After a lot of angst and decision making we have finally decided on our team to take on the XPD World Champs Adventure Race in Tasmania in late October this year. We have chosen a team based on long standing friendships and adventure racing experience. The team members are: Debbie Chambers team captain and chief bottle washer; Anne Lowerson team navigator and homeing pigeon specialist; Ally Davey team strategist and doctor in charge of all things bad; Craig Stevens team navigator, team pack horse, team joke teller and bar boy.
The Girls on Top adventure racing team had its first expedition race outing in the XPD Tasmania in 2006 as a mixed team with Debbie, Anne and Ally taking part so we feel it is appropriate and fitting that we have our last GOT expedition race outing as a mixed team in Tasmania in 2011.
This team will be usig the Geo Quest Aussie on June 11,12 as a build up to the XPD so check us out and see how we get on at www.geoquest.com.au
Team Macpac GOT complete the Journey to the end of the World!! - March 2011
This year's ARC adventure race on the Coromandel Peninsula was titled
the Journey to the end of the World and we certainly felt like we were
there a couple of times during the race. Teams of 2 or 4 could choose
to enter either the 8,12 or 24 hour event. Anne and I entered the 24 hour
event as a two person team.
The race began on Saturday morning at 7.30am on the shores of the Whangamata harbour with a
15km kayak to Whiritoa beach. Luckily it
was a calm morning with only a slight swell, as on route we had to locate a control inside a cave on an island and we also had to pull off a couple of surf landings. The swell in the cave set the heart pounding but the real adrenaline started coursing through the body when we saw boats being up ended in the surf and people bobbing about in the water after having fallen out whilst trying to get into the beach. Luckily we have had a reasonable amount of experience reading the surf on Coromandel beaches and know that it is best to wait for the lull between the big sets. We landed both times without any drama.
After forgetting to check in and having to run back to the beach, we quickly got changed in transition and then headed off on our bikes pushing across the sand and up onto a dirt track over to the next bay. Somehow along this track I managed to get my handlebars stuck in a fence and went flying off my bike face first into the dirt. Luckily the only damage done was to my ego and my confidence!! After biking into farmland and up more than a decent climb we were soon speeding back down onto the road that took us through to the next transition.
We were pretty excited about the next 30 km trek leg as it promised to
offer up a good navigational challenge. The first half of the trek had
us travelling up a stunningly beautiful and peaceful stream. The further up we got the steeper the gorge got and the more dense the bush became. At one point we had to shimmy up a steep cliff to skirt a waterfall. It felt like we were hanging on with our finger nails and once again the adrenaline levels were at an all-time high. At another point we departed from the main river to skirt another small waterfall but found once we returned to the stream we were above the control. Doh!! Reluctantly we headed back down to get it. Feeling a bit annoyed with ourselves we arrived at the hut which marked the top of the stream determined not to waste any more time and keen to get the technical navigation section over. Unfortunately we hadn't read the notes and in our haste to keep moving missed the fortune cookies and the pink tape that had been put there for our benefit. The pink tape had been put there to guide teams safely through the dense bush to link up with a track that led to the abseil. We were unaware of the tape and set off on our own private trek across the tops. It was an exhilarating experience and we found ourselves bush bashing on all fours, shimmying across bluffs and hanging off massive tree roots in an attempt to make headway. Just when we thought life was pretty good and we were making progress we found ourselves standing atop a sheer rock face that dropped steeply in all directions apart from where we had come from. Holy Moley !! What a view but what a feeling of misery when we realised we had no choice but to head back to where we had come from. Reluctantly we turned around got to safety then reassessed our route and backtracked to the nearest saddle before heading down to a certain contour level and then sidling to eventually meet the track. Once we hit the track we burst into a trot and made good time to the abseil site.
The abseil was about 50 metres off a waterfall. It was stunning however, we didn’t hang around to enjoy the scenery as we were kicking ourselves for losing so much time in the trek and were simply focussed on getting down the waterfall as fast as possible. We caught up to the Ginga Nuts (the other two person team in the race) just before transition and gave them back their clip card which we had found earlier on. They were having a nightmare of a race so we hoped this would brighten their day a bit.
The next leg was a quick bike to a rifle shoot followed by a flat 15 km ride back into Whangamata. Once again we put the pedal to the metal hoping to make up for lost time and aware that the boys from the Ginga Nuts were hot on our heels.
