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Saturday Apr 27, 2013 #
Event: Esperance Adventure Race
7 AM
Adventure race race (Boundless Esperance AR) 10:29:14 [3] 105.36 km (5:58 / km) +1115m 5:40 / km
shoes: Giant Anthem X3
Return of The Rangas
Leg 1: Paddle
Jacko & I decided to go for all the bonus controls so we headed off with about 6 other teams towards the creek to get X1.
Mark & Shane did their best effort at trying to make themselves look like hacks by zig zagging the first 200m but unfortunately for everyone else that wasn't an indication of how the rest of the race would go for them.
Over the weir we made the mistake of going over the rocks on the left which put us at the back of the pack but we gradually made up some ground and with a better crossing coming back we passed 2 teams and set of out of the harbour 2 spots behind Mark & Shane.
We overtook Robin & Joel (Team 17) on the way to the jetty ruins but instead of coming in to shore on the back of a wave we found ourselves in the wrong place with one breaking on us and turning us sideways swamping the boat but luckily we stayed upright.
We kept a steady pace during the paddle passing a couple of the teams that didn't go for the bonus control, not too far behind Mark & Shane & with a bit of a lead over 17. Not too bad considering our total paddling training was about 4km in Jacko's double last weekend. It helped that we have paddled the sevvies a few times in the past & Tooms & Boltboi did a great job fixing up the boats (& Edmund did a great job helping inflate & check our boat was in top racing condition).
Very happy with this first leg, nice to be up the pointy end with the bonus control working out to be worth roughly 35mins.
Leg 2: Street O
Looks like we took almost the same route as Shane & Mark for this leg, although with shane saying afterwards that they were running at 4:00min/km at one stage we weren't likely to see them again after being a few hundred meters behind going up the hill to get the Cadel control. Good job Jacko was 99% sure about Carlos meaning we didn't waste any time picking up extra controls.
Leg 3:MTB
What a start to the MTB leg, a nice little hill to get the heart pumping a bit harder. We saw Mark & Shane for the last time as they headed out from x5. A small mistake, riding past the gate cost us a few minutes but Jacko found the right track and off we went again. It was hard to not relax and take in the views riding along the coast but with the headwind making even some downhills hard work and some brutal hills this was a tough leg. Another big hill up to 6 then some bashing through the bush to get back onto the tarmac. A long ride out to the lookout at 7 with a very steep downhill to get to the control before turning & coming back up. We walked most of this uphill using the time to get in some food (& to allow Jen more time to take photos to show how much we weren't struggling). x8 was another long climb giving the granny gear another good workout. When marking up the map we had made a few mistakes with the scale and had to change some distance written on the map, after coming out of x8 we stopped briefly at the correct place for 9 but assumed this was one of the distances we had not corrected and continued on again thinking it was up further. After riding on a bit we realised our mistake and headed back seeing a few other teams in the area going in both directions making similar mistakes. To make things worse we took off at a quicker pace, angry at our mistake only to make things worse by riding straight past the turn off to TA2 and going a good 2.5km before clicking that the turn should only have been a short distance from 9.
Heading back to the TA turn off Jacko was clearly angry and riding on adrenaline as he was flying up the hills with no effort at all & I was struggling & lagging behind.
We came into TA2 a lot closer to the cut off than we were expecting. Thanks to Danger for helping out at this TA.
Leg 4: Trek
A quick water refill & change of shoes and we headed down onto the beach for the signature stage of the race, a truly epic trek with the clouds rolling in to bring some chilly rain for a short time before settling into overcast but pleasant conditions for the remainder of the leg.. I was glad to get off the bike as my ass was really starting to hurt with only about 30mins riding in the last few months not being the ideal preparation.
