Blog update

Kim Beckinsale will now be posting to her Tri Adventure blog page http://triadventurenoosa.blogspot.com.au/

Geoquest Port Macquarie 2016 - Race Report - by Kim Beckinsale

Team Mountain Designs - Alex, Leo, Kim, Peter

This year for Geoquest, Leo Theoharis and I were joined by two fresh young athletes, Alex Austin, and Peter Preston. On paper we had a strong team with Leo, Peter, Alex and I having being on the podiums of previous Geoquest and Geoquest Half races, as well as Godzone finishers back in April.  We were all very looking forward to testing ourselves out there against some of the strongest and most experienced athletes and teams in the country; ranked as  follows Peak Adventure (1), Thortz Sports Shots Nutrition (2) , Adventure Junkies (3) Dynamite (4) Neverest (5)  and other dark horses such as Rapid Ascent (8). Geoquest being a supported race, means that having an experienced support crew can make a difference, so we were pretty excited to have Lea Schloss (wife of my former Team MD Team mate Dave Schloss) there with Adam Mc Kane one of Alex’s best mates and one of Noosa’s best lifeguards.

Leo and Peter test the Stellar Ski

HQ was Port Macquarie and location for the briefing and competencies, and the most exciting of them all …..Map handout. With the course revealed at 3pm Friday it was obvious we were sitting at the finish line, the ocean paddle was set to start at Bonny Hills and there were 11 legs including one ‘mega split’. After map handout the team rushed back to our accommodation at Flynns on Surf Beach, and started getting stuck into map preparation. While Lea cooked up a storm in the kitchen, with Adam worked on gear land logistics. We heard at about 6pm that the ocean paddle had been cancelled, which was not what strong paddling teams had hoped for. By the time we finished the maps we had a team plan – Peter lead navigator, Leo support navigator with myself on logistics as well as backup navigation on trek legs and Alex too on the role of the ferret. We probably finished all of our maps and gear sorting by around 10pm, so a good 8hrs sleep was awesome, with the later start.

Alex - warming up at the start

Leg 1     Mega Split Paddle/Trek               8k

Teams lined up on Pilot Beach for a classic Geoquest mass paddle at 8am for an 8.30am start, except we did not have to venture out into the ocean. This leg allowed teams to split in pairs and then split again and go solo, which was an advantage for teams with 4 navigators. Alex and I paddled together and collected CP A & B from the kayak then split. I collected two on foot while Alex paddled to H then picked me up on the way back to the TA. Meanwhile Leo and Peter paddled up towards CP C and split up to also collect CP G, D and F on foot. Our plan worked well as we arrived into the TA in 2^nd just behind Adventure Junkies, and near some of the half teams; Linda and Mandy – Wondering Wandering Wookies and Greg Krome’s Tri Adventure M & M’s. I really enjoyed the Mega Split as encouraged teams to use strategy and it once again tested the navigation skills of the entire team.

Peter Preston & Leo vs Rob Preston & Damon

Leg 2     Coastal Trek      8k

We were treated to a very spectacular run north along the coastline up to Bonny Hills. Alex being a surfer was in awe of the pumping waves and glassy conditions on Grants Beach. It was not long before the lead teams were all together looking for a track on the headland up to Grants Head, we were with Adventure Junkies and Thortz Sports,  knowing that Peak Adventure were also hot on our heels. The pace was on, but not enough to stop Leo from having a chat to all of his training mates! Alex and I even stopped for a hug and a chat as we passed the ‘Cowgirls’ doing the Half. It was a pretty social time out there even though we were all racing!

Leg 3-5 Mountain Bike 35k         Trek 8k                              Mountain Bike 10k

The crew had set up an amazing transition spot for us, with our chairs all at four corners of a tarp and all our gear and food spread out ready to pack into our bags. From this point we would not see our support for almost 8 hours so we did not rush this TA at all. We needed maps 4,5,6,7; mandatory gear, tracker and our Ay Up Lights – check!

Not long off the bitumen the ride turned rough and soon we had our first hike-a-bike, actually the only one of the race. We were stoked to find the trail off the spur after CP 6 leading to CP 7, however we were soon stopped in our tracks as Peter had a slash in his tyre. So a bit of team work required to get a tube in, gas it then top it up with the hand pump. Strangely, no teams went flying past us, so we must have chosen a slightly different route to others, as by the time we had negotiated the single track through Spring Gully and made it to the highway, we could tell there were definitely a few extra full course teams now ahead of us, one of them Dynamite. We collected our map from CP 13 and worked out how to complete the Q & A Orienteering at the historical town of Herrons Creek. This consisted of riding around the town and reading all of the historical signs, at places like the old post office and the memorial hall. We then set off to CP 15 for the long climb up Blackbutt Road and Sandy Hollow Road to the next TA at CP16. We weren’t killing ourselves on the bike, we were just riding together as a team and discussing the next leg preparation. We arrived at the TA in 5^th spot behind Peak Adventure, Thortz Sports, Adventure Junkies and the men’s team Percival Properties.

Map 6 Leg 4 Rogaine

At the TA we were required to mark up 6 CP’s on our maps and collect these in any order. We opted for the anticlockwise route (J P  O N M L K) as did most teams, however we did see a few teams going in the opposite direction as we headed back up the creek, so I got a hug from Thor and a kiss from Kev along the way. Peter was clearly on his game at this point, and I happily followed behind holding map and compass feeling very confident and as a team we were pretty stoked when we arrived back to the TA in 4^th spot. Unfortunately after the race, we did find out that we received a 15minute penalty on this leg, as we did not punch the ‘control card’ just the wristbands – the TA officials told just to punch the wrist bands, but as the CP’s were written on the ‘Control Card’ we just should have known we had to ‘our responsibility to know the rules’, so you do have to be on the ball all the time! 

