X-marathon Adventure Race 2017 - Dynamite Adventure

By Paul Gruber 

Location - Metung, Gippsland
Purpose - X-marathon adventure race
Format - 48hrs of kayaking, MTB, trekking and packrafting

Last year’s X-marathon was a great event, so we knew we weren’t going to want to miss out on the 2017 edition. With a HQ in Metung and knowing the type of terrain available to Serge and Maria to use, for the race just sealed the deal. In discussing the team makeup, early on we flagged a likely two team assault, given our no.1 support crew Teagan was pulling on a race bib with Tim and their Gippsland training crew. Bruce, Karina and I were joined on this race with new Dynamite recruit, Eliot. 

After a more than early morning bus ride out to the Angusvale Camping Area on the Mitchell River, we grabbed and set up our kayaks and got ready for the start. A quick trekking leg to break-up the field resulted in a fast dash through the open grassland followed by twig in an eye, then a few tumbling rocks as we got back down towards the river. 

Being in a pinball machine best described our paddling for the next five hours as we bounced our way down the Mitchell given it’s low level after the dry conditions in the lead up. After making some good progress Bruce and I ended up finding ourselves with an unsteady boat that was impossible to steer. After finding our way to a less than ideal rock on the side of the river we spent some time emptying the kayak and realised a loose hatch had been the culprit. Onwards we set, fighting the rocks the whole way down. A beautiful setting i’d love to return to when there is more than an idle flow of water. 

We got into TA1 near Iguana Creek with numerous teams, unpacking the MTBs. Setting off we had Peak Adventure II close on our heels. After a quick stop to adjust a seat post, they pedalled past us and this began a race long tussle for position. We had the tow rope out for much of this leg, being mindful also not to overcook ourselves in the process.

Coming into TA2 we were having fun and ready to stretch the legs. We headed off a road and down along the path of a creek to the first CP, (a decision based on the OOB area) that seemed logical to us but cost us time and a fair bit of skin as we ducked and weaved through blackberries and dense scrub. We eventually found our way to an open rocky section and then bush bashed out to another road, leading us to the next CP. The lack of off track trekking was unusual for x-marathon and with one of us in recovery mode it ended up being a long walk along the roads. On reaching the CP just after darkness fell, we found ourselves without bikes and had to wait until Robbie arrived with the trailer before we could transition to the next leg (and were given a time credit)

The Adventuregain section allowed us to bike or trek to collect the CPs. Bruce and I headed up to the top of Mt Taylor and grabbed several other CPs on the way, while KV and Eliot grabbed a few around the base and then spent some time recovering. I enjoyed the climb up, though Bruce less so after donning a long sleeve top before heading out of the CP resulting in him sweating his way through most of the stage. This was highly unusual for Bruce to overdress…. it almost never happens ;) !!

With a rejuvenated team, we set off on bike, climbing our way up to our first CP, before losing altitude and climbing again before finding our way onto some overgrown motorbike trails and then some long unridable hike-a-bike climbing. We ran into Peakadventure II shortly after here again and followed each other up and down hills until we met again at TA4 at Fairy Dell. A short hike up and back and we were back on the bikes for a quick MTB towards Bruthen. As we got closer to sunrise, what should have been an easy CP at an old railway station turned into a  funny adventure that woke us all up. With Peak Adventure II edging in front we soon found them heading towards us. Thinking they’d gone past the CP, we all began searching for the CP at an old railway station slightly off the rail trail track. KV and I slid through the fence before Bruce got an almighty zap from the electric fence!! Soon realising that it wasn’t the right one, we then slid back through the fence (though a little more cautiously than before) and found the CP 100m further down the trail. 

It was just starting to get light as we left TA5 at Bruthen. Knowing the rivers were likely to be low and seeing Tiger new Cal having to jump out within the first 50m we decided to hike as far as we could before inflating the rafts. after fighting against more walls of blackberries and seeing Peak Adventure once again go past us, we gave up and got our packrafts out. 

This leg seemed rather painful and pointless, as given the low water levels, we spent more time out of the packrafts than in them and little to no advantage seemed attainable by travelling on foot with the rafts packed up. After several hours of walking along the river and concluding the main reason for the leg was to fill our shoes to the brim with sand, we were able to pack the rafts away and jump into kayaks. 

From here the battle began with tiredness. We connected our kayaks together to keep the speed up, but we struggled to steer as a result the further down river we got and boat traffic we encountered. After several stops along the way to readjust/regroup or reapply sunscreen, Peak Adventure caught us just before the end to the Tambo, but a CP pinpointing error from all three teams brought Tiger New Cal, Peak Adv II and us together for a last dash across the lake towards the last CP and finish at Metung. Originally thinking we were no hope, Peak Adventure II opened the door with a navigational error as they headed too far south and allowed us to sneak ahead of them as we got into town. We grabbed our gear and ran through Metung and through the finish just after Tiger New Cal, but ended up a few minutes ahead of them once our time credit from Mt Taylor was taken into account. 

We had a great time out there and were really thrilled that Dynamite East Gippsland had done so well. 

Lessons learnt:
1. If someone tries to high five you, don’t pull back cause you’re worried you might knock them off their bike. They might hunt you down in the kayak leg later in the race!

2. Check to make sure the hatches on the kayaks are water tight before you start a whitewater leg. You could sink! But it could also make you laugh alot. 
3. Wearing paddling thermal pants unawares while bike riding can be extremely hot, especially when towing a teammate.
4. Grown men getting zapped by electric fences can be funny and may also wake you up from your dozy state.      

5. You can packraft in 5cm of water if you’re very light, it’s just not fun for the rest of your teammates who’s shoes are full of sand!

6.  Packrafting is more fun if you can paddle more than 50m without getting out. At least I think so, one day I might get a chance to test this theory!

X-marathon 2017 - Dynamite East Gippsland "Support crew to Racer"

By Teagan Boote 
While out running early one morning I had a brain wave. After years of playing support crew or volunteering, maybe I could have a go at racing and what better race than X-Marathon as it is based in our backyard.

