The Wildside expedition length adventure race (Canberra) was
the final event of the inaugural Adventure 1 Series. Mountain Designs Wild
Women had previously contested and taken out the women’s category in 2 of the
previous 3 events – Geoquest & Hells Bells, so a strong placing and finish
in this event would secure us the series win. Our team had been training well
and were certainly well prepared for this adventure, however with just two
weeks to go we unfortunately lost Ali Wright to injury. We were then extremely
fortunate to have our backup team-mate Alina McMaster right there in Canberra
available to fill the spot……there was just one catch….she had not done any
training since Geoquest…..but was happy to race and also offer her family home
to the team. So, this is how it panned
out……
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| Mountain Designs Wild Women Wildside Team |
Registration, Course Reveal & Preparation
Teams descended on the Australian Capital for this year’s
event on Saturday 29th September for registration at HQ – The Ibis Eaglehawk
(which was actually in NSW). Richard Old
– Race Director from Fully Rad Adventures had kindly released the course
logistics schedule the week before, allowing us the spend most of this day
packing and sorting gear boxes with food and equipment. This meant that we
could spend more time on the maps when released. At registration, we were
stoked to see a familiar face – Amy Potter who has been part of the backbone of
countless Geoquest and XPD events, so it was hugs all-round! We had a very
relaxed meal at the Pub with A1 Series leaders, and our good friends, Team
Thunderbolt AR.
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| The complete Mountain Designs Wild Women Team for the A1 Series |
Early Sunday morning 30th September the course
was revealed. 400km from Lake Eucumbene
in the Snowy Mountains past the Giant Trout in Adaminaby, across Yaouk and into
the bottom of the ACT through the Namdgi National Park, Naas River Valley and
Ororal Valley with an abseil off Booroomba Rocks. The course then was set to
head to Tidbinbilla for a packrat down the Murrumbidgee River, then towards
the City of Canberra for a final paddle on Lake Burleigh Griffin and a race
around the CBD before heading for the finish line.
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| Lucky fir us Tom Landon Smith & Alina Mc Master had this big truck to transport our gear to HQ |
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| The most important part of our kit - Mountain Designs Outrace Pack & Mountain Designs Superlight Dry Sac |
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| Boxes clearly labelled, pack raft gear bundled up ready to go! |
Teams had to be up early as the bus to the start left the
Ibis at 3.30am for a 7.00am start. It was pitch black when we arrived, but
minutes before the start time to sun started to peep through the fog on the
lake. Water levels on the lake looked low and as a result navigation would not
be as straight forward as it looked. Off went the siren and teams started sprinting
for the waterline, as we were required to stay below the high water mark all
the way to CP3.
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| The start of Wildside AR 2017 - Lake Eucumbene |
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| Lake Eucumbene and the Snowy Mountains in the background |
After an hour or so we had lost sight of the lead teams, but
were just managing to keep up with the fast walking BMX Bandits…..we were
mostly running though! The elevation of the lake was over 1200m so a bit of a
lung buster! CP 1 was a little tricky to find as it ended up being up so much
higher than it seemed on the map, however after some great spotting from Gina
we were soon on our way again.
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| Mountain Designs Wild Women looking for CP 1 |
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| Girls looking cool in their Mountain Designs headwear - Gina MD Beanie; Kim MB Cap |
After CP2 & 3 we travelled along a dirt road
to CP4 at a cemetery, and then to ‘The Big Trout’ TA at Adaminaby. Here we saw
Jan & Ali who were manning the TA, they were very excited to see us so
soon, and said we were ‘smashing it’.
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| The team treks into TA 1 at The Big Trout - Adaminiby |
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| Gina - the control ferret for this race - locates the CP |
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| Kim gets the TREK Superfly SL ready for action |
It was rather windy as we set off on the bikes and we were
soon passed by a few mixed teams with three guys setting cracking paces on the
sealed roads. We just took it at a steady pace and made sure we all looked
after each other as we travelled north alongside the Murrumbidgee River. At CP
6 we crossed the river and connected with the Bicentennial National Trail which
saw us now travelling east alongside Yaouk Creek then south east alongside
Bradley Creek. Night fell as we approached CP 7 so we stopped had a bit to eat
and put on our Mountain Designs Gore-Tex jackets, and turned on the AY Ups.
