It all started with an email asking if I would like to sign up for the experience of a lifetime otherwise known as the Swisse Mark Webber Tasmanian Challenge. The event was described to me as five days of entry level adventure racing in Tasmania. Teams would get to sleep in comfort every night, all food including race food was supplied, mechanics would be on course, physios and massage therapists would be available and each team had a host with a vehicle to look after them. It sounded too good to pass up. After all, how hard could a five day glamourous adventure challenge course for newbies be?
The next step was to find out more about my teammate as I was entered in a two person adventure challenge team. I was to be teamed up with the World Masters Powerlifting champion in the 66kg class, an Australian guy called Dominic Cadden. The thought of meeting my teammate on the startline was a bit daunting given that adventure racing is all about teamwork, however after a couple of hilarious email exchanges with Dominic where he explained he’d been kayaking on his windsurfer with his legs wrapped around the nose to stop him falling off and that his bike was made by Hallmark better known for greeting cards than bikes, I had a feeling we were going to get on fine.
Before I knew it I was on a plane to Tasmania. With this event almost everything you needed was provided so I only had to pack a few items of clothing and my bike. Oh I wish all travel to adventure races was so simple. At the airport in Launceston I was warmly welcomed by my host Emma, and whisked away in our new Renault vehicle to the hotel. Once at the hotel it was all go, the venue was buzzing with teams registering, putting bikes together, collecting bins, fitting kayaks, labelling paddles and sussing each other out. I was blown away by the calibre of the other teams, Olympic rowers, top level surf life savers, World champion adventure racers, world class tri-athletes, the who’s who of Aussie sport was there. What a line-up of fit looking people. What an exciting event to be part of.
I finally tracked down Dominic and we set about getting ourselves sorted for racing the next day. We needed to pack the two bins we had been given with the correct gear for the day and also mark up the maps for day one of racing. That’s when we both realised that neither of us was particularly good with maps. We also realised that this event was a true blue hard core adventure race and it was not going to be a walk in the park. However, we put our heads together and did our best to make sense of the three different maps we had, all with different symbols, scales and contour intervals. It was well into the night by the time our heads hit the pillow. My only thoughts before dropping off to sleep were have I bitten off more than I can chew here in terms of navigation? A quick text to the Macpac Girls on Top navigator to check how to allow for magnetic deviation on my compass put me more at ease and off to sleep I went.
Day one started at 7.30am with a 9.5km orienteering leg. Before we knew it we were running around like headless chooks from one control to another performing tasks such as serving tennis balls, putting golf balls, doing push ups etc all in order to collect points. It was a hoot but in all the excitement it took us a bit of time to settle into our own team rhythm and learn how we could best work together to draw on both our strengths. We somehow managed to navigate our way to the next stage which was a 2km white water rafting section. Although this was a short rafting leg it certainly was impressive white-water and I spent most of it giggling nervously in the bottom of the raft holding on for dear life.
The next 25km mountain bike leg was tricky and we spent ages trying to get our heads into the maps and made a number of silly navigation errors. In planning we hadn't noticed a small road on the map which went directly to the next control. Instead we headed over a massive hill through a confused maze of gravel roads and lost a significant amount of time. We were pretty devastated to find we were the only team to have taken that route and were now in last place.
We got on the river for the next 11km paddle and paddled like demons to try to make up for lost time. We managed to restore some respect for ourselves by passing one other team. We were now under a bit of pressure as a cut off was looming so in the next 6 km run leg and the following 11km mountain bike leg we focussed only on getting compulsory checkpoints and keeping our speed up. Before we knew it we were on the last trek leg into town to the finish line - what a day of mixed emotions, it had been eleven of non-stop fun but we had had more downs than ups in terms of our performance.
Day one lessons:
Take more care when planning route choices
Don't follow other teams
Get familiar with different scale maps in terms of distances prior to starting
When dealing with a course that has optional controls and cut offs -wait to the last legs to pick up optional points rather than the first legs
Day two started with a brutal 21km gravel road climb on the bikes up Ben Lomond. It was hard work for those not used to hill climbing and particularly tough on Dominic without toe clips. However, the views were simply spectacular and made the climb more than worthwhile. Once at the top of Ben Lomond we set off on a trek on the tops. We were very mindful of the errors made the previous day so limited ourselves to getting mainly compulsory points and ignoring the optional ones unless they were nearby. Keeping it simple paid off for us and we made reasonable time through the trek. The next leg was an awesome technical 22km mountain bike ride. This was not Dominic’s favourite section as his bike was far too big for him and he kept slipping off his pedals. However, he gritted his teeth and got through without too much swearing and no injuries.
