GeoQuestHalf2015

Team 72 Sunshine Unicycles for Better or Worse GeoQuest Half 2015 Race Report/Novel

This year Andrew and I teamed up with Greg and Michele Krome to tackle this iconic race, Michele and I had some idea of what we were in for as we had the privilege of being in the TriAdventure Cowgirls team captained by Jan Leverton last year, Andrew and Greg were support crew and event volunteer respectively last year so had a somewhat different perspective and a better understanding of what our support crew, Mitchell and Greg would be going through.

Team 72 at Race HQ

The weather dawned cool on Friday morning at Hawks Nest and we headed to HQ for registration and competencies, we flew through the first aid and navigation tests then it was time to head down to the very cold river where we had to paddle kayaks out to deep water, capsize, get back in and return to shore then race around to the next official to jump in the water and swim 100m. Time for a shower and some last minute organisation and back to HQ for map hand out - from this point on we were on the clock trying to get our course planning and contacting done, our gear organised, some good nutrition into our bodies and a good nights sleep. The course was going to be heavy on the kayaking and light on the mountain biking with lots of wet transitions.

Kayak Competencies

Shannon, Steve and their beautiful labs staying nice and warm

Finished with the competencies - we don't even look cold.

Course Overview

The contacting machine - not a single air bubble in any of the maps, our race is off to a great start!

Saturday morning the weather was looking good and we gathered at Jimmy’s beach to begin the adventure

Team 72 looking bright and keen

The whole Team

Catching up with Jaci Warrior Princess Team Captain at the start line

Jimmys Beach - GeoHalf Starting Point

Leg 1 - 5k Kayak across Nelsons Bay from Hawks Nest to Shoal Bay, the weather was pretty perfect with the swell and chop in the middle making for an exciting paddle. Andrew's brother had been watching the trackers and was waiting on the beach for a quick hello as we came into the shore.

Leg 2 – 7k Trek around to Fingal Beach, this was a pretty trek through the hills near the coast with the highlight being the descent down the sand hills to Fingal Spit.

Shoal Bay looking toward Mt Tomaree

Michael Page one of the fabulous event photographers and the photo he took below

Photo by Michele Krome

Heading down to Fingal Spit - at low tide you can cross to Fingal Island

Leg 3 - 14k mountain bike rogaine along some easy tracks with a bit of sand thrown in, we had to mark the position of the CPs (Check Point) onto our map at this TA (Transition Area). Heading out of this transition we were surprised by Andrew's mother and aunty who were very excited to have found us and we had to stop for a quick hello. We had to complete a snorkel during this leg so had to carry gear for this with us on our bikes. The snorkel involved locating 3 CPs floating under the surface. Andrew and I had snorkel and goggles and we all took flippers, we had been dreading this but as it turns out the water wasn’t too cold and I was comfortably warm in neoprene shorts and short sleeve top although I got a bit hot going to collect the foot CP. We had located the 1st two CPs fairly quickly and where looking for the third one when I found a still wrapped energy bar floating in the water, not wanting to try and get out of the water with it I swam over to the safety official in the kayak near by to ask if I could give him the bar, when I stuck my head under to swim back towards the rest of the team Bingo, there was the third CP. Time to get back on the bikes and move on to the TA at One Mile Beach.

Transition to Bikes - Photo by Michele Krome

Andrew's Mum and Aunty - Photo by Michele Krome

The snorkeling section

Race director Craig Bycroft checking out the snorkeling

Andrew and Michele using teamwork to get the CP

Michele wore her pink bathing cap so we couldn't lose her

Leg 4 - 16k trek starting with some spectacular rock hopping around Boat Harbour, Michele was well and truly out of her comfort zone for this but as a team we were happy to just take it slowly and make sure we all remained injury free and got to enjoy the beautiful coast line. This trek leg also included a check point in the sand dunes but with recent rains the dunes were nice and firm and the CP easy to find. From here it was a bit of a slog with a road run (we really had a Cliff Young shuffle going at this point and it took us a couple of ks to catch up to and overtake a team that was walking so our pace was slow) we ran/shuffled most of this as we knew it would be the last bit of running we would do for the entire race. At Taylors Beach we were greeted by Andrew's Mum and Aunty again who had been watching dots on the GPS trackers but were at little optimistic and had been at this CP since 2pm and it was now 4.30pm. They had gotten to know many of the teams as they blew up their rafts and had worked out that they weren’t allowed to blow up the rafts for us or leave us food (this would have been difficult for Andrew's Mum who thinks he is getting too skinny!) We chatted away as we pumped up our rafts and then headed off into a magical sunset. Andrew and I had worked out the perfect seating positions and were so comfortable it really felt as though we should have been sipping champagne as we paddle across the still waters. The 1^st paddle was 200m then we ran up the muddy beach (Andrew and I would have been happier to paddle this) then it was back in the rafts for an 800m paddle as the sun went down and the marine rescue boat kept us safe in this potentially busy water way.