This trail was very undulating in and out of small gully’s, so it was quite
taxing as we kept having to get on and off the bike and push. I came to grief
at some point before we reached CP8 by lining up a massive pothole that brought
me to the ground, shaving off the top of my knee. Gina came to the rescue with antiseptic,
gauze wipes and heaps of Fixomull, just to stop the blood pouring out! Meanwhile Alina had a quick sleep on the side
of the road…..micro sleeps are very important in expedition racing! Then off we
went again for the long climb up the Boboyan Divide alongside Grassy Creek to
CP9 and Naas Creek, picking up the Brandy Flat Walking Track towards CP 10. We
took advantage of the Brandy Flat Hut and used the facilities there and had
another quick bite to eat. We were soon heading to the TA, it was now after
midnight and we had been on the bike for around 10 hours we were ready for a
change of discipline. It was all tar to the TA so we enjoyed the descent down
the Boboyan Road and climb up Orroral Road somewhat as we could warm up again.
Cass was on fire on the bike at this point making it look so easy as she spun
up the hill towing Alina!
LEG 3 – TREK & Abseil – 50k - Orraral to Tidbinbilla
The trek up to the abseil was around 15k so we did not opt
to stay long in the TA before setting off as we knew we would have an
opportunity for a short rest at then abseil. Unfortunately, it was not to long
before we were all falling asleep. Cass was motoring at the front as Alina and
I were in the middle tripping and almost falling over providing Gina a bit of
entertainment. So we started singing out loud at the top of our voices….this
worked for a while but we were still falling over, so we opted for a 5 minute
rest. Gina kept time and in what seemed like seconds we were off again and
singing along merrily. After about 10k more than 3hrs we located the Alps
walking track which would take us to the abseil, however this track was steeper
and more technical and we were again tripping and falling over our own feet and
walking poles. At this point Alina called for a 10 minute sleep and no one
hesitated. We arrived at the abseil at around 5.30am and took to the ropes just
as the sun was rising….all we could see in the distance was the glow of the
Canberra City lights, and directly below us the creek junction that we were
navigating towards.
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| Micro sleeps are vital in Expedition Racing - Alina makes the most of minutes as Cass, Gina & Kim abseil off the cliff. |
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| Sun has risen now.....Kim takes to the ropes. |
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| Alina is the last one to abseil off Booroomba Rocks |
The next section of the trek was completely off track and
proved the most difficult part of the entire race. The 1km bush bash down into
Blue Gum Creek was nasty, despite it being all downhill. I spent a lot of time
sliding down rock scree on my backside and I tried to forge a path through the
think scratchy bush. Alina was also trying to find ways through the thick scrub
as I maintained a compass bearing of 12 degrees. Eventually we hit the creek
and the junction – relief! This was short lived, as the creek was not easy
travel! It turned out that teams were travelling at approximately 1k/hr, well
that’s what the Stromlonauts told us when they caught up to us…. meaning we had
another two hours at least in the creek. There was no relief as the sides of
the creek were either very steep and rocky or just thick bush, Alina was
forging ahead and setting an awesome pace, Gina wished she had opted for a
different shoe choice. I had HOKA Challengers and I certainly could not complain
about their performance one bit. Anyway we were hoping to hit the bend soon and
get out of the creek, but when we arrived our planned route was a wall of some
of the thickest bush we had encountered so far, so we opted to head SW and
continue along the creek….sorry team that means another hour of this! By now it was after midday and we had been on
the trek for 10hours and only travelled 22k of the 50k. Eventually as we moved
on up the creek the bush on the NE side of the creek seemed to open up just a
bit, so I set a bearing to for the saddle we were heading for. I must admit I
was pretty nervous at this point and just had to trust my ability and hoped
that all the Rogaine practice would pay off. It did, despite not really being able to see
much more than 10m ahead we found the saddle, then the spur that would take us
up towards a 1400m plateau near the Smokers Flat Trail. It was comforting to
keep crossing paths with the Stromlonauts a few times as well. There we
definitely screams of excitement when we finally hit the trail.
