ARWC Pantanal Brazil - Team Mountain Designs Experience – Were we the lucky ones?

As you would be well aware, Team Mountain Designs were out of the AR World Championships before we even reached the first checkpoint.  Although at the time this was devastating for the team, maybe it was a blessing in disguise as what unfolded over the next 7 days in the Pantanal was a gruelling test of survival in extreme conditions were some of the fittest and toughest athletes in the world only just survived. Here is my account of what happened out there…..

Team Mountain Designs

Just a week before we left for Brazil teams were given the course logistics in the final update, and suddenly the course had been extended from 500km to 705km with the ‘mystery leg’ being pack rafting, yet still the lead teams were meant to finish in 5 days with teams given 7 days to complete the course. We were quite relieved that we had arranged to borrow the Alpaca Rafts that Sloshy had used in Alaska. We had received plenty of information about the wild animals we would be likely to encounter such as Parana’s, Alligators, Jaguars, Anacondas, Stingrays and Killer Bees so we knew this was going to be no ordinary race. Being Queenslanders and having handled the heat in either XPD Flinders Ranges and or XPD Townsville we thought we might be more prepared for the heat than most, but nothing other than living in Corumba for a good 6 months before the event could have prepared us for the extreme heat and humidity of the Pantanal.

The Navy Ship

The night before the race we boarded a navy Ship that was to take us to the start it would take 12hrs to get there, and we would leave at 6pm and arrive at 8am with the race set to start at 1pm. Well felt like the longest 24hrs of my life, and I was at least lucky to be on the same ship as my team. (This was not the case for all teams as they separated the males and females, and all the females were on one ship and the males were spread across three ships). As we did not get our maps until minutes before boarding the ship, this meant that some teams were separated and thus some of the girls did not get a change to be involved in the map planning and preparation…..I was lucky I was. Unfortunately I was unable to sleep in the tiny room I was allocated as the air-conditioning was not working, so I ended up on a couch on the lower deck where many others were sprawled across the floor as well. I was glad when we arrived in the morning but had to stay on the ship for another 2hrs until we could leave the ship for the tour of the Jatobazinho School.

Map Planning in the Lounge of the Ship (where Kim slept)

The children from the school proudly gave us a tour of their grounds and buildings and teams were asked to donate books to help fill their library, they had a welcoming ceremony and fed us some of their great traditional foods such as fresh mango, pawpaw, coconuts as well as home-made biscuits, capes and slices. This was fantastic however by this stage I knew that Gary was not feeling good and was sitting under a tree trying to get out of the heat and all I wanted to do is start the race……it seemed like 1pm was never going to arrive…..minutes seemed like hours! At around 11am our kayaks were all laid out and we were able to start getting them ready, due to the high banks on the river the planned lemans start had to the changed to a deep water start. Sloshy, Leo and I tried to get all our gear sorted meanwhile Gary was motionless under the tree….we were hoping he would come good.

The kids who took us on a tour of their school

Gary....trying to focus on the race!

Leg 1 Paddle 50km Jotabazinho School – Paraguay River

So as 1pm approached we and other teams started to take to the water for the start. Shubi the race director stood on the bank of the river with the schoolkids and sounded the horn…….finally we were off and racing……but not for long! It was mayhem on the water, more like dodgem cars with kayaks and paddles clashing as teams tried to paddle upstream against the strong current. Sloshy and I were right up there at the start getting some really good lines, suddenly we realised that Gary and Leo were not on our wash and were in fact nowhere in sight, we pulled over and waited and waited and waited…..then we saw them, Gary looked terrible and was barely paddling. He told us he had nothing and that he was sorry, he was doing his best. We all just said ‘that’s fine we will just cruise, we won’t push hard we’ll just get there’. We stopped a few times in the shady spots but Gary was getting worse, he said he felt like he was going to faint, so this meant we had to stop. So we paddled until we found the first sign of shelter just before the first CP.

Start of the paddle

Kim and Sloshy in action

We pulled up on the side of the bank at what appeared to be a small farm. There were three people there a lady and two young men, they spoke no English so we somehow just had to gesture that we had a sick team mate and we just wanted to rest on the bank in the shade for a while….so that what we did with the dogs, the chicken and the mozzies and little black biting bugs. We sat and watch the remaining teams paddle past……as Gary lay under a tree. Eventually a media speedboat pulled over and asked if we were ok, we said no and if we are still here when the media boat cruises past to send a doctor over. Within the next half hour another boat turned up with the medics on-board and before long Gary was on a drip being diagnosed with ‘High Blood Pressure and High Blood Sugar’ and the doctors basically said he was out and was not fit to continue. So that was our world championship over in less than 3hrs.

