A last minute withdrawal by our female recruit meant luckily for us our SOS was answered by a keen Matt Henderson. This meant we were now an all male team with the wealth of 1 member having done an Espresso before and very limited Navigation experience (read done a bit at school a looong time ago!). Team; Nige, Gregor, Matt and Pete "Assault Team Mudbutton".
Team meeting on licenced premesis on Wed we met Matt and immediately thought we had been very lucky to get him on board. Nige and Gregor headed down together and Matt and I got to know each other a bit better on the way down to Nannup on Fri after work. As we came into Bunbury we saw Matt's fiance Ruth on the road and ended up having dinner together. A bit more fancy pants than we were expecting due to only getting in to the 3rd place we tried due a cancellation. Stopped in with some fellow racers in Nannup and early to bed. Tour De France and early start at work I was toasted.
I'm sure Murray scheduled the race during the TDF to further the sleep deprivation.
Race day and we departed the quite god digs at the pub for the Town Hall.....then turned around as it was across the street. Got our maps and started to plan our routes. Paddle, MTB, Rogaine, MTB, Trek, MTB Time Trial, MTB. We got bogged down in the detail and ran out of time to plan the final Trek, MTB. We had to frantically plan what we put into our 3 transition tubs. One of these would be at each transition and the gear in these and what we carried would have to last us the race. "What do I need, and where and when do I need it" is the question.
Down to the start for 12:00 and feeling very nervous and underprepared. Start we elected Matt to do the sprint for the Control Card (used to record punches at each checkpoint as proof you were there). Once he was back and he was at the pointy end we picked our canoes installed the seats and gave them a final pump up. Then we were in the water I think about mid-pack. The water was flowing well and we had a few small rapids and lots of trees to negotiate. After a while Matt and I realized our L/H side had a leak, and that everyone else had taken a pump with them. Hmmm. The "Maids" were our saviours and lent us their pump and we were back on track. A false stop for the paddle bonus, but we found it the second time. I was following the river on the map in my lap when a branch caught the lanyard and they were gone. A nice team of girls retrieved them.....thankyou! The paddle finish was a one lane affair and the girls were really struggling to get their canoes up the hill. 20km and TA1. onto the MTB already cold.
1st MTB was a welcome releif for Nige, Gregor and myself. 1st Nav attempt and bush bash straight up was a success gaining time on a few teams. But the next tracks we tried to follow showed that the night Nav was going to be tough as some of the tracks clearly sown on the map were so overgrown they were hard to follow in the daylight! We kept a steady pace and managed to get the 2 MTB bonus CP's. Had been dark for some time when we hit TA2 a little warmth at by the fire and into the Rogaine.
Matt said to me "Pete you'll never believe this" Matt had put his runners in the wrong box and had to do the 13km rogaine in his MTB shoes. We had some difficulty finding the first of 5 compulsory CP's. But we found it at the end of a log into the River. Nige was straight onto it, getting his feet wet in the process. After bush bashing for a while following a creek we walked the up's and jogged the flats and the downs and made reasonable time but had difficulty finding the last 2 CP's. This stage saw the race highlight for me with Gregor resorting to using a bandage from the 1st Aid Kit for an unorthadox use. We didn't bother trying to get any bonus CP's and overtook some teams into TA3 back where we left our bikes.Back on the MTB it was truely cold now. I couldn't find my sleeves but donned my thermal top, it would have to do. only 3 CP's we had trouble following one of those overgrown tracks but along with another team we managed to find them. On the road we managed to take some more teams into TA4 back at the Town Hall.
This was a welcome chance to warm up and plan the Trek and final MTB we hadn't had a chance to do before race start. We lost some time but weren't too worried. Straight away we saw what they meant by "expect some elevation" and encountered the 1st of the many Blackberry's. 3rd CP there was a road that wasn't on the map that threw us. second attempt and a little help we found it and were off. Here was the lowpoint. I advised a Right when I should have said Left, and we climbed a massive hill before realising my mistake at the top. Fantastic view in the moonlight with the fog in the valleys, I thank the boys for taking it so well. Back tracking we regained our course and had a shocker trying to find the CP on the "Mossy Rock" already a bit down we were climbing rock faces in thick bush and the map wasn't lining up with the terrain. Saved by a team of girls we got it and headed off electing to take the long route on-road rather than more bush bashing. This paid off beating the girls to the next CP and beginning to overtake more teams as the sun began to rise. Our least favourite competitor on another team was stuggling at this point which put a bit of a smile back on our faces. With the sun and a couple of easier to find CP's our sense of humour returned. Thankfully the running was stopping us from completely freezing to death. Into TA5 we saw Jill who commented she had to defrost the windscreen on her car for 10min to get there.
Our bike were waiting and we were really pleased to be getting on our bikes and knowing there was no more running. The guys at TA weren't having nay trouble checking we had our mandatory thermals as if you weren't wearing them you would have been in a bit of bother! Due arriving after 7am we were disappointed not to be allowed to do the 3km MTB Time Trial, and we were told we were not to do 3 CP's. The Maid's left TA before us and a massive climb straight up on the bike poor Matt was struggling but we were all warmed up now. Off the powerlines again the map wasn't lining up and we gave up on our 1st CP for the race. Time was becoming an issue as we wanted to make sure we were in by the limit of 12 midday. Coming into Nannup with 2 CP's left Matt's rear wheel locked up. His bike had been a bit noisy for a while, turns out all the rear brake rotor bolts bar 1 were gone and the rotor cocked and bent in the caliper. Lucky boy! Last CP was supposed to be where we started the paddle and we stuffed around for ages looking for it. We were all a bit over it but kept looking and pulled the pin with 15min till the cutoff. Very frustrating!!!
Thanks to those that cheered us into the finish. 23hrs 47min 20km paddling, 90km MTB and 33km run/hike we couldn't find 2 CP's were short coursed for 3 CP's and got 3 bonus CP's. We finished 12th and were really chuffed.
Presentations and lunch were low key, the biggest challenge for the day was yet to come. The drive home. maybe we should call it a 27hr race.
Was 0degrees and we were cold all night, we seemed to flog around the bush for ages trying to find CP's but all in all I had a ball and I think given the chance I'll do another one. Matt's keen and I know Nige has declared-Never again.
Next challenge.......
