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| Mountain Designs V Wild Women - Del, Katy, Kim, Nicola |
Well, I must say that I have been a little slow off the mark in completing the 2024 GeoQuest race report for the Mountain Designs V Wild Women. It’s not like I have anything else to do???? Like finish off all of my end of term reports (I am a teacher) and prepare for a trip to Canada to compete in Raid the Rockies, which is a 4-day stage race and a part of the ARWS North America Series. So now I am writing this report from a beautiful Alpine Chalet in Revelstoke, Canada. So far, we have had snow, snakes and squirrels but no bears…yet!!!!
GeoQuest has to be one of my most
favourite events on the AR calendar, because way back when… (yes, I am showing
my age here) other than XPD, this event was the most challenging event that the
‘average person’ like me, could sign up to. Obviously 20 years on, there are
now many more events on the calendar that are longer and way more extreme, but
Mountain Designs GeoQuest still offers us the option to have a support crew. This means increased exposure of the sport to
others, better food at the TA’s and less time in TA’s spent organising gear and
more time refueling for the next adventurous leg! The Mountain Designs V Wild Women had Fiona
and Richard Crossley as our support crew and OMG, they were just the best!
Richard and Fiona are members of our Tri Adventure Group and race and help as
volunteers at many events, so how lucky were we!
Let me introduce the Mountain
Designs V Wild Women.
Kim Beckinsale – Kim has been at
almost every GeoQuest since 2005
Del Lloyd – Del was racing back
then, but this is her first Geo since mid-2000
Nicola Jelenik – Nicola was 2nd
in Premier Mixed 2023, and part of MDWW in 2022
Katy Booth – Katy was embarking
on her first GeoQuest and her first ever ‘all through the night event’.
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| Sporting our Mountain Designs Kit and Hoka Footwear |
The Mountain Designs Wild V Women are so grateful for the support from Mountain Designs, so at registration we took the time to get quite a few photos of the amazing Mountain Designs Gear that we would be using during the race. As the weather forecast leading up to the race had not been great, we knew that we had to be prepared for anything.
The maps did not come out till
4pm and luckily the crew managed to cook dinner, as otherwise it may have been
midnight till, I started to boil the spaghetti! Katy on the other hand had
woken early that day and prepared a vegetarian delight, so it just had to be
heated up…. well, the crew were onto it.
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| We start to look at the maps! |
Map handout is always exciting as the course is revealed. Over the years I have learned not to speculate too much on what the course might be, but just use that energy when we get the maps to plan and prepare for whatever the adventure that awaits. We had received a logistics planner (aka Schematic in Canada) in advance, so we knew approximate legs and anticipated times, but no actual maps / distances. So, the team sat around a table planning and organising our route choices for a few hours before dinner was served by the amazing crew! Spaghetti bolognaise & garlic bread is a GeoQuest pre-event winner for me! After dinner it was time to do some final gear sorting, so that the crew knew what who was and what was what! (I could spend hours explaining this, but if you race, you would understand…. 4 people, 4 lots of gear for all the legs (trek, bike, paddle). Luckily, we were starting with a paddle, so we could just have all that stuff ready to go!
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| Beautiful sunny day for the start of GeoQuest 2024 |
Ocean Paddle North Haven to Bonny
Hills; MTB Jolly Nose to Bago (Winery); Mystery Maze; MTB Comboyne Rock Climb (CP
choice) to Swans Crossing; Trek - Swans Crossing; MTB - Lorne to Middle Brother.
We were so lucky that the
conditions were perfect for ocean paddling. There were 2 CPs to collect before heading out
the river mouth into the ocean, so we had planned optional routes depending on
the current once we started as we knew it was an incoming tide. We (and
most of the field) overshot CP 1, even though I had already seen exactly the
spot (I took a bearing and sighted a post which I pointed out to Nicola) and
then just paddled past, as that is what the teams in front did (next time I
just trust my judgement)! We chose to
take the non-portage option to CP2, which was a paddle upstream against the
tide, as we figured it was quicker that trying to carry the kayaks. This was okay, but then we had trouble finding
the CP on a sign, because it was (high and not at the base) as we all tend look
low! Lesson learned. Out on the ocean
conditions were perfect until we encountered a bit of wind swell and chop
around the Bonny Hills headland. Katy
was out of her comfort zone here, but confident that her team-mates would be
able to manage the swell and the landing. I paddled with Nicola, and we lead the way
into shore, timing the sets perfectly. We nailed the landing without capsize,
so ready for the MTB to the winery!
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| Paddling conditions are perfect. |
We had a quick transition onto the bikes thanks to the crew and soon we were riding some very muddy trails. Just when we needed to turn, I realised that I had lost my compass! In fact, it broke off. The clip on the map board was still there, but the compass part was gone. This was not good, as were headed to a MTB park. So unfortunately, I took the team on a bit of an off course black diamond run before being able to make any sense of the two maps in front of me. Katy had not done this before, so a first!!!
We managed to get back on track
and get to the winery without too much further delay, other than Del losing her
compass on the way. We did not have time
to back track, so just had to rely on any spares that we had packed in our bags
pre-event. Lucky Nicola had brought my
old Map Board Compass and between the team we had a few extras. Here we had a maze trek….. only 2k but very
challenging! It took us 33 minutes…no PB’s there as we had trouble finding the
flower! It was a great concept and a bit random. Random is always a part of AR.