Gary receives medical attention

The family we met on the bank of the river

We were picked up and taken by speedboat to the ‘Luxury Boat’ aka ‘The Love Boat’ where Gary would spend the next 5 days. He was placed in a nice air-conditioned room and monitored by the medical staff for the next 24 hrs, meanwhile Sloshy, Leo and I were required to sleep on the deck as there was not a place for us, as they had not expected any teams to retire from the event do early. We were not permitted to continue on the paddle as a three as we had fallen behind and they deemed we would not make the cut-off to the next TA. Lucky for us one of the volunteers ‘Martin’ from NZ took the time to find our start finish bags so at least we had some clothes to put on, and Craig and Louise arranged for us to be able to eat a meal in the restaurant....this was the best food we had had since landing in Brazil. The next morning we got to see Gary and were relieved that he was recovering the medics informed us that his BP & Blood sugar had returned to normal and now he just needed to rest. We ended up having breakfast lunch and dinner on the boat as we waited for teams to arrive from the Trek-Pack raft much later than the estimated fastest times. Gary was about to get kicked off the Luxury boat and sent to a Navy Ship that was following the end of the course – but as he had no food, or access to boxes and had not been well decided to pay for a room on the boat, so there he stayed after negotiating a fee of $2000 real (Brazilian currency).

The TA Reserve and the Luxury Boat

Seagate arrived at around 5pm (this was the time we expected to get there and that was more than 6hrs after the fasted times) they looked shattered and certainly did not rush their transition at all. Sloshy, Leo and I had to wait till 5 teams had left before we were allowed out on the course……so we ended up spending most the night in a shelter sleeping on a concrete floor (Leo actually slept outside with plastic pants and a mozzie net over his face) as athletes from the next 2-8 teams arrived and prepared to get some sleep as everyone was advised ‘NOT to SLEEP on the COURSE’.  So into the TA came Silva, Estonia, Raidlight and Merell, Columbia and a few more teams…..we waited and waited and after Merell had left we were finally allowed to go…..it was 3am.

Mountains in the background

Leg 4 Trek 68k EBB Reserve to Faz Serra Negra Farm Airstrip.

On our way out we crossed paths with Tecnu and had a chat to Rob Preston, they had not found the track and had to bush bash losing valuable time on the pack-raft. We set off and followed the track to CP9 passing Merell (because we were fresh), refilled water in the creek before trying to find the track that would send us up to CP10. We did not find the track and this was when Leo pulled out the machete for the first time, we made it through some pretty thick jungle and soon could see where we were headed to CP10. 

Leo & the Machete

CP 9 

Knowing that it was going to get hot and we would need plenty of water, we refilled our water again just before the CP. The CP was on hanging on a tent (and was pretty obvious) but we could not see it, and Sloshy was adamant that the CP was unmanned so we continued to scout around all the way up to the highpoint before returning to the tents…..these guys hiked in for 48hrs with their esky. CP 11 was so far in the distance that we could barely see that far….more than 20k…there was no track…..just a rocky grassy series of ridgelines with spectacular views of the Pantanal wetlands. As it started to heat up we started to slow down and suddenly our water levels seemed to be dropping rapidly so we were relieved when we came across a nice little water hole just off Shubi’s track. We refilled and then lay in the water for a bit, and continued on our merry way, passing Godzone (stopped on a highpoint resting) Raidlight and the Japanese media who had trekked in with Seagate the night before…..Raidlight tied hard to stick with us but were suffering in the heat way more than us. 

On our way to CP 10

Kim enjoying the breeze ad the view of the Pantanal

Kim & Sloshy - Cooling down in the waterhole

We cracked a well-deserved COKE at CP 11 and made our way off the ridge towards 12, it was now 4pm and we were hoping to reach 12 before dark….this now seemed impossible as it was more than 8k away. I was struggling bigtime with blisters as my HOKA’s Stinson’s are not great off trail (90% of the trek was off trail) but lucky we took our walking poles as they helped so much with stability throughout this leg. Sloshy was on the map as the main navigator and Leo was supporting, both the boys had altimeters on their watches which helped with some of the decisions as we were looking for the right features to follow. We came down from 11 onto a nice grassy plain where we found some more water before heading up again towards CP 12 as it got dark. 

