- an off road adventure race – rough and hilly terrain
- teams of 2
- mountain biking
- trail running
- kayaking
- navigation
- course and distances for each leg are unknown until the morning of the race
- expected race time – 3-6hrs
With a forecast 30 degrees, everyone in Melbourne was getting excited....me? I was getting hydrated!
And for once, the weatherman was right, dammit. No one wants an adventure race in the heat!But alas, the sun was out, and everyone was buzzing as the Lysterfield carpark filled up with a sea of cars with bikes on roofs. I was quietly crapping myself, first adventure race and all, and to top it off, I had my race buddy meleah who i didn’t want to let down! But at the same time I came to a sudden realisation, 9 times out of 10 i come to these off road events by myself, but this was different, I had Meleah, and i also had my own personal cheer squad and cameraman, Shane. Hang on....I think this is gonna be fun!!
After racking the bikes in transition, and checking out the lake (flat as a pancake!), we could finally register and get our hands on a map, and a listing of all the checkpoints. Wooo hoooo! It was time to mark up the map. Now as Id spent so much time training, and getting lost in the park, I reckoned i had the trails down pat. Lots of scribbled trail names, trail numbers, highlighter overdoses and i was done....map covered in contact, with all the bubbles that go with it.....it was time to race!!
The race started with a flattish 5k run, with about 5 checkpoints successfully checked! Smoking hot, had to be at least 25 degrees at 10am...I knew I was in for a loooong hot day. But gold comment from Meleah...”We cant be seen walking, Shane could pop up anywhere with the camera, hes just like “Wheres Wally”!”
Back to transition, placed 122 out of 129.....oh dear....least we weren’t last!
Then a 10km mountain bike. Somehow we missed the first bike checkpoint....those pesky ribbons tend to hide in the trees!! After some backtracking, we found it, and were off again – up Blair Witch and Hug tracks. Nailed another 7 checkpoints. But seriously who rides UP those trails? Uphill is no fun! Comment for the day from Meleah – “Im not letting someone with a bike stand on their mtb beat us!!”
Bike to run transition at the top of the Comm Games track, placed 112. Oh and we had passed the dude with the bike stand....
5k run up and down the crazy rollercoaster trails behind the comm games track...actually to call it a “run” is a bit of a stretch. Was there checkpoints involved? Who knows, it was all a bit of a blur. Hot and exposed it was hard yakka. And the tactic of walk the ups, run the flats and downs....ahhhhuuummm.....sorry Meleah, i have 3 stitches stabbing into my belly everytime I try pick up the pace, as well as both calves cramping.....definition of FRUSTRATION! And far too hot bothered and grumpy to consider eating....was all i could do to keep sipping on the water.
Calf cramp!
Boy oh boy was i glad to get back to the bike!! Placed 111 overall...how on earth did we pass someone on the run? Did they die in the bushes?
Ride time again baby! This time another 10k. I had actually managed to somehow down a gross sticky gel with 80mg of caffeine on that hellish run, and oh baby, it kicked in! Maybe a bit to do with the fact I had dropped all caffeine from my diet for the last 3 weeks...i was buzzing! We positively FLEW down the wallaby track....wide downhill fire trail, wind in the hair...just what we needed. Passing teams left right and centre. Up and around Upper and Lower Buckle, this was my territory, and whilst other teams were um-ing and ah-ing on the route to take, they were left in our dust. We had places to be, and weren’t stopping for anyone! Well almost.....50m out of transition, Meleah decided that clearly she wasn’t looking hardcore enough, falling off in a not so spectacular, slow motion fashion, resulting in a stream of blood all the way down her leg. Ive always said that if you don’t come home with bruises or blood, you haven’t gone hard enough. Meleah had it sorted, not sure that my excuse was!
Flying into transition for the final time, we were placed 102 overall. But more notably, on that final bike ride as a standalone, we were 61st fastest, and that was against all the blokes and hardcore racers...Wooo hooo!
Final leg found us donning lifejackets for the 2.5km kayak. Standing on the shore, squinting into the sun trying to pick out the small jetty in amongst the brush on the other side. The eyes aren’t what they used to be...well on the map it looks like we veer off to the left.....but for some stupid reason Shane kept yelling out “Make sure you go the RIGHT way, not the wrong way, go the RIGHT way”, huh? What was he on about?? Looked at the map again, then turned the map around like most women do with the Melways (admit it you know you all do!).....ahhhhhhh, we saw the light...and headed off veering right!
I must admit it was a welcome relief from the heat to be out on the water, copping little splashes with each paddle. As a result of my intensive kayak training (refer previous blog)....ie. one time on the kayak, and twice on a fit ball with a broomstick (!!!), 500m in I was convinced my arms were going to fall off. But funnily enough, they stayed intact, but i have to thank my lucky stars that Meleah was a gun paddler, and was tolerant of my little “rests” here and there! Im so glad we were sharing a kayak! Id still be on that lake otherwise!
Back on shore, time to pinch myself, that was it! Not even bothering to remove the lifejackets, we sprinted over the line in a time of 4hrs 16 mins...WOOOOO HOOOOO! We had done it! Final result was 11th out of 18 female teams, and 93rd out of 129 teams overall (after missed checkpoint penalties had been applied to other teams). OVER THE MOON!!
Lessons learnt...
- Runners are much more practical in your backpack than left at the start/finish line!
- If you carry 3.5L of fluid on a hot day, drink more than half of it!
- Thinking carefully about where to rack your bike in transition is time wasted when theres only about 10 bikes left by the time you get there!
- Eat every half hour even if its the grossest thing you can imagine! And even if you are buzzing bout passing other teams. I ate 1 packet of powerbar shotz, 1 gel, and 2 bites of a bar for the whole race. WRONG WRONG WRONG! What have you learnt over the years Richelle!
- A chocolate Big M after the race is appropriate...but not if its the only food you eat for the rest of the day! Not the ideal recovery!
Special thanks to Meleah for your amazing patience on the run and the kayak, and my whining in general. And thanks to Shane for the awesome pics, and your cheering at random spots on the course!
