We picked up our rego kit on Friday night and assembled back at my house for some planning. I wouldn’t say that any of us really have any significant adventure racing experience or a great level of fitness but we planned a route that we figured would take around the 12hr mark and that wouldn’t kill us in the process.
After completing the crossword we rode up Ainslie Ave to the War Memorial, turns out that we went a slightly crazy way but as luck would have it the first clue was right where we joined the was memorial so all was well. The plan was then to ride around the back to TA1 at the base of Mt Majura / back of Hackett to complete the MTB and run section up there. We started with the MTB leg basically cause we figured we could ride a bit more and then use the run for a break before more riding. Turns out we are anything but navigational geniuses and we made a number of wrong turns before finding ourselves pushing our bikes up a very long hill that we didn’t need to go up. Two of us have very limited MTB experience and the single track back down was extremely challenging and involved a great deal of bike carrying over steep rocks. The plan was for the CP to be on that track however we were a little bit further down than we thought and decided to give it a miss. Once we got into the groove we collected the majority of CP’s and returned to transition for the run leg.
Turns out that our navigational skills on the bike were significantly better than on foot, CP’s seem much harder to find when running especially in the dense bush, not sure if the compass in our bag could have helped or not but we spent a fair bit of time chasing the closer CP’s (running back to the War Memorial wasn’t that appealing) before heading off for Mulligans Flat via Gooroyaroo Park. We took a while at the underpass on the Barton Hwy to figure out that the letters were the CP and after what felt like a very long ride around the back of Goorooyaroo we were at Mulligans flat for another run leg. By this stage the weather was a bit warmer and the legs certainly were aware of their current unfit state. Again we stuffed around for a good while trying to find a couple of the CP’s but I think we actually got a bit better and made it back to the transition area relatively quickly although I was glad to have finished the planned running component for the day (We decided to give Red Hill a miss). One of our team lived nearby so we headed by his house for a well earned lunch and to organise our bonus items and food for the blender.
After 20mins or so we were off again and on our way to the bowling alley. I had a bit of a problem with calf cramps on the way and with 5 or so hours to go was a bit worried about what the rest of the day would entail. Into the bowling alley, first ball was a strike and a spare in the other lane at the same time meant we were soon on our way to the Fruit markets. From there we headed over Bruce Ridge and down to All Bar Nun for what we hoped was a designated beer stop. Unfortunately the CP was outside rather than at the bottom of a glass so we were quickly back on our bikes for a pizza and a beer at Debarcle. The race was getting near to an end with only 1 more CP to visit (sizzle bento) on the bike and a whole heap of kayaking. Onto the Kayak at Acton Ferry we headed towards Scrivener Dam and got the 5 or so CP’s down that way. We had predetermined to carry the boat over Weston Park to save a bit of time, and this worked really well but those boats sure are heavy. The paddle back from the Dam was quite long and any thoughts of getting the other 2 CP’s were abandoned as we pulled back into Acton Ferry after 2+hrs of Kayaking with numerous quad cramps and the like to remind us that 12hrs is a long time. After an easy ride back to the finish area we blended our tomato, snake, marshmallow and ricecracker into a lovely vomity concoction and finished the race with 20 or so minutes left on the clock with a total of 2400 points.
Best Bit of the race – Stopping for a beer; any race where you get time for a beer is certainly a race that you should consider doing.
Funniest Part – As we pulled up to one of the islands on the kayak and the first person got out, both of their quads cramped up, I tried to jump up to help and then both of mine cramped up so no one could really move.
Thanks for the day!
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