Sloshy & Leo up high on the ridge

CP 11 in sight!

We could see the lights of the teams we had passed in the distance on top of the ridgelines. We thought we were on the ridge to 12 but when we got to what seemed like the high point the CP was on the other side of a huge gorge, as in the dark we had just not seen the line we were meant to take on the 1:100 000map scale with 40m Contour intervals, lucky it was easy to go down and back around up to the CP. There was a really steep descent off 12 down into the creek which lead to the track into the TA, I had a few big tumbles as did the boys going down here, and at one point hit a rock head first with my AY-UP’s saving me before doing a bit of a somersault gashing my arm on a sharp rock. 

We soon hit the jungle and had some bush bashing to get to the creek, where we stopped and filled up with water again. There was meant to be a track on the other side about 500m away and made our way in the direction for 20mins and found no track…..was it there???? We assumed maybe not and turned back to the creek for another option, this then set us up for a 3hr bush bash along the side of the creek before we stumbled across the track…..which did actually exist. This was really physically and mentally challenging as we were less that 5k from the TA but we were in the thickest jungle you could imagine, Leo forged a path with the machete after Sloshy had tired, and I was hot on his heels checking the direction on my compass the entire way. It was on this section of the trek that we came across a Tarantula and also tiny alligators in the creek, and more bugs and mosquitos that I have ever encountered in my life before…..on with the mozzie net. Finally we stumbled on a track and soon realised it was the one we thought didn’t exist, we were very thankful as if we had not found it we would have been bush bashing for another 4hrs to get to the road to the TA. We stumbled in to find the airstrip and were lured towards the lights of the luxury boat……but the TA was beside the strip in darkness (they turn off the generator at night, so it was in darkness).

The alligator

The tarantula

Here we were greeted by Martin from NZ who was manning the TA and a few other officials as well as Team Columbia who had surged through the field on the trek to arrive at the same time as us. It was now 4am and as we only had 3 people we were not permitted to paddle, so had to wait for daylight and to see if we were allowed to continue. Louise Folkes (who is preparing for a paddle across Bass Strait) was keen to join us for the paddle but was still tucked up in bed on the luxury boat. We jumped in the pool, found some dry clothes and tried to escape the mozzies and get a bit of sleep, we ended up on another concrete floor in Martin’s volunteers room as the designated sleeping area for athletes was infested with mozzies and after what we had just been through we just needed so be free of the biting creatures for a bit.

After a few hours rest and daylight arrived Gary, Craig & Louise walked over to the TA, Gary was prepared for a hike up to CP 12 with Craig and Louise was not sure what we were doing i.e. if we were allowed to paddle or not. It turned out that I had pretty bad cuts on my legs that had started to get really infected, not to mention the blisters, so I had to get some medical assistance and let the cuts at least start to heal. The medics suggested that I don’t get back in the water for a while and see how I go…..so we spent the day at this TA just sitting around, watching teams stroll in and paddle out. It seemed that most had spent twice the time on the trek that they expected and really struggled with water, and at least 2 members of each team had pretty severe blisters.

Relaxing after the trek

Gear in a mess after the trek

We negotiated to get a lunch at this TA that was provided to teams if they arrived during daylight hours and had our last meal on the luxury boat as we negotiated with Shubi to go back out on the paddle the next day. We then headed back to the TA where we were negotiated a room at the place that was free from mozzies, this came at a cost of 150real pp but at least we had a sleep on a mattress free from mozzies and the aircon was a bonus. Gary arrived at 5am the next day ready to paddle….not many teams had come through the TA overnight and this course was starting to look more epic than ever……we knew that Seagate who had started the TREK more than 24hrs before had not even finished and other teams had barely moved……wow how would the teams even be able to get to the bikes for the back end of the course…..it was starting to look not only more like a test of survival but an impossible feat to complete the course.

Paddling as the sun rises in the distance

Leg 5 Paddle 60km to Porto Sao Pedro

After getting the okay from TA official to go, Team Mountain Designs was on course again with Gary ready for an enjoyable 8hr or so paddle down the Paraguay River. Gary was starting to be back to his normal self as we enjoyed paddling with the 4km/hr current as the sun rose up over the mountain range in the distance that we had been trekking behind the previous day. The first CP on this leg was a school, so we stopped and had a stretch…..then the second was on the bank of a farm. We also were lucky to spot a big alligator on the river bank on this stretch of the river which was a bit exciting, and heard the roar of some beastly creature but maybe lucky not to see what it actually was. We stopped and started along the way to fill up water and just have a look around on this paddle. I was taking heaps of photos along the way and we just had fun. 