We arrived at the next transition and picked up the maps for the next leg which was a 4 hour mountain bike rogaine in the Whangamata mountain bike park and surrounding forest. Anne took one look at the two maps we had been given and had a minor meltdown as they were a bit confusing and our very helpful team of helpers were all trying to give advice at the same time. Our best option was simply to get out of transition and work things out once we got to the forest. Four person teams were able to split up here and get half the controls each so we were a bit disadvantaged as we had to stay together. This meant we needed all four hours available to us rather than the two and a half hours it took the four person teams to get all the controls. Anne's navigation was spot on in this leg despite the maps and once we got started we made good time and good decisions and really enjoyed some of the single tracks in the mountain bike park. All too soon the four hours were up and we hightailed it back to transition to avoid any penalties.
Now we had to decide between a kayak or a trek. We decided on the kayak as the tide was lowish but still going out. Once again four person teams could split here and we couldn't so it took us quite a bit longer than the four person teams. The almost dead low tied didn’t help either. The kayak leg was a mix of kayaking, splashing and squelching in mud but we managed to find all the checkpoints bar one, which was impossible to reach due to the low tide.
Back at transition again we set off on the final leg of the race which was a trek. We paddled across the harbour to the start of the trek to avoid swimming and ended up on a sand bar. We then spent a few minutes debating the likelihood of the tide coming in before we got back from the trek. In our sleep deprived state we decided the trek wouldn't take long and that we'd be back in plenty of time. Turning our backs on our kayak we headed up a stream to get the next checkpoint. At one point we got to a steep rock face and were forced to scramble up a slippery slope to the left of the stream. Once clear of the steep cliff we headed right until we hit a stream. Thinking we were in the right stream we continued up it, but the further we got the drier the stream became and the worse the direction was. Once again we were forced to backtrack. Back at the steep cliff we discovered the stream had spilt into two and we should have gone further right. Happy to be back on track we headed up the stream found the control then put the hammer down to get out to the road which would take us back to the kayak. By this time we had been out a while and the tide had well and truly turned. We had visions of getting back to find the kayak had floated away. We got the last few controls easily and sprinted back to the beach with our eyes scanning the water for our boat. Luckily we could see the kayak shimmering in the moonlight completely surrounded by water. Had we been another fifteen minutes it wouldn't have been there!!. We waded out to the kayak then paddled across to finish just behind the Ginga Nuts at 4.00am. What a great feeling.
Despite crossing the finish line behind the boys we were pleased to find out that we had collected a few more points than them during the race. The final results had us winning the 2 person team category with an adjusted time of 5hours 44 minutes. The Ginga Nuts finished with an adjusted time of 12 hours and 29 minutes.
A great race and yet another learning experience!! Hopefully we will read the notes more carefully in our next event.
Next up for Team Macpac GOT is the North face 100 km run in the Blue
Mountains in Sydney on May 14, followed by the Geo Quest 48 hour race in Nabucca Heads, Aussie on June 11,12 then the Adventure Racing World Championships XPD Expedition race in Tasmania from October to 29 November 10.
the Journey to the end of the World and we certainly felt like we were
there a couple of times during the race. Teams of 2 or 4 could choose
to enter either the 8,12 or 24 hour event. Anne and I entered the 24 hour
event as a two person team.
The race began on Saturday morning at 7.30am on the shores of the Whangamata harbour with a
15km kayak to Whiritoa beach. Luckily it
was a calm morning with only a slight swell, as on route we had to locate a control inside a cave on an island and we also had to pull off a couple of surf landings. The swell in the cave set the heart pounding but the real adrenaline started coursing through the body when we saw boats being up ended in the surf and people bobbing about in the water after having fallen out whilst trying to get into the beach. Luckily we have had a reasonable amount of experience reading the surf on Coromandel beaches and know that it is best to wait for the lull between the big sets. We landed both times without any drama.
After forgetting to check in and having to run back to the beach, we quickly got changed in transition and then headed off on our bikes pushing across the sand and up onto a dirt track over to the next bay. Somehow along this track I managed to get my handlebars stuck in a fence and went flying off my bike face first into the dirt. Luckily the only damage done was to my ego and my confidence!! After biking into farmland and up more than a decent climb we were soon speeding back down onto the road that took us through to the next transition.