After convincing two friends Brad Fisher & John Morton (AKA Morts) that racing for 24-48 hours would be an amazing adventure and recruiting Tim Boote to help with the experience and navigation side of things, we had a team! We were aware that we certainly weren’t the most experienced team, with three adventure racing virgins, but we were all determine to have a go and at least finish.
Now to start the training. Coming from a running only background, it was all about cramming on the bike and in the boat for me. I was extremely worried that I would let the boys down with my poor technical MTB ability. They all ride super strong and I unfortunately have the tendency to talk myself out of anything that is “scary” and let myself off by walking. Luckily two weeks before the race Tim presented me with the best wedding present a girl could ever hope for, a new MTB. I think it saved my life.
Before I knew it race weekend was here.  I still felt pretty underdone, but what could I do now, time to suck it up princess.
Friday night was really hectic. By the time I finished work, attended competency testing, briefing & dinner, tweaking of gear in boxes, last minute food prep, maps were marked, boxes dropped off and breakfast made for the morning it was finally time to fall into to bed. Unfortunately my brain didn’t understand it was time to sleep, coupled with my nerves I think I managed about 3 hours sleep, before my alarm told me is was 4:00am and time to rise.
I quickly got myself organised then made sure the boys were all up and ready for breakfast. As I made everyone their breakfast Tim reminded me that I wasn’t playing support crew any longer and I needed to make sure I was fed and organised too. Then it was off to the bus that would transport all teams to the start line at Angusvale.
Most people tried to grab a few extra zzz on the bus, but once again my mind just wouldn’t stop. How was I meant to race for 24-48 hours straight with no sleep. Holy crap maybe my early morning thought of racing wasn’t a brainwave, but a brain failure.
Upon arriving at Angusvale all teams had to set up two double boats for the second leg, a paddle down the Mitchell River. After a minor rudder repair, we were finally set. Let the fun begin.
The first leg would be a short orienteer to ensure all teams didn’t start on the water at once.  We were only given the map for this leg just before the start. So with no time to plan a route we were off and running. What a sight it would have been for the campers at Angusvale. Russian music blaring from the PA system and 68 Lycra clad competitors sprinting off towards the first Check Point (CP).

The first CP was a massive traffic jam with most teams arriving at the same time all scrambling over each other to collect the CP. After the first two CP things settled down and we could run in our own space. After collecting the last CP and a quick bum slide down a very steep hill, which resulted in some gravel rash no our butts it was onto the boats.
We would be paddling down the Mitchell River, which is renowned for great paddling, complete with a number of difficult rapids to negotiate. Unfortunately the river level was only at 0.6m, which resulted in a lot of portage and negotiating the rapids via foot rather than being able to paddle. This also meant every exposed rock in the river became decorated in either orange or blue marks from the plastic boats as we bounced down the river in a life size game of pinball. It wasn’t only rocks you had to keep an eye out for, but other teams too. With many a boat or even competitor being T-boned mid rapid. I must say after approximately 30km of paddling I was very glad we were off the water unscathed.

This joy was only short lived however as we would now be on the bikes for the first time, the legs I was most nervous about. This anxiety was only heightened by the fact we left TA with BMX Bandits.
After supporting at many events I knew these guys could ride and Tim was keen to put in a bit of effort on this leg so we could make the first trek leg in the daylight. I was put straight onto tow and there I stayed until we reached the first flat dirt section.  After the first slightly technical descent my worst fears came true, I let my brain take over and I talked myself out of being able to do the next descent. After walking the next descent Tim gave me a stern talking to, which helped kick me back into gear. There was no way I was going to walk anymore descents and let the boys down.  We arrived into TA at about 3:00, plenty of daylight for the next leg.
As we didn’t have to pack our bikes back into the boxes, this allowed for a relatively quick transition. We were off on leg 4 which was a trek, unfortunately two of our team members were suffering from slight Achilles issues so this leg would just be a fast walk for us, no running.
Even so we still managed a great pace even as we traversed up Prospect Creek and around Mount Taylor a lot of the time straight through the bush with no trail.
This was also the first time our local knowledge was a help. Knowing that the road was in good condition over Mount Taylor we opted to go up & over rather than around via Bullumwaal Road as most other teams did and this seemed to make us some time. We were very excited to arrive at this TA as Brad’s family were volunteering here and a couple of friends had come out to cheer us on. Thanks guys, was great to see you out there.
Upon reaching TA we were given our 2 maps for the next leg, an Adeventuregain around Mount Taylor. We split into two teams with Brad & Morts getting 5 of the CPs on the MTB while Tim and myself getting the other 3 on foot.  We worked really well as a team on this leg.
Tim and I helped Brad & Morts get set on their bikes before taking off to collect our allocated CP. By only having to collect 3 CPs this allowed me to have a short rest before the next MTB leg (estimated time 6-12hrs).
As it was now dark we had the advantage of knowing all the tracks very well and knowing exactly were CPs were without needing to really refer to the maps. The boys absolutely smashed the MTB making up a massive amount of time on other teams here.

