Geoquest Race Report 2015 - Kim Beckinsale
Losing
Leo our super strong team mate just 2 weeks out was a bit of a bummer, however
we still arrived at Hawks Nest with
collectively 33years of GEOQUEST racing experience. Joining Gary, Sloshy and me
was Mr Rapha himself, Pikey our 2011 Tassie XPD Team mate! So we were all set
for a fun race. We rocked up at rego in Pikey’s Jaguar looking a bit too flash
with new MD team gear and very pink Rapha caps making ourselves very noticeable
indeed. It was all part of the fun, as we caught up with all of our AR friends
that make the annual pilgrimage to this event called GEOQUEST, now in its 15th
year!
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| Team Mountain Designs looking all Rapha! |
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| Kim and Pikey exit the swim with the Cowgirls - Tri Adventure |
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| Team Mountain Designs are far off to the right....just out of the picture! |
Race
Day at Hawks Nest looked picture perfect, with a bit of a shore break but
nothing too nasty. We were told the course would be shortened, due to rough conditions around the Island. This ended up being a blessing, as after Sloshy and I made it
out through the break and looked back, Gary and Pikey were not through. The rudder
malfunctioned and they had to complete the entire leg without a working rudder,
so Gary was the engine on the front and Pikey steering from the back. Sloshy
and I could not then paddle at full speed as we needed to stick close to our
team mates, so conditions were even more challenging in our tippy ski! I must
say I was very thankful for all of the ocean paddle training I had done to feel
so confident. I was in awe of what Gary and Pikey were pulling off though so it
was such a good feeling to get off the
paddle just behind Rob & Catherine Preston and start the first coastal
trek!
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| Pikey at the end of the paddle - glad to be on dry land! |
We
soon warmed up again and in no time at all had caught a few teams including ‘Dynamite’
and ‘Buggered if I know’ then before we knew it we were at the TA to get ready
for the MTB-Snorkel leg. I carried a shortie wetsuit but the boys opted just
for goggles. Along the way we had to collect just 3 of 6 CP’s so this would see
teams split then come back together. We were pretty stoked to get into the water
in the Snorkel CP’s with all the lead teams – Peak Adventure, CBD Cycles, and
Thought Sports- Shotz Nutrition (once were Macpac). After a bit of sand riding,
we at the next TA in the lead.
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| The view of the Snorkel from above! |
Transitions
were not our strong points in this race, but I think that was my fault! I loved
the coastal trek, it was spectacular coasteering around the headlands and
running over the sand dunes with all lead teams, even having a bit of a chat to
each other along the way. Three teams arrived at the raft leg within seconds of
each other and it was just perfect conditions, heaps of sun and no wind. As we
were pumping up our raft it suddenly split at the seam and air started pouring
out! Lucky we had a patch kit, but it was unlikely to hold…..so we just took
off as that was our only option. Our 4 person raft barely fitted all of us and
with our leaky boat it was like paddling in a bath! We made the first crossing,
portaged to the CP, re inflated the raft and took off again…..just making it to
the other side without sinking! My 47yr old knees did not seem to want to move
as I tried to get out and start running again. We had lost over 25mins to Peak
Adventure but were really just happy to make it.
At
the TA we had hot chips and cheese toasties to go, which was so awesome! Upon setting
out onto the Trek we were told the canoes may not be at the creek crossing and
that we might have to swim. We arrived just as the CP was arriving on foot,
punched our wrist bands and got ready for the swim. Time to get wet again! I
took off my shirt and thermal top and put them in a dry bag, so I would at
least have some dry clothes at the other side, as there was not too much
daylight left and I did not want to get too cold before the paddle. Little did
we know that CBD cycles were right behind us at this point and saw us before we
headed into the bush to CPJ NE side of creek. We were so relieved to pick this
one up in daylight, as it was just so hard to spot. Out of this CP we then
spent what seemed like hours and hours walking in circles. The track and creeks
made no sense and despite Sloshy and Gary trying so very hard to find our way,
we had to end up just going on a safety bearing to get out of the mess. So as a
result we knew that many teams would have passed us and it was funny when we
finally arrived at the TA at the end of the leg, Blowney said to us….do you really want to know
when the top team came in…..just after 6pm….it was now after 9pm???
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| Leg 6 Map 6 - Looks so simple???? |
There
was still plenty of the race to go, so now we just had to keep going. Knowing
it could be a bit cool, I put on jacket, cag pants and thermal top, and was
really enjoying the paddle until I fell in the water getting out at the bank on
the way to the high point CP. I was pretty mad and cold and wet. I had hoped
the climb would warm me up but I was soaked to the core….paddling hard did not
seem to warm me up!