Leo heads out of the creek to CP K

The ride out of this TA was interesting as the track that most teams would have travelled along to CP 18 ended in a creek full of overgrown Lantana, and there was no way anyone would have wanted to back track. So Leo forged ahead through the very overgrown trail and then when it seemed to end, I went to the front and found a way through the lantana to the spur, and then we found the track we were after. We worked out that we had actually travelled down the trail before our marked course, so now it all made sense.  At this point we were with two other teams, Brett’s all male half team, ‘Just Ride Run Paddle’ and the all men’s team – ‘Percival Properties’. We all rode into CP20 / TA at Bago Winery together. The support crew had had a lovely time at the winery enjoying the wine and beer and local produce, but it was full on when we arrived just on sunset.

Looks easy on the map!

Leg 6     Trek – Abseil – Trek       15k

This leg was a trek with an abseil and the crew did promise us hot chips at the next TA, so we had a pretty slick transition here, leaving ahead of both teams we had arrived with.

The trek to the abseil seemed to take no time at all expect for our brief encounter with a pretty upset resident near the quarry. She was concerned their dogs would be up barking all night and we explained we were in a race, but in an area that was not marked OOB, so politely suggested she go down to the TA and chat to someone down there, as we knew other teams would be going the exact same route as us. We punched CP21 and headed towards the abseil, as we approached we could see the city lights in the distance. The full course all male team ‘Percival Properties’ were catching us, so we did speed up as we approached the top of the hill as we didn’t want to have to wait. It turned out there were two lines set up and the rules were one line per team, so all good. Both teams did the abseil together, then headed off down off the top of the hill on a pretty gnarly bit of steep single track. The next CPs 23 in the creek junction, and CP24 - track junction, were not too hard to find before a 4k run to CP25/ TA in Wauchope. I am pretty sure we got through this leg in less than 2 ½ hours.

Leg 7     Paddle  17k

Lea and Adam had hot chips and our ski’s waiting for us when we arrived. They told us to rug up as it was getting cold and that Adventure Junkies portaged from the TA. We opted not to portage from the start as we thought our boats were too heavy. We seemed to have a lot of glow sticks on us and our craft, as we headed down the river. The story goes….last year our support cut off our glow sticks and we received a penalty for not replacing them, even though it had been a daylight paddle…..so the upshot was we learned from this mistake, so decided if it’s not glowing add another one and keep adding, but never remove. We were enjoying our night-time paddle under the stars until we realised the short option we had marked up was shallow and rocky at Narrowgut. We tried a very short portage over the rocks, however this proved troublesome as both of our ski’s rudders did not function well after that. So as a result we had to paddle the long way, except the problem was we were off the map. We continued paddling, expecting to come to a bridge at Rawdon Channel however the boys worked out as we went past Rawdon Creek, that we had taken the north channel instead, so we would not see a bridge. Thankfully we were going the right way as we were slowly getting very cold. As we were travelling along Balyngara Creek on the final stretch to the approaching the TA we saw Brett and his team heading towards us. Now this was a little confusing as we wondered, what’s happening here?  Brett told us they had ridden from the previous TA to our paddle finish TA, and the half course started paddling from Pembroke Village in the opposite direction. We were so frozen at the end of the paddle, I attempted to run from the water to the TA did not warm up at all. Rowdy and Lea went and collected the second ski for us (this was allowed) however were not permitted to punch in until we had our two boats in TA. After we dried off and did a complete change of clothes we were treated to some home cooked pumpkin soup and some hot coffee….just perfect, thanks!

Kim drying off after the paddle

Leg 8-10              MTB 35k             Trek – 12-16k    MTB 34k

It was 11pm and we were told that the trek could take over 6hrs, and our MTB legs 2-3 each, so we were in for a big night! I was wearing everything Gore-Tex and looked a bit like the ‘Michelin Man’. I didn’t care as last year at Geoquest after the night paddle, I could not get warm on the bike and spent the next 6hrs falling asleep, so just did not want that to happen again. I did soon warm up and after about 20mins off with the Gore-Tex pants! Not long after this our race came to a dramatic halt, and Peter crashed right in front of my eyes and I had to take evasive action to avoid not running over him and his bike. He was riding over a bridge and suddenly noticed an obstacle on the left side, causing him to react and slightly change direction, however this action at speed on a wooden bridge with planks running in different directions resulted in him flying forward over the bars. He certainly hit the ground pretty hard, but like most was more worried about his bike than himself. Leo did a quick bike check for him and soon we made our way up the big climb to the TA at Bellangry .

The Punch Bowl Rogaine

Alex and Pete sat by the fire here chatting to Linda Davis (TA Official) while Leo and I marked up the maps, it was important for Peter to just rest a bit here and make sure he was ok before heading out on this crucial part of the race. There were 8 CP’s here and we had to find 6. We agreed on a course and off we set, jogging the flats and down hills, walking the hills. All the CP’s were off-track, so there were not to many easy options out there. We opted for CP Q S T then made our way to the Punch Bowl, CP U. This was a pretty spectacular place, but challenging travel, as there were cliffs and waterfalls all the way down the creek as we travelled to CP V. We saw up high above us at one stage another team, we think it was Team Neverest, as we thought we heard Paul Elby’s voice. Travel was slow and I had quite a few falls along the way and felt my luck was running out, so we opted to finish the trek with CP X instead of staying in the creek.  It was a bit longer but it meant less climbing and we realised we would be likely to cover the ground much faster than we would in the creek. We hit CP X just as it was getting light. On our way back to TA we ran into Ray, Johnny and Mike - Team Damaged Goods; they had forgotten their maps for the next ride. So we checked at the TA if we could give them our second set, and it was ok, so we did. We arrived back at the TA in around 5hrs 30, similar to the 4 teams ahead. Linda and Suwati the TA officials, were in for a long day and night it seemed as many of the teams were still on their way up to their TA.

Back from the trek getting ready for the final MTB

We knew that Peak Adventure had a penalty, but did not know how much, so we just continued to work well as a team, set a good pace and not make mistakes. Peter now was solo map man and we had 3 CP’s on the way to the final paddle. Most of the ride was downhill, so a great reward for the nights effort. We arrived at the final TA at around 9am, unbeknown to us at the time that the crew had only arrived 4 minutes earlier as our tracker had not shown how close we were till we were just about 3k from the TA. They must have handled this like professionals as we had absolutely no idea, our little set up was once again set up perfectly and our ski’s out ready to go….what an amazing crew!