After a delicious dinner of a vegemite & cheese roll, chocolate bar and half a tin of creamed rice we were off into the dark on our bikes. While the first bit of the ride gradually climbed for a couple of km’s we were on good bush roads and I was on tow so was feeling ok at this stage.
Unfortunately the good roads didn’t last and we soon turned on to some over grown motorbike tracks, which also consisted of some long sections of hike a bike. I was actually glad to be doing this section in the dark. In the dark your world exists only in your head torch beam. I could no longer see the obstacles that I would usually be concerned about and I just rode my bike. At one point Tim was riding behind me laughing as he couldn’t believe how I had suddenly learned to ride a bike.
The rest of the leg undulated up and down with a couple of steep pinches and descents. The boys looked after me very well on this leg towing me wherever possible and motivating me with words of encouragement.  They all rode very strongly and were able to keep moving at what we thought was a relatively good pace. This is still my favourite leg of the race; I would never have believed a MTB leg could possibly be my favourite.
We arrived in the next TA 4 for a short trek and much to our surprise Liz told us we were now in 5th place, but that 3rd and 4th were only 11 mins ahead of us. We had actually made up time on other teams on a MTB leg, I still can’t believe it. This leg was only about a 1km trek in our bike shoes, so relatively uneventful.  We used it as an opportunity to quickly eat some food on the go and make sure everyone was feeling OK.
Back onto our bike for a short ride to Bruthen for the next leg, only one more climb out of Fairy Dell and then we knew it was all downhill and onto the flat & easy rail trail. With spirits high we set off only for my lights to run out of battery a couple of 100m out of TA, after a quick battery change we were off again.
After a rather drawn out transition, of packing bikes back into boxes and organising paddling gear we set off to the river to inflate our packrafts. We were quietly cocky abut inflating our rafts knowing that we had an electric pump, unfortunately the pump lasted all of 1 minute before cutting out and refusing to start again. So we were reduced to blowing up the rafts via hand pumps.
Once again the river we were on was very low on water, so low in fact that we were reduced to walking up the river instead of paddling. Luckily Tim had some lengths of elastic fitted with carabiners, this allowed us to attach a leash to the front strap on the raft and take our rafts for a walk down the river. As we trudged along the river bed we were occasionally swallowed thigh deep by soft sand resulting in a massive excavation effort leaving ones shoes full of sand.
Soft sand wasn’t the only obstacle we faced. There were also rare aggressive Albino eels, blackberry bushes that snagged any exposed skin they could, swarms of asshole bugs that stuck to every surface they landed on including your eyes, up your nose or mouth and terrified dairy cows that were in danger of falling from their private bridge onto teams below.

After roughly 4 hours of wandering up the Tambo River we were joined by another team CBRAR. Luckily we had another local card up our sleeve, leaving the river about a 1km from the end of the leg we deflating our rafts and walking along a track that followed the river into TA. This allowed us to get a head start in TA and make it out onto the water for the final leg (a 27km paddle) in 4th place.
This was the first time our team started to struggle. Our bodies were still miraculously feeling OK, but as we had now been racing for over 24 hrs fatigue started to take its toll. There is something very hypnotic about watching the paddles in front of you turn over and the constant splash of paddles entering & exiting the water.  As Tim and I desperately tried to stay on Brad & Morts’ boat’s wake we noticed that their paddling was getting more and more out of time and Morts had developed a lean to the right and was in danger of going overboard.
We had a quick mid river stop to hand out caffeine gels and Tim and I went to the front to allow the boys to have rest on our wake and give the gels time to kick in. Just as Morts pulled himself back together Tim and I both started to fade. At one point I was paddling along with my eyes closed, I quickly learnt this was not a great idea as I nearly also took an unplanned swim.  Upon reaching Johnsonville we decided to quickly pull into the boat ramp to use the toilets, fill up depleted water supplies and say a quick hi to our dedicated dot watches.
This short break was enough to break the monotony of paddling and wake us up.  As we took off for the last push to the finish we could see BMX Bandits out in front of us and team CBRAR behind us. This was the extra motivation we needed to keep us going and we happily chatted as we paddled the last few kms to the mouth of the Tambo and out into the lake. As we slowly bit by bit drew closer to the shore at Shaving Point the realisation hit me, we were going to finish this.
Once on shore we collected our belongings from the boats and headed off on a soggy shuffle to the finish line at the Metung Village Green. I could hardly believe it, not only had we finished in just under 28hrs we had managed to snag 4th place.

We had set ourselves a challenge and through a bit of hard work and determination we had succeeded. Not only had we finished, but we had finished in the top 5 and in the process totally smashing what I believed I was capable of.
I could not have asked for better team mates they had towed me, encouraged me and told me exactly as it was at times and in the process helped me achieve the biggest challenge I have ever set for myself.
We are the true weekend warriors out there just giving it a go, having a truck load of fun, stepping outside what we imagine our comfort zone to be and somehow in the processes managing to punch way above our weight.
A big thank you must definitely go to Serge & Maria of Adventure Junkie for organising such an amazing race and for basing it in the relatively unknown East Gippsland area. In the process introducing our amazing area to a whole new group of people who will hopefully return again and again to explore this spectacular area we call home.
Also a big thank you to all the volunteers. I truly do understand exactly how hard you work out on course; no race would be run without you.

XPD 2016 World Champs Race Report - Shoalhaven

Team No 36 - Dynamite Adventure/Belgravia Leisure 

Mixed team of 4 that included - Tim BOOTE, Angus RODWELL, Liam ST PIERRE and Karina VITIRITTI

After months of training and a final few days of sorting gear (and most importantly food) we were sitting at race HQ in Ulladulla waiting for our maps. I was getting a bit nervous knowing the race was only hours away, but also very excited about getting our maps to see what we were getting ourselves into. The atmosphere was great with nearly 400 other competitors in the same boat, ranging from the best in the world, to people just out for a hell of an adventure. Most people would agree it was the best start list for an Adventure race ever!

At 7.30am on the dot we are given our 2 sets of maps (39 maps in each set) and Liam is into it, marking the route we would be travelling over the next however many days with Angus and Karina filling in the extra details we would need to ensure we stayed on track. Before we knew it we were told map marking time was up and to board the buses that would take us to the start line in Huskisson on the edge of Jervis Bay, an hour away. There was plenty of nervous conversation and poor attempts at grabbing some last minute naps on the bus ride.

After arriving at the start line we sorted our two different boats (we didn’t realise how different they would be at this point) and double checked our gear, I may have triple checked mine just to keep myself busy! After some last minute encouragement from our family’s that had made the trip we were standing on the start line in the very warm sun shoulder to shoulder with the other 94 teams ready to go. It’s been a long time since I have been that nervous before a race. I kept telling myself just focus on one leg at a time, the first would be a 35k paddle in Jervis Bay!

