Avon Descent

Decided to do the Avon Descent a while ago, partly in an effort to become a true "West Australian" (still have the Rotto Swim to go before I get there apparently), and partly as a lead up to the Speights Coast To Coast, a Multi Sport event across the South Island of NZ. I have since put off the Coast To Coast for a while, but thought I'd have a crack at the Avon anyway. I managed a bit of ocean and river training. Even a "Valley" rapids and a "Tea Tree" run in the weeks leading into the race. despite this I still felt under-prepared and a bit scared. Mici had taken the opportunity to get the hell out'a town, but thankfully Matt Henderson had signed himself up to be my support crew.

Friday I headed up to Northam for scrutineering and rego. I dropped off my ski and was impressed with the amount of water over Northam weir. First obstacle only 200m from race start, brilliant! Race day and Matt and I had picked up Pete G and Pocket who were joining some other kids for a road ride from race start at Northam back to Perth.

Got a good start and was second of my wave of 8 boats. Successful navigation of the weir and managed a good pace. Kept telling myself to settle down, 2 long days ahead. First stop was at the top of Extracts weir for water and food 28km. Inexperience here. Where Matt and I met turned out to be where everyone was coming out that was "Portaging" (walking) their ski around the rapid. I wanted to have a crack at it, but I couldn't get back out so had to walk it.

Back into it heard some great support from the cyclists and Matt. Next stop Wetherall Reserve another 24km. Uneventful and kept a great pace. Met Matt for more water and food and was feeling it a bit. Hit the water again for the final 11km for day1 and finish at Cobblers Pool. This section was all Tea Trees, and for those who don't know they are chaos! They are hard enough on your own as the water flows through them and drags you into them. Now add 630 people and it is bedlam. I had actually managed to stay in my boat up to here but came out a few times in the mix. Nothing too bad but bent my rudder in the process. No left turn available, but only a couple of km from the finish so no drama.

Matt met me at the finish and I was super chuffed for my day1 result. Finished over an hour earlier than I estimated. We pulled the rudder blade off and I took it home to straighten it out. Home for more carbs and an early night. 7am start tomorrow and a 1.5hr drive meant a far too early rise.....

Day1 4hrs52min overall183/387 category76/182 gender177/369 best leg Toodyay to Wetherall 52/182 in category. 52km down, 72 to go.

Day 2 we arrived back at Cobblers before the sun and fixed the rudder. All looked good (looks can be deceiving!). Off we went again and today straight into the remaining trees and the carnage began. Boats everywhere blocking the passages and the water just kept brining you into them.....like Lemmings. I think I actually got through relatively quickly considering, but the worst was yet to come...............

about 5km in I noticed the boat was all over the place, and wasn't responding to rudder inputs like it should. after a spill I had a look and noticed the rudder mount had pulled a large chunk of the pastic hull out of the boat. This is not good! This section is called "The Valley". Most of the rapids for the race were in here and no support for 35km. The boat was handling like an out of shape marshmallow, every 4 or so strokes and I was heading for the bank or a tree. What I thought was going to take about 3hrs took 4.5hrs. The only positive was that the hole where the water was getting in filling up the boat with water, the water came back out really quickly when I stopped to empty it out. Tried to fix it with cable ties, no joy. So, hit all the rapids bar Bells with no rudder and got absolutely smashed! Smashed my bum on a couple of rocks while in the  water down rapids (this would be an issue later) and my Life Jacket worked well during a swim at Emu Falls. At this point I was mentally dealing with the possibility I might have to pull out. I had no choice but to push on until Wayalunga but if I couldn't work something out for a rudder there was no way I was going to get through the 37km from there.

I worked out the way to tell what the oncoming rapids were like was took take note of how many spectators there were. Syd's Rapids there were a lot of spectators and safety personell. This was going to be a ripper! I gave it a go and got smashed again, I swum out to where a safety guy was and mentioned I didn't have a rudder. He advised "You definatley should Portage". With that I walked around the rest of it and paddled as best I could.

Arriving at Wayalunga Matt wasn't where I expected him to be. This meant I was going to had to do Championship and Wayalunga rapids still without my rudder. I had been really keen to get something sorted and was beginning to get a bit scared of the rapids since I had copped more of a hiding than Mr Bean in the ring with Mike Tyson. Found a quite concerned Matt at the bottom of Wayalunga (had been waiting for ages) and we got to work. Tape cable ties and more tape, and it looked like the rudder just might work. I asked Matt to meet me at Upper Swan just in case.

Right then, lets try Bells and see what happens. Launched and immediately got stuck in a tree.....DOH! Approached Bells and there were people everywhere, then just to add to the fun they announced my name over the PA system. Now they know WHO it's going to be that gets smashed. You wouldn't read about it, I breezed it through. "That's what my day could have been like" I was thinking, then I remembered now comes 30km of flat water.....

Caught sight of Matt at Upper Swan and gave him the good news "See you at Middle Swan" were back in business. About here was where the  power boats started to go by.....Ahhh there's nothing like the sound of a 2 stroke at full throttle! The 22km from Wayalunga to Middle Swan dragged on and my bum where I had cracked the rocks was really hurting. At Middle Swan more water and Food and a couple of Nurofen (Nurofen did nothing!) 15km to go!

I had my best result of the race on the last leg to the finish. 44/182. I knew I was going ok as I was reeling quite a few people in, but I didn't realise I was going that good! Finish at Garrat Rd and I was very releived to not be sitting on my bum any more. That hurt more than any MTB race.

Chris and Matt were there at the finish. Great atmosphere. Great atmosphere everywhere. I still can't get over the number of spectators....there were thousands of them, everywhere, all clapping and cheering indiscriminately.

In summary. I can't thank Matt enough. Brilliant effort and great encouragement. I'm not sure I'll be rushing in to go solo again, but I'd be keen to go again in a team. I was lucky, great water level, great weather, and made it through. Loved it!

Garmin Day1;
Avon Descent Day1 by pjgoo2 at Garmin Connect - Details
Garmin Day2;
Avon Descent Day2 by pjgoo2 at Garmin Connect - Details