The mountains made the paddle spectacular

Sloshy has a bit of a rest

When we arrived at the TA we were confronted by officials who requested that we hand over our tracker and bibs and wait for a navy ship. Basically they meant that was it…..no more opportunity to do any of the course at all. We were pretty upset as earlier we had been told that we would be able to go out to the bike course and do that, but as things were unfolding and teams were getting stuck on the trek/pack-raft there is no way they wanted an unranked team out there – with a team mate (Gary) who had the potential to be a liability (because he had already been deemed medically unfit to continue days earlier).  We were a bit upset, by now not because we wanted to continue anyway but just the way that it was handed….we felt like criminals and that we had done something bad by wanting to be on the course of the race that we had entered.

Sloshy - Look at the rash on his back!

 By now we were starting to recognise that the rules of this event had and were continuously changing and what might be okay one day was not the next etc and vice versa. As we sat on the bank of the river watching teams come and go or wake from a sleep and prepare for the Trek, I was suddenly starting to feel an itch on my arms, and they were starting to swell. My hands forearms and biceps were starting to feel and look fat and tight and there was this sort of blister like rash starting to appear, it was quite different to the rash that Sloshy had on his back. A bit concerned I had a chat to the medical staff at the TA and he indicated that the swelling was a form of allergic reaction to the water in the river (which I had jumped in head and all after the paddle to cool down) sunscreen and clothing I was wearing. So I was given two tablets one being an antihistamine and the other and anti-inflammatory of some sort…..so even though we were not ever racing….it seemed my body was not well suited to these extreme conditions of the Pantanal, so again I was relieved that we were not proceeding on the next leg as what would have happened if I had continued??? Camilla, a Brazilian (who usually races with her husband in TEAM BMC) showed me on the ship where I could have a shower to wash off all that was irritating my skin, previously the officials had said there was no access to showers or toilets and that I had to go in the bush, but with Camilla by my side I just walked on the ship and had a shower….wow it seemed the rules were different for some……the Brazilian’s or anyone who could speak Portuguese. Sloshy had a chat to Shubi at this TA when she arrived and tried to find out what we had done wrong…..and by now it seemed that she had no problem with us at all and that she knew that we were fine to paddle and that there were plenty of kayaks …..unlike what officials at the TA had told us, again, such a contrast!

The mozzie infested TA where we boarded the Navy Ship

We boarded the ship at 7pm as the engines started to fire up, but we did not leave the TA till 10pm, just after the Luxury boat had arrived at the TA. Sloshy Leo and I this time had to sleep in a room with all the other athletes…..males and females all together sharing the same bathroom….again the rules had changed. Up on deck we watched the flag lowering ceremony on the ship and took some photos of the sunset, as we tucked into some race food for dinner. We went into bed early, not because we were tired, but to escape the evening onslaught of mozzies, and at this point we had a visit from Louise Folks following her little hike out and back on the start of the trek leg, saying it was pretty cool as she and Craig got to see heaps of Crocodiles…..big ones! We were told that the final teams that made it to the TA before 10pm were allowed to head off onto the trek/pack-raft/trek leg despite the fact that it would be impossible for them to make the cut-off by 8am the next morning as even Seagate had taken more than 24hrs (we found out later that these teams got lost and had to be airlifted from the course on Saturday…..we were not surprised). Sloshy and I got up again for some fresh air just as the boat was leaving; meanwhile Leo was out to it and in a deep deep sleep. As daylight fell we were arriving back in Corumba and were rather surprised that we were able to leave the ship immediately…..we were pretty glad to be back and to me it felt a little like we were prisoners being released back into civilisation.

The sunset was amazing

Back in Corumba

We were dropped off at the convention centre where we waited for some information from officials….like when might we be able to get our boxes and bikes, as we could see that there was now no chance of us getting to ride some of the bike leg, so no ropes either! Again we were lucky that volunteer Martin was there and he filled us in on what was going on otherwise we would have had no idea. He told us that Seagate were still on the pack-raft and that no other teams had yet even finished the trek….that they had now decided to short course all teams by r Friday as the event was only paying our final night there, so I thought they obviously did not want teams to finish early, did they? Gary was at this stage still on the Luxury Boat heading back to Corumba and we decided to head to the hotel and book in. That night we went to our favourite Pizza place in Corumba and took Craig & Louise with us, so we were getting a bit of a heads up about what was happening logistics wise with teams still out on the course.