RACE MAP & COURSE OUTLINE



LEG 1 – 35K Paddle in Jervis Bay

When the gun went off we tried not to lose each other during the short run down to the boats and before we knew it we were fighting for a piece of water amongst nearly 200 boats. Half an hour into the paddle things spread out a bit and we were able to find our own rhythm. At this point it appeared our initial setup of the ever consistent Angus and Karina pair in the smaller boat was keeping Liam and I on our toes as we tried to keep up. After 2 hours we hit our first CP in a small bay near the entrance of Jervis Bay, after grabbing the 2^nd CP we got as close to the rocks as we were game with some decent swell crashing in them. By this stage we had modified our paddle combinations and were cruising along at a steady pace. When we hit CP 4 we were given a quick reminder of the country we were racing in with a kangaroo hoping right by the CP as we arrived (Much to the delight of the James Pitman who was behind his camera at the CP).

From there on we set a steady pace and collected the final two CP on the paddle and made our way to the first TA, which was back where we started. After just over 5 solid hours of paddling we hit the TA and were all very happy to get out to stretch our legs. Unfortunately our arms still had a bit of work to do, carrying our heavy boats up the short but steep hill before we could give them a rest. 

 

LEG 2 – 14K Coastal Trek (Coasteering Huskisson to Erolwal Bay)

Happy to begin this leg in the daylight we were in good spirits which were increased by some local supports on the beaches that were cheering us by name thanks to technology. The beginning of the trek consisted of nice firm beaches, but gradually turned into some rocky outcrops which included a couple of waist deep wades to stay on course. Again we were setting a solid pace, but ensuring we were not pushing too hard. As it was early in the race we were still surrounded by a number of other teams. Just as the light began to fade we headed inland up over a small hill (the first of many) along some roads into Erowal Bay hitting the TA just after dark. On went our headlights and some warmer clothes as we were about to get back on the boats for another paddle.

 

LEG 3 – 13K Paddle (Erowal Bay to Sussex Inlet)

Just after 8.30pm we paddled away from the boat ramp and turned our lights off, navigating by some channel markers where we could. After the first paddle we had settled on a paddle combination of 3 of us in the 3 person boat and 1 person plus our gear in the smaller 2 person boat. Liam was one up in the smaller boat and in charge of navigation while Angus, Karina and I focused on keeping our 3 person barge moving along. Except for a little bit of thick seaweed to paddle through this paddle was pretty straight forward with flashing channel markers guiding our way. I’m sure the anticipation of getting on our MTB for the next leg spurred us on, which was good because we hadn’t forgotten about our 5 hours in these same boats a few hours ago. The bright lights of TA were a welcome sight after over 2 hours of paddling towards small flashing lights.

 

LEG 4 – 95K MTB (Sussex Inlet to Kioloa, via Florence Head)



Online Tracking - Seagate leading the way!

The combination of being cold after stopping paddling and excitement of getting to ride our MTB ensured we had a quick transition. After a few K’s on some bitumen roads to warm up we were onto some gravel and moving along well. Our first challenge was getting under the HWY which required a bit of hike a bike to get through the underpass and then we were onto some undulating roads with some short and steep creek crossings. By now it was the early hours of the morning and we were kept awake by having a battle for position with another Aussie team, the “Stromlonauts”. We then hit the major climb on this leg up to CP8; it was a welcome surprise to turn onto a freshly sealed road that continued to climb. Although we were on bitumen the climb didn’t become any easier and just seemed to get steeper. We kept climbing at a steady pace and managed to get a gap on the “Stromlonauts” by the time we hit the CP at Pointer Gap Lookout. Unfortunately being dark all we could see was street lights of Ulladulla in the distance. It was a short ride through the fog until we hit the short hike a bike section to start our decent. From my perspective hike a bike is usually a bit tough, but this was something else, pretty much dropping off the side of some rocky boulder cliffs and then traversing along a rocky cliff trusting that the pink tape on some trees would lead the way. It was such slow going that there was a back log of teams (including Stromlonauts, BMX Bandits & many more) so we just had to wait our turn and use it as a short rest. After some good team work we managed to get both ourselves and our bikes through unscathed. Next was a sketchy muddy steep rutted out descent, then a mixture of fire roads and bitumen until the sun appeared, as the sun rose we were treated with a beautiful view from the ridgeline we were riding along. Not long after this we descended into Kioloa in good spirts after setting a good pace throughout the ride and not having any navigational problems to this point. We were happy to check in and see we were nearly in the top 30, especially knowing we had not pushed too hard yet.

 

LEG 5 – 35K Coastal Trek (Coasteering Murramarang National Park)




With a number of teams still close by and some sunshine we were not lacking any motivation as we began  

the trek at around 9.00am. Our first CP on this leg was on a head land close by the TA, as we neared the CP the Japanese team “East Wind” came jogging by with their personal camera man in tow. We let them pass knowing the camera man had no doubt given them some motivation to keep moving quickly. From there on it was back on the beach heading south picking up CP’s as we went, the sun was out, the water was bright blue and the sand super white. We didn’t waste much time getting CP16 as a couple of male sunbakers on the beach were trying to make the most of a quite secluded beach (so they thought) to ensure a very even and all over tan! A bit after the 20k mark we turned off the beach and headed inland to Batemans Bay through the Bush, after spending most of our time trekking along flat beaches some hills got the legs going! It was at this point we realised that we were running out of time to get some tidal assistance for our paddle leg that was up next. Because of this we put the hammer down (as much as you do in these races) for the last hour or so and made it into the Batemans Bay TA in time to complete our transition in daylight. This was the most southern point of the race and we had maintained our position with a consistent leg with no navigational errors. It was great to see Teagan who had driven down to give us some encouragement.

