Fugahwe take out the 24 Hour

Mark McDonald
Team Fugahwe - 1st Place Premier Mixed

Well, after months of running up and down hills, over the handlebar trips on the bike and a last minute kayaking lesson (thanks Marc Murphy) the time for my first endurance length adventure race had come. Team Fugahwe (Selina Stoute, Keith Conley and myself) arrived at the start to be greeted by the howling winds that were to put the “adventure” into the race for most of the day. We stored our gear and inflated tyre tubes under a tarp in the main transition area to prevent the wind from relocating them to another postcode and set off to registration. Frantic course marking, contacting and instruction reading ensued whilst trying to poke food into our faces, load backpacks and, for myself at least, calm the nerves that were suggesting I had leapt in very deep indeed.

The first leg was a 7km paddle which was made tricky by the forceful winds which had whipped up the lake. Despite the best intentioned pre race strategy of maintaining an easy sustainable pace, I was having to work quite hard at the back of the boat to try and keep the kayak on our intended path, with limited success. Leg dispatched and control card in hand we headed off for a quick dash around the Weston Park maze and a swim across the lake to the first rogaine leg on Black Mountain. Map and compass in hand Keith steered us up and around the west side of black mountain with what seemed to be a logical strategy of leaving a couple of rogaine checkpoints on the east side for the return trip. Not being terribly disappointed to find the Belconnen waterslide closed due to the weather, having just dried out from the preceding swim, we were pleasantly surprised to hear that we were running in 4th overall and then shattered by the news that a “surprise” leg enabled teams that had completed the entire rogaine to return to the main TA by nearby Bus. Deciding that some Bus Action was better than none, we disembarked at Black Mountain to complete the rogaine and rest of the leg on foot.

Stuffing some food into our packs we grabbed the tire tubes and headed out onto the lake. Although proving difficult in the conditions it was an opportunity to give the legs a bit of a break and a chance to park the brain for a while until we were back on dry land. After a quick run around the shore to the kayaks, and struggling to chow down a now slightly waterlogged bagel we were at the next transition. Another monstrous paddle followed, fighting the kayak in the choppy conditions, the waves frequently crashing over Selina in the front of the boat. For the last couple of kilometres the wind was joined by rain which saw us exit the leg in less than great shape. After a few minutes in the transition tent I managed to stop shaking sufficiently to open my drybag and retrieve a thermal top and wet weather gear. Grabbing some food we ran off into town to the next checkpoint, inside a Japanese restaurant. After a few seconds locating the control punch which was doing laps of the sushi train to the bemusement of customers, we got some more Bus Action across town to our bikes, dry and feeling much better about the world.

A long bike leg followed, punctuated by the odd “moment” and the amusement of Keith taking the best possible tumble into deep sand which had rapidly stopped his forward progress in Tuggeranong pines. A big moment x3 occurred shortly afterwards when fast steep downhill bitumen dropped off into not nice rutted rocky mess which caught us all out in the changing light. A few more mashes of the pedals with Selina again showing her superhuman strength on the bike (we just need to feed her up so she punches a big enough hole in the air for us to draft in) and we were at Tuggeranong town centre for the “surprise” leg which consisted of a paddle in the infamous Sevylor inflatable kayaks. I had been lagging a bit on the bike leg so Keith suggested I sit the leg out. Having had a number of memorable experiences in the Sevylors (including my first ever AR where we paddled one with 305kg of bodymass in it) I tried to suggest that they portage the kayak as much as humanly possible to minimise paddling but Keith was keen to get the thing in the water and underway. I wasn’t going to argue and besides, both Keith and Selina were AROC Sevylor Banana “Virgins” so who was I to spoil their fun. I headed for the nearby KFC to refill camelbaks and grab some food while they were having their fun. They returned with Keith spitting chips about the unsteerable kayak, my good nature preventing me from telling him “I told you so”. OK maybe just once.

The next leg was our first night navigation exercise and it was here that Keith demonstrated his awesome rogaining skill. He got as around the tricky course with ease, stopping only to apologise for slightly misjudging a fence line costing us a few minutes traversing to find the checkpoint (the only time this was to occur in the entire event). It was on this leg that we took overtook Team Crank who had been setting an awesome pace and leading the mixed category and we finished the leg with the Terra Xtreme lads who had been keeping us company for most of the event. Another long ride to black mountain saw us traveling with Terra again and catching up to Hardtale, Keith not missing a trick on the nav. Black Mountain saw us facing the “up and over” or “around” dilemma. None of us had a strong opinion either way so when Terra decided over would probably end up faster we found ourselves trudging up Black Mountain for the second time, with the added bonus of pushing bikes this time around. Checkpoint punched and a fast refreshing descent down the mountain saw us back at the main transition. The Kayak leg which was scheduled next had been cancelled due to the conditions so we were off on a quick O leg through the ANU, again traveling with Terra and Hardtale. A bit too much time spent in transition saw us lose touch with the other two teams and Keith handed the map for the next bike leg to Gungahlin to Selina so he could fight off the Sleepmonsters which were gnawing at him. Keith got cold on the ride and looked a right mess when we got to Mulligans Flat where we faced a rogaine that had taken the Stingers 3 hours to complete but we decided to push on, Selina handing the map and compass to Keith who transformed from sleep deprived cyclist to rogaining genius in a heartbeat. The next 3 hours were spent in Mulligans flat with Keith leading the way and the sleepmonsters which had failed on him, turned their attention to Selina and myself. We had to ditch the last checkpoint and take the 15 minute hit, knowing that we were running close on time and I was racking my mushed brain trying to remember the intricacies of the time penalty system. I thought that we could finish up to 10 minutes late and still have the last leg count but it turned out to be academic as Selina found another gear on the bike ride home and dragged us to the finish right on 24 hours.

It was an amazing experience, congratulations to the Stingers on their outright victory and to everyone who competed. I hope you all got as much satisfaction out of it as I did. Thanks to Tom and Alina who have gone out of their way to help us this season, from giving me training advice to finding us a great replacement team member for one of the sprint races at no notice. The only thing that would have made the event better would have been for 100 teams to have shown up. Thanks to all the volunteers, some of whom barely got more sleep than we did and endured the same conditions while loading and unloading kayaks etc. Thanks also to Matt Wilson who loaned me his brand new bike light and Zelko who provided a HID that turned night into day on the last cycle and rogaine legs. Last but certainly not least, thanks to my teammates. You are awesome.

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Fugahwe take out the 24 Hour

Mark McDonald Team Fugahwe - 1st Place Premier Mixed

Mark McDonald
Team Fugahwe - 1st Place Premier Mixed