Beg, Borrow, Buy

At a time when we should be fine tuning the last of our race gear choices, we are faced with a race breaking problem. Three of our gear boxes which we sent from Australia over two weeks ago have not arrived due to delays in customs. We had been holding on to the possibility that it cleared customs yesterday afternoon and would get to us today however, after getting the run around we are realizing that there is a high possibility (or perhaps almost guarantee) that they won't show before the race start.

We made a list of the gear we are missing last night...it's really quite extensive.  We spoke to a few teams yesterday afternoon who have suggested they may be able to help with some gear and one of the shops have offered use of some old mountaineering gear. We are up early this morning to see what of the list we can try to beg,borrow or buy! Wish us luck, our goal has now turned from racing fast to just being able to race.

Crossing the Ditch

Some 8 months ago a plan was hatched over a Pot and a Parma at the local Warrandyte Pub. GODZone was to be the next big race for Team Dynamite Adventure to take on.  

It seemed a logical choice. Amazing scenery, tough and challenging course and the guarantee of mighty competition from the Kiwi teams. Training began later that week!

The race is now just two weeks away and the team are all pumped and excited for the New Zealand adventure!!!
With race headquarters based in Wanaka, we are looking forward to the 500+ km we will cover on the massive mountains, glaciers, white water, lakes and as always smashing it out on our mountain bikes!

About GODZone

"As an adventure racing location, you couldn't ask for much more than the Lake Wanaka region. It's a destination that really promotes the outdoor lifestyle, has unbelievably good access to a whole host of adventurous activities and enjoys a thriving sporting community."
This is how the race director described the location and we think it reminds us (perhaps on a slightly smaller scale) of our home town of Warrandyte. The 2015 Godzone adventure race will run from February 28 to March 7, with teams of four racing non stop over seven days in and around the Lake Wanaka region. Teams will race day and night, forgoing sleep as much as possible in order to get them to the finish line first. We expect approximately 8hrs of shuteye (notice I'm not calling it sleep) over the 5-6 days we expect to complete the course in.

The main disciplines including navigation while Trekking, Mountain biking and Kayaking will be there as expected, however we will also be Canoeing/packrafting, Mountaineering on fixed ropes, swimming and who knows what else! 

We are hoping we have done enough training to give this race a good crack after placing well at XPD in 2013 (5th), Geoquest in 2014 (6th) and numerous solid performances in local events.
Expedition adventure racing isn't a great spectator sport. We will often spend 24-48 hrs on the one leg in extremely remote areas and then spend as little as 5-10 min at the next transition before heading out again. In recent years, satellite tracking and online social media has brought the racing excitement through to family and friends back home. It allows them to follow where they are at any point on the course and receive live updates 24/7 from the media and race directors. We'd highly recommend "dot watching" us on your computer from home, though we will warn you it's addictive.  We will publish the live link closer to the race start, but you'll be able to get there via www.godzoneadventure.com  

We think the pictures from previous GODZone editions above shows that it was an easy decision to put this race on our bucket list and we can't wait for the fun to begin.







 

Hydralyte

Dynamite are excited to welcome Hydralyte as a sponsor. Hydralyte has always been a big part of our nutrition plan and has brought us back from some dark places while racing and training. We love it!!! 

Great Ocean Paddle

The team spent last Saturday paddling 26km from Torquay to Angelsea in the Great Ocean Paddle. The conditions proved to be testing with the wind starting in the North but then as the race went on it moved from NW to WNW trying to blow us backwards and offshore. Wind speed averaged 29kmh with gusts between 46 and 57 Kmh. In sailors terms 15-18 knots with gusts up to 26-31 knots.  It was great Godzone training requiring us to suck it up and tough it out.

Gus and Karina also managed to take out the Doubles mixed class. Well done guys!

XMAS hike

A Christmas hilly hike on the "undulator track" in dandenongs, followed by some Xmas drinks!!!

A tough and hilly(as always) X Marathon course

Awesome, hilly and tough racing at Eildon in Adventure Junkie's 24hr pairs race on the weekend. The girls finishing 1st in category and the boys smashing it with a great result in a high class field.
Perfect GODZone Adventure training, lots of vertical climbing, over a very hot and tough course! 


 Thanks to Serge and Maria for another stunning adventure!


 

Nailing it in Nagambie

Dynamite Adventure entered two teams in the Winter Challenge which was held at Tahbilk Winery at Nagambie. The teams were Bruce and I and Karina with her new recruit, Shelly. 

Kayak 12km

A mass start saw Bruce and I take off in pursuit of teams Peak Adventure and  Roblex. As we began to wash ride, Jarrad and Elisabeth took off ahead of the forming pack. It was a great strategy given the carnage that began as teams tried to maneuver in and out of CP31. Thinking the water was only two foot deep I jumped out and tried to turn our ski around...when I ended up armpit deep I figured twas probably better to have stayed in the ski!

At least this prepared me a little for CP32 which was located further upstream. Almost all teams decided on the same strategy. Dump the boat and run across the short bank instead of paddling around. Great idea except that the 50m swim required out to the tree was in FREEZING cold water! Bruce's face was spectacularly funny to see as he swam over and the shrieks heard as more and more people waded into the creek after him were hilarious. We reached the transition in fourth place I think. 
Karina and Shelly had a great paddle and were all smiles when they got to transition.

MTB + roadbook 20km

Note to self. Check you have your race bib on BEFORE you leave transition, not 1.5km out of transition!?! This will avoid embarrassment, and prevent having to lose time to other teams. After returning we headed of again, now in pursuit of a few extra teams. The mtb course was a good mix of roads, fire trails and smaller tracks and enough rocks, sticks or soft patches to catch you out if you weren't paying enough attention. The road book gave us a chance to catch up some lost time and we flowed through it pretty well. 

Trek 10km

The trek started well by lucking out on dropping into the river bed right at CP59 (along the orange line). We caught team YY men on the way to CP57 and stayed close until choosing separate routes after CP56. We continued to nail each CP one by one.  (Our order was 59,58,57,56,54,55,53,52,51)

Karina and Shelly had struggled during the trek. An early mistake had meant that they had overshot CP57 and the lack of obvious reference points meant they decided to head to the creek and come back via the opposite direction. They had lots of trouble finding another CP and ended up deciding to pull the pin on it and made sure they got to ride before it got dark.

MTB 25km

Coming into transition TA2 YY men were just behind us. We made a speedy change of shoes and off we went riding scared. We rode the steep technical track up to an awesome view from CP71 then continued to push hard among the long straight back roads. I hooked on to Bruce to tow me along and lift the pace as my legs didn't have enough in them and was sure the others were just behind us. A few dozen head checks later and with the last two CPs found, we were headed for home. Little did we know we had pulled some time back on Alex and Robbie in front of us and got ourselves into third place overall and second in male pairs.

The girls made it back late in the day, well after when we thought we would see them finish. They rode well, making back some time and both finished with big smiles and eager to tell us about the adventure they had. Great event AJs.... looking forward to Grampians next year!!

Course maps:
Kayaking map
Mountain bike map 1
Mountain bike map 2
Mountain bike roadbook
Trekking map