 

LEG 6 – 37K Paddle (Clyde River, paddling from Batemans Bay to Shallow Crossing upstream)

After a quick transition we managed to catch the last hour and a half of incoming tide and daylight, which helped us navigate our way out of Batemans Bay through the oyster fields but once it got dark the tide turned. By the time it got dark we had made it into the narrower section of the river, but the outgoing tide wasn’t making things easier. At the 12k mark we hit CP21 which was the only one on this paddle, after changing into some warmer cloths we pressed on into the night. We had settled on the same paddle combinations as before with Liam navigating and paddling solo in the smaller boat while Angus, Karina and I chugged away in the bigger boat, we were moving and even managed to pass a couple of teams. As it neared midnight the fact that we hadn’t slept since the start of the race (36 hours ago) began to hit us. The old sleep monsters began to pop up, but a few no doze tablets and the cold kept us awake enough to press on. The last hour seemed to go forever with the combination of no sleep, cold, tired arms, sore backs, outgoing tide and low water levels taking their toll on all of us. Poor Liam in the boat by himself was really struggling to stay awake. With a couple of k’s left we hit some shallow patches of water that we had to drag the boats across, if that wasn’t hard enough paddling against the tide, the rocks on the bottom of the river were so slippery we were barely able to keep our feet. Although it was hard work staying upright watching each other slip and slide did provide us with a few laughs and kept us awake. I don’t think I have ever been happier to see a TA when the lights appeared from around the last corner. After dragging the boats up another short hill we quickly got out of our wet paddling gear (it’s amazing how quick you get even colder when you stop paddling) and managed to find an empty tent in the TA to help warm up and settle down for a well-earned sleep.

 

LEG 7 – 58K MTB (Very hilly through Southern Forests to Yadboro Flat)

At around 4am, after an amazing 2hrs sleep our alarms went off and we woke up to some heavy rain outside. Luckily, we had positioned our bike boxes under a spare marquee so we had a semi dry area to put them together and get ready. By the time we took off it was nearly daylight, the rain had turned to drizzle and again we were alongside our Japanese competitors “East Wind” and there personal media guy (These guys almost go as hard as the teams). For some reason I had woken up feeling terrible and was really struggling on the bike, I tried to eat some food, but could barely keep anything down. Angus and Liam took some gear from my pack to help me out and I kept moving forward as best I could. This was made even harder by the fact that this MTB seemed to be either up or down which is usually how I like it. After three hours of riding slowly thanks to my lack of energy (which included a lot of pushing our bikes up steep and muddy hills) the sun began to appear and for some reason this and a few “pizza shapes” seemed to get me going again and I began to improve. Unfortunately the terrain didn’t and the steep hills just kept coming, I’m not sure if we spent more time on or off our bikes but after about 40k and around 2000m of climbing  the hills flatted out a bit. By this stage I was feeling a million bucks compared to when I had started the ride, which amazed me having thought that I may not make it to the end of the ride at one point.

 

Unfortunately Karina had hit a bit of a wall during the long hike a bike and then struggled up the next section of climbs, this is where a couple of the younger NZ gun teams went past us (Bivouac Inov8 and Cloud Base 9). Angus stepped up and towed Karina along to help her out while still carrying my extra gear, the “East Wind” media man had already labelled Gus as the “Strong Man”, this name was very appropriate especially on the Mountain Bike legs. The last 12k or so was mainly descending into the TA which was nice as the sun was well and truly out by now and warming things up. When we hit TA at 12.45pm (2 days into our race) we knew we were half way through the number of legs we had to complete but were under no illusions, we had more than half the race ahead of us with a major part of that being the next trekking leg. Although Karina and I (mainly me) had rough patches on this leg good navigation and the fact that we kept moving along had ensured we were still in a good position on the leader board.

 

LEG 8 – 45K Trek (Budawangs Wilderness from Yadboro Flat to Nerriga)

After an amazing avocado wrap we loaded up with water and food knowing we would be on this trek through the Budawang Range for a while. As we took off it was continuing to warm up and we could see we were in for a big climb to CP28. Angus was wearing some innovative trekking pants (blue and red striped briefs) to assist with some chaffing issues; I’ll admit I was a bit jealous as he wasn’t on his own in this regard. His attire made quite an impression on one of the female spectators as she drove past.

We set a steady pace as we climbed along the ………. Track passing day walkers and photographers who were on their way down.  As we neared the top of the first section of the climb we made our first major navigational error by following the older trail that seemed to match the map. This soon turned into a traverse along a steep hill below a cliff and created our first and only (surprisingly) encounter with a slithery friend. After a while the decision was made to investigate higher up the cliff to see if we could locate the main trail, this was a good move as after a short scramble/climb we located the main trail. We were glad that we only lost 30min or so with this choice as further along we came across two NZ teams (Cloud Base Nine and Bivouac Inov8) who had made the same initial route choice, but persisted with it and lost nearly 2hrs. Again we kept a steady pace along the rough trail that continued to climb right through to CP28, once we hit this CP things flattened out, so we picked up the pace to make the most of the daylight we had left, which meant we didn’t really get a chance to take in the amazing scenery of massive rock features. As the light faded we did our best to stay on the trail and came across some other teams as we went, the trail consisted of a narrow boardwalk track amongst knee high grass and rocky sections that were marked with things called “rock cairns” (which is a pile of rocks stacked on each other, google it!). Angus went through a bit of a low patch, but just kept pushing on and didn’t slow us down. We managed to keep on the trail which required paying attention while getting tired. As we neared CP29 we passed a few teams having a sleep and after punching CP29 we did the same and grabbed an hour and half sleep.  We regretted the decision to sleep on top and not in our tent as the mozzies buzzing around were quite annoying. We woke a bit before day break and took a bearing back to the trail, but discovered that the trail wasn’t marked 100% correct again (we had been warned) so after bush bashing around for a hour through some very spikey vines (thank goodness for my moxie gaiters) we doubled back onto the trail and pressed on. A short time later the walking trail turned into an old 4x4 track which helped us move quicker and pass an Aussie Tiger team who had a few injury issues. We were lucky on this trek that there were numerous places to get fresh water that didn’t require treating. As the sun came up again and we could see we were getting through this trek our spirts lifted which was good as we still had a fair way to go. At around 11.00am we hit the TA which was at the Nerriga Hotel which was open and busy, unfortunately there was no beers for us, but they did have some bacon and egg rolls (they were amazing) being freshly made. These nearly made up for the no beer. We were stoked to finish this leg as it had been noted as a tough one for our team and we had even moved into 30^th place!