Next up we were into an 11km kayak. The river was full of twists and turns, and we were constantly getting stuck in shallows and caught under low hanging trees. Dominic loved this leg but I found it frustrating as hell and couldn’t wait for it to end. We then finished the day off with a pleasant Trek across farmland and even managed to score an optional checkpoint just before crossing the finish line after another 10 or so hours on the go.
However, once across the finish line we still had to complete a car rally back to the campground. We drove every gravel road in the area writing down answers to clues on the way. We were pretty happy to arrive at the campsite and find our tent up with stretchers, sleeping bags, pillows and towels all inside.
Day two lessons:
- Warming up into a big hill climb is sensible
- Making sure your bike is the right size before starting is important
Day three began with a 6.5km coastal rock run. The scenery was stunning and we were ecstatic to discover we were both pretty good at rock hopping so managed to pick up a few places in the field. This was followed by a 19km ocean river sea kayak leg. On arriving at the start of the kayak I could see massive surf but assumed they wouldn’t put us into surf that big. How wrong I was. The surf was pumping and many teams took a battering getting in and out. Somehow we managed a relatively uneventful exit and landing. However, I was so over the moon and pleased to have survived the surf I forgot to punch the control and managed to score us a hefty 3 hour penalty. By the end of the paddle I was fuming and in total disbelief that I could make such a basic error. We set off into the hot midday heat for a 40 km ride. This ride was a real soul destroyer it was yet another climb and as hot as hell. We were happy to get to the next leg which was a quick 6km steep climb up a hill called St Patricks head. The views from the top were mind blowing. We knocked this off in no time. The final 13km mountain bike back to camp was a blast. Dominic was on fire and kept up good speed even on the technical sections. This man was turning into an adventure racing natural. We rolled in to camp annoyed at our error but happy we had survived another full on 6 hour day. Things were starting to click for us we were much smoother in transitions and had
worked extremely well as a team to get through the day. Our navigation heads were clearer and our team bubble was getting tighter.
Day three lessons:
- Always apply sunscreen and take plenty of water
- Never miss a checkpoint
- Always focus on the map
Day four’s coastal scenery in Binalong bay was even more spectacular than day three. We started with a 2.5 km rock run which once again suited us and we bounded across the sun baked rusty red boulder blown away by our surroundings. We then headed into a 13km kayak leg. This leg was invigorating with a following swell and howling tailwind. We were also pretty relieved that there were no surf landings and we could just focus on the beauty of the area. We finished off the kayak quickly and headed straight into a snorkelling leg. It was freezing cold, and choppy and we had to retrieve items from bins sitting on the bottom of the seabed. I found it incredibly hard to dive down and have to admit did not enjoy this leg at all. I was more than happy to get into the next 9km coastal run that took us past some stunning beaches and coastline. The next leg was a mountain bike rogaine which was once again on single tracks. Dominic was now an off-road expert and we also made no navigation errors and even found ourselves with time to pick up a few optional controls finishing 10th in our category. The final leg, a kayak plus dune run was shortened due to high winds so much to our delight we found ourselves finished after another 6 or so hours on the course.
Day four lesson:
- It is nicer to be in the middle of the pack than the back
Day five was the final day of racing. We couldn’t believe we had made it this far without any drama or injury. The race started at the top of Mt Wellington in Hobart and the weather was less than friendly with a temperature of 4 degrees. We shivered at the start line waiting for the chance to head 7km back down the road on our bikes at high speed – woo hoo. The next leg was a 20km orienteering leg. We moved through this quickly hitting each control with no errors. It felt great to be totally in sync with each other. We then jumped back on the bikes for an incredible few hours on a single track that took us into a bike park. What a buzz this was, once again we managed to hit all the controls we were aiming for and get into the next transition without wasting too much time. We were then off into the second to last leg of the race an urban run into Hobart. We managed to get through this relatively easily and before we knew it we were paddling to the finishline. Another fun filled 6 hour day and the best for us with a 6th placong overall for the day.
