Pantyhose, twists & turns

AROC Adventure: Sydney Olympic Park - February 2007

Team HARDTALE HQ

The AROC crew had put together a race with enough twists and turns to keep all the teams on their toes. With pantyhose tied to the legs of all three team members in a sadistic 4 legged race, 108 teams set off on the first stage at 6.00 pm on a short 2k run to the bike TA. To our surprise we (Support Crew Sah, Angry Man and Pa) were left floundering as we had our panty hose too tight and poor co-ordination skills meant that we were walking and not running like the other teams. Halfway into the stage the over tightened pantyhose became tourniquets and with blue appendages, it was time to re-think the plan.

We entered the brickpit and the ring walk in fourth last place. It seemed to take forever to cross the ring walk, but at the other end we could undo the pantyhose and run again, FREEDOM!! We reached the bike TA around 5 min behind the leaders with a massive queue of bikes ahead of us on a very narrow path.

On the bike leg, Pa threw caution to the wind and went as hard as possible, leaving Angry and Sah to dodge and weave after him. The scary thing is Angry had the maps, so Pa being out front made no sense. Most teams moved over as we called, “rider passing” and the first bike leg went quickly, picking up a few checkpoints on the way (Pa only slowed down when he stacked it!). Each CP required a written answer which meant Pa had to stop and write the answers down where many of the teams managed to write their answers while still riding. It was still a buzz and a hairy ride as we tried to catch up. We made it to TA2 in the suburb of Melrose where we quickly dropped off our bikes and were off again to the map pick up point. A quick calculation on the number of bikes already in TA placed us near mid field, still heaps to do. We followed the crowd to the map pick-up then had to wait at the lights after narrowly missing crossing with the other teams. When we crossed over the road Tom met us with the answer to the next CP as the graffiti writing had been removed.

The rogaine required us to gain 110 points from the various controls before we could go back to the bikes. Like a team of rookies, we allowed ourselves to be caught up in the frenzy of teams searching in the wrong area for a CP. It was like a watching an under 7 soccer match, with a large bunch running around together in the middle of the park, no where near the goal! We decided to head off and find somewhere that we knew was the right location before we went any further. Back on track, with teams running all over the place, it felt good to be moving forward. We decided on a box shape leg along the creek/bush through Ermington as this gave us the higher point CP’s and took us in a straight line back to TA3. HardTale HQ had been doing the street orienteering in Newcastle on a regular basis and this made a big difference in keeping our momentum going. Pa took the maps, Angry called the locations and Sah grabbed a towline. We got through the rogaine without any mistakes and arriving back at TA were spurred on by the huge number of bikes still there. Having no other teams in sight allowed us to think clearly and do our own thing.

Onto the bikes again, and with Angry navigating, we picked up CP 15 which was the two large cranes on the wharf, but the route we had mapped out appeared closed off, so we made a quick decision to head back on the main roads in the park area. It was the wrong decision, but at least we got our photo taken by Mark Watson. With darkness closing fast we planned to put our lights on at the TA.

The Newington Armory leg required teams to find the various building numbers that corresponded to our control sheet then answer a question at the building, we only had to pick up 8 questions. Teams could separate on this leg, but Sah refused to let Pa out of her sight for fear of losing him, so we decided to stay together and check things as a team. Hats off to the volunteers manning these two TA’s as the mossies were swarming all over us at the TA, we did not hang around long. It was back onto the bikes with lights on .

On this bike leg we picked up a few CP’s with one being on a small hill which also gave us the location of the CP on the kayak leg. This proved a little harder than we thought as our lights were reflecting off the laminated fact sheet on the area and we could not see too much. It seems as if most of the teams were guessing where the CP was as the teams took a while to work things out. We had a rough idea of where it, the ship wreck was, so we were off again to the kayak TA.

We arrived at the Kayak TA with quite a few teams and ended up queuing up to launch our kayak. We had not gone too far when the race leaders started to arrive back at the TA. We still were not sure of our position but we were hoping to be in the top 20 which would allow us to do the bonus leg. It was easy navigating to the CP as everyone seemed to be following one another. There were a few close calls with the teams on the return legs when they did not have their lights on but we managed to avoid trouble. Sah had problems with her forearm on this leg, which still is not 100% after having a steel plate inserted a few months ago. We held our position though, and found the letters on the shipwreck then returned to the TA. There were still heaps of teams close behind us, We were all a bit knackered after the paddle as we had been pushing hard for a few hours by now and it was catching up with us.

The next challenge was alongside the kayak TA where we had to find out the answer to a math’s puzzle by finding the clues around the wharf area. Pa didn’t have a clue on what we were trying to do, but just ran around the wharf area confusing Angry with questions. We thought that we had the right answer only to be told to go away and try again. It wasn’t until Sah found the “No swimming sign” which had the final clue, that we were able to solve the puzzle. Pa was glad Angry’s brain was still in working order or we would have been in trouble. Back again, this time with the correct answer!

Back onto the bikes for a quick run back to the Olympic Park area with one CP near the Archery park on the way. All was going well when Angry decided to go off the road onto the cycle way, he thought that the kerb was a flat ramp, but it wasn’t and soon came down in a screaming heap in the gutter with Sah also joining in. Thankfully they were both OK and we pushed onto the Aquatic Centre which was the next TA.

We arrived at the Aquatic Centre where a quick enquiry had us in 19th place and still in with a chance to make the bonus leg. It was quickly off with the packs and shoes then into the Centre for the water activities, there were a few teams inside and a few just arriving so we moved as quickly as we could. We waded through a few pools, down a slide then onto the inflatable obstacle course. Pa and Angry were told to take the one on the left, with Sah heading right. Pa and Angry thought their obstacle was a little harder as there was someone hosing us as well. Pa made it most of the way but the last jump saw him doing a back flip into the pool then it was a 25m swim to the other end. We quickly got back onto our bikes again for the quick dash to the finish line. We arrived in 19th place and just made the cut off for the bonus leg.

The bonus leg turned out to be a bit of a struggle as we all like drinking beer, but struggle with cold baked beans and dry wheatbix. Before we could head off on the bonus leg we had two glasses of beer, two wheatbix and a bowl of cold baked beans to down for good pleasure. It was an effort with Angry eating most of the beans and wheat bix and Sah making short work of the beer.
Back onto the bikes for a short bike nav around the complex answering a few more questions on the way then into the Aquatic Centre again. We were supposed to do a jump from one of the diving boards but only the first few teams did it before it was changed to a 50m swim. Pa was happy just to do the swim! Get changed again, back on the bikes then one more checkpoint before the finish. We managed a credible 17th overall and 8th in the mixed class.

We were all over the moon with our result as we came from dead last and this was Sah’s second adventure race ever, the first being two years ago. The three of us were really feeling it by the end but we had thoroughly enjoyed the challenges that Tom and Alina had set for us. The whole race took a little longer than they had planned and it is amazing just how far we had traveled in a few short hours. Thanks again to all the Volunteers for guiding us through the course as there was a lot to keep track of. Thanks also for the give away prizes Tom and Alina, there seemed to be plenty to go around. The events just seem to be getting better all the time!

For full results - click here

Photos coming soon!

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