Our team line up for this event was
the same for the Rogue 24 – Cass, Ali, Elizabeth and me (Kim). We were pretty excited
to have Elizabeth up from Melbourne once again to share some fun and laughter with us, this time in sunny Noosa! So we all made sure we did our very important singing
practice leading up to the race…..just like ‘Wild Women do’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuAHV8ybdeY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuAHV8ybdeY
Race morning – 7am - Cass and I went to the bike drop…..it was a chilly
7 degrees and Lake Cootharaba was absolutely stunning. Meanwhile back at HQ,
Ali and Elizabeth had registered and received a copy of the all-important race
logistics planner. So, when we arrived, all of the Tri Adventure crew were there
and very excited as yes, we were going to be visiting some very of our favourite
places in the Noosa Hinterland – Swim the Noosa River; Paddle Trek to Mt Seawah;
Trek in Woondum; Mt Cooroora; Abseil Mt Tinbeerwah; finishing with some single
track. This of course was all before we had the maps, so we spent the time
sorting gear and food into our boxes whilst still speculating on where exactly
which way the CP’s would take us.
During Map handout and event briefing
at 9.30am the exact course was revealed and it certainly sounded like this Hells
Bells would be a bit longer than previous editions as there was a massive trek in
Woondum with plenty of time credits available to challenge the ‘faster teams’ ;
we were also advised at this point that time credits would be lost if we did
not get back before the course cut off at 11.30am. Elizbeth and Ali had worked out
the timings already based on the course notes and thought we would need to
finish this leg by 3am to have an opportunity to climb Mt Cooroora and get back
in time. So when we sat down and planned our maps, we didn’t really even spend
much time looking at Woondum, as we really had no idea how long it would take
us to get there!
Looking at the maps, the course looked
exciting, and even though we were very familiar with the area, the CP
descriptions and placements as per the maps, seemed like they would be
challenging. I noticed that many of the sections of the Noosa Trail Network on
the map looked more like roads, when in reality, they were just merely just trails through
paddocks! I knew this would prove to be very challenging for many teams on the
course, so we were super excited to get out there! It was fantastic to have
many locals come up to us while in the park asking, ‘What's going on here? What are
you all doing? No one could understand quite what we were about to do for the
next 24 hours! That’s what I love about adventure racing…..you make the
unthinkable….possible!
So this was the course for Hells Bells 2018:-
Leg 1 Swim across the Noosa River, run up the beach to near the Noosa North Shore Camp grounds and across to the Ferry, while searching for CP’s along the way – tree in scrub; high point; dense scrub, subtle high point, small tree!
Leg 2-4 Paddle Noosa River to Boreen Point, Teewah Landing – Run up Mt Seawah (via part of the Cooloola Great Walk) – Paddle back across Lake Cootharaba to the newly refurbished Habitat Noosa Camp Grounds at Elanda Point. Paddle 25k; Trek 5k.
Leg 5 Mountain Bike 33km via Kin Kin to Tablelands Road Lookout at Woondum, via Johnsons Lookout on the Noosa Trail Network, Upper Pinbarren Creek Road and Ewart’s Road.
Leg 6 Woondum Trek - Total Distance 30k – CP’s 13 – 22 – teams only had to collect one and it looked like most would opt for CP13 as it was closest and looked easiest as it was on a track junction. Total Time credits were 9hrs (interestingly fastest time estimate was 6hrs, slowest 12hrs – our prediction would then be 9hrs) there would certainly be no time for errors on this trek if we had the time to have a good crack at it!
Leg 7 Tablelands Lookout to Mt
Tinbeerwah – 38km – via ‘The Mother’ to
Cooran, Trail 5 to Pomona, Trail 7 to Lake Mc Donald, then on to Mt Tinbeerwah.
Leg 8 Abseil – Mt Tinbeerwah – 1hr
Compulsory Stop – for safety reasons.
Leg 9 MTB – Ride from top of Mt Tinbeerwah down through some of the famous #visitnoosa Woori Trails – Snake; Bloodwood, Indy, with our route also taking in Hovea and Glossy as well.
During a post-race interview here is what the Mountain Designs Women said:-
What do you think was the best part of course?
