Hawkes Nest in NSW.. A beautiful location as always.

This year we decided to have a crack at the full course.. Except we live on a mountain and don’t have an ocean to practice kayaking on. We rode up hills trekked up hills and kayaked heaps. But it’s never really enough and you can always do more..

Finally Friday came – competencies completed and that same declination question got us again causing us to do the nav walk of shame.
(Note to future self: subtract the declination)

Finally map handout and the course was revealed. It was a wet course.. Lots of kayaking and water activity.
We planned a route and finally got some sleep..

First leg: ocean kayak
Yeah well this was always going to be the most gut wrenching for us.. We arrived at the beach to see a moderate swell and dolphins – a good sign?
The course was rerouted due to the conditions which was slightly less stressful.
We waited at the shore then paddled our guts out to get through the breakers. Jamie and I got through somehow but Sue and Graham got caught in the breakers and dumped. We waited beyond the breakers until they got through then realised our rudder was not working well which was going to make this difficult. We paddled a couple of k to round the headland only to find massive swell (about 3 metres high I think)
The wind blew the other way and the chop came a different way creating a washing machine effect.
We hung on tight but unsurprisingly came unstuck and got dumped. We had practiced rescues and felt ok trying to get back in – Sue and Graham managed to get a bit further but knew we had been dumped so alerted the safety boat.
I have to say I was pretty happy to see them..
They circled us to make sure we were ok.
Eventually they asked if they could hold our boat which we gladly said yes to. We got back in and started bilging but we had half a boat of water by then. The chop was getting worse and we weren’t getting anywhere fast so when the surf rescue guy asked if I wanted to jump in his safer looking rubber dinghy I think I nearly leapt into his boat. Jaime jumped in too and they said they would put the kayak across there boat and take us around the head. The surf rescue boat was getting tossed around too but we were grateful not to be negotiating it in our not so sea going kayak.
We couldn’t see Graham and Sue anymore ( it’s pretty challenging to be 100m from your team I those conditions) and the surf rescue guys couldn’t raise anyone on their radio. Eventually we came across the maritime rescue boat, and advised them that we had lost our team and that they might be out there still.
Jaime by now also realised he lost his pack.. Into the ocean. With all his gear..we told the maritime guys who went hunting.
Finally we got to shore and were revealed to see Sue and Graham waving at us! They had been rescued too… But in a bigger boat.
We rang the RD to advise some of our mandatory gear was gone and feeling wet and slightly demoralized we set off on the trek.
Leg 2: It was a lovely trek around the coast, the locals seemed slightly bemused to see us.
This was a quick leg and we met our awesome crew for lunch. Surprisingly the marine guys had found Jaimes pack floating in the pacific!! An awesome moment!
Leg 3: on our bikes.. Yeah!! A quick mountain bike rogaine then down to snorkel in a pretty inlet..fortunately we got there in daylight..
Then another quick ride to the TA
Leg 4: coasteering/ trek… One of the prettiest treks with great views, awesome sand dunes and a lovely landscape with burnt out trees and new growth.. Sadly though only in our memory as Jaime forgot his camera.
This leg ended with us pack rafting across the bay. We arrived here at night and being mountain dwellers had to quiz the poor TA official about tides and channel markers and things. I’m sure he told me there was a kayaker waiting for us – but I was surprised to hear a voice say in the dark ” hello I’ll be your chaperone for the night”
It was great to have a kayaker there and I was really happy we didn’t actually get to bodyboard this leg as was planned originally – that would have been intense! (And long and cold!)
Leg 5: kayak across the bay..
We arrived here at 8pm and by the time we were ready to head off we had a call from Lou to say that we had 3 hours before the maritime boat was scheduled to leave (safety boat) we put the pedal to the metal and did a pretty fast kayak to the next TA.
Leg 6: rogaine
When we planned this route we had a grand plan of diverting to a road and then walking in. When we arrived at the TA the officials told us that we needed to swim across a creek full immersion. Suzie and I couldn’t quite fathom it and we asked the poor lady about 3 times what she meant. It was after midnight and getting quite cold by then.
Suzie and I decided that was stupid and went back to tell the boys we weren’t going to do that leg.. But Graham said ” that’s why we came here, if we don’t do it we will regret it..” There are some details of this swim I am a bit vague on – but what happens on the race stays on the race..
So at 2am in winter I jumped into a freezing probably shark infested river.
Well actually I jumped in.. Freaked out because It was so cold I couldn’t breathe and told the team something to the effect of this is a stupid idea and I’m not going to do it.
Again the voices of reason and somehow they coaxed me back in and then I started swimming like heck and somehow got to the other side. Sadly though my floating bag of dry clothes had hit a rock and had gained 2l of water. With minimal dry clothes it was pretty hard to warm up and by then my body temp had started to drop.
We headed off on the trek and I thought maybe I would warm up but the terrain was hard and it was difficult to move to quicky. We navved straight onto a track and headed off. It was going to be a long night of trekking and somewhere in these hours my body temp dropped a bit too low and things went a bit weird.. I got really sleepy which is strange for me ( I am usually pretty wired when I race) and started to see things.. I felt really cold and the team wrapped me in a pretty orange space blanket..
Sue kept me moving, graham towed me for many kilometres on a bungy and Jaime kept feeding me.. Awesome team.
Finally I was able to rationalize that I wasn’t going to get warmer without help and we broke open the sealed phone to call for help.
Future racers here is a tip.. Put the RD’s phone number in your phone. Also put the support crews number in your phone. We had neither and had to google the number and Facebook message our crew!
Here is another tip: preplan a strategy if someone can’t continue. Thankfully we had decided to continue unranked if one of the team had to stop and this is what we did.
With me back at the warm TA drying and warming the team continued there trek and met me at the TA.
Leg 7: kayak
With 3 people in a double kayak it was always going to be hard but with an epic tow system and ballast in the front it was achievable but challenging.
When the team arrived back to me we made a plan that I would meet them at the final legs for a short version kayak and final ride home.
Leg 8,9,10:
The rest of the team headed out for this one knowing it was going to be epic and long but Craig and Louise after a few hours made contact to advise them they needed to short course. There are so many logistics in a race this big and although disappointed we are totally respectful of how they need to keep things going and also our safety.
I went to HQ before we paddled to confirm that we could do a shorter route and because the night was already cold Craig advised me not to kayak.. My support crew were relieved as they were actually thinking I shouldn’t either and just hadn’t been brave enough to tell me .
As we were unranked we just waited for a text from the guys to say they needed a pick up.
They still thought we would kayak but I think they were a little relieved when I told them we couldn’t. I did offer them the tow kayak option but they didn’t seem to keen??
Leg 12: a quick trip for our tracker down the Pacific highway to Mungo Brush and we were off on the bikes..it was flat and fast and we pace lined the whole way. It was the fastest 22k I have ever ridden but I was really happy to cross the line with my team drink champagne and celebrate with our support crew.