The final paddle to the finish

Leg 11   Paddle               27K

We knew now it was just about staying strong and consistent and getting to the finish. I was a little worried about getting sleepy and cold, so we all dressed sensibly and ate well before we set off. We decided to portage 1k which meant carrying our ski’s but saving 6k of paddling. It took us just 16 minutes, so it definitely worked. Alex and I were having a few troubles with the rudder sticking, so paddled the last 6k without steering, Alex was strong just as he had been for the entire race. After we punched the final CP we had one short portage over the weir to the finish.  What a relief the final CP always is to find, but approaching the finish line is the best feeling ever. We crossed the line 5^th outright and 4^th Premier Mixed and absolutely stoked with big smiles on our faces. We were greeted at the finish by our supporters and support crew who were all pretty confident that we may be upgraded to 3^rd Premier Mixed following the issuing of penalties.

Final Results Premier Mixed

1^st Adventure Junkies; 2^nd Thortz Sportz Shots Nutrition; 3^rd Mountain Designs; 4^th Peak Adventure

5^th Neverest

Team Mountain Designs Finish Geoquest 2016

To finish off the report, here are a few bits of extra trivia for those who are still reading…..

Most Interesting Leg - Mega Split - because we had no idea how we would end up

Most Challenging Leg - Leg 7 Paddle - because we got so cold and we were off the map

Most Spectacular Legs - Leg 2 Coastal Trek - the ocean was magnificent; Leg 6 Abseil Trek – the reflections off the rocks as we bounced off the rock were amazing; Leg 9 Punchbowl Rogaine – spectacular waterfalls and stunning cliffs.

Funniest Leg - Final Paddle - Seeing Leo’s eyes light up when he saw Sloshy on the shore with his piece of carrot cake that he had been promised for the entire race.                      

Congratulations to all the other teams out there racing the full and half, some of whom we crossed paths with along the way. As always it was  a tough event and getting through it always a true test of endurance, mental toughness, team work and sometimes just a little patience.

Adam on the left and Lea on the right

Thanks Lea Schloss and Adam Mc Kane, our super slick support crew and all the other support crews out there looking after their teams, we know that without you our gear and nutrition would not be on par! We always had the right gear when we needed it; Mountain Designs Gore-Tex Jackets and thermals; Ay Up Lights; Hokas; as well as our trusty Trek Superfly mountain bikes and the list goes on!

Thanks to Geocentric Outdoors for setting such an amazing course once again and allowing us to explore some more of the spectacular NSW coast and hinterland.

Kim saying a few words at presentations

Thanks to our major sponsors - Mountain Designs, for not only supporting our team, but for your continued support for the sport of Adventure Racing. Mountain Designs have been sponsoring #GeoquestAR for over 15 years which is testament to the quality of the gear and its ongoing commitment to Adventure Racing in Australia.

Finally I would like to thank my awesome team mates for such an amazing race.

Leo Theoharis - The Smiling Assassin (for his never waning enthusiasm)

Alex Austin - The Pin Up Boy (for making our photos look good)

Peter Preston - P1 (because he’s our favourite Preston)

I really enjoyed our time out there, so thanks for being a part of the Team and I look forward to getting out there again with you all soon.

Thanks boys

Mountain Designs ARA Darkside Championships - Mud and Mozzies and Adventure

               ARA Darkside Championships 2016 – Team Mountain Designs Race Report

Team Mountain Designs - Alex, Kim, Mac, Cassie

The ARA Darkside Championships for many years has been one of the ‘must do events’ on the calendar. First and foremost it is sponsored by Mountain Designs or major sponsor, so it is paramount that we support and encourage others as much as we can do race at this event and also Geoquest. Secondly I was pretty excited to have invited both Cass Kimlin and Alex Austin (two of our Tri Adventure ‘young guns’) to race, I certainly want Mountain Designs to see there is a future in the sport with people like these two really getting into adventure racing. Thirdly it was also a bit of a personal challenge (not that I would ever really recommend it to anyone else) to complete the big four in the space of a month. Yes, my calendar somehow panned out with the following events in April – Godzone, Tre-X (World Championships Qualifying Race), Rogue 24, and Darkside; so I just had to get through them all. So the plan was to do Godzone with Team Mountain Designs and finish (as we had to overcome the demons of Brazil, tick the GZ box given I was the one who was responsible for the DNF in GZ Chapter 1), just do the #TrexTri to qualify, do the Rogue a bit slower with Jan, and then go for it again in the Darkside, as after all we were defending champions; but we also were fully aware we would have all done Godzone too! Then just a couple of weeks out we found out Gary was unable to race, Leo was keen to come and race, but could not get out of his family commitments the same weekend, so we were stuck. Mmmm it’s not very easy to just ring up someone out of the blue and ask, ‘hey are you able to do the ARA with us, no pressure, we just need a 4^th person’, so a massive thanks to Mac for saying yes, as without her we would not have had a team. As Mac was still in recovery from Godzone too my promise was to just do what we could do as a team to race, have fun and enjoy the experience.

Prelude:- Boat Drop & Registration

So Friday night, we found ourselves out in the mud dropping off boats and gear in the mozzie infested Coochin Creek area…..like many also doing the same…..we were all thinking ‘ hope the weather gets a bit better than this’. We drove back to HQ at Woodford, and it just rained and rained…..and it was just like that most of the time. We got the maps and started planning the course, with a plan that Alex would Nav the Treks, me the MTB and the paddle we would just see when we got there. The course went something like this:- Mystery Trek, Trek, Paddle, MTB, Mystery MTB, MTB, Mystery Trek, MTB, Mystery Leg to finish. So, quite a bit of planning to get through before the midnight start. Briefing was at 9pm, so we managed to get just under an our sleep as we needed to be ready to jump on the bus for a 11.15 departure to the start……we had no idea where we would be dropped as our maps started at CP5.