I loved this trek, my legs felt fresh after a few minutes on the bike and the views & weather made it feel like a true adventure. We could see team 17 way off in the distance ahead of us, luckily they had made a few mistakes as well and we could see a few dots a fair way behind us at times. Unfortunately it was on the beach run/walk that Jacko was starting to get some cramping pains that would come and go during the remainder of the race but thankfully he managed them well by knowing when to back off a little preventing them from blowing out into a race ending problem. We nailed x10 and felt pretty good on the trail after 11 before coming out of the scrub and seeing the huge dunes ahead of us. luckily the sand was mostly quite firm and we were able to run some sections gaining on a couple of teams we could see way ahead of us. It was hard not to get delayed on this leg as the dunes were an amazing experience. It was hard not to roll down the steeper ones and run along the ridges in the wrong direction. My mind did wander a bit and I couldn't resist imagining us being in the dunes of Tatooine with me being R2D2 and Jacko was C3P0. Out of the Dunes and along the track to 13 then TA3 we kept swapping between a quick walk & jog to keep Jackos cramps under control. We passed a team along the fence line after 13. Into TA3 and some more helpful volunteers with lollies & soft drinks it was time to get back onto the bikes.
Leg 5: MTB
A pretty simple leg with a mostly straight ride picking up 14 on the way to TA4. We cruised this section using it for some recovery time before getting off and running again at TA4.
Not long after getting int TA4 we saw team 17 getting ready to head back out & figured we were roughly 30mins down on them.
Leg 6: scatter O
Tooms gave us a map & asked if we were splitting up for this section & as we hadn't fully read the race booklet we had no clue what he was talking about. We ripped the map down the middle with Jacko heading out for the controls on the East side of the road & I took the rest. I felt pretty good through this short run making one small mistake after running a short way past one turn off. Getting back to the TA Jacko was still out on his side having some chafing discomfort adding to his cramps. I used the few extra minutes to get some S&V chips from Jen (thanks Jen) get tackled (or tickled) by Edmund & change back into my riding gear.
Final leg: MTB
Back onto the bikes and pretty quickly found the next CP before making a decision to take the longer but flatter option that included a road (debatable) over the short hike a bike section over undulating sand tracks.
This section seemed to take forever with very few parts ridable and we would have been quicker going the shorter way but that may have made Jacko's cramps flare up worse so we can't say for sure if it was the right or wrong decision.
By comparison, to get from the CP to the next common point in the track Mark and Shane took about 19mins & we took 42mins going the longer way. This was the low point of the race for us, thinking we wouldn't see any teams again and cursing Tooms & Boltboi for making us push our bikes through the sandy tracks at this stage of the race, surely the could have arranged for it to be all downhill to the finish from whatever point we feel at our lowest.
Back onto ridable trails we started to feel a bit better and after returning to the bitumen we were glad to see & pass another team that was struggling. It was starting to get dark by this stage and we made the decision not to go for x28 thinking that the time gained could easily be lost going through the tracks in the dark. Another 2 teams passed on the way to the finish including ameko who was having some cramping issues himself.
It felt pretty good to still be riding strong at this stage of the race and we were just getting into town when Jackos chain came of and he got another bad cramp as he stopped to fix it.
Into town and through the finish gate felt great… until someone asked if we had gotten the final control down on the jetty, so a quick ride down the beach and back and it was take 2 to cross the finish line to finish a great race.
It was difficult to tell what position we came after the race. We knew we were in a good position early in the race but as we had made a few mistakes we didn't know which teams ahead of us had passed us due to our mistakes or due to not getting some bonus controls.
It was a very pleasant surprise at the presentation as Tooms was reading out the results in reverse order. From about 7 or 8 onwards I was ready to hear our names called and we were shocked when we realised we had made it onto the podium finishing 3rd.
I was very happy with how I felt throughout the race, my only real pains being a sore wrist due to no paddle training and a sore ass from no bike training. Jacko did a great job fighting through his various pains and the few mistakes we did make didn't end up costing us too much overall.
A big thanks Jacko for a solid effort all day & to Tooms & Boltboi for putting on a truly epic race. Thanks to Jen (& Edmund), Danger & all the other volunteers for being cheerful, helpful, and making the race possible. Also all the other competitors were also always friendly and made the race even better.