This weekend has changed my life for many reasons and I am grateful for all who played a part.
In particular I want to thank my team and our support crew for all you did. You are amazing people and I am grateful for all your help and assistance.
Was this a perfect race? Not by traditional standards.. Was it epic? Yes it was! The MOJO philosophy is “adventure outside the box” and that’s exactly what we did.. Adventure… Way outside the box!!!

MOJO love to you all x
J

Finally a race on our gorgeous home turf! We were so excited and lots of our regular riding and training buddies signed up..

This year we will enter a team in the Geo half so this was a great chance to have our full team entered as MOJO derivatives..

24 + hour races are not for everyone. It takes a special kind of crazy to race all day and night.

We decided this race would be perfect for training as Liam’s proposed kilometers meant we would be able to cover our goal distance of 100k easily.

My race partner for this race was Jaime the super bike guy who rides road bike distances that would make your tyres curl. I was very hopeful that we would get to “play” in our favorite training area that we affectionately know as the “Hamptons”

My usual team mate E had volunteered to course set and so we were very good players and stayed away on course setting days so they could do secret Rogue Business.. I have to admit it is awesome to debrief the course now with one of the team as it gives us better insight into course planning, we also had a name to utter under our breath when we couldn’t find the CP!

So the race. Couldn’t wipe the smile off our faces when we saw the Hamptons were a key CP holder in the big race plan.

We also knew that our strength was on the bike and we needed to set our race plan accordingly.

I had done a trek through the Valley of the Diamonds early this year, on the hottest day ever (literally) and have a love hate relationship with it. Our average pace on out trek was mind bogglingly slow and I wanted to avoid it at all costs.

I find with racing there is the plan you make, the plan you wish you had made and the plan for when you break.

We found an immediate nemesis in CP 9 on a watercourse in an area of gullies and watercourses. It was not to be our day with it so we (eventually) crawled out of a gully ( but not THE gully) to find some other CP’s.

I felt unwell and wanted to get to HQ ASAP, but we pushed on and got some high points on the way. Once we got there I was able to get sorted and felt better and then kayak time.

Cressbrook is a beautiful dam. The kayak leg was intentionally smaller than our plan and by the end we paddled in dark and I was shivering.