Teams run to the top of the hill to get their maps!

Leg 1 – Mystery Trek

We boarded the bus at 11.15, got to the start location at around 12.15 and soon we found ourselves ‘following the lights’ of a vehicle, which took us to a hill which we ran up to find our maps. We were pretty casual here, planning our route before heading off (3 of the 4 CP’s in any order), it was very, very frantic. We did a bit of a bush bash up to CP1, then a bush bash from CP 1 to CP 3 which both ended up being big grid searches. Alex navigated really well we found CP 5 and soon found ourselves swimming across a small creek under a bridge, so we had a more direct path to CP 6. Here we met Robyn (who was very excited to see us) and then made our way via CPs 7, 8, at the paddle TA CP9. I wonder if anyone else saw the hundreds of fish jumping in the creek as you crossed the bridge at that point…..it was amazing as they sounded like rapids!

Map Mystery Trek 1

Leg 2 – Paddle

We arrived at the leg in third place, we had thought this also from the footprints on the way to the TA. The paddle was pretty short, just 3 CP’s in the creek and probably less than 2hrs. Personally I would have liked it to be a bit longer, given the effort it took to drop the boats and gear there…..but it was so hard to find the CP’s in the dark, we were relieved to have found them all so a bit of team work on the navigation for Alex and I as well as all of us working to spot something on the side of the bank hidden in either bush / mangroves. Alex and Mac paddled the Fenn Millennium (Mac was so awesome to stay in the tippy boat), Cass and I paddled the Fenn XT (I got to steer and I could reach the pedals – double bonus. We exited the TA still in 3^rd and seemed to have a big gap on the teams behind. Neverest and Rogue were in the lead and very close to each other.

Team MD's - Our Ay Ups are so so bright!

Leg 3 – MTB & MTB Mystery

I was on the navigation for this one, and our map had got wet from the paddle, so all the markings we had drawn on the map had faded, so it was just like a long MTBO course. The start was back through 3 CP’s we had already collected on the trek then it was like a maze which took us down near Wild Horse Mountain, under the Bruce Highway and over to Steve Urwin Way where we had a bit of a bush bash and some steep rocky slopes to get through with our bikes. 

Map 1 (Trek, Paddle, MTB)

At CP19a we thought we had a Mystery Leg, but we just saw Simon and he said to go on! We later found out that the dawn Attack Teams had a catapult activity here…..but maybe we were just a bit too early! We then found our way to the next TA CP22 opting to try to take the short but steep route. The contours looked like it would be a ‘Hike a Bike’ but instead we got some awesome descending and a good challenging climb.

Map 2 - MTB

Leg 4 - Trek

We were greeted by the lovely Emma at the TA and we found out Neverest and Rogue were over an hour in front and also that they were still out on the trek. We read the instructions carefully and basically we were about to play ‘Monopoly’. Maybe it was a was a way to try to add a bit of fun to the trek, as we were actually out for just over 4 hours. Basically we had to find CP’s labelled Mayfair, Parl Lane, Fleet Street and Trafalgar Square; we had a choice of ‘Water’ or ‘Electricity’, and decided to take a ‘Chance’ for a 15 minute time credit. 

Map 3 - Monopoly Trek & MTB to HQ

We took a chance and certainly did not lose time, but on the way out of Park Lane found that one of the marked trails did not exist as we bush bashed through some pretty thick lantana, wait-a-while and barb-wire vine. We had to backtrack and go back up the big hill we had come down to the CP…..oh well sometimes that’s just the way it is! It was a long way to the final two CP’s and we found ‘Water’ a bit of a challenge. The description was north side of gully, but it was so far down it was a bit of a challenge to keep going that far down! Mac had a little rest here while we were in the bush as the CP was less than 100m away, Mac had not run for more than a year and also was not used to the pace we had set earlier in the race on the first trek. She was so gutsy; she just put on a brave face and dug in deep, what a trouper! Alex was spot on with the navigation on this leg so we did actually make good time. When we arrived back at the TA, we were told that Jan and Gina (Tri Adventure Girls) were finished and had been racing neck and neck with Linda and John (Trekking with Veritas Tri Adventure); Emma did not know who won….how exciting! We also ran into Michele Krome (taking photos and on a huge high) with her Tri Adventure teams (Rick, Abbey and Mark) who were on their way to the finish as well.

Kim, Alex and Cass  in TA

Kim and her HOKA's

Leg 5 – MTB to HQ

We had to mark up two more CP’s and collect them as well as 23 on the way back to HQ. I was back on the maps here and felt like I was in a familiar area, it so turns out that we have done an MTBO there before and it was definitely a spot that I have visited before. Anyway we had to go the long way to it as it seemed like a bush fire may have made to track in very indistinct. The description for CP H was 100m NE of track junction, and when we arrived it looked like it could have been up the track (to be that far in) but the bearing was not right. I walked back to the junction were another team was, and the CP (faded and difficult to spot) was literally 5m from the junction (obviously a typo). Lucky the other team spotted this one otherwise we may have been about to embark on another big bush bash. We made our way to the final CP and I did not spot the track we were meant to take to get back to CP. Instantly I could tell the compass was not right….so backtracked and then spotted the way we were meant to go. I was starting to get tired and so mistakes like this are sometimes the result of this. I was so proud of Cass, as she was on the computer for the bike legs and was right up there with me, checking and clearing at every opportunity….this made my job so much easier. As we arrived at HQ we had hoped to see something like SUP’s on the dam….but no, at the bike drop for the final leg there were instructions for a ‘short’ trek.

Leg 6 – Trek

Jan, Gina and Michele were here to cheer, I found out that Linda and John had won the Dawn Attack outright, Gina and Jan had won the women’s and 2^nd outright. I marked up the map, Cassie wrote the instructions and Alex did the navigation. It was pretty simple and we managed to run most of this leg. Mac was certainly putting on a very brave face and made a huge effort. We finished in 3^rd place overall, in just over 15hours, Mac collapsed on the ground in sheer relief, and we were all in great spirits to have achieved what we did with a team of three girls and one male.