On Friday there had been storms and rain, so the temperature had dropped but the bike course had turned into mud so we heard from media staff back at the hotel that teams were now pushing through impassable mud on sections and there were many more tracks out there that what appeared on the map making it difficult. Fast forward through to Saturday morning and still no teams had finished, Seagate were close and a group of teams including Merrel, Raidlight, Godzone had to be airlifted from the end of the pack raft  directly to the start of the bike (partially due to a management decision and athletes protesting about the leg) so from there were short coursed. We went for a little run to the Canoe TA and heard that Seagate and Merrel (short coursed) had finished and we saw Raidlight come in and try to get 4 people into one native canoe, they looked like they were going to sink the thing…..but did make to the finish eventually.

I was at this point really concerned about the teams still out there, how would they get all their gear packed for a Sunday departure, how would they go travelling (flying long haul)  so close to finishing having knowledge about how much individuals swell up after races anyway. So again I was sort of glad that we were not out there….I did not care that we did not get to do the race and in hindsight rather glad that we barely started as we didn’t have to punish our bodies and spend months recovering. We still did not have our gear back and had no idea when it would arrive so we spent the afternoon (boys drinking beer) sharing stories with Rob Preston from Tecnu (who had just finished) Lindsay Raynor (one of the XPD L Platers) who was also an event volunteer who spoke Portuguese and martin who I mentioned earlier. Lindsay was a great help for all the teams as she took it upon herself to liaise with the event officials to find out all the answers to questions; how do we get to the official function, how to get gear back to the hotel and where would the gear be picked up the next morning? It was 4pm and we were leaving at 4am the next day and we still had no bikes and just one box back…..so I jumped in a truck with Lindsay and went to the convention centre, with her help got all our gear on the truck and back to the hotel…..finally after 3 days of nothing I had something to do! We sorted our gear, jumped on a bus and went to the presentation ceremony, had a taste of the local drink Caipirinha (lime flavoured alcoholic beverage) and watched the finishing teams be recognised and hear Shubi’s version of how the race panned out from her perspective……interesting!

It was time to go home, we woke at 3.30am to get on the 4am bus with about 16 other teams and guess what, 1 bus arrived and no truck for the bikes. Lindsay was onto it and woke Fabiana (the person from the organisation who was in charge of this) and she said ‘just put the bikes on the bus’ obviously Fabi had no idea. Lindsay really pushed hard for something to be done for the teams and lucky for us we got our bikes on first so we here happy but we felt really bad for other teams. It turned out that many athletes did not get their bikes….we were not surprised again…..

So reflecting on the ARWS Pantanal, all I can say is next time I say “why not” I will also have to ask “why would you” and really take the time to make a wise decision on what races to do and what races never to even consider. We do this sport because we love to test ourselves against Mother Nature, see beautiful parts of the world and share this with our best mates, but so much about the event in Brazil just did not have that. Thanks to everyone who had their eyes on Team Mountain Designs before during and after the race, we really appreciated the feedback and comments we got from those who follow what we do……and we will be back racing again soon but choosing more carefully in future what’s best for us.

Team Mountain Designs XPD Townsville Ramblings

With Kim and Leo injured and not able to join Schlossy and myself for this event, we recruited Damon Georke and Kathryn Preston from the now defunct and highly  successful  Blackheart team.

#XPDAR Logistics Plan

   With so much experience in the team, we had a very relaxed and organized planning stage.



Bikes packed and ready to go.



We started with an 8km paddle to Magnetic Island where we traversed the coast for 30km completing snorkeling tasks along the way. The coasteering and rock scrambling were technical and the bush was thick. We thoroughly enjoyed picking our way through the maze of granite boulders that are strewn across the whole island. 

CP 3 Snorkel

 We eased into West Point just after 8pm and in 2nd place behind world number 6 Team Raidlight from France, Peak Adventure were next followed by Bivouac Colts. Team Merrell  ranked 8th in the world came in 4 hours after us. This could all have been strategic as we now could not start until 6am in the morning. We spent the night sleeping under a spectacular starry cloudless sky on a comfortable bed of sand. We woke up feeling fresh and eager to see what the course had in store for us, the wind was coming up as we headed off onto the ocean under a dimly lit sky. A clear and crisp sunrise chased us across to the mainland for CP14 we punched in 2nd behind Peak Adventure and headed north. With the freshening wind now behind us we chased runners all the way to CP15 and the finish leading Peak Adventure into the TA.

