It’s been a while since we have posted on our blog as so
much has been going on. Now that Gary and Sloshy have joined forces with their
AR event companies, Sloshy has missed out on the Ridgeline Series and Gary has
missed out on competing in his 10th Hells Bells, so it’s been more
racing for Leo and me.
Following Geoquest there have been so many adventures had by
the team…..here are a few highlights!
Ridgeline Race 3
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| Leo & Kim and the Balloon Tower |
‘The Culminator ‘– Leo and I teamed up for
this one which was located at the base of Mt Tamborine at Cedar Creek. The course
was a mixture of Rogaine style and traditional point to point navigation,
despite the race being in the middle of winter, it was a pretty warm day making
conditions on course fairly challenging. There was quite a unique start to the
event with a balloon tower competition used to spread teams off before setting
off on bikes. The navigation was quite challenging and with the rogaine format
it meant you did not really know where you were placed, but got to see most of
the teams out there on the course. There was a good range of maps including the
two foot navigation sections which used orienteering maps. In the first foot
Rogaine we made a pretty monumental error which had us go back to the TA and
start again, so after losing about 15 mins we had to make no more mistakes. The bike course back to HQ before the final foot rogaine was
challenging with plenty of hike a bike action and some gnarly technical
descents, which suited perfectly….I was a little more cautious. We got back to
the TA in 2nd 6 minuted behind Team Rogue (Paul Elby & Liam St Pierre).
Somehow we managed to catch up to them with just 3 CP’s to go…..at the final control
we made our move and outran the boys back to the finish….and solved the Clue ‘Octopus’
before they arrived at the finish. This
gave Team MD’s 3 wins from 3 races in the Ridgeline Series 2014.
Wild Women AR
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| Kim & Gina on the Plank Walk Challenge |
I had to ditch the boys for this one, being
an all-girls event, however Gary and Sloshy were the event organisers, so it
was still a big team MD affair! I teamed
up with Gina Dunsdon who had earlier this year raced for Team MD’s with Sloshy
at the MDARA Sprint event at Mt Cotton. Gina and I had strong competition out
there with almost 50 teams all taking part in the 3rd edition of
this event, which was the ‘first ever all women’s AR event’ in Australia. The event started with a few fun challenges on
foot including a target throw, and team plank walk. This spread the teams out
well before getting out onto the bike course. Were probably in 3rd
place at this stage as we had had to line up for the planks, but that just
added to the challenge. The bike was hilly and Gina and I did not mind the hike
a bike section at all. We had an awesome ridgeline ride through the Dulacha
State forest before heading to the trails around Ewen Maddocks Dam. Gina and I were
in the lead by this stage but team Area 51 and tri Adventure Vintage were in
hot pursuit. We got a lead in the 1st
paddle and maintained it on the Trek, and paddled back to the TA without
another Team insight. Gina and I were able to really enjoy the ride to the
finish, as we had plenty of time to note make mistakes under pressure. Thanks
Gina for a great day out!
MDARA Woodford
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| Gary, Kim & Leo drop bikes off at TA |
This event was in a new location, flat and
very fast one indeed. The event was located on the western edge of the Beerburrum
state forest, on the same day as MTBO had an event on the East side of the
forest. Sloshy was sick in bed so Leo, Gary and I teamed up as a three for this
event. We started with a very short trek to separate teams before the bike. Just
one set of maps so Gary was on the nav, I had the control descriptions and Leo
the ferret. We took the lead early, and made it to TA 1 for a trek. Great fun
was had bush bashing to most of the controls….not sure that it was faster, but
just a good challenge, back onto the bikes for the super-fast fun ride back to
the HQ for the mystery leg. As it had rained overnight the sandy trails were
compact and fun to ride. The mystery leg was a Solo SUP paddle to 3 CP’s, so each
team member had to go out & back to one each. The final leg was a short
trek around the water ski park and the race was all over by 11am for us……so there
was another event on that day….that I thought I would not get back in time for….so
off I went!
King of the Mountain
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| Kim interviewed after King of the Mountain Win |
This is an iconic Mountain Running event
held in the Noosa Hinterland town of Pomona and certainly one that has
definitely contributed to my involvement in the sport of adventure racing. So I
had time to get to the briefing at 2pm and the start at 3pm, and as the MDARA
race was less than 3hrs long I did not feel too hammered. So I rocked up in my
Team MD’s post event outfit, muddy race shoes and toed the line for the start.
I was running 3rd -4th female in the run to the base and
held 2nd spot most of the way up the mountain. With just 50m of
climbing to go I get to the front and never looked back. I descended the
mountain fast but cautiously knowing I was in the lead and just had to get to
that finish line unscathed…..easier said than done I can assure you! I crossed
the line in just over 30 mins and securing my 3rd King of the
Mountain victory, somehow backing up after an adventure race that morning…..this
felt like a dream! But I am off the NZ in October to Race up Mt Edgecombe in
the King of the Mountain in Kawarau.