Thank goodness for team mates who make you coffee!

We had eyeballed the CP’s for the trek leg from the kayak but the cold and the sore legs after the first trek made us dump even an easy CP.

I really wanted to get on the bike to make up for lost points. At 8 PM we got on our bikes to travel up to the Hamptons. 6 hours later via some very cool CP’s and a steep climb up we made it. I could have kissed the ground up there (mostly for being flat!)

We zipped around the Hamptons so fast Jaime told me to slow down. Fast is good but I was a bit excited to be in familiar country and was riding too fast to sustain for hours. The ride back to Perserverance was amazing and fast too.

Back at HQ it was decision time after 9 hours on the bike, we could do a number of cool things kayak, archery, stand up paddle board or Liam’s “easy 4k orienteering course” We decided to start with the orienteering and finished it – but a bit slow as we hadn’t slept yet, archery was cool and I make a rule of racing with guys who can shoot. It hasn’t let me down yet! We finished with a stand up paddle board,as the thought of getting our kayak down the slope we has walked a few times by then was too much for our brains to synapse.

Having never paddle boarded before I tried kneeling but my feet cramped so badly I ended up lying on my tummy and arm paddling the whole way. (There are photos – apparently)

2 hours before finish time we stopped – having achieved our distance goal and learned some very important racing lessons. (Learning is always good!)

We had a great race. We didn’t score highly on the leaderboard but our effort was massive. We definitely had moments where we thought “what the heck” but the awesome course and high 5 moments made up for it. On a personal level I found out I do no sleep well, except that sleep monsters make me giggle. Incessantly and for no reason.

Thanks as always to Liam and the band of volunteers who supported us. It was a well planned and challenging race, and in such amazing place too. But there is one last question that needs to be asked for this race.. Where the heck was Checkpoint 9????

Jo

Saturday the 7th of March will see the MOJO crew take on the perils of night rogaining with an 8 hour overnight rogaine at Daisy Hill. Starting at 11pm on Saturday night the race finishes with breakfast at 7am Saturday.

The MOJO girls have formed a team and most of the MOJO geo crew hope to form another one.

If you aren’t afraid of the dark this is a great way to test your night navigation skills!

Contact us for more details

http://www.qldrogaine.asn.au/qraonline/jsp/event.jsp?eventcode=EV15001

Jo

24/8/2013

It was a glorious winter morning when Team MOJO set out on what would be our 8th Adventure Race since the teams inception…

This race – the 8 hour- was nearly double the length of previous races, and a step up in testing our skills.

We had a fairly dodgy lead up to the event with outside of racing commitments and ill…ness impacting heavily on our energy levels and training time.

Nevertheless we set out to have a go and see what happened..

Map prep for the longer race was a little more intense, but with our cool map measurer we at least could easily calculate approximate distance and times per leg. Optimistically we wrote them on the back of our control card..

After so many sprint races we know we can usually ride and kayak pretty well, and knew the run legs would challenge us. We elected initially only to get bonus points in the ride legs.

Leg one started well, although we knew my sudoku training would not be required as we elected to not go for bonus points in this leg. We picked up the shoreline CP’s with ease and set off in the kayak.

Now, we don’t know Matt the race director that well but somewhere between the start hooter and the kayak he must have sent up a prayer to heaven that went something like this,” God the teams look a little too strong this morning, and might finish this race early, any chance of a 100k/hr headwind to slow them down?”

And it was so. It wasn’t 100k/hr but it was strong enough to blow your paddle and kayak backwards. It also meant a second shower as the waves crashed onto me..

After much wailing and nashing of teeth we reached the shore on our kayak that had turned into a giant log. We were so happy to see our bikes!

The bike leg was pretty amazing with some very nice single trail, some steep hills and a watery tunnel to drag our bikes through. We managed to find two bonus checkpoints and felt good…we munched on lolly snakes (an omen I think) and even scored a great photo of my bike dumping me off into the mud. My awesome Nav, E even bush bashed us through a really dense bush section, compass in hand to land us almost on top of the checkpoint we were seeking!

The run rogaine was on our next leg and all seemed well till this point. We managed to find one checkpoint buried deep in a magical forest, full of ferns , tall pines and those orange magic mushrooms. We didn’t actually eat the mushrooms but things went down hill from there… Power lines on the map, no power lines in reality, finding clumps of trees in a forest, a CP in a creek that didn’t seem to be there at all..

By this time E’s feet had started to catch fire and even walking was problematic. We stumbled back to the TA to make a survival / how to finish the race plan. After some discussion with the TA guy we elected our best bet was to scrap a couple of legs and ride back to the kayak drop point. We felt bad leaving Matt with our kayak to pick up.