A tired but happy team crosses the line!

Mac is so relieved to cross the finish line.

Thanks

Thanks to Mountain Designs, not only for your sponsorship of our team, but also for supporting adventure racing in Australia. Without your sponsorship events like these do not get off the ground and great events can’t continue. We encourage all adventure racers to continue to support Mountain Designs an Australian Company for over 40 years.

Thanks to In2Adventure and your team of willing workers. We were greeted at all the TA’s on the course with a smile and in particular our hands go off the officials who manned the paddle TA as the mozzies there were so nasty and hungry!

Thanks also to our team equipment sponsors AY UP and HOKA as once again we put your gear to the test in the mud and rain and came out the other side smiling.

Finally thanks and congratulations to all of the Tri Adventure crew who not only support Tri Adventure, but backed up after a big few weeks of racing to complete the ARA Dawn Attack / Darkside. We are so proud of you and your enthusiasm one of which is Michele Krome who took most of the photos in this blog.

Godzone - Chapter 5 - Team Mountain Designs Race Report – by Kim Beckinsale

GODZONE Chapter 5 - Kaiteriteri - Wow - The perfect location for an Adventure Race.

This was a race that certainly lived up to all expectations! We wanted a well organised event and we got it, we wanted the wow factor and got it - GODZONE Chapter 5 certainly did not disappoint.

The Team:-  Leo Theoharis, Gary Sutherland, Kim Beckinsale and John Cosgriff.

Team Mountain Designs

HQ was at the quiet and beautiful seaside town of Kaiteriteri, near the Abel Tasman National Park on the South Islands NW coast. It was certainly a hive of activity as all of the adventure racers arrived in town, started to ride the awesome Kaiteriteri MTB trails and hit the local shops in Motueka. The sun was shining brightly and it even seemed like perfect weather for swimming, the views from our little batch over to Nelson were stunning, what a great place to race. I also love racing in New Zealand because the food is so good, and you can get most of the foods you can get in Australia. My favourites:- ‘Cookie Time’ Cookies, ‘Bumper Bars’ and of course ‘Em’s Power Cookies’. We tried to get a hold of Nathan Favae’s ‘Absloute Wilderness’ from the local outdoor store, but it had sold out…..surprise, surprise! Lucky for us there was plenty of ‘Backcountry Cuisine’ available even in the supermarkets!

Registration and Briefing

This is when it hits home that you are here to race, and not just on an Easter holiday! We were given a few hints on the course and listened very, very carefully to all of the safety briefings, as I have the utmost respect for the NZ wilderness and know that GODZONE is never going to be dumbed down, so you just have to be prepared! It was now a bit wet, cold and windy and we had to wander around in the rain, doing our gear checks. It was already time to pull out the new Mountain Designs ‘Pro –Elite SURGE’ Gore-Tex Jackets that we were given for the race and instantly put them to the test. We were given our box plan and soon headed back to our batch to commence our packing for the race; no we did not have the maps yet, just an outline of discipline, distance, time and elevation gain and loss.

The team getting our gear packed into boxes.

Map Handout & Race Day

The course revealed via the live tracking site.

Gary and I decided to both get up early and attend the ‘Captains’ briefing and map handout. At 6.30am in Kaiteriteri it was pitch black, cold wet and windy, yet there were a whole bunch of very excited adventure racers nervously awaiting the final briefing and maps for Godzone Chapter 5. The Shoreline café did a roaring trade that day I am sure, as many of the teams stayed put doing their maps right there at the beach. We went back to the house to finalise our boxes and prepare our maps, it was a pretty hectic time, but the laminator came in really handy! We had time cut-offs and weight limits for our boxes, so as our boxes were too heavy, we had to change things around, and it certainly got a bit confusing.  Johnny ended up taking the boxes to HQ while Gary, Leo and I were madly trying to get the maps ready to go in each of the boxes before they were whisked away! Soon we had less than an hour to go, so we grabbed our last cup of coffee and I think I ate half a sandwich, tried to tidy the house a bit, before sprinting out the door to the start line.

Team Mountain Designs and Team Triadventure - Aussie Training Buddies!

Leg 1 - Coasteer, Swim & Ocean Kayak - Tasman Bay - 30k

I could not believe that the event basically started with a swim, lucky we had wetsuits, and we didn’t have to carry our compulsory gear for the coasteer! Johnny and I had the ‘passports’ (punch cards) and were all prepared to swim to the island, but Gary had a superfast 2XU wetsuit and Hoka’s so he was way faster, so Johnny, Leo and I just had to swim around a boat and back to the coast. As it was a huge field there was little room to move on the rocks, so Gary opted to swim again, and we all ended up diving off the rocks a few times before arriving at the kayaks. The ocean was looking nice and calm and glassy despite it being a bit overcast. Teams were provided for this leg 1 x AR Duo and 1 x one yellow plastic kayak. Leo and I lucked out and got the AR Duo, poor Johnny and Gary got stuck with the yellow bathtub, so it was a hard slog for them to even stay on our wash. I really enjoyed this leg; Leo was so excited when he saw Nathan Faa’vae out on the water paddling in the opposite direction towards us. The finish in the surf zone was a bit of a thriller, so I was stoked that Leo and I managed to get in on a small wave without capsizing, unlike many others in the field. We were greeted by Greg and Michele Krome our Tri Adventure buddies at this TA, and I got a quick ‘Hi Kim’ from both Richard and Elina Ussher.

Preparing the kayaks for the 25k paddle.

Kim and Leo finish the kayak.