 

LEG 9 – 70K MTB (Mainly on bitumen road from Nerriga to Bungonia National Park)

On paper this ride looked pretty straight forward and after the fresh bacon and egg roll we were ready to go. On most days I’m sure we would have been right and cruised along, except this day we had a bit of wind to contend with. When I say a bit, it was blowing us all over the road and was some of the worst wind I have ridden in. Unfortunately it was a cross/head wind, but we just kept battling on trying to keep Karina in our draft and avoid the traffic. We set a good pace in the circumstances and in the second half of the ride our direction changed and the wind turned into a cross/tail wind which was nice. At this point we were very happy as we had planned to hit the caving section around 5.00pm and we were right on track. Just after 4.30pm we rolled into TA and were keen to get into the caves to hide from the wind.

 

LEG 10 – 5K Caving at Bungonia

After a quick transition as we had to pack our bikes after the caving we were given our map from the 1800’s (a bit an exaggeration, but it was pretty old school) that showed us the location of the cave entrances and after our briefing we set off. We had a mandatory 5 hours to find 5 out of 6 CP’s that were located in 6 different caves that were all of different sizes. Our first cave we found easily and after a little bit of a squeeze (mainly for Angus and Liam) we had our first CP. From then on the challenge was locating the cave entrances using the old school map, we were lucky we had the last of the daylight for the first part. After crossing paths with a few teams and hearing stories of Nathan Fa’avae getting stuck in the cave called the “Flattener” I couldn’t convince Angus or Liam to try that cave so that made our choice of caves pretty easy. We did have some fun (if you call it that) in another cave that was pretty tight, but we all got through unscathed. When we returned to the TA in the dark we were happy to arrive with 10 minutes of our 5 hours to spare, it turned out that a number of teams lost a bit of time in this section. After a warm meal we decided not to sleep at TA and start the next leg so we packed our bikes and loaded up our packs with our pack rafting gear.

 

LEG 11 – 44K Pack Raft (Upper Shoalhaven River from Bungonia to Tallowa Dam - Including Trek to the river in Shoalhaven Gorge)

You may be wondering why we loaded our packs with our pack rafting gear, which included everything from the 2 rafts, paddles, life jackets and paddling cloths. According to our map we had to grab a couple of quick CP on our way down to the river so at around 11.00pm we headed off with our packs as heavy as they had been all race. The first CP was at a lookout, but the second was at the bottom of the canyon below the lookout, a long way down. The decent into the canyon was tough, having to contend with heavy packs, super steep loose rocky trails, fatigued legs and drowsiness. We made our way down as fast and safely as we could, despite this Karina accidently dislodged a large fist sized rock that missed my head by 2 foot as it crashed into a tree next to me and stopped at my feet. It was one of those moments where you remember what you’re doing can be very dangerous. A lot more awake after this close call we made it to the bottom of the canyon to the CP. We then made the decision to have a sleep before continuing along the bottom of the canyon to start paddling at 5.00am when the dark zone on the river finished. We each found a patch of sand to sleep on amongst the rocks and enjoyed an hour and half sleep. When we woke up we headed off quickly to warm up a bit, with only about 2.5k we were confident of hitting the river at 5am, but not long after we headed off we hit some massive boulders the size of a car followed by a section of boulders that were bigger than elephants and saw us assisting each other to get over and down each one. There was no direct way through so we had to go up, over and around as best we could. The fact that our packs were loaded up added to the challenge. Luckily we made it through the worst part before the shower of rain that added a slip factor to the rocks.

By the time we made it to the river it was nearly 6.00am, which was a bit later than planned but thanks to our electric pump that Angus had carried our rafts were inflated in no time and we set off. Again “Team East Wind” were putting their rafts on the water near us and there media man was most impressed at our electric pump. Unfortunately that was the last we saw of them until the finish. It was a beautiful morning on the water and we made good progress in our rafts through the small rapids even though they are not the most comfortable things to paddle. By mid-morning the sunscreen was out and things had warmed up which brought out many water dragons sunbaking on the rocks.

Due to the low water level, the rafts got a workout on some rocks, but they were impressively tough and up to the job. The Kiwi team Bivouac Inov8 came past us like we were standing still which made us lift our work rate.  Just after midday we hit the pack raft CP, our legs and backs enjoyed a bit of a stretch when we stopped to punch the CP. We were informed that we had a flat 12.5k to paddle to the next TA, making the last part of the pack raft drag on. 15 minutes from TA Mother Nature unleashed a rain storm on us, but in hindsight we were lucky when it hit us as we were able to get warm and dry when we hit the TA. Thanks to an awesome official who supplied us with a thermos of hot water we were able to have a coffee that along with a Nutella and banana wrap hit the spot. Team 23 Ecuador Movistar headed off down river during this rainstorm however we prepared ourselves for the long night ahead.

 

LEG 12 – 56K Paddle down Lower Shoalhaven River from Tallowa Dam to Nowra)

We made the decision to press on with the next leg and got back into the kayaks for the last time just before nightfall. With some reasonable rapids in the first section of the paddle we changed our boat setup to Angus and Liam in the big boat while Karina and I paddled the smaller one. `We were glad to have a couple of hours of daylight to begin with, this helped us to get through the initial rapids and enabled us to see all the amazing carvings in the cliffs along the edges of the river (May have been some more sleep monsters, but there was no way you could convince us otherwise at the time). We still had a few rapids to contend when the light disappeared which we managed to negotiate all be it in an unorthodox fashion at times, these were made more difficult as the fog made our head torches useless at times. A special mention goes to Angus and Liam for getting that big boat through relatively unscathed. After navigating well through a tricky section of channels we hit the main river at around 11.00pm which was wide and flat. Now that we had settled back into rhythm paddling and we began to get tired and cold, so we reverted to our original paddle setup except I remained in the smaller boat by myself and the other three in the big boat. The moon light was a great help, even though it was overcast it was bright enough to assist us. We kept chugging away until we hit CP39 just after midnight. It was at this point that I think the combination of being tired, cold and the last few days of racing caught up with us and things went a bit pear shaped with tensions fraying. After a few words were exchanged things calmed down and we changed paddle combinations before pressing on. After probably the lowest point of our race things didn’t get much better, with nearly 15k to go we all began to struggle to stay awake with Angus suffering the worst. He was struggling to stay awake and when he was awake he thought he was on some River artists trail with sculptures and rock paintings adorning the river banks and cliffs. Karina was also struggling with the cold and a really sore back. I inadvertently put my police hat on and took charge trying to keep Angus awake and Karina from freezing. I would say that the high point of our race was us pushing through this stage of the paddle which lasted for the next 3hrs as the river twisted back and forward until we saw a bright light flashing at the TA in Nowra. The bright light turned out to be Teagan who had woken up at around 2am to be waiting for us at the TA. We were all cold, but Karina was sent straight to a warm shower in the rowing club building at TA (what a luxury in an adventure race!) while we sorted our boats. It was then straight to the last spare tent and into our sleeping bags. Also at TA were Merrell, Ecuador Movistar and Terra Adventura Blue.