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| Can you see the creek junction in Blue Gum Creek in what looks to be exactly 1km North of the abseil? |
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| Blue Gum Creek proved the best travel as we headed towards the Smokers Flat Track |
We lay down and rested our weary legs and stuffed our faces
as we had barely eaten a thing for the last 7 hours. We took turns at the front
for the hike up to CP13 at Square Rock as we knew we still had a long way to go
and that we really needed to get a move on. We all had a sneak peak of the view
as Gina punched the CP and I convinced everyone to have another 5min sleep,
once again no one complained. Now it was just a matter of heading back along
towards the Smokers Trail towards the road at Smokers Gap and hitting the pine
forest. Once again it was not as easy as it seemed as none of the tracks seemed
to look anything like on the map, so again we just set a bearing and headed in
a direction and tried to pick up a trail that would take us in the right
direction. We had to wing this section a
bit and just follow the main trail. We were losing light fast and desperate to
get to CP 14 before dark…..but this was not to be. Our planned route down a spur
and along the creek, now seemed like a dodgy option, so we just stuck to the
trails and luckily picked up an old unmarked trail beside the road which took
us down into the carpark at Gibraltar Creek. We crossed the bridge and Alina
showed us the way to CP 14, she had been on this little track before, with here
young boys Archie and Jackson just months earlier.
Our route out of this CP was not easy as we either had to
bush-bash through extremely thick bush or head down a rocky creek full of water
and slippery rocks….it was now dark and getting cold, so we stayed out of the
creek for as long as we could , but eventually had to simply get in there. We
hit the exit track spot on target so now it was just 8 k to HQ. This seemed to
be the longest 8k ever…as Cass navigated the team into the TA. It was pitch
black and there was no TA in sight, but oh what a relief when about 50m away
someone put on a light…..it seemed everyone there was sleeping including Tam
the TA official. We opted to get transitioned for the next MTB leg, eat then
sleep for an hour before leaving the TA. Tam offered hot boiling water from her
Jetboil, so I could not resist. I sat in my bike box, in my sleeping bag
enjoying a Back-Country Thai Chicken Curry before I lay down and closed my
eyes. In what seemed like seconds I opened my eyes and looked at my watch
1.56am – in just 4 minutes we would be getting up to set off on bikes again!
LEG 4 – MTB – 50km – Tidbinbilla to Point Hut
Now Alina said she thought this leg would be hilly, but that
was an understatement. We were also advised that we were going through a maze
of pine forest, so we did not rush the start of this leg, making sure every
turn we made once off the bitumen was perfect. There were some pretty steep
climbs and descents on the way to CP 16 and 17, but nothing like what we were
about to encounter. CP 17 was a Cave Lookout and easier to find than we had
first thought as it had a sign and stairs leading straight to it. After
crossing Paddy’s River we had a hike-a-bike which we thought would be the
biggest……wrong…..we should have looked more closely at the elevation of all the
high points on the route we had chosen along the Bullen Range….we simply just
had to suck it up and keep rolling forward, onwards and upwards…..after around
11 high points and 5.5k we finally reached the locked gate at 778m!
The sun had risen and we were treated to some very spectacular
views, I was ready for a huge descent, but had misread the contours and it now
seemed the next 10k would be another series of high points climbing to around
900m. This was however much more rideable and soon we were at Brett crossroad 881m, and making our way down
through farmland into CP 18 – Saddle Barnes Hill.
We got off the bikes and walked up towards the saddle seeing a few strange
creatures (Sleep monsters) before being treated to some nice views and the CP
just over the hill. It was a quick ride down onto TA4.