Back
at the TA at Karuah I had to completely change my clothes, and tried so hard to
warm up. I had hot chocolate and chicken pasta and put on plenty of layers. I
was definitely a bit slow in this TA, but I knew we had at least 10hrs ahead of
us and it was going to be a long cool night so I wanted to be prepared. We set off on the bikes and the
first 10k was all on flat roads, so it was not warming up one bit, and the
temperature was dropping 11, 10, 8, 6, 5 degrees…..I was freezing and had to
put on my jacket and hood, over my vest, top and thermals. Once we hit some
small inclines and technical riding, I started to warm up to a comfortable
temperature but then I started falling asleep. Nothing I could do could get me
out of this state. I spent the next 7hrs on the bike struggling to keep my eyes
open and not crashing. This was really hard for the team, as usually this would
be a strong part of the race for me. Yes, I get the occasional sleep monsters
like everyone does, but this was different, I was like a zombie zoning out and
it was such a struggle to get through the leg. As the sun came up I thought I
would be okay, but clearly I was not. Physically I felt great, I could ride
some really steep and technical parts of the course, but then the next second I
would be almost falling off……pretty scary! Sloshy did a great job navigating this
section.
Finally
at around 7am we arrived at the final trek. Only one team had arrived back –
Peak Adventure, and all the others were still out there, so we set ourselves up
for another epic! Pikey was hurting big time by now and there was no way he
could run, so we decided just to walk…..good XPD training anyway! Sloshy had
the maps and we pretty much nailed every CP spot on. CP U that was 100m east of
where the circle (map correction) proved a bit challenging. As we interpreted
the corrections differently, we looked for
the CP in both directions and eventually found it more than 250m to the east.
We saw Liam and ‘Quality Nude Time’ on our way out of this one, so we gave them
the heads up, as well as ‘Damaged Goods’ a bit later on.
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| Leg 9 - Trek - We walked the whole way and nailed it! |
We
were pretty stoked to get back on the bikes, I was still yawning bigtime, bit
at least managing to stay awake. We had a bit of a climb out of the TA followed
by a long descent…..which was fun, I think Gary was now a bit sleepy, but
Sloshy was out the front pushing the pace, so I was now doing my bit to help
the others stay alert….just like they had tried to do for me all night. Just seconds
before a creek crossing Pikey’s tyre started spewing out sealant! We tried to
gas it, but the hole was too big, so we put in a tube and soon we were off
again. Sloshy set a cracking pace all the way to Bulahdelah.
We
were in great spirits going into the long final paddle, and enjoyed the hot
meat pies that the support crew had for us! We decided to mix things up a bit,
so Pikey joined Sloshy in the XT and Gary and I paddled the Elite. Sloshy and
Pikey set off at lightning speed, meanwhile Gary and I seemed to be going
nowhere! We were thinking are we this stuffed??? But then I said maybe we have
weed on our rudder. We pulled over and the biggest clump of weed came off…phew!
We set off again, caught the boys and sat on their wash most of the way along
the river. We were all struggling a bit to stay awake, so we were chatting as
much as we could to stay alert. We shared a coke at halfway, and pulled in to
the bank for a stretch just before the final lake crossing. Both Gary and I
tipped in as we were landing the ski….oops, it certainly woke us up, but now we
would have to paddle really hard to stay warm but hey, at least the sun was
out! Conditions on the lake were perfect and a slight cross wind provided a few
runners to catch, making it a pretty fun paddle wash riding Sloshy and Pikey!
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| Team Mountain Designs - Finish Geoquest 2015 |
The
final TA was a bit slow, as Gary and I had to put something warm on. Even
though there was only 18k to go and everyone was saying how warm I was still
freezing cold…..Sloshy was ready to go…..but had to wait for me again! We hightailed
it to the final CP, crossed the creek, followed
the trail then bush bashed onto the bitumen as Sloshy sat on the front and set
a cracking pace all the way to the to the finish!
I
was totally overwhelmed by the supporters we had at the finish line! Despite us
not finishing on the podium and certainly not having our greatest race, to see
all the smiling faces as we crossed the line, was just so special and so
rewarding. Thanks to our support crew Blowney, Lucas, Kylie, Diggie & Dersley, you were always in high spirits even when we dropped off the radar!
Thanks to all my Tri Adventure buddies who all raced / supported the GEO Half yet made the effort to be there at the finish to watch Team MD’s cross the line this meant so much to me. I was so excited when I heard the news that Tri Adventure Mixed had placed 3rd and the Cowgirls Tri Adventure had won the all-girls category, and that all the teams entered had finished. As coach I am so proud of you all!
Thanks
so much to Pikey for stepping in at the last minute to enable us to race at
this amazing Adventure Race called Mountain Designs GEOQUEST. Gary and Sloshy were
both strong throughout with Sloshy demonstrating he is on fire to race in
Alaska in June, then back up for XPD in August!
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| Thanks Pikey! |
Thanks
to Ay Up Lights, Hoka Footwear, Flight Centre Active Travel, Tri Adventure and Mountain
Designs (our major sponsor) for kitting us out with race gear and equipment.
Mountain
Designs have been supporting Geoquest for 15 years and their support for
Adventure Racing in Australia over this time has been pivotal in ensuring that
this sport that we know and love is going from strength to strength.
Geocentric
Outdoors (Craig & Louise), once again you have given us an experience to
remember forever!
Will
we see you at GEO next year???
