You have to love the coastal locations Craig and Louise of Geo Centric find every year for the Geo. I remember travelling the east coast many times in my surf Ironman days and seeing all the signs off to small towns like Hat Head, Seal Rocks, Scotts Head — the east coast has more “head” than Bill Clinton… well anyway…
This year’s location was fantastic as always, but as I was traversing the cliff line last Sunday night with a full moon to light the way, I thought that perhaps one year it would be nice to stay on the coastal strip the whole race.
Team Anaconda’s race started a little shaky, with us scrounging up one support crew at 8pm on Friday night. We were pleasantly surprised to have new recruit Ross on board one hundred percent, taking notes like a secretary (not Bill’s!) and truly getting into it.
Along with Ross was my twelve-year-old daughter Maddison, who came along to every transition and seemed to be awake as long as the team. Heaven help me when I have to support her team in a few years’ time.
Gloria, my beautiful mum, was there as last year, cooking up a storm “in Styrofoam cups” every transition, along with a thousand cheese and Vegemite sambos. Thanks to those guys from all of us.
Stage One
Kayak 12km, Trek 15km, Tube 1.5km, Kayak 10km, Tube/Run 5km
Stage One went quite well for us. We set a steady pace and were happy to follow Millie into CP1, where we made sure to change clothes and shoes, not wanting to carry sand and drying salt for the ensuing trek.
I was quite upset with navigation after leaving Gapp Beach right on the tail of a fast-running Team Mountain Designs, when I found myself struggling to find the tracks indicated on the topo map. After being joined by Wilderness Wear and losing sight of MD’s, my frustration grew.
Upon arriving at the tube-to-kayak transition, I was surprised to find that Tronk had found a way past us — MD’s were actually still trailing.
It’s indicative of all the top teams in Australia now that the navigators can all find CPs. It’s a matter of route choice and surmising where new tracks may be, or others may not be.
We set off encouraged that Tronk and Wilderness Wear were in sight, and Millie a mere four minutes up the road — I mean, river.
A great transition from kayak to tube saw us dropping Tronk and WW, and within 2.5km of HQ and the end of Stage One, catching Millie.
Stage Two
20min compulsory stop, 50min car drop, Cyclegaine, Rogaine, Cycle, Hike-a-bike from hell, Team split, Cycle
Anaconda had a great race for transitions, with our changeover times totalling 3hrs 5min, against MD’s 3hrs 7min, Terra X 3hrs 2min, and Tronk 3hrs 17min. This included compulsory stops and transits.
Speed in transition was our plan from the outset. It’s “free time” — it’s much harder to ride, run, and paddle 30 minutes faster than to be better organised in transition.
The rogaine section was great. We went for 9 of the possible 10 CPs on the bike, completing it in two hours and one minute, allowing Rosi to rest her hamstring.
This left us with seven CPs on foot. With darkness and rain setting in, we started cautiously. I aimed into the creek line early to hit the CP, only to cop thick watercourse scrub.
The rhythm picked up but was never smooth — rain pelting down and frustrating flora everywhere.
We arrived back at the Start/Finish CP tailing Tronk, who had navigated superbly to move into first. Millie and MD’s were still out, and unbeknownst to us, MD’s would take another hour forty-five to finish.
Then came the “killer hike-a-bike” — an overgrown trail climbing 500m. John Jacoby bulldozed the way. After what felt like all night, we reached the ridge below the tower.
I discovered a flat but climbed as long as possible before changing it. It was nice to hear encouragement from Tronk as they passed.
At the split sport leg, Rosi and I took the cycle CPs, using a “get out of jail free” card to drop one. John and Darren searched for two.
When they returned, John quietly said:
“We didn’t get any checkpoints.”
Plan A was gone. Plan B began.
John and I headed back out. After recalculating, we realised we’d dropped onto an unmarked road too early. Two hours later, we returned with both CPs.
No other teams had found them. Tronk thought they were misplaced. Then Brett Stevens from MD’s arrived with his card punched.
Tie for first.
Back to HQ at 4:30am. Gloria’s cooking. Ross and Maddison’s support. Groundhog Day.
Stage Three
42km Ride, Mystery Trek, Ride, 20km Kayak, 11km Trek
We started one minute down but passed MD’s after sunrise. Rosi was flying, as she always does late in races.
The climbs were brutal, but we built a 26-minute lead before the mystery trek.
I plotted the four CPs and cleared the first two quickly. Then we lost the race.
Without my compass, I relied on John’s bearing. We headed south into thick vegetation, emerging far from where we wanted. The lantana was so bad we invented “lantana caving” — crawling on hands and knees.
Mirage Terra X joined us. Darren’s rear hub failed. We knew more time would be lost.
At the kayak transition, we were 20 minutes down.
Cold, wet, and tired, we changed, portaged the ski (never meant for that), and paddled on — singing and dreaming of food.
With 15 minutes to make up, we followed moonlit headlands, enjoying the most scenic part of the race.
Then we saw Tronk’s lights behind us.
“They can’t be more than 6 or 8 minutes back,” I yelled.
We sprinted.
High tide cut us off. I leapt into the blowhole and swam across. The others followed.
We ran to stay warm. Five kilometres of sand. Two headlands. Finally, the trail to HQ.
We put 25 minutes into Tronk on that run.
Finished 3rd at 9:35pm.
14 minutes behind Terra X.
1 hour 32 from Mountain Designs.
A feed. A shower. And deep satisfaction.
Well done to all teams, and to MD’s — who trained hard all season and deserved the win.
Adventure racing teaches you this:
Never give up.
The race is not over until you cross the line.
Yours in Adventure Racing,
Guy Andrews