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| The maze! |
The next leg was long and had some climbing in addition to some navigational choice. We needed to find 2 of 4 CPs between CP 13 and 14. It was too hard to decide before we left the TA, so the entire ride to CP13 I was just trying to look at the map and calculate distance and contours between route options. By the time we reached CP 13 we still we undecided, so decided to look at the quality of a track as we passed it. It was grassy and not ‘awesome’ so we went for the shorter route, with potentially more climbing, but hopefully better trails….and an option to go past a third CP if we could not find the 2nd. Our strategy worked perfectly as we had a great ride downhill on our way out to CP 14, (and we had the fastest time of the entire field for this section of the race). The hike-a-bike up to the viewpoint at Mt Comboyne was hard, but we have done harder. So we punched up and enjoyed the long descent into the TA at Swans Crossing.
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| Nicola leads her way! |
Here we meet the crew, and they had some awesome hot soup for us before we set off on the trek. It was navigationally challenging but as a group, we worked well and did not spend too much time on anything. We did have 2 attacks at CPJ, and we probably spent a bit too much time on the other side of the creek looking for a track enroute to CP K…. but it was just really on the creek as was the CP…. right above Nicola’s head. On this trek we spent a bit of time with Team 8 is GREAT! Back at the TA we were rewarded with more food, cheese toasties, hot coffee….and more, as we had a long ride to the next TA before a BIG trek! On the way Del encountered a flat tyre, which we (Nicola) put a plug in and then Nicola’s derailleur had a spack attack which we both fixed with zip ties and made it to the TA. By the way…. Katy and Nicola did do some towing of Del and I on this leg and the previous leg and this really helped us to always move as a team together. Thanks so much you two!
Race Day 2 -0000 – 1600
Trek – Middle Brother; Paddle –
Camden Haven to Queens Lake; Trek – North Brother to Finish
We arrived at the TA at some
hour…I have no idea really whether it was before or after midnight, but thing
it was well into day 2 and we had made it despite two mechanicals! The trek was
30k and could take a while, so we fuelled up and carried enough for a long
night. This leg ended up being awesome,
we hiked into the big Fella Gum and then up and up on trails, got a bit
bamboozled as did a few other teams around us when on the road, a marked road
was not there…but a quick return to point last known, was perfect. The leg involved for us some bush bashing /
off track navigation which we used to get a bit of an advantage on some of the
teams around us. After finding CP 22 on the trek, we knew it was just a short
walk to the point where we would meet the crew, for a car transport to the
start of the final paddle.
The sun had just started to rise as we finished the trek and were heading to the TA, it was chilly but not unbearable. Richard had driven us to the TA where Fiona had cooked up a storm, we had eggs on bread and hot coffee to get us warm before a big 30k paddle. Katy had never paddled that far before so was probably dreading this, but the sun was shining, and it was looking like a beautiful day.
This leg despite being long, was
actually my favourite part of the race, because the conditions were just so
perfect, and we were able to see so much of the beautiful North Haven area and
the North Brother, that we had to hike up to finish the race, was always in our
sights. I also loved the challenge of having to use compass bearings to locate
the CPs across the lake sections…. I think we set a great pace and made good
decisions.
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| One of our Transition buffets! |
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| Time to go now, Kim looks at the map! |
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| Run to the finish! |
This was the first time that a women’s team has ever finished on the podium in this event, but unfortunately, we (women) do not really get the recognition for this, so how lucky are we to have the support of Mountain Designs who have been supporting us and our journey for such a long time!
To all the women out there, keep
on having a go at the impossible. I am
56 and this is something I would never have thought possible when I was 18 or
25 or 35…... but something happens after 40…. You just don’t want to stop if
you don’t have to! So, rise up and make the most of your next adventure!
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| Finish line hugs! |
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| .....and champagne! |
A huge thank you to Chris Dixon from Wild & Co the team of officials and volunteers for the adventure and key event sponsors such as Mountain Designs, Trail Brew and Squirt. Margarie Oti and Emanuel from TerraFilms for being out on the course taking so many amazing photos and videos, so we have some memories to look back over in years to come.
We also are
so grateful to our sponsors - Mountain Designs, Tri Adventure, AyUp Lighting
Systems, Footmotion Noosa and Venture Cycles who continue to support the us and
provide reliable gear and equipment.
Mountain Designs have a huge
range of gear and equipment and have been supporting this event Geoquest for
over 20 years, so please support them by checking out their online range of
gear and adding it to your wish list of your next adventure. Here are some
favourites from the Mountain Designs V Wild Women:-
Women’s Stratus Hooded Rain Jacket – superlight,
waterproof, comfortable
Women’s vapour ½ Zip Pullover –
superlight and great arm protection
Women’s Merino Thermal Tops
& Pants
https://www.mountaindesigns.com/womens-clothing/womens-thermals/womens-merino-thermals
Unisex Light Hiking Coolmax Socks
Expedition 120l Duffle Bag
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| Mountain Designs V Wild Women with our crew - Richard and Fiona |