Leg 2 - MTBO and Mountain Bike - Rabbit Island & Richmond Range - 60k - Elevation Gain 1410+

We rushed to our bike boxes and unpacked our bikes, changed out of our wet salty gear ready for the MTBO. This was a split leg, so we had two maps. Gary and I went out to find CPs 1-9; Leo and Johnny went for CPs 10-18 and probably were out for about 30minutes. I really liked this part as we got to see many of the lead teams heading out on the rest of the ride, and some others still finishing the paddle, so it seemed extremely social for a big adventure race…..but the rain was setting in and the darkness would be upon us soon, so off we headed on the National Rail Trail for the Nelson MTB park where we had to find CPs 4, 5 and 6. Then the climbing began and the trails we were riding became maze like, with unmarked tracks and dead ends making navigation in this forest somewhat challenging. Here we greeted the Yogaslackers, Paddy Pallin, Adventure Junkies and many more teams as confused as us. Eventually we made our way out and down to the river ready for the big climb up to CP7 we lost about 30minutes at this point as we chose to try to find a trail that would be a short cut, but after riding about 10k we came across teams heading back, they did not say much, but we decided to turn around and go the long way! It was a pretty big climb but all rideable, except for the bit extra we decided to do…..lucky we realised it was off course and enjoyed the descent back onto the trail and to the TA. It was now pouring rain by the way, but not too cold, we were at this stage about midfield and that was where we seemed to stay for most of the race.

Kim and Gary in the TA getting bikes ready for the MTBO

Leg 3 - Alpine Trek - Red Hills - 52km - Elevation Gain 3250+

There were tents set up in the TA so we could at least pack our bikes and get our gear ready with some level of comfort. I even managed to eat my main meal (tuna and noodles) before we headed out….so that was a first for me! We set off in the rain and instantly the trail turned very steep, so there was definitely no running. This was a wide fire trail and took us to the start of the Ben Nevis Track. We got to the walking track and noticed a few tents pitched, so we too decided to have a small sleep, so we could hit CP 10 in the light. This seemed like a strange option so soon in the race, but at least it helped my food to settle, I felt so much better when we got up, but it was freezing cold! As we walked along the single track we saw lights and tents scattered everywhere before daylight broke.

Leo trekking along Ben Nevis Spur

Unfortunately it was almost like a blizzard up on Ben Nevis Spur, and we could barely see 20m in front of us.  I certainly did not feel very agile on the rocks and in fact must have tripped hundreds of times, which in hindsight is a pretty scary thought….lucky I had my walking pole at times to brace with. Gary was leading about 5 or so other teams up on this section of the course, it was very tricky, and after a bit of a false spur detour we made it up to the peak of CP10. We then had to follow a marked route down to a creek junction which was CP 11. We had a lengthy discussion here about our route, I wanted to choose the safe route (as we were warned about ‘high’ river levels during rain periods, and it had been raining) and Gary wanted to go the shorter but slightly steeper route. Leo and Johnny agreed with me leaving Gary to think he had chosen the ‘Gumby route’. It became known to us later that Chris Forne lead his Team Yealands Wines on the same route…..not so Gumby after all…..and as we did not have local knowledge we bush bashed up the ridge to the track leading to Beeby’s Hut, where as many of the local Kiwi teams just took the ‘new unmarked  MTB trail’ . We enjoyed another two small sleeps on this leg as we were out there for 30hrs, one was outside a hut and the other was 2hrs in Beeby’s hut. This sleep gave us enough energy to run almost all the way back to the TA, and I started to finally feel like I had some energy.

We  trekked from CP 11 down this creek for 5k before climbing the ridge on the left.

Leg 4 - MTB and Orienteering - Rotoiti - 47km - Elevation Gain 660m

Finishing the trek and realising that there were still many teams out there, and we were still midfield, was a bit of a relief, as we thought we would be almost the last team back. So we were in great spirits as we prepared our bikes for the ride out to the ‘Orienteering’ at Rotoiti. The only problem here was we were eaten alive by sand-flies, and even though I had doused myself in ‘Goodbye Sand-fly’. 

We made our way to the start of the orienteering and again were attacked by more sand-flies, so that made for a pretty swift transition into our running shoes. We had to collect 14 CP’s using an orienteering map. We had heaps of fun on this leg with Johnny, Leo and I, competing to see who could spot the most CP’s….it was a draw between Johnny and Leo.  As we rode out of the TA I was so excited to finally feel the warmth of the sun on my little cold body. The sun came out and the day warmed up, as we climbed out way over the hill to Lake Rotoroa. The descent into the lake was spectacular, and we just had to stop and look at the magical view….. ‘Wow’!

Lake Rotoroa

Pumping up the canoe in the TA at Rotoroa

Leg 5 -  Kayak and Trek - Lake Rotoroa and D’Urville - Mole Stream  - 34km - Elevation Gain1290m

We were trying to decide which craft to inflate – Canoe or Sevylor. We ended up wanting the Sevylor, but had to opt for the canoe as our pump did not fit. This meant we stayed dry for the paddle, but it took about 30 minutes longer. Honestly I did not mind at all being warm and dry, as at the end of this leg we had to run, and I had not brought spare clothes as I did not want to carry wet ones. This was a spectacular time of day to see this lake, the mountains in front of us as we paddled were just remarkable, and this was my second opportunity to go ‘wow’! 

Paddling Lake Rotoroa

By the end of the paddle the sun was just dropping behind the steep mountains behind us, and I was starting to get cold, so when we stopped, I froze. We were given a hot cup of coffee and a plate of ‘Absolute Wilderness’ Spaghetti Bolognaise by the volunteers at this HUT, but I was so cold I Leo Theoharis  most of the coffee and my food was cold by the time I could stop shaking enough to eat it. Gary chatted to a backpacker from overseas who have just travelled down the route we were planning to take, except he had been carrying an 18kg backpack….we could not complain. I was pretty keen to get moving here so off we set on the trail running, yes running! Eventually the trail got really steep and the pace dropped off, and we had to be very alert as the trail was not easy to see all the time. After a few hours we came to a hut where we found ‘Traces of Nuts’ having a sleep, we just stopped for a little bit to refuel and do some foot care, as we still had a long way up to the CP at Mole Tops Lake Stream.  We chose the longer less direct route via the trail and Mole Saddle, following some advice from the backpacker we met at the end of the kayak. The spur line we had to locate and trek up was just amazing even if it was pitch black. Johnny and I had a good look around at the top of the hill before we descended to get the CP in the lake stream as we knew it might be hard to locate on the way back. Gary set a bearing to the lake stream and we nailed the CP.