 

LEG 13 – 99K MTB (Morton & Conjola National Park from Nowra to Bendalong)

 

After our final sleep (another hour and half) we woke up and setup our bikes in first light before heading off through town. We had received a tip off as to where to get the best coffee in Nowra (thanks to Angus’s cousin Ange who had also been dot watching us all night made the effort to visit us when we arrived at TA) so we made a small detour and after one of the best coffee’s I have ever had we set off on our final ride. The ride undulated with some solid hills until Danjera Dam where we had a solid climb up onto a plateau. We were in good spirts and moving along well knowing that we were nearly on the home stretch, this didn’t stop our legs feeling the last few days. Teamwork came into play on the hike a bike climb and across the ridgeline with both Gus and myself helping out Karina on tow and pushing her over the top of some of the climbs.  We hit the highest point on this MTB about half way through and then had some good descents which were welcomed by our tired legs. CP44 was at a lookout and we took the chance to have a look at the view of where we had been racing over the past few days and also of where were heading on our way to the finish line. As we continued on the afternoon began to warm up and our fatigue began to show in the way of a couple of small navigational errors. It was nice to hit the small section of beach before our last TA and even nicer to roll into the TA knowing we were now on the home stretch. At TA we were greeted by Liam’s wife Sally, his two girls, Liam’s father John and Teagan.

 

LEG 14 – 18K Coastal Trek along Conjola Beach to finish line at Ulladulla, Woo Hoo)

 

It was nice that we didn’t have to pack our bikes and this ensured a quick transition. This last trek was pretty straight forward as we headed south down the coast to Ulladulla and the finish line. With Sneaky Weasel Gang in front, and the highly rated South African team Merrell not far behind us we kept up a good pace with our other incentive to get to the finish before dark. We had two inlets to cross with the first not being long after we started. The outgoing tide from Lake Conjola was ripping out to sea and we back tracked to the designated spot to cross. Luckily the tide was low so the water wasn’t too deep however Merrell decided they would take the risk and swim across the narrowest and fastest moving channel which provided some entertainment as they were swept 200m towards the ocean before scrambling out onto a sand bank. Sure enough Merrell started to jog along the beach looking keen to get to the finish (they had had a long race with a number of mechanical issues on the bike) we knew we couldn’t keep up so we let them go and decided to keep moving, but try and enjoy this last leg also. As we hit Mollymook there were a lot of people cheering us along which was really nice, we even bumped into some of the other Aussies that had already finished and were heading out for dinner! I really enjoyed and tried to savour the last few K’s trying to take in what we had accomplished. The sun was setting as we approached the finish line and it was amazing to grab our Aussie flag and jog the last 50m through the arch to the applause of friends, family and other supporters. We had done it and finished at 7.18pm after 5 days and 7 hours of racing with only 6 and half hours sleep; to top it off we were in 28^th place.

Final Trek walking alongside Merrell from South Africa

Summary

A few days after the race I have to say I really enjoyed the experience (maybe not every single bit but most of it) and am keen to go round 2 at some stage in the future. I was amazed at what we were able to achieve in relation to how far we travelled and were able to function, especially on very little sleep. I think it’s a great lesson in this day and age where everything seems to be focused on making things easier in life, it shows what people are capable of achieving with a bit of hard work and effort. That said I hope this will inspire somebody to get out there and challenge themselves.

 

The team would like to thank our sponsors Belgravia- Leisure, Verge Sport Australia, Active Feet, XTM Performance, Moxie Gear and Kwik Kopy Braeside. Teagan and Sally for the food and race support, our families who support us going on and training for these crazy adventures , Paul Gruber (adventure face booker, race analyst & teammate), Craig & Louise from Geocentric who put this awesome course together, all of the event volunteers and of course all of our very supportive Dot watchers, we hope you managed more sleep than we did.

By Tim Boote

Dynamite welcome's Liam to the XPD lineup!

XPD is getting closer, training is starting to ramp up and team "Dynamite - Belgravia Leisure" is getting excited about racing the 2016 World Champs in Australia in November. With Paul, our captain and chief navigator out of the starting lineup due to other commitments organising "Upstream" (50km charity walk in Melbourne) which is being run at a similar time to XPD, we were on the hunt for a 4th team member.


We had some interest from our New Zealand teammate Sakkie, who was very keen to join us in November but with a baby on the way we were unable to lock him in. We were then excited to be put in contact with Liam who was super keen to join us and we were equally excited to have someone with his experience and enthusiasm join team Dynamite. Its fair to say Liam's Adventure Racing resume is longer than all of ours combined.

Welcome to the team Liam St Pierre...............