Leg 5 – Trek & Pack Raft – 33k – Point Hut to Urirria
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| Ready to set off on the TREK to the PACK RAFT ....Feelin' Groovy! |
Jan and Ali who were manning TA 4 were very excited to see
us and we were excited to see them too, however we were somewhat preoccupied
with getting all our pack rafting gear organised and ready for a 13k TREK to
‘NUDISTS’ where we would now start the pack rafting. As this leg had been
changed I did not pack the big Mountain Designs ENDURACE Pack, so had to bungee
all the gear to the outside. Cass and I carried the rafts while Gina and Alina
carried the paddles, we all carried PFD’s as well as all our mandatory gear. We
did not hurry this transition and took the time to get in a good feed, so I put
on the jetboil, made a coffee and warmed up some pumpkin and coconut soup. Jan
took a few happy snaps of the team as we departed on the trek. Once again, a
bit of local knowledge came in handy as Alina knew the trail we were now
required to travel that was not marked on our maps. This trek cut out RED ROCKS
and 4 of the big Rapids that we otherwise would have had to portage. I tried to
keep an eye on the map and compass as we trekked as I thought it would help
once we got on the river, however it was very obvious when we arrived at
NUDISTS as, yes, there were nudists everywhere, some happy to help us continue
in the right direction. We made up a song along the way to the tune of ‘Feeling
Groovy’ which kept us awake and entertained.
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| We trekked on a trail to 'NUDISTS' as marked on the map! Skipping big rapids at RED ROCKS! |
We stopped on a nice grassy flat patch and got ourselves
organised, by inflating the pack rafts, before a 5-minute sleep. Then it was on
with the wetsuit gear and FROGSKINS before we headed into the water – Alina and
Cass were in one raft, and Gina and I in the other. I had the maps set up so I
could try to work out speed and distance as we came across our first set of
rapids. Alina and Cass went first, while Gina and I would hang back and watch
them get through safely before proceeding. I must say this was the section of
the race that I enjoyed the most, it was fun, not scary at all. Gina and I were
a great team, she would call rock and I call out paddle….as easy as that! We got out at the portage at the 14k mark, ate
some food and I put on the FROGSKINS top. At this point we realised that BIG
RIVER DRY BAGS are not that waterproof when you sit on them……my jacket which I
had ready for quick access was soaked as the snap lock bag it was in had a hole
in it, however everything in our packs in dry bags were fine!
We got back onto the water and headed for the weir just 3k
around the corner, then it was full steam ahead as there were no further
portages. The rapids started to get smaller as the sun went down, and the moon
rose. We enjoyed our moonlight paddle but soon had to crack the glow sticks and
get the AY UP’s out as we kept bottoming out. I had Gina’s lights on my head
and when we went through a small rapid we hit a bump and they fell backwards of
my head, we were 50m downstream and tried to paddle back up, but way too
shallow. The lights were glowing and easy to spot under the water when I waded
back. I jumped in and said just 1k to go now we are almost there. I was right.
We jumped out of the rafts at the TA, and quickly put on dry clothes. I
shovelled in a tin of Tuna and devoured almost a whole pack of Salt and Vinegar
Chips that the TA officials provided teams as a bit of a surprise. Once dry and
warm we packed up the rafts and paddle gear in preparation for the next leg.
Leg 6 – TREK – 10k Uriarra
This trek I am sure was put in here for the sole purpose of
warming us up. I felt like I had wings enjoyed the brisk walk at the front of
the group….I think the cold water of the Murrumbidgee was like a 5hr ICE BATH,
so I just felt recovered and pain free. I don’t think the other girls felt the
same, but this was my time to be strong yet supportive. This trek saw us
following the Murrumbidgee walking track, to CP 21 in a gully, crossing the
Mongolo River and hiking up to Shepard's lookout for CP22, following pretty much
the same track back towards the TA, with CP23 up in a creek junction. We were
relieved not to get wet feet and surprised that =travel along the side of the
creek was good. So in around 2hrs we were back at the TA.