We were pretty excited about the next 30 km trek leg as it promised to
offer up a good navigational challenge. The first half of the trek had
us travelling up a stunningly beautiful and peaceful stream. The further up we got the steeper the gorge got and the more dense the bush became. At one point we had to shimmy up a steep cliff to skirt a waterfall. It felt like we were hanging on with our finger nails and once again the adrenaline levels were at an all-time high. At another point we departed from the main river to skirt another small waterfall but found once we returned to the stream we were above the control. Doh!! Reluctantly we headed back down to get it. Feeling a bit annoyed with ourselves we arrived at the hut which marked the top of the stream determined not to waste any more time and keen to get the technical navigation section over. Unfortunately we hadn't read the notes and in our haste to keep moving missed the fortune cookies and the pink tape that had been put there for our benefit. The pink tape had been put there to guide teams safely through the dense bush to link up with a track that led to the abseil. We were unaware of the tape and set off on our own private trek across the tops. It was an exhilarating experience and we found ourselves bush bashing on all fours, shimmying across bluffs and hanging off massive tree roots in an attempt to make headway. Just when we thought life was pretty good and we were making progress we found ourselves standing atop a sheer rock face that dropped steeply in all directions apart from where we had come from. Holy Moley !! What a view but what a feeling of misery when we realised we had no choice but to head back to where we had come from. Reluctantly we turned around got to safety then reassessed our route and backtracked to the nearest saddle before heading down to a certain contour level and then sidling to eventually meet the track. Once we hit the track we burst into a trot and made good time to the abseil site.
The abseil was about 50 metres off a waterfall. It was stunning however, we didn’t hang around to enjoy the scenery as we were kicking ourselves for losing so much time in the trek and were simply focussed on getting down the waterfall as fast as possible. We caught up to the Ginga Nuts (the other two person team in the race) just before transition and gave them back their clip card which we had found earlier on. They were having a nightmare of a race so we hoped this would brighten their day a bit.
The next leg was a quick bike to a rifle shoot followed by a flat 15 km ride back into Whangamata. Once again we put the pedal to the metal hoping to make up for lost time and aware that the boys from the Ginga Nuts were hot on our heels.
We arrived at the next transition and picked up the maps for the next leg which was a 4 hour mountain bike rogaine in the Whangamata mountain bike park and surrounding forest. Anne took one look at the two maps we had been given and had a minor meltdown as they were a bit confusing and our very helpful team of helpers were all trying to give advice at the same time. Our best option was simply to get out of transition and work things out once we got to the forest. Four person teams were able to split up here and get half the controls each so we were a bit disadvantaged as we had to stay together. This meant we needed all four hours available to us rather than the two and a half hours it took the four person teams to get all the controls. Anne's navigation was spot on in this leg despite the maps and once we got started we made good time and good decisions and really enjoyed some of the single tracks in the mountain bike park. All too soon the four hours were up and we hightailed it back to transition to avoid any penalties.
Now we had to decide between a kayak or a trek. We decided on the kayak as the tide was lowish but still going out. Once again four person teams could split here and we couldn't so it took us quite a bit longer than the four person teams. The almost dead low tied didn’t help either. The kayak leg was a mix of kayaking, splashing and squelching in mud but we managed to find all the checkpoints bar one, which was impossible to reach due to the low tide.
Back at transition again we set off on the final leg of the race which was a trek. We paddled across the harbour to the start of the trek to avoid swimming and ended up on a sand bar. We then spent a few minutes debating the likelihood of the tide coming in before we got back from the trek. In our sleep deprived state we decided the trek wouldn't take long and that we'd be back in plenty of time. Turning our backs on our kayak we headed up a stream to get the next checkpoint. At one point we got to a steep rock face and were forced to scramble up a slippery slope to the left of the stream. Once clear of the steep cliff we headed right until we hit a stream. Thinking we were in the right stream we continued up it, but the further we got the drier the stream became and the worse the direction was. Once again we were forced to backtrack. Back at the steep cliff we discovered the stream had spilt into two and we should have gone further right. Happy to be back on track we headed up the stream found the control then put the hammer down to get out to the road which would take us back to the kayak. By this time we had been out a while and the tide had well and truly turned. We had visions of getting back to find the kayak had floated away. We got the last few controls easily and sprinted back to the beach with our eyes scanning the water for our boat. Luckily we could see the kayak shimmering in the moonlight completely surrounded by water. Had we been another fifteen minutes it wouldn't have been there!!. We waded out to the kayak then paddled across to finish just behind the Ginga Nuts at 4.00am. What a great feeling.
Despite crossing the finish line behind the boys we were pleased to find out that we had collected a few more points than them during the race. The final results had us winning the 2 person team category with an adjusted time of 5hours 44 minutes. The Ginga Nuts finished with an adjusted time of 12 hours and 29 minutes.
A great race and yet another learning experience!! Hopefully we will read the notes more carefully in our next event.
Next up for Team Macpac GOT is the North face 100 km run in the Blue
Mountains in Sydney on May 14, followed by the Geo Quest 48 hour race in Nabucca Heads, Aussie on June 11,12 then the Adventure Racing World Championships XPD Expedition race in Tasmania from October to 29 November 10.
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