I can honestly say that this race had more adventure than all the other AR's I've done put together. The trek through the Dunes was definitely the high point.
Only one thing could have made it better… Boltboi knows what!
Leg 1: Paddle
Jacko & I decided to go for all the bonus controls so we headed off with about 6 other teams towards the creek to get X1.
Mark & Shane did their best effort at trying to make themselves look like hacks by zig zagging the first 200m but unfortunately for everyone else that wasn't an indication of how the rest of the race would go for them.
Over the weir we made the mistake of going over the rocks on the left which put us at the back of the pack but we gradually made up some ground and with a better crossing coming back we passed 2 teams and set of out of the harbour 2 spots behind Mark & Shane.
We overtook Robin & Joel (Team 17) on the way to the jetty ruins but instead of coming in to shore on the back of a wave we found ourselves in the wrong place with one breaking on us and turning us sideways swamping the boat but luckily we stayed upright.
We kept a steady pace during the paddle passing a couple of the teams that didn't go for the bonus control, not too far behind Mark & Shane & with a bit of a lead over 17. Not too bad considering our total paddling training was about 4km in Jacko's double last weekend. It helped that we have paddled the sevvies a few times in the past & Tooms & Boltboi did a great job fixing up the boats (& Edmund did a great job helping inflate & check our boat was in top racing condition).
Very happy with this first leg, nice to be up the pointy end with the bonus control working out to be worth roughly 35mins.
Leg 2: Street O
Looks like we took almost the same route as Shane & Mark for this leg, although with shane saying afterwards that they were running at 4:00min/km at one stage we weren't likely to see them again after being a few hundred meters behind going up the hill to get the Cadel control. Good job Jacko was 99% sure about Carlos meaning we didn't waste any time picking up extra controls.
Leg 3:MTB
What a start to the MTB leg, a nice little hill to get the heart pumping a bit harder. We saw Mark & Shane for the last time as they headed out from x5. A small mistake, riding past the gate cost us a few minutes but Jacko found the right track and off we went again. It was hard to not relax and take in the views riding along the coast but with the headwind making even some downhills hard work and some brutal hills this was a tough leg. Another big hill up to 6 then some bashing through the bush to get back onto the tarmac. A long ride out to the lookout at 7 with a very steep downhill to get to the control before turning & coming back up. We walked most of this uphill using the time to get in some food (& to allow Jen more time to take photos to show how much we weren't struggling). x8 was another long climb giving the granny gear another good workout. When marking up the map we had made a few mistakes with the scale and had to change some distance written on the map, after coming out of x8 we stopped briefly at the correct place for 9 but assumed this was one of the distances we had not corrected and continued on again thinking it was up further. After riding on a bit we realised our mistake and headed back seeing a few other teams in the area going in both directions making similar mistakes. To make things worse we took off at a quicker pace, angry at our mistake only to make things worse by riding straight past the turn off to TA2 and going a good 2.5km before clicking that the turn should only have been a short distance from 9.
Heading back to the TA turn off Jacko was clearly angry and riding on adrenaline as he was flying up the hills with no effort at all & I was struggling & lagging behind.
We came into TA2 a lot closer to the cut off than we were expecting. Thanks to Danger for helping out at this TA.
Leg 4: Trek
A quick water refill & change of shoes and we headed down onto the beach for the signature stage of the race, a truly epic trek with the clouds rolling in to bring some chilly rain for a short time before settling into overcast but pleasant conditions for the remainder of the leg.. I was glad to get off the bike as my ass was really starting to hurt with only about 30mins riding in the last few months not being the ideal preparation.