We began the trek up to Paluma with Peak. With smoke from a fire billowing out of one of the valleys that was one of the route options for this leg, race officials instructed us to only use the other route.

Now travelling with Peak and with a little trepidation under the threat of fires in the area we couldn’t locate the track up the hill so navigated up the spur were it was meant to be . After scrambling through the under growth for half the climb the trail appeared and we soon powered to the top and started the maze of trails uniquely marked by sundials. This was a lush rainforest area with sweet mountain water to quench our thirst and a full tree canopy blocking out another starry sky. Kathryn was nauseous and was soon vomiting, to our surprise this did not slow her down, she switched her energy source to Coke and kept tramping toward the next CP.

We rolled into the MTB TA 10 minutes behind Peak ready to finally ride our bikes after 2 days and a night. Kathryn's husband and son were at this TA and were also both sick so we now had to manage a contagious illness.  Temps were in the single digits so we rugged up and headed off with our Ay-Up lights blazing the way into the misty night. All was going well until we got a little turned around trying to locate CP20 on a single track as the trails weren't marked on the map as they appeared on the ground. We relocated back to the lake and then located the CP after 3hrs. Temperatures were rising as we landed at the Next TA for the Canyon Trek. Here we discovered Peak had forgotten their helmets and would incur a penalty giving us the upper hand for the time being.



Hidden Valley - Running River Trek



We found CP 21 in the gorge without trouble and made the decision to go up and out of the gorge on a straight bearing rather than down the gorge and out a creek line. CP22 proved troubling as the contours in this area were not correctly marked. We lost another 3 hours and daylight locating this CP . We now were navigating more conservatively and nailed CP 23 and headed to Kim's swimming challenge CP in a beautiful lagoon section of the canyon. We didn’t get to experience the beauty of this location as it was dark and we were consumed by dread of a cold water swim on a cool night.



The Running River Gorge in daylight!



We got through quickly and kept moving toward CP25 in a creek junction. This area also caused us problems so with dawn 2.5 hours away we slept. The CP was only 100 metres away. Nicely refreshed from sleep we hurried to the MTB TA to discover we had been passed by Bivouac, Raidlight and Merrell. We paced-lined on the bike passing all three teams to begin the Burdekin river paddle in 2nd and with 8 hours of daylight.



Team MD's prepare for the paddle





We were told this paddle would involve a lot of dragging the boats as the water levels were very low. This paddle was a real highlight for me, I enjoyed the ducking and weaving around low hanging trees and the abundance of animal and bird life kept the interest to see what was around the next corner. The last 4 hours was very shallow and cold so the finish of this leg was a relief. We huddled around the fire at this TA trying to warm the body for the final push to Mid Camp and some much needed hot food and sleep.



Gary at Mid Camp

We headed out onto the 145km MTB at 8.20am feeling optimistic about our chances of catching a fast moving Peak Adventure, we had done our home work on this leg and felt we had the best route planned. We met 4 Qld out-back characters at the hut CP. They gave us 4 icy cold cans of Coke to drink while we shared a yarn or two. We headed out carrying our bikes across the river and then rode through the bush to hit the trail near a bush runway and then up to the road to Ravenswood. Here we had a bike rogaine to historical sites around town. This was a nice break and a chance to take in the town. We grabbed an ice cream and took off towards the Maze TA. With the map called the Maze and darkness approaching we headed off with caution.



River Crossing

 


The pub is tempting!

 


Damon is on the Map

Geocentric Outdoors Facebook Page Interview with Kathryn Preston

We got the first CP and headed into the Maze carefully but had no luck, over shooting the location by 2km . Things were starting to get a bit funky with a nudie run, some attempted dacking and some tow rope whipping all in an attempt to stay awake. Out came the No-Doze and bang we were back flying, locating a creek line which led us directly to the Maze CP and then powering toward the canyon and hopefully some water.  Our No- Doze induced clarity soon faded and the long arm of the Maze reached out and dragged us back into the abyss. Drifting east everything looked wrong, so back to sleep for 45 minutes and dawn.

Kathryn starts with the map on this trek!