The big slot canyon we were warned about

Michele is a bit out of her comfort zone for the rock hopping

Out into the sand dunes

Saw this on the run to Taylors Beach. According to Facebook Roast the Goat loves standing on his house showing off when he is not eating.

Inflating our rafts

With Andrew's Mum and Aunty, Michele was very excited to see them

Taylors Beach - a lovely spot for a CP

Who would have thought you could be this comfortable in a little blow up raft, where's the champagne and nibbles!

Leg 5 – 13k Kayak. It was full dark by the time we got into the TA where we had a fairly quick transition to kayaks again and headed off into the darkness with some tricky nav through shallow, oyster lease dotted but perfectly still waters collecting a couple of CPs on our way to Karuah. Our support crew was surprised at our quick progress and were only just ready when we arrived, Greg and Michele really hard the pace on and kept us moving on this kayaking leg. We didn’t rush this transition, by the same token we didn’t have any rest either but still spent an hour in this TA as we need to get changed into dry warm clothing which included trying to get toe socks over my slightly wet and more than slightly chubby toes (not an easy feat even at the best of times), eat or drink something warm (a choice of pumpkin soup or milo was provided by the support crew) and get lights onto our bikes and helmets.

Kayak launch point was inhabited by hundreds of soldier crabs

This is why you always need good footwear on every leg of an adventure race - oysters everywhere

Leg 6 - 33km Mountain Bike. This bike section had us worried as it was pretty flat and when things are going well in GeoQuest you just know that there is going to be a Bycroft twist coming up and the area we were heading to was called Devils Hills which didn’t sound good. We flew through this leg and didn’t see a soul until we were heading out of CP25 to the TA where we met the most teams we had seen together since the beginning of the race, turns out CP25 was a Bycroft twist and we had dodged a bullet with our route choice and had just made up a couple of hours on many teams.

Leg 7 - 14km Trek. This was a challenging but rewarding, mostly off road trek that took us 7hrs starting at approx 11.30, most of this spent traversing a ridge line popping up onto high points to take the next bearing. We had our only bit of wasted time during the whole race on this leg and it was only 15mins or so and we were quickly on our way again when just another 100m on we found the track we were looking for, Michele may have gotten a little worried that the boys didn’t know where we were for some of this trek and was having visions of us resorting to using our safety bearing – it must have been sleep deprivation as the boys naved this trek like pros with Greg on the maps and Andrew backing up and keeping an eye on the bearing (As team photographer I was just looking for fungi which I also did like a pro!). By the time we hit the Highway the sun was coming up and Andrews’s feet were getting sore and he was cold but he perked up quickly once we got some warm food into him, our support crew providing toasted sandwiches and I opted for a hot milo again.

The people you meet in the bush in the middle of the night! Three teams converge on the 1st CP of this Leg

This lovely fungus had to be rescued, it had been knocked over so I
stood it up again and gave it a wash...as you do in the middle of a
race. I am now looking for the owner of a size 12 Salomon shoe who
left their prints at the scene of the crime!

Making a B-line for the Highway

Leg 8 – 10k Kayak. We again had picture perfect weather for this kayak leg across to Mungo Bush, the most challenging aspect of this paddle was staying awake, at one point I was sure I was hallucinating as I could hear voices behind us getting closer very quickly – turns out it was Team Peak Adventure the winners of the GeoQuest Full who steamed past us with some words of encouragement and smiles that inspired us to keep on moving which was just what I needed as I had a pain in my wrists that I had never felt before and was beginning to think I might become a cripple if I kept on paddling – turns out I’m ok as here I am typing a novel!.

Getting pretty tired as we have been on the move for well over 24hrs now

Team Peak Adventure steaming past

Mungo Brush TA

Leg 9 – 21k Mountain Bike. What a wonderful way to finish a race, flat road on a bike – it doesn’t get much better than that and how wonderful to finish just 10 minutes behind the TriAdventure Cowgirls in a time of 27hrs so all their supporters where still at the finish ready to greet us as we crossed the line.

You can tell by this report that Team 72 had an excellent race, the team dynamic was great and we all really enjoyed the epic adventure. Thanks go to my team mates for making it so much fun, our support crew, Mitchell and Greg who did an outstanding job always greeting us with smiles and words of encouragement and driving 350k around the course to keep us warm, dry and fed, to Louise and Craig the race directors who put together a fantastic race that was beautiful and challenging enough to be epic but not impossible and to Jan and Kim at TriAdventure whose training and advice meant we were well prepared and fit enough to tackle this most amazing of adventures.