Leg 7 – MTB – 45km – Uriarra to Black Mountain Peninsula
We transitioned really quickly and were planning another 1hr
sleep before heading off on the bikes, however there was a significant
glitch…..we had no maps! Yes, no map for the entire next leg. Lucky Alina knew
the guys from Team 22 – Results Racing – who showed us their maps. I remembered
that Alina was all over this leg when we did the planning, so we just looked at
the main features and memorised the CP’s……we had the descriptions so worth a
try map-less!
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| Alina Mc Master somehow navigated us to these 3 CP's - 24; 25 and 28 with no map! |
After our sleep, we set off up the Urriarra Road to the west
side of Mt Stromlo. While we did not take the most straightforward way up to
the top, we were relieved when we finally arrived at CP 23 – White Trig. Alina
then treated us to a tour de Stromlo down Skyline and Luge before leaving the
MTB park and heading into a newly developed satellite city and a dam. We weaved
in and out of various tracks and trails and eventually ended up at the dam and
CP – BINGO! Just one to go! The sun was now rising and Alina was on fire, as
poor Cass began to suffer with a sore knee (due to an earlier fall). We just
took it easy as we headed towards the back of Black Mountain Tower ……this was
very obvious as even a runner, passed us at one point. We found CP 24 at the
track junction Alina thought it would be at, and then headed for the CBD via a
series of bike paths. We rolled into Black Mountain Peninsula but could not
find the TA anywhere as we had no map…..we asked a security guard who was
asleep in his car and he had no idea…..we headed back and so found it on the
west side in the middle….phew!
Leg 8 – Paddle 14 Km - Lake Burleigh Griffin TA 6 - TA 7
We could not really work out if we would be warm or cold as
it seemed cloudy, so I made use of seal socks and just kept on my thermal top,
and beanie. Todd Vickery from Adventure 1
offered us some coke, which we skulled…..not your ideal breakfast food,
but we needed a bit of a lift as paddling as the sun comes up always makes you
just want to sleep. We were just ready to go and realised we still did not have
maps…..Alina rushed over to team 7 who had just arrived in the TA and asked to
look at the map, and we drew our own…..
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| Our hand drawn Paddle Map - created by Alina & Kim |
We were so lucky once again to have Alina’s local knowledge
as she navigated directly to every CP point, then we just had to find them. CP
28 was the hardest as we had to get out and run 400m into the middle of a park
and find a bench. The most challenging part of the paddle was staying awake, so
we continued to sing and make up some songs – after singing the 12days of
Christmas we made up our own version ‘A CP in a Gum Tree’. Cass got out at CP 30 and did a few star-jumps
to wake up, while I stood up in the boat and did a bit of rock and roll
dancing. It was tempting to stop at the Boat Harbour at CP31 as there were
café’s open everywhere, however we ignored them and headed for the TA. It was
now just after 10.45am.
Leg 9 – Canberra Rogaine – TA 7 back to TA6
We were given a tourist map of Canberra’s CBD and a series
of questions, and were required to find out where we might find the answers and
mark these on the map, then run around and find the answers. Oh, and we now had
our paddle map so very, very relieved, as it had all the OOB marked for the leg
as well as the first section of the final bike.
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| Wild Women take to the city streets of Canberra |
Gina had the questions and the pen and Alina just pointed us
all in the right direction, it was a bit like playing a game of snakes and
ladders or dungeons and dragons, as Alina knew all the shortcuts, underpasses
etc making for very fast travel…..and the fact that we were now running too
means that we were making extremely good time. Tom and the kids as well as Jan
and Ali found us as we were headed towards the war memorial, so we stopped for
a chat and a few photos. The last 3k back to the TA was really hard as it was
actually really hot, and as we were running on concrete, our feet were all
hurting and really hot. We stopped and offered Fixamol to team 22 along the way
(just returning a good deed). We must have arrived at the TA around 2pm…..just
one leg to go now we were very, very excited.