We took the trail and not the redline route!

Johnny punches at CP 17

We did overshoot the return and lucky Johnny and I had a really good visual of what we were looking for and we were soon heading for the TA. It was still dark as we travelled along Mole Creek Trail to Mole Creek Hut. It would have been very easy to stop here and sleep, but we had a paddle dark zone looming, and we were hoping to get to the TA in time to have a bit of a rest there and still have enough time to complete the paddle. We encountered a slight problem when the track disappeared. It had been washed away, so the next 5k would be bouldering down Mole Creek. The track reappeared with about 3k to go, so relieved we ran all the way to the TA. It was now 8.30am.

We had to run down the river for 5k as the trail was washed out!

Leg 6 - White Water Canoe - Matakitaki to Murchison - Elevation Loss 350m

So we had gone an entire night without sleep, we had a 4k walk to the start of the Canoe, we were told there were two portages, as teams the previous day had been thrown out of their craft and lost gear. Our notes indicated this leg could take us 8hrs and the dark zone was 6.45pm – did we have a chance??? No one was really happy that we were even thinking about continuing on this leg without sleep, I suggested we have a kip when we get to the water, so at least we know how much time we have, but when we got there this didn’t happen, and before long we were off floating down the river! I was so glad that the sun was shining, and I had warmed up in my wetsuit, but soon we hit the first rapid and all of a sudden I was a bit cold. The positive thing was that every time we hit the rapids you just instantly woke up and felt a bit refreshed.  Gary and I paddled together and Leo and Johnny were in the other canoe. We hit the first portage after a few hours and were, once again, greeted by Greg and Michele Krome. Without them out and about we would not have so many photos of the experience to share. They watched us and laughed as we struggled with the portage. The next stint was long and challenging as there were a few big rapids to negotiate, but we were moving well and it was looking like we would get to the end of the paddle before the dark zone.

Leo and Johnny negotiate the rapids

Kim and Gary working hard!

The portage was not easy

We thought we were approaching the second portage, and were greeted by a little man in a slalom canoe. We think he signalled us to follow him and thus we did, he was saying stuff we could barely hear but followed him down a few rapids before he disappeared. At this point I thought they must have changed their minds and we were no longer portaging. Gary and I saw a slalom pole and he said “Want to do the Slalom Course Kim”??? I said no way, and we headed river right…..unbeknown to us at the time this was a Grade IV rapid, and we were meant to go through past the slalom pole and portage, but there was no one there telling us or directing us, so we had no idea. So off we went down the grade IV rapid! It was so full on and I did not even have time to think about how petrified I was, the bag I had my feet on was forced out of the canoe still attached and this pulled the nose into a sucker. I was thrown out of the canoe and was soon in the washing machine of terrifying rapids, holding onto my paddle as hard as I could trying to lie back keep my feet up and my head out of the water.  I ended up swimming to the bank where I lay on the warm rocks and had a little cry.  Gary was still up on a rock with the boat and seemed stuck, and then I noticed Leo and Johnny coming down the rapid. Thankfully they stayed in and came over to see how I was; meanwhile about three of the rescue paddlers were trying to help Gary free the canoe. All of a sudden our gear started floating down the river….paddle bag, shoes, pump, spray skirts…oh no! Eventually Gary got the boat free and the boys caught it. Gary scrambled back to the canoe picked me up and then we were guided by the official down the rapid that we were meant to be guided through. Johnny and Leo had a bit of a spill on this one, leaving Johnny stuck on a rock with the canoe.  Again the rescue team jumped into action again making use of the throw bag yet again. We were so relieved when we saw our massive cheer squad at the end of the paddle.

The final rapids of the 57k paddle!

Jan greets us at the end of the paddle

I am relieved just to be standing there!

We shared our experience with Jan, Steve & Shan and the Kromes as we walked back to the TA. The boys could not help but stop for a pie along the way…while I warmed up on the concrete path. We decided to get warm and dry and go and have diner at the pub and a glass of wine! We also decided to sleep at the TA in a shed on the other side of the oval, so we could attack the summit of the trek in the light. So we slept till midnight and got up again ready to roll.

At the pub waiting for our meals.....yes i enjoyed a glass of red!

Our cheer squad wait for us at the TA!

Leg 7 - MTB – Nuggety Creek - 34k - Elevation Gain 270m

It was pretty cold, so I had everything on Gore-Tex jacket and pants, booties, thermal gloves! It was about 5degrees so not too bad and we could see the stars, so that was a good sign. This was a pretty short ride and only took a few hours we arrived in the TA just after 3am.

Leg 8 - Alpine Trek - Mt Owen - 35km - Elevation Gain 2280m

This leg was set to be the most epic of them all according to the notes. We had planned 19hrs but were prepared for more if it was anything like the first trek. So we made sure we had plenty of food and warm dry clothes, as we were going to be climbing to 1800m. We headed out at 4.06am and again were in pretty good spirits, we were even running some of the trail and enjoyed a few river crossings, despite getting wet feet we were cleaning off the mud! As the track got steeper the sun started to rise and soon we were treated to some of the most amazing views I have ever seen in my entire life.

Sunrise Peak

I could not stop saying wow, and I am pretty sure Johnny was the same. We followed the pink tape to the CP 21 then had to follow little rock cairns to the summit off Mt Owen. I was certainly well outside my comfort zone here as I looked down into the abyss, realising that one wrong step, or slip or trip could end in death! I tried to put this out of my mind and tried to just enjoy the views. I definitely noticed the altitude as we reached the summit but it was just so worth it. We stopped for a little bit to take a few pics and admire the views before heading down to Granity Pass Hut for CP23.