We were up to hours 7 to 8 now of racing but felt ok -except for E’s feet. The race briefing had mentioned snakes and as it was a warm day we had been cautious when trekking and kept an eye out for them the whole race. At the crest of a hill I managed to ride over my first snake, a baby brown about 30 cm long… It scared me a bit and I’m not sure how he fared in the encounter..

Eventually we found ourselves back at Kayakville and went to look for our lone kayak. Our spirits lifted to see that there were still 25 kayaks there, which meant that only 19 teams had actually completed this leg. We stored our bikes by a boat shed resting on some ropes. I think my bike was a bit miffed about the snake still! As it was now over end of race time we managed a swift paddle back to finish, joined by another few teams along the way. Thankfully the wind had died down a bit by now, so it was relatively easy even though we were getting a bit weary.

Finally we finished…all I wanted was cold can of coke (I don’t drink coke normally). Our punch card looked like a bad night at Bingo, but at least we finished the race in a convoluted sort of way.

We went back later to retrieve our bikes only to be greeted by kayak carrying baby soldiers.. Thanks cadets!

Every time we race we learn something new. This race we learned heaps about our team tactics and skills. Adventure racing is not for the faint hearted.. I think it is for the fun hearted. We are elite athletes by no means, just a couple of friends out having fun testing our skills and bush smarts.

If you are keen to give AR a try but don’t think your good enough, fit enough or have cool enough gear, just do it! This is an awesome inclusive sport where you are nearly guaranteed to be cheered on for your rookie efforts – no matter what your age or stage!

Thanks to Matt and Amanda for another great iAdventure! Can’t wait for Mt Crosby..

Jo and E

6/7 March 2015

An 8 hour rogaine is always an awesome way to test your nav skills and get to know your team mate/s better. It’s fair to say that you should be able to get a fair way around the course in 8 hours and get lots of checkpoints. Except when its at nightall..

This race was held at Daisy Hill and my partners in crime were Dr Seymour and Mrs Lucas. Both of whom I have independently raced with for long races. After a lazy day and late breakfast we headed off to Brisbane from home at 7pm, the 2 hour drive was uneventful and we chatted excitedly all the way down, we got really excited when the policeman waved me down on the Blacksoil strip near Ipswich. Not sure if I had been speeding due to our nattering and giggling I sheepishly pulled out my licence sadly contemplating my first ever speeding fine. When the policeman approached my car and said “Ma’am I was waving the car behind you down – you are free to goal” It was a pretty happy moment..

We arrived about 9 and waited for our maps, which when we got them showed some fairly well spread checkpoints. We planned a route and prepared to set off dumping just about everything we didn’t need from our packs.

Now here is my first race at night tip you can’t see yellow highlighter in the dark..ha.

The first couple of checkpoints were pretty easy hits with the crowd leading the way. I was personally pretty keen to lose them and run our own race. We step counted like no-ones business and had it pretty down pat by the end of the night.

One after the other we ticked off the checkpoints, keeping moving, talking and laughing , eating regularly.

By about 4am things got a bit tougher as our lights started to dim and the air cooled in predawn anticipation. Note to self: run ayups on half to 3/4 and not full…

With not much light to show our way we intentionally walked past a couple of CP’s because we knew we would get lost in the dark with our failing lights.

Mrs Lucas was starting to be attacked by sleep monsters around this time and when she told me that she could see a horse and carriage I wasn’t quite sure if she was joking or not. (she wasn’t – she was positive she saw it).

Finally the sun came up around the time we went to the Daisy Hill quarry and it was nice to be able to see again without our lights.

We headed out of the forest and to the last points near the Hash House being past by the early morning bike riders, who smelled and looked fresh. I asked one guy if he would swap his bike for a gu and some panadol, but he didn’t get my joke.(perhaps being faced by 3 crazy eyed girls at 6am wielding a map and compass and smelling bad was a bit too much for him!)

Finally back to the Hash House, and the sleep monsters had come to carry Mrs Lucas away.. she was totally smashed!

We finished fourth in our category and then drove 2 hours home, chatting about nothing that I can remember.

A hot shower and bed were a magical experience that day!

It was an awesome night and as with all races we learned more about course setting and racing ..in hindsight we could have got double our points staying in an arc 5kms from the hash house..but well live and learn.

Thanks so much to my two race babes for the night..we had a blast! You are some of the best race buddies ever!

Thanks to QRA for continuing to put on such fun and affordable events.

 

Jo