Ali:- Oooh, it was all so spectacular
and iconic Australian beauty... such a hard pick between the run up and down Mt
Seawah just before sunset, the paddle over Lake Cootharaba to Elanda Point with
the sun setting behind the range and the super fun single track at Wooroi at
the end!
Cass:- The view across Lake Cootharabah from the top
of Mt Seawah as the sun went down. View and abseil from Mt Tinbeewah was really
spectacular to see where we had been. And………….. watching the tracker at 11.31
in the car on the way home, seeing that the teams still out on the course
hadn’t made it home, putting us into second place. Jan's post-race eggs were
fabulous too!
Kim:- I have so many parts I enjoyed,
however the best for me was when we arrived at Lake MacDonald as the sun was
rising and then up at Mt Tinbeerwah, we could do a big 360 degree circle and see
exactly where we had been for the past 20 hours. 
Elizabeth:- I loved to flowing MTB single track trails at the end, playing in Kim's backyard really. I loved that we got tour guide information about the course and various landmarks as we rode near them.
What was your most challenging leg?
Ali:- For me it was definitely the
hike-a-bike up that near vertical cliff wall of Mt Tinbeerwah! I was out of
puff carrying Beti up that…..obviously I need to spend more time carrying my
bike around!
Cass:-The Woondum rogaine section – particularly the tactical aspect. I was very concerned about finding the happy medium between too many and too few checkpoints. My brush with the Gympie Gympie plant was interesting too! Still itchy!
Kim:- Physically I was most challenged
by the paddle, because I was frozen at Boreen Point and I used so much energy
to get over to Teewah Landing, then trying to warm up on the run. I was
dehydrated and exhausted and had a headache before starting the bike leg, so I
was thinking this is going to be a long night. The other big challenge was more
strategic rather than physical - working out what CP’s to attack in Woondum,
our conservative strategy worked, as I really did not think that we would make
much time by aiming for the big time credit CP’s up at the north end of the map
as we knew we had to be back by 3am. I wrote this on my map, so we would not
forget this!
Elizabeth:- A non-steering red bathtub kayak that somehow only wanted to
steer right, but in saying that I really enjoyed the paddle and the scenery and
company was great for this leg - too much to talk about that I never even
managed to warm up my singing voice!! There was certainly some tough decisions
out on the rogaine - lots of strategic discussions before we made the final
call to not go for all the CP’s.
What did you enjoy most about Hells Bells
in Noosa?
Ali:- The spectacular location and
most fabulous winter weather! The river wasn't even cold for our swim!Cass:- Noosa and the hinterland is the perfect location for adventuring. A perfect mix of challenging terrain and beautiful scenery.
Kim - It was really fun knowing quite a bit of the area and being able to spend such a great time out in some of our favourite locations with such a great bunch of girls. Other times when I have raced in places I have known I have not been the navigator, so my local knowledge has not really helped that much, however this time it made a real difference. I did not know all of Woondum, so I liked that too as I knew if we were headed there the bush is thick and travel off track is slow and challenging. I did think it was great to get everyone to the controversial Elanda Point Camp Ground, that has recently been redeveloped by the Discovery group and the fact we paddled there was awesome. Hope everyone dining at the café/restaurant there that night was inspired by what they saw!
Elizabeth:- That it was not Melbourne weather, they had a shocker that weekend. Also, I got to race in my super awesome looking Wild Women kit and didn't put any holes in it, even with the wait-a-while bushes.
Did you come across any other teams on
the course and how they were going?
Ali:- We saw a few teams out and about
at various stages... in the early stages we were close to the front teams and
they were going well... at the Elanda Point TA before stage 5 I heard a very
disappointed racer discover he'd packed the wrong stuff in the wrong gear box
and didn't have dry clothes to warm up after the wet paddle (doh!) ... in the
later stages we were joined by Team Rogue who shared our team's enjoyment in
Kim's local knowledge. They had also employed a similar strategy to us in
recognizing the need to get back to HQ before race cut off and didn't want to
gamble everything and lose either.