Liam is an adventure racing tragic – if surfing the net for race reports or following “the dot” online were a discipline he’d be in with a chance of actually taking out a title.  And don’t get him started on his collection of old race movies.  Of course, these skills are pretty useless with the single exception of his greatest glory: wining the ARWC fantasy league in 2015.  Liam joins team Dynamite for the 2016 XPD World Championships after years of racing against the team at various GeoQuests.  He generally finds it hard to say no to an event having competed in half a dozen expedition races – a full resume can be found here – with 2016 marking a decade in the sport.  Hailing from Brisbane, QLD (beautiful one day, perfect the next right?), he’s most looking forward to bonding with the team over a shared pack of pringles at 2am in the morning huddled together somewhere deep in the Australian bush.



Bring on the Adventure!!!! We are very much looking forward to enjoying some laughs and stories with Liam over some pringles!



For all of our Melbourne dot followers who think that we are crazy adventuring for several days with minimal sleep, we encourage you to jump on board and be apart of "Upstream". If your keen to form a team and join in on the 50km walk/run, you will find more info here https://upstreamfoundation.org/

Geoquest Port Macquarie 2016

Port Macquarie welcomed over 200 athletes on the Queens Birthday long weekend for Australia’s Premier 48hr Adventure Race known as Geoquest.

Credit : James Pitman

Team Dynamite Adventure Racing (Paul Gruber, Angus Rodwell, Tim Boote, Karina Vitiritti) were looking forward to smashing out the Ocean Paddle of Leg 1, but due to the recent NSW storms the swell was unfortunately too big. A beach start at Camden Head was the backup start, with a multi split leg which meant all 4 members could separate in double ski’s or on foot to collect the CP’s around Laurieton. We opted to paddle one double kayak with Paul/Tim, while Gus portaged the other kayak and I ran to get our 1st CP and then joined Gus for some paddling which turned into hike a kayak due to the shallow water. We then all went our separate ways, mainly on foot to collect the rest of the CP’s, this was a fun leg in which team tactics and planning was critical. We ended up not too far behind the lead teams, but must have opted for too much time on foot which gave them a good lead into leg 2.

Credit: Rob Marlow

Credit: Rob Marlow

After heading a short way out on leg 2, we made a hasty sprint back to the transition to grab the tracker which was still in the PFD!  (Could have been worse, but we know better than this) It was a scenic run along Grants Beach with singletrack, rock hopping, beach running and cliff tops. It took us north up the coast to Bonny Hills, Onto Leg 3 and now with the bikes for an initial push (literally) up the first hill to the CP and then around some very overgrown singletrack. Following was a back to school history lesson in Herron Creek, answering some questions on the town before hitting the hills riding up to Bulls Ground Forest for the Leg 4 Rogaine in which Paul and Tim did a great job on the nav. Back on the bikes for Leg 5 for the short decent to a local winery, including a few rutted out, steep dirt descents as night fell.

Leg 6 was a long trek through the Bago Forrest, starting with long climb up to our Abseil, this is where our nav started to have us covering some extra kilometres. We were joined by Tiger New Calendonia for the start of this leg. Earlier teams had gone through the quarry but we had been told to go around and got a little confused by the instructions and ended up missing the the track and ended up going the long way around following the road. The abseil at night was definitely a highlight, the rock wall had many rough patches, the boys all flew down, and dislodging a few loose rocks in the process. Our descent into Wauchope had us contouring too far around the mountain and once again adding to our adventure with some extra off camber rock hopping and sliding.

The next paddle being Leg 7 was fairly straight forward, but it delivered a few challenges with the fog giving us only a few metres visibility and two of us feeling the cold night air and getting the shivers. The solution was to paddle faster and get to the next transition as fast as we could, while keeping an eye out for large logs/branches floating down the river. A full wardrobe change with the help of our wonderful support crew Teagan and Sharon and we were out on the bikes for Leg 8 and a long flat road ride to our next Rogaine which is where the real adventure was about to begin.

On the map the Rogaine for Leg 9 looked reasonably straight forward, we needed to collect 6 of the 8 CP’s. We knew from the map it was going to be steep, but until we arrived out in the middle of the Bril Bril Forest we didn’t realise how dense the fallen trees would be, they were everywhere and very slow to get through. Hindsight is always a wonderful thing and looking back at the maps a better approach would have been to stay on the roads and out of the Forest as much as possible and avoid the trails on the map as most of these only partially existed and were impossible to follow. The reward for the steepness that Bril Bril Forrest delivered was getting to drop into Punchbowl waterfall and waterhole just after daybreak and descending down a couple of small water falls. Its fair to say this wasn’t our best leg with our nav suffering and myself lagging behind on the verticals which seemed to keep giving.

We had been going for more than 24hrs as we jumped back onto the bikes for Leg 10 and the descent back towards Port Macquarie. We flew through this leg and managed to not get cleaned up by some over eager 4wds heading in the opposite direction and were also excited to be close to the finish and having only a paddle remaining. With two portages planned and some well needed coke and red bull, this paddle seemed to go fast. We had the BMX bandits in our sights and managed to catch them on our 2nd portage over the weir. We learned later that one of their boats had been filling with water which made their last portage slow and gave us the jump on them with only a short paddle to the finish line.

It was great to have a cheer from Gus's folks as we paddled past their yacht moored just before the finish line and finishing in the late afternoon was a very welcome surprise! Just over 31 hours of Adventure with three great blokes, crossing the line in 7th position in the premier mixed category. Geoquest 2016 delivered Dynamite Adventure Racing numerous ups and downs and as always we had many lessons learned. Bring on the Run/Trek and Navigation training. A big congrats to team Adventure Junkies on a well deserved win. Thanks to Teagan and Sharon our wonderful support crew, we couldn’t have done it without you, your dedication was exceptional and your Vegemite and peanut butter sandwiches were beyond words. Also a big thanks to our families who support and follow our dot on each and everyone of our crazy adventures. 

Cheers to Hydralyte Sports and Kwik Kopy Braeside as always. A big shout out to XTM Performance, our new sponsor and a thankyou to Huff'n'Puff Paddling for the ski. 

The course

Short little clip from leg 2 Coastal Trek

LINK TO REPLAY OF TRACKERS - FULL COURSE

Click on >>Window>>replay. Then set to ~x128 speed and press play

 

LINK TO REPLAY OF TRACKERS - GEO HALF