I loved this trek, my legs felt fresh after a few minutes on the bike and the views & weather made it feel like a true adventure. We could see team 17 way off in the distance ahead of us, luckily they had made a few mistakes as well and we could see a few dots a fair way behind us at times. Unfortunately it was on the beach run/walk that Jacko was starting to get some cramping pains that would come and go during the remainder of the race but thankfully he managed them well by knowing when to back off a little preventing them from blowing out into a race ending problem. We nailed x10 and felt pretty good on the trail after 11 before coming out of the scrub and seeing the huge dunes ahead of us. luckily the sand was mostly quite firm and we were able to run some sections gaining on a couple of teams we could see way ahead of us. It was hard not to get delayed on this leg as the dunes were an amazing experience. It was hard not to roll down the steeper ones and run along the ridges in the wrong direction. My mind did wander a bit and I couldn't resist imagining us being in the dunes of Tatooine with me being R2D2 and Jacko was C3P0. Out of the Dunes and along the track to 13 then TA3 we kept swapping between a quick walk & jog to keep Jackos cramps under control. We passed a team along the fence line after 13. Into TA3 and some more helpful volunteers with lollies & soft drinks it was time to get back onto the bikes.
Leg 5: MTB
A pretty simple leg with a mostly straight ride picking up 14 on the way to TA4. We cruised this section using it for some recovery time before getting off and running again at TA4.
Not long after getting int TA4 we saw team 17 getting ready to head back out & figured we were roughly 30mins down on them.
Leg 6: scatter O
Tooms gave us a map & asked if we were splitting up for this section & as we hadn't fully read the race booklet we had no clue what he was talking about. We ripped the map down the middle with Jacko heading out for the controls on the East side of the road & I took the rest. I felt pretty good through this short run making one small mistake after running a short way past one turn off. Getting back to the TA Jacko was still out on his side having some chafing discomfort adding to his cramps. I used the few extra minutes to get some S&V chips from Jen (thanks Jen) get tackled (or tickled) by Edmund & change back into my riding gear.
Final leg: MTB
Back onto the bikes and pretty quickly found the next CP before making a decision to take the longer but flatter option that included a road (debatable) over the short hike a bike section over undulating sand tracks.
This section seemed to take forever with very few parts ridable and we would have been quicker going the shorter way but that may have made Jacko's cramps flare up worse so we can't say for sure if it was the right or wrong decision.
By comparison, to get from the CP to the next common point in the track Mark and Shane took about 19mins & we took 42mins going the longer way. This was the low point of the race for us, thinking we wouldn't see any teams again and cursing Tooms & Boltboi for making us push our bikes through the sandy tracks at this stage of the race, surely the could have arranged for it to be all downhill to the finish from whatever point we feel at our lowest.
Back onto ridable trails we started to feel a bit better and after returning to the bitumen we were glad to see & pass another team that was struggling. It was starting to get dark by this stage and we made the decision not to go for x28 thinking that the time gained could easily be lost going through the tracks in the dark. Another 2 teams passed on the way to the finish including ameko who was having some cramping issues himself.
It felt pretty good to still be riding strong at this stage of the race and we were just getting into town when Jackos chain came of and he got another bad cramp as he stopped to fix it.
Into town and through the finish gate felt great… until someone asked if we had gotten the final control down on the jetty, so a quick ride down the beach and back and it was take 2 to cross the finish line to finish a great race.
It was difficult to tell what position we came after the race. We knew we were in a good position early in the race but as we had made a few mistakes we didn't know which teams ahead of us had passed us due to our mistakes or due to not getting some bonus controls.
It was a very pleasant surprise at the presentation as Tooms was reading out the results in reverse order. From about 7 or 8 onwards I was ready to hear our names called and we were shocked when we realised we had made it onto the podium finishing 3rd.
I was very happy with how I felt throughout the race, my only real pains being a sore wrist due to no paddle training and a sore ass from no bike training. Jacko did a great job fighting through his various pains and the few mistakes we did make didn't end up costing us too much overall.
A big thanks Jacko for a solid effort all day & to Tooms & Boltboi for putting on a truly epic race. Thanks to Jen (& Edmund), Danger & all the other volunteers for being cheerful, helpful, and making the race possible. Also all the other competitors were also always friendly and made the race even better.
I can honestly say that this race had more adventure than all the other AR's I've done put together. The trek through the Dunes was definitely the high point.
Only one thing could have made it better… Boltboi knows what!