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| Mountain Designs Wild Women in great spirits, just one leg to go after this TREK! |
Leg 10 – 25k - Black Mountain Peninsula to the Finish – Ibis
Eaglehawk
This was no easy finish we had 2 CP’s to get and both on
mountains – Mt Ainslie elevation 850 and Mt Majura – elevation 890. Once again
Alina knew how to weave through the city paths to get to the start of the climb
for Mt Ainslie and then I was back on the navigation. We posed for a few photos
on Mt Ainslie and then all did a chin up at the trig point on Mt Majura, before
tackling the very rewarding descent towards Majura Road and ultimately the
finish line. As always, I was wondering if there was any sort of twist in the
last leg, so was not surprised to see that the trail marked to take us straight
to the finish line did not exist. So, we just rode along a paddock on a bearing
and soon saw the Ibis right in front of our eyes.
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| Gils Hike a Bike to the top of Mt Ainslie.....just one more to go! |
We located the Wildside AR finish line nearby the pool in
the resort and teamed up to cross the line together….little did we know that we
were being chased down by team 22. We crossed the line just before 5pm Thursday
just in time for happy hour……which was beer….so we attempted to skull the amber
liquid and had some success. It was such a fabulous feeling to be greeted by friends
who had been watching our dots, as well as volunteering (Jan & Ali, Tom
& kids) or competing themselves – in fact the winning team of the race and
the series, Thunderbolt AR were there at the finish as well….a truly special
moment. Watching on an listening to the banter were Richard Old (Race Director)
Amy Potter who then brought out toasted ham and cheese sandwiches for us to
devour…. sometimes it’s just the simple things in life that are so, so good
after spending 4 days out in the wilderness!
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| Mountain Designs Wild Women Finish Wildside AR 2017 |
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| Cheers Girls - what an awesome effort - 3 days and 10hours - with less than 2hrs 30 sleep - we made it! |
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| Now let the celebrations begin.... Champagne! |
Mountain Designs Wild Women finished 6th overall
at Wildside against other 4 person mixed teams, so despite the fact that we
were the only all-female team entered we finished the full course on the same
day as the winning team and ahead of the only male team to enter the event.
This also meant that were crowned winners of the Female Category in the
inaugural Adventure 1 Series – which also included X Marathon (we did not field
a team), Geoquest and Hells Bells, as we were the only female team to finish
ranked in all events in which we competed. This proves that Adventure Racing is
a extremely tough sport, but nothing that a bunch of fit, strong, skilled and
experienced female adventure racers can’t handle!
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| Mountain Designs Wild Women - A1 Series Winners Women's Category 2017 |
Thanks Girls for being a part of this dream team:-
Cass Kimlin, Gina Dunsdon, Alina Mc Master and Ali Wright
Thanks to our sponsors and supporters:-
Mountain Designs
Ay Up Lights
Tri Adventure,
Trek Bikes
Australia – Venture Cycles
Kayak Noosa
Finally, I need to acknowledge our major sponsors ‘Mountain
Designs’ who have put their brand behind an all-female team in a sport that has
been traditionally very male dominated. Without the backing of such great
sponsors to provide us with most of the gear we needed to keep us safe dry and
warm ‘out there in places you’d rather be’, we would not have had such
confidence and fun out there. Mountain Designs are also proudly sponsoring the
Wild Women Adventure Race that Jan Leverton and I as Tri Adventure are
conducting on 15th October. I will have on the Race Directors hat;
however Gina and Cass will be lining up again to defend their Wild Women AR
title.
Mountain Designs Wild Women 2018
onwards....
Kim has the girls lined up for XPD (March) and GEOQUEST (June), however before
that Kim and Cass are pairing up for the RED BULL DEFIANCE in WANAKA (January) and
then Kim is having a crack at New Zealand’s iconic COAST TO COAST
(February). We plan to field a team in the 2018 Adventure 1 Series, however hope
that our participation and achievements in the 2017 series have helped to raise
the profile of Women in this sport of adventure racing and in time lead to
greater sponsorship and prizes for women who have the confidence, skills, ability
and experience to tackle some of Australia’s most physically and navigationally
challenging adventure races.