Back on track now we had no further issues getting the Canyon CP and some nice water. Barreling up the canyon from boulder to boulder we only had one short stop to patch up a deep little cut. Up the spur to the next CP we came across a box of heaven, the evil Bycroft had relented and left us all some Coke and Pringles. We only had 13 hours of food for this leg and we had now been out for 20 hours so this little bonanza was well received. This leg was now a classic Bycroft soul destroyer, a leg of XPD which should be expected and eagerly anticipated. We rounded the dam indicating our spur line and after 5 days of following the same 4 x sets of foot prints we finally had virgin trail, we couldn’t believe it, not a foot print anywhere. We had a little bet, with 3, for Peak had already finished and 1 for we were now leading. We were 1st to sign into TA and our smiles and relief couldn’t have been bigger. We rested a little here as the heat and lack of food was taking its toll.

Geocentric Outdoors - Facebook Page Video - Team Mountain Designs Interview as they approach the final Transition Area

The turning point!



Team MD's treks into the final TA



Kathryn enjoys a well deserved drink

 


Dave still can't believe they are leading

 


Gary - smiles with relief



We rolled out relaxed with an at times a seemingly unlikely victory in the bag. The finish line greeted us and we were soon on the lounges eating pizza, drinking champagne and regaling our journey to any who would listen.

The final ride to the finish

Big thanks to all our long suffering families that keep all our affairs in order and support us while we chase little orange and white flags through some of the most remote locations the puppet master, Bycroft, can find.

Geocentric Outdoors Facebook Video - Team Mountain Designs crosses the finish line to win XPD Tropics 2015

Team Mountain Designs #XPDAR

Enjoying the Champagne.

Here is a link to the Geocentric Outdoors #XPDAR Report XPD Tropics - Day 6 Winners Finish

Here is a link to the write up in the Townsville Bulletin 12 August 2015 Team Mountain Designs Defends Title in XPD Adventure Race


Team Mountain Designs would like to finally thank our team sponsors as without your underlying support, opportunities like these do not eventuate.

Mountain Designs

Ay Up Lighting Systems

Flight Centre Active Travel

Hoka Footwear

Tri Adventure

Athletes unite to take on Australia’s Toughest Adventure Race – XPD Townsville

Team Mountain Designs has secured two of Australia’s top adventure racers in order to defend their 2013 World Series - XPD Title in Townsville next week.  Kathryn Preston who recently achieved a podium finish with Dave Schloss in Expedition Alaksa (both racing for Rogue) , and Damon Goerke a two time XPD winner, are replacing Kim Beckinsale and Leo Theoharis who are both out due to injury. These athletes are used to racing head to head against each other in events such as Australia’s Premier Adventure Race - Geoquest and the iconic NZ Adventure Race – Godzone.

The event which commences on 5^th August in Townsville is attracting teams from over 10 countries including top teams from Australia, New Zealand, France and South Africa. Two of these teams are currently ranked top 10 in the AR World series – Bivouac Inov8 (NZ) and Team Raidlight (France). The 700km event which will see teams travel by foot, MTB  and kayak from Tropical Islands to remote outback stations is likely to take most for the top team over  100 hours  to complete and they will do this with less than 10hrs sleep in some cases.  XPD is organised by Sunshine Coast’s Craig Bycroft and Louise Foulkes from Geocentric www.geocentricoutdoors.com.au

Gary and Sloshy will stand out amongst the crowd in their bright Red ‘Flight Centre Kit’ and will not be without their Hoka shoes on all of the trekking legs! 

Kathryn is looking forward to the adventure of the race and trekking, riding and paddling to places most people will never get to experience. She will be relying on her Salomon XA pro-footwear for comfort and durability.

Damon will no doubt not be without his Aussie Butt cream for most of the race and will be very glad he won’t have to be carrying all of the team gear racing with Kathryn, Sloshy and Gary!

Kim and Leo will be anxiously watching over the progress of Team Mountain Designs as the team forges their way with map and compass through whatever landscape that appears in front of them.

Live GPS tracking and news feeds: live.xpd.com.au

Event Information: www.xpd.com.au

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/geocentricoutdoors

Twitter & Instagram : #xpdar

Despite being my 10th GEOQUEST it was mentally the toughest!

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 15^th year!



Team Mountain Designs looking all Rapha!

