There has been quite a bit happening on the adventure scene
for all members of the Mountain Designs Wild Women Adventure Racing Team.
Alina Mc Master has been busy being famous and promoting
Ultra-Trail Australia https://www.ultratrailaustralia.com.au/
Alina said “It is a super busy time of year preparing for
the organisation of this event - over 4,500 runners and 10,000 supporters so am
trying to fit training in where possible” Alina has been up many early mornings
doing some 30km runs with some ultra-runners preparing for the 2017 event. Here
is a link to the TV interview –‘Australia’s Fittest Couple’.
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| Alina Mc Master on TV |
A few weeks ago Cass and Gina raced at the Hiddenvale MTB6hr
event placing 1st and 2nd respectively in their
categories, while Kim and Ali were working on their navigation skills at the
very popular Bunyaville Rogaine, with Kim racing with Jan Leverton taking out
the Women’s Open category and Ali teaming up with Shaun Lauder placing 3rd
overall.
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| Bunyaville 3hr Map |
Rogue Raid
This weekend Kim, Cass, Gina and Ali raced as a team of four
for the first time at the Rogue Raid here is how the event unfolded…..
Map handout was at 8am and as usual we seemed to run out of
time, even though we had waterproof maps and did not have to do much
contacting. This was the first time that we had all had the opportunity to race
together as a team (on paper Mountain Designs Wild Women 1 & 2), so we were
all very excited.
The event consisted of 5 stages – Paddle; Trek; MTB; Trek; Paddle
– with the MTB leg split by the second trek leg. The most points were on the
MTB and Trek legs so our strategy was to maximise our points on these legs, but
still have some time to get some good points on the final paddle.
Leg 1 Paddle – We
set off and managed to get all the planned CP’s (1,7,2) in about 1hr 30, then
we decided to go for two more CP’s (4 & 5) to gain an extra 120points, but
as we headed to CP4 there was a massive headwind, and waves and we quickly
decided when our kayaks were pretty much totally under water, to turn back and
maximise the time later.
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| Rogue Raid Map 1 - MD Wild Women Leg 1 Course Plan |
Leg 2 Trek –
there were 9CP’s available on this leg and we planned to go for 8 of them. CP
17 looked like it was not worth just 80 points being 6k out and back. However,
after making great time to CP12, 13, 14 (via MTB CP20) and 15 we had a look and
thought why not have a go, as we are after all in training for #GeaquestAR. Well
we got it but it took us about 1hr definitely fatiguing the legs for the final
3CP’s in the leg 11, 10 and 9. We were very excited to roll into the TA just as
the sun was going down having cleared the run leg. The 6hr event had just
finished and they were enjoying HOT PIZZA, but not for us yet L
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| MD Wild Women in action - running most of the trek legs |
Leg 3 MTB Part 1–
It was dark by the time we set off so time for the AY UP lights to be put into
action.This leg was quite challenging at first as my map-board compass and Cass’s
compass showing completely different directions after CP 18 and as we were
doing a bush bash out this was not good. We did go a bit off direction at first
but found a fence line which was good travel, so it went to exactly where we
wanted to all good! After climbing Pine Hill we had a fun ride down collecting
Cp20, 21 riding some really nice trails beside the lake. It was then time to
head to Coomynia and the rail trail. At CP 24 we chose to do the opposite of
what most teams did and that was to go from CP 24-28, complete the tricky MTB
navigation CP’s in the ESK State Forest, before doing the TREK, in the same
area. Initially we only planned to get CP 28, 30, 31 and 33, but after clearing
the first trek and making good time to CP28 we also opted for 29 and 32. Our
plan almost came unstuck as we approached CP32, when a huge stick totally bent
my derailleur hanger. I was ready to do the whole single speed thing, but
thought I would try to bend it into place first….the hanger cracked but did not
break, so I wrapped heaps of electrical tape around it and tested it out…..gears
were changing and it seemed like only one gear did not work….happy days! We totally
overshot the track to CP33 as it certainly did not look like it did on the map,
bit after bit of backtracking and running into Ian and AP from Isodopes we
eventually found it, and thus cleared that section.
Leg 4 Trek – This
trek took us back through the ESK State Forest, as we had cleared the first
trek, we though well why not have a good go at clearing this one, especially as
we were now familiar with the area. The TA officials told us the tracks were
quite unreliable…..really???? We chose an anticlockwise course heading from 35,
36, 39, 41, 38, 37. It worked really
well with the only glitch being my miss-interpretation of the CP description
for 39 as HIGH POINT not HIGH POINT on overgrown track…..after a few 360’s and
holding the map upside down …..we eventually got it…..thanks to Cass for being
on the ball there! My favourites of the trek were following the spur to 38 and
the challenging lantana bush bash out of
37 back to the track…..because they were the most challenging….not that I love
lantana that much….it’s just so good when you find your way out of it!We
arrived back at the TA at 6.20am….1hr and 20 minutes over our estimated time.
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| Leg 4 Trek with MTB CP's highlighted |
Leg 3 MTB Part 2 –
I had estimated it may take us 3hrs to get back to HQ for the final paddle, so
all things going well we should get there with enough time to get on the water.
The return journey was pretty fast as on roads through to ESK, via CP 25, 27
and 26. Then back via CP24 and the rail trail over the same route as the way
out. We were all taking turns on the front here and setting a pretty good pace,
with Ali on the front as we hit the grassy trails back near HQ. It took us just
2hrs 45 to get back so we were keen to get paddling.
Leg 5 Paddle –
This leg had plenty of points on offer but we had just 1hr 30, so we opted for
45, 47 and 43 in that order, so we got the 100 points first up. Cass was first
to work out that we may have to approach CP 45 from the west due to low water
levels…..the plan was spot on….good one Cass. We arrived back into HQ with just
10 minutes to spare….so glad we did not get too adventurous on the final
paddle.
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| A beautiful day on the lake for a paddle! |
Pretty stoked to finish 6th overall and 1st
Women’s team on 2410 points, clearing all of the Trek and MTB legs, so just two
all-male teams and two mixed teams in front of us…..Thanks to Liam St Pierre
for creating another great course and the Rogaine Association for supporting
this style of racing, it is so great to have a course where teams can almost
choose their own adventure within one big adventure, allowing us to cross paths
with so many others out on the course. Awesome to have such a great group of
girls to race with and an opportunity to put all the adventure gear in action ….
thanks to Mountain Designs, Ay Up Lighting Systems, Tri Adventure, Venture
Cycles and Kayak Noosa for supporting Mountain Designs Wild Women.
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| Strong Happy Team - Mountain Designs Wild Women |
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