Mt Owen Summit

I so wanted to run fast….but after 3 days or more on the legs this was just a dream. After the hut the track disappeared, and we were travelling on more of a route than a track, so Leo was doing a great job here on the maps trying to make sense of it all as we travelled up and down and up and down etc.  Again as we kept moving from ridgeline to ridgeline it became apparent how far we had already travelled and how far we still had to go…. We were beginning to think we would be out for a very long time. But soon the track got better and we started to move quickly, we could see 3 teams in front of us also starting to cover ground quickly. This leg like many of the others had a great finish….lots of awesome downhill. I was getting tired and starting to tumble, slip and slide, but we were getting very close to the end. We reached the road just after sunset and hit the TA at around 7pm. It was all happening there with a few of the Pursuit Teams and their support crews buzzing around. We made the time to cook up some good wholesome Backcountry Cuisine and then had a sleep. I slept inside my bike box, and it was so cosy…..the best sleep I had had all race.

Leg 9 - Rameka - Abel Tasman National Park - 140km - Elevation Gain1470m

I sat up in my bike box and said hey it’s 1.18 guys, come on we’ve got to go! This was because I have already woken up one hour earlier and we had accidently fallen asleep. No harm done as we must have needed it, however my motivation here was so we could get to the final paddle leg in the daylight! We were all ready to go so off we set, most of the first 8-k was flat and fast, so we were wise to rest up, as it would have been so easy to drift off on this type of ride.

Leo sleeps in a really big letter box!

 We hit the climb up to Abel Tasman National Park and all was going well. I suddenly got really bad cramps, silly me, had eaten chips on an almost empty stomach, and soon I was suffering bigtime.  After something to settle my tummy and a bit of a rest, I felt a whole lot better, just in time for some gnarly single track. It was now daylight (lucky) and we had about 7k of this wet, slippery, rooty, rutted-out trail. Gary was fine and rode off confidently, but I was much more conservative, I just could see that one fall here could result in disaster so close to the finish. Leo and Johnny seemed to have a similar opinion and we happy to just sit behind me. Just as we exited the forest onto a single track we lost Johnny. He had not seen us all turn right and he scooted down the swamp track thinking that’s where we must have gone. When we realised Johnny was nowhere to be seen we backtracked. After some calls and cooee’s we heard Johnny was below, so we too rode the swamp track, and found Johnny…phew! We exited onto the fire trail and headed for the coastline.

Look at the view here!

We were now motivated by the thought of coffee as we were sure to be passing some café’s. We stopped at the first café we saw and indulged. I had a bacon and egg roll and a coffee but the boys had more. The people there we so friendly with many of the people asking what we were doing and wishing us all the best, the community spirt around this event was astounding. We took off with 4 fresh fruit muffins complements of the chef. There were still two big hills to climb before the TA and less than 25k, the weather was warm and were getting quite hot in our thermals…..so had to strip off….this gave me a chance to take a few photos along the way. We arrived in the TA at about 1pm, so pretty excited we would be paddling in the light!

Leg 10 - Kayak – Abel Tasman National Park – 35km

Our tracker had not been tracking, so no one knew where we were. So we had to get permission to set off without a tracker. This meant Gary had to answer some questions about the course and our route. Steve Gurney was the water safety official at this point and he ended up providing us with his personal tracker for the leg as there were reports of some bad weather on its way. I rugged up thinking we were going to have a head wind and I would get cold, but as it turned out the wind dropped totally and we had swell and tail wind. Soon I was overheating and had to take off my jacket as my face reacted to the Banana Boat Sunscreen and felt like I had face-planted stinging nettle. The more salt water I put on my face to cool it off the worse I got, so we had to raid the First Aid Kit for an antihistamine tablet as even though we were almost home. We still had about 5hrs of paddling in front of us. With such perfect conditions we were setting a cracking pace, and we got to the first CP in less than 1hr, it just took a while to jump out and get it as the tide was out. Navigation on this leg was not too hard because we had daylight. We saw seals, star fish and a stingray while paddling around the little bays and beaches. As the sun was starting to drop behind the mountains I was starting to freeze, so I just had to paddle harder and harder. It felt like I was sprinting to the end, but I don’t know how I had the energy to do so.

You can see the relief on our faces, we have made it to the finish!

Team Mountain Designs approaches the finish line

Leo punches the final CP

Finish – Kaiteriteri

We finished the paddle just after 6pm and were greeted by our fantastic team of supporters and the race directors Warren and Adam as Leo punched the finish CP. The beer and pies were great; however my beer was quickly replaced by Champagne J..

Kim swaps beer for Champagne!

 Wow, Wow, Wow…..what a course, what and event, what a race…..GODZONE Chapter 5 certainly had everything and more! New Zealand is certainly ‘God’s own Country’ where Mother Nature rules and I am just a humble Aussie who has great respect for every athlete who tested themselves out there.  A huge thanks to my team mates for being a part of the journey – Gary, Leo and Johnny! We certainly had our highs and lows out on course but overcoming these is what makes us mentally and stronger appreciate the luxuries of day to day living just that little bit more! Congratulations to all the Aussie teams who travelled and raced, it was great to be out there with familiar faces  and it’s always so much fun to hang around and share stories afterwards….Tri Adventure; Isodopes; Pady Pallin; Adventure Junkies; Stromlonaughts; Jarred & Rob from Adventure Medical Kits. I suppose we will all meet again at GEOQUEST for the annual pilgrimage to the NSW central coast for our own Premier 48Hr event!

Thanks to our supporters:- Jan, Michele, Greg, Steve, Shan, Bec and all those dot watchers back home, we hope we kept you entertained and on the edge of your seats throughout the 5½ days…..at least the dot kept moving ‘most of the time’! I hope that we have inspired some of you to get out and see the world, whether it be by doing crazy races like this or just going to some of these spectacular places to challenge yourselves mentally and physically…..the health and lifestyle benefits of getting outdoors on adventures are endless!  

Thanks to our Sponsors:-  Mountain Designs, Ay UP Lights and Hoka Footwear as without your gear we would not have been able to race with confidence and enjoy rather than suffer in the conditions!