The competencies were over and done with pretty quickly this year.  Gary didn’t have to do them but he took Pikey out for a bit of a splash in the Fenn XT as Pikey had not paddled since Tassie, meanwhile Sloshy and I jumped in the Fenn Elite and tested out leg lengths with running shoes on. I was quite relieved to have brought my full wetsuit as I decided to use it today, for the swim but not in the race, so it didn’t matter if it got wet. Soft or smart???



Kim and Pikey exit the swim with the Cowgirls - Tri Adventure

The course was revealed at 3pm and from that point on it was all eyes on the maps and course notes until we finished all the planning and contacting. Meanwhile our support crew in charge of nutrition - Kylie & Dersley, cooked up a storm and provided plenty of homemade delights for the crew while we were doing this, as the meal before race day is such an important one. Blowney and Lucas our logistics crew were with us on the maps, planning gear and transitions, as with 12 legs there was always going to be so much going on – 4 paddles, 4 treks, 3 bikes as well as a snorkel and rafting section.



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!



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.



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???



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.

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!

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 3^rd 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!

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???

 

The Baise Outdoor Quest in China...if Gary says it was tough.....it was!

Team Mountain Designs comprising of Gary Sutherland, Leo Theoharis, Dave Schloss and Sammy Hemsley embarked on another trip to China to race against some of the world's best in multisport and adventure racing. The boys all had unfinished business following last years withdrawal due to illness, and Gary really wanted to go back and experience some of the China that he remembered from his early adventure racing years.....this is how it all panned out! 

Team Mountain Designs - sporting very flash 'China' red Flight Centre Jerseys 

Race report by Gary Sutherland

China's race was based out of a couple of Mountain villages surrounded by Sheer peaks springing out of the ground on all sides to elevations of 1400m. 

A view of some of those sheer peaks!

After getting the race instructions which inform us the race was in 2 section comprising of 2 x 2 day stages with an overnight camp in between of each stage and a hotel stay between the stages. We packed our gear boxes for the first 2 days of racing and our overnight camp and headed out on the bikes to get the lay of land.

Opening Ceremony....Adventure Racing is a really big thing in China look at the crowds!

Day 1 - Race day started with a nice opening ceremony with local traditions and then a 1km sprint to maps suspended 3m above ground requiring team work to retrieve. We could split up to get the 3 check points. Leo who was lame in 1 leg hobbled back to TA, Sammy headed to the out skirts of town for a CP , Schlossy headed to the abseil and I stupidly headed up a massive hill to a radio tower with all the mountain goats from the other teams and only just managed not to come last.

The Start - Day 1 - 1k sprint to get the maps!

We all joined up at TA and headed out for a hilly 22km run I thought would take us 3 hrs. Well the hills never ended and they were steep, we had a super cool cave in the middle which was even better as we finally went through a mountain instead of over it. We took 4:15hrs.  Onto the MTB for a 3hr ride which wound its way through villages full of cheering Chinese kids. This leg had a little Bike Carry section but we were rewarded with some nice single track. The final paddle was out and back and over 3 hrs exceeding my sore bum expectations. We counted we were in 14th out of the 25 elite world teams. 12hr day we were all smashed and soon had our tents up scoffed some Back Country meals and were pushing out zzzzz's.

Day 2 Course - Looks Epic!

Day 2 - 5am start - 120km MTB [ouch] 

We set off in 15 second intervals and were quickly passed by 3 teams with a puncture.We passed them all back and then a few more but this was no longer a race we were just surviving we had climbed over 4000m. Sammy started to wear her fatigue visually with a short display of tears, but quickly regathered herself to complete on of the hardest MTB legs I had ever encountered. How were we going to run 25km, well 1 step at a time of course. Poor Leo was in considerable pain with his nerve injury in his left leg. Schlossy still going strong towed him along while Sammy and I consoled each other as we crept through a surprisingly flat stage. We ended nicely running 900m and walking 100m. Onto a very nice inflatable dinghy section which took us through the most amazing natural rock arch I had ever seen. Over a 15hr day and now a 2hr bus drive back to the Hotel. 

Leo 'downhilling' the stairs....lucky for Hoka's

Sammy was done, she couldn't bring herself to suffer through another day and day 3 had 44km of running. This was her first Multi-Sport race and was filling for Jody who pulled out 6 weeks earlier. It was way out of her endurance and mental zone and she showed incredible toughness to get through the first 2 days. 

Gary would particularly like to thank Flight Centre www.flightcentre.com.au for assisting him with flights to China to get the opportunity to race at this level once again, and for the kit they supplied for the team.