Cass:- Its always great to see other
teams out on the course- particularly the Tri Adventure crew. Being in close
proximity to the top mixed teams throughout the race, was exciting too. It’s
always a moral boost to know that you’re up there!
Kim:- I thought it was great that I
saw Jan and Shan (Tri Adventure Vintage) at the end of the paddle, I sort of
thought we may cross paths there. We saw a few teams in Woondum on our way out
of CP 13, then from Pomona we had Rogue trying to stick with us to make the
most of our local knowledge after they had spent 2 hours searching for CP29. This
was great as teams can work well with other teams too, as we were still racing
to the finish to get the fastest time possible. It definitely helped having
more people searching for the final bike CP as like many of the CPs some of
the features were rather vague.
Elizabeth:-
It was a real highlight to see Get a grip of the
Grind (Eibhlin and Sharon) who are two inspirational novices to adventure
racing from my triathlon squad back in Melbourne, and they took on the Fairy
Bells course and completed it by themselves.
Gear needed most and what I used it
for:
Ali:- Hard to pick one item....
gaiters were excellent leg protection; my new Altra Superior runners gave my toes (including the new no-toenail
toe) extra room which was v comfy; my merino arm warmers helped me keep nice
and toasty over night; the paddle seat I borrowed off Cass was a lifesaver for
my back and backside in the paddle leg! The lightweight Berghaus Pack I borrowed from Kim was fantastic... it really was a
combination of everything that made for an excellent race :-)
Cass:- Mountain Designs socks. These are the best socks I have ever owned. So comfortable and great when wet. I only had one sock change for the whole race after the kayak leg. Mountain Designs thermal also got a workout in this race. I put it on after the kayak leg and it stayed on for the rest of the race. Moxie gaiters were a lifesaver in the Woondum trek. We found plenty of wait-a-while and lantana in the off-track sections so the Moxies helped to protect our legs! I also trialled a new Salomon S-Lab vest-style pack. A nice snug fit, very comfortable for running in. Plenty of storage pockets. The large stretchy back pocket was big enough to fit my shoes in for the mid-bike abseil.
Kim:- Moxie Gaiters and long Mountain
Designs Tights were definitely a bonus for the TREK. I love my Berghaus Pack and used the little water
bottle pocket to carry Lemon Lime Endura electrolyte on the Woondum Trek – this
cured my headache and I even managed to carry around a can of coke from Woondum
to the finish in that little secret pocket….Oops! The Hoka Challengers were again a big winner for me…no blisters and my
legs felt great still able to run by the end of the trek in Woondum and they
were great on the Abseil as well!
Elizabeth:-
- My ‘O-pants’
and Moxie Gaiters- again life saving
for leg scratches with the wait a while bush.
Hells Bells Results 2018
Mountain Designs Wild Women had an absolutely
fabulous race, crossing the finish line just after 9.00am, after collecting all the
mandatory CP’s on the course and an extra 3 CP’s in Woondum (actually losing
15 minutes after spending 3hrs 45minutes out there). We also opted not to
collect the CP on top of Mt Cooroora as despite having 2hrs 30 up our sleeves
when we crossed the line, we knew that if we had have attempted more bonus CP’s
we would have lost time and risked getting back late. I was so impressed when
not long after 10:30am Thoughtsports finished collecting all of the bonus CP’s
except Mt Cooroora, what an amazing effort as the travel in Woodum was slow and
thick, however they obviously nailed it!
HQ was buzzing with competitors
finishing from both Hells Bells and Fairy Bells and we were all waiting to see
which HB team would cross the line next, as Peak Adventure; Thunderbolts and
Adventure Junkies were all still out there! The clock kept ticking and ticking
and none of the teams would cross that line; wow we thought, they are going to
lose all their points, we definitely made the right strategic choice. Although
I was really feeling for the teams that did not get back before the cut-off, I
had to remind myself, it was a race and we all raced under the same conditions and
just like in many Rogaines, there are huge penalties for arriving back late.
I am so proud of our team of amazing
Wild Women as we just worked so well together, planned and executed a great
race all while just having a bit of fun in our beautiful big backyard.
Hells Bells 2018 – 2nd
Overall – 1st Women’s Team.
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