I was a bit sad to see it all come to an end as it had been an amazing experience for me seeing how Dominic and I grew during the event and built on each day’s experiences. I was extremely proud of our efforts and happy to have had the opportunity to share my passion and my world with someone who comes from a completely different sport.
Both Dominic and I were elated at having got through the event. We finished 13th out of 18 teams in our category and got better with each day. It was certainly no walk in the park and a lot harder than I had anticipated. I was blown away by the stunning scenery of Tasmania and more than impressed with the course. It was challenging yet achievable, full of variety, included some of the best mountain biking I have done in an event and provided us with some pretty awesome thrills and adrenaline rushes. This was also combined with some hard core slogs and legs where most competitors had to dig deep.
The Mark Webber Tasmanian challenge is put on by Mark Webber to raise funds for the Mark Webber Foundation which supports Australian charities including The Leukemia Foundation, Save the Tasmanian Devils Foundation and The Whitelion Foundation.The idea behind this event is to provide an opportunity for people to have a go at the sport and do thing they’ve never done before.
So … If you are intrigued by the sport of adventure racing but think the sleep deprivation side of it is not for you then look no further - this event is a MUST for the calendar. Check it out at www.markwebbertasmanianchallenge.com
Time taken: 8 hours ride time
We have done this loop in an anti clockwise direction 3 times before but this time decided to try it in a clockwise direction. We departed from Little Bay on the Eastern coast of Coromandel excited and ready for the mission that lay ahead. We were straight into a nice solid climb out of Little Bay over to Tuateawa and then into another reasonable climb over to Kennedy Bay the sweat was pouring off even at 9 o’clock in the morning. Before we knew it we were tackling the biggest climb of the day the Kennedy Bay hill which goes from sea level up to around 400 meters. We were forced to focus on staying on our bikes as our lack of speed, the steep gradient and the loose dry gravel all conspired against us. Luckily the last and steepest sections of the climb were sealed and we managed to haul ourselves up and over the saddle. The beauty of the Coromandel is that every decent climb is rewarded with a more than spectacular descent – hurtling down towards Coromandel with the breeze in our faces was an unbelievably nice sensation. At the bottom of the Kennedy Bay hill we turned right away from the Coromandel Township and its cafes and coffee to start our journey up the western coast. The section from here to just after Colville town was sealed and apart from one significant climb was a relative breeze. Dropping down into Colville town the temperature had started to soar and we had been on the go for 3 hours so we decided to stop and refill our water bottles at the conveniently positioned water tap between the garage and the café. Continuing on from Colville we turned right onto Port Jackson road and then cruised along the stunning coastline. Wow what a road. This has to be one of New Zealand’s most scenic stretches of road. It certainly takes the sting out of riding when you are mesmerized by the surrounding scenery. After a relatively flat ride along the scenic coast we were faced with a decent hill climb over to Port Jackson. By now the heat of the day was really starting to bite and we stopped at the top of the hill to reapply sunscreen and stretch our backs and legs. Wow !! Dropping into Port Jackson was yet another visual feast with Little Barrier and Great Barrier to our left and white sandy beaches and rocky outcrops below us. We undulated our way along the top of the Coromandel Peninsula through some shady forested sections and a cooling ford down to Fletcher Bay to the start of the walking and biking track. Even though there was water available at the camp site at Fletcher Bay the signs recommend to boil all water before drinking so we were glad we had decided to fill up at Colville. We were now on single track and made our way up and over farmland to the intersection of the stock track which goes up to 500 meters then drops down to Stony bay and the coastal track that undulates and contours its way around the coast. For some reason we chose the lower easier more shady option rather than the steep exposed gnarly option (we may regret this decision come Godzone time) and pedaled and coasted our way around the track admiring the views and enjoying the coolness the shade offered. On arrival at Stony Bay we headed for the nearest shady spot and had another rest and a bite to eat before tackling the steepish 200 meter climb out of Stony Bay. We were now on the home stretch and apart from one decent climb out of Port Charles most of the hard work was behind us. Even better news, the camp store at Waikawau Bay was open, and we were able to fill up on chocolate milk, cold drinks and water. Ahhh !! Bliss … a great way to end an awesome day. 