Ridgeline Gold Coast Adventure Race (GCAR)
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| Gary & Leo at GCAR presentations |
Gary, Sloshy and the Ridgeline Team have
brought back their own version of the former Anaconda Gold Coast AR, which is
actually a multisport event as it does not have navigation. This course is probably
one of the toughest multisport events in Australia, and Gary made it tougher,
with added single track on the bike. There was also a version that did not have
a swim or ocean paddle, allowing for people to work their way up to the full distance
course, with a river paddle only option. Leo formed a 2 person team with former
MD team mate Nick More completing the paddle and the MTB legs, whilst I was up
for the entire adventure. Great results with Leo’s team taking line honours,
with fastest splits in the MTB (Leo) and run (Nick) and I was overall female
winner.
Cyclegaine
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| Gary & Sloshy marking up maps |
This was a 6hr rogaine style MTB event. Gary
raced with Sloshy as they were missing being out racing and took overall
honours, Leo teamed up the Brett Stevens and Ray Deetleefs and were on the
podium, and I raced mixed pairs with Alex Austin (who was my team mate for the
Ridgeline Step Up event) and managed to take the win in the mixed team
category. Great results for Team MD’s again especially Gary and Sloshy who
actually cleared the course in very wet muddy conditions…..it rained for the
full 6hrs!
Straddie Salute
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| Kim, the Cleveland Mayor and the Straddie Salute Trophy |
I was the only Team MD’s member rocking up
to this off road triathlon event on the picturesque North Stradbroke Island. I
still love a race with an ocean swim and as I am heading to Lorne for the 10th
Anniversary of the Lorne Adventure Race (former Anaconda AR) in December it was
a good chance to try a new off-road multisport event. The swim was rough and
choppy and challenging, the bike was 60% road and the rest flat off road, meaning
it was fast and furious, and the trail run was hilly but rewarding as there was
beautiful scenery and plenty of up’s and downs mostly trails. I was crowned
Straddie Salute Female Champion and took home the biggest most beautiful trophy
ever!
MTBO
Part of the skill of AR involves keep your Nav skills
sharp, so instead of resting up after the Straddie Salute, I backed up the next
day with a 38k MTB course at Wild Horse mountain. I was a bit tired and
fatigued and when I lost my zinger (that’s the electronic timing stick) I just
did the rest of the course with Jan……so we shared the nav decisions like you do
in an AR event….great training!
6- 12hr Rogaine….Gary had a niggle, in his hamstring so he had
to pull the pin on this event however Gary Palmer (Gary’s wild side partner …..read
more about this later) was still up for some good navigation practice and
competed in the 12hr event. I opted to race the 6hr in an all-female team with
Jan & Gina to get some final navigation practice for Hells Bells and not
have to race as hard as I do when I race with the boys. Leo was off in NZ skiing
with his old school mates and Sloshy was setting the course for Hells Bells.
The Flight Centre Epic
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| Kim receives trophy for Endurance Champion |
The Flight Centre Epic is one of Queensland’s
most iconic MTB endurance events and has been going for over 10 years……I opted
for the 11k trial run on the Saturday (preparation for NZ) and the 87k MTB
event on Sunday……good training. Somehow I ended up racing in the elite women’s
field and had a cracker of a day finishing 3rd Elite female on a
very tough day of racing especially backing up after the trail run the day
before. I was shattered at the end as the mud on the course for the first 2-3 hrs,
meant there was plenty of hike a bike and stopping to scrape the mud off wheels
that had stopped turning. The trails at Spicer’s Hidden vale are pretty
technical too, so it was a great chance to see how far I have come on the MTB
since first having done this event as a point to point race back in 2005. A
great tough weekend that definitely toughens you up! But will I recover enough
for Hells Bells????
Hells Bells
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| Leo & Kim set off on the paddle in shallow water! |
Gary and Sloshy and the Dare You Team created
another great AR event which lived up to its name and did not disappoint! I was not recovered…..I was tired and
exhausted from the Epic and a big week of work…. up late may nights making
assignments (the end of term for a teacher is always pretty busy and stressful)…..and
having had so many weekends of non-stop racing, I was not sure how the body
would react, but at least now I was officially on school holidays….Leo was backing
up after a big training weekend with Gary the previous weekend as well as a
week of skiing in Queenstown! This year saw a change to an early start to Hells
Bells which meant more racing in daylight, and thus more opportunity to see the
spectacular scenery. The setting was Delaney’s Creek near Woodford and Somerset
Dam, Mt Mee and the D’Aguilar National Park, a totally new area for adventure
racing! Map handout was 6am and race start was 8am, so just 2hrs to prepare 5
maps and pack 3 boxes…..think we just had 2 minutes to spare before the start.
The format was Bike, Paddle, Bike, Trek, Bike, Trek, Bike, and it was a big
mass road ride out to CP4/TA1 for the start of the paddle, with not much chance
for teams to split, so we had Adventure Junkies, Rogue, Area51 and Team MD’s
all sharing the work at the front to the pack. The paddle was Rogaine style, so
Rogue and just one team travelled anticlockwise and the rest of the teams
clockwise, and again there was not much chance to split up, with all teams in
full sight of each other.
We got back to TA and out on the bikes in 2nd
behind Adventure Junkies and headed to CP6 – Fig Tree. We found the tree but
not the CP hidden in the massive roots…..so the three teams were soon all
together again, however we managed to get a slight advantage out of CP 7 from
Area 51 and in and out of TA 2 – CP out before they arrived. On this foot leg
we had to locate the first CP to find the location of the next and so on….we
overshot the first one, and had to backtrack in the creek, so did Adventure
Junkies and Area 51, and many of the Fairy Bells Teams….we basically did this
leg alongside Adventure Junkies working together to find CP G at the base of
the cliff. We both arrived back at the TA and set off on the bikes together
again, and we in for some serious climbing……now I was starting to feel the
previous weeks of non-stop racing, so Leo and I settled into a good rhythm, sharing
the bike navigation and happy to be in 2nd place. Going a bit easy
meant we did not blow up on the hills and made no mistakes, and arrived at the
TA CP15 just 6 minutes behind Adventure Junkies…..and were now more than 7hrs
into the race.
We then set out on a foot navigation leg that proved to be very
challenging for every team. We nailed CP O, M, and L then had a pretty horrendous
bush bash out to the trail up to P. We were then stumped at this point as we
could not find P, we checked and cross checked and were 100% sure we were in
the right spot, so had to abandon and keep moving…..had the Adventure Junkies
found it???? We had no idea…..so we headed for CPK at the lookout. We got to
what looked like a lookout….no CP….progressed to another lookout……no CP ….now
starting to get worried we checked the map again and realised it was a bit off
the high point….and were relieved to see Somerset lookout in daylight and find
the punch with no flag! We ran all the way down a great ridgeline and overshot
the track to CPN and so went the long way in and found it no worries and hightailed
it back to the TA to find that we were ahead of Adventure Junkies and had a 20
minute lead on Area51 going into the leg……but we had to report that we had not
located P.
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| Mystery Leg that challenged many a team! |
We were then informed of a mystery leg….more CP’s on foot which we
had to draw on our map. Now as I was going to mark up the map and Leo was
having a feed, I noticed that Leo had trimmed map…..but luckily it had 99.9% of
the part we needed. I personally never like to crop any of the maps as you just
never know in AR what you are going to get……. Anyway it was just getting dark
so on with the Ay Up’s and we chose to get CP Q by following the trail to the
track creek junction, then walk in and out up the creek….spotting a beautiful
Owl along the way. Unlike many of the team we had no troubles locating CP S
& R although we did note that the hike up to R would certainly test teams. Just
as we were heading back to the TA we noticed lights and knew the Adventure
Junkies were hot on our heels…..and we were about to find out if CP P was misplaced
or if other teams had found it.
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| Leo and Kim at the Finish....whats in the mug? Beer! |
To our delight it had been hung in the wrong
spot, and we were credited the CP, so we had a lead and just had on bike leg to
go, it was now almost 7.15pm. Knowing we did not have much of a lead, we raced
hard all the way to the finish and enjoyed the great lights of Brisbane from the
top of MT Mee, and crossed the line at 8.19pm after 12hrs and 19 minutes of
Hells Bells. A great result for us to make it 3 in a row on the Trophy for Team
MD’s ……now Leo gets to put this on his dining room table! Rounding off the
podium were Adventure Junkies (1st Male Team) at 8.44pm and Area 51
(2nd Mixed Team) at 9.45pm. Now I get to relax and enjoy 2 weeks
holiday! Oh and the Prize for Hells Bells this year was a free entry into the X-marathon Adventure
Junkie Race on 13th & 14th December in Eildon
Victoria , so I have lined up Sloshy as
my Team MD’s partner!
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| Leo hugs the very special 'Hells Bells' Trophy with Kim! |
Wow…..what a year for Team Mountain Designs, so many great places visited and so many awesome adventures!
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| Jodie & Darren prepare for Wildside |
What’s Next ……well Gary is off to the Wild Side……..This is
an all new AR Expedition 5 Day event based in Forster NSW. He is teaming with one
his original race partners Jodie Miekle & her Geo half partner Darren Harrow
from NSW. Jodie now a mum with 3 kids has had some time away from the sport,
but is back into it again
having competed at the past two Geo half events,
alongside Darren. They have been preparing by doing some of the Kathmandu
Adventure Races in NSW and putting in some big training weekends. Also joining the team is Gary Palmer one of Queensland’s
more experienced adventure racers, who races for Team Cyclezone who have
finished top 5 at Geoquest in the past 2 years. So Gary Sutherland has been
training the house down, when he has not been running around the bush setting
crazy courses for all of us. Although this Team MD’s line up will not have raced
together as one unit before, the experience and strength of Team Leader Gary
Sutherland will certainly be a force to contend with at the Wildside!
