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| Mountain Designs Wild Women XPD 2021 - Kim, Eibhlin, Cass and Amie |
XPD Rivers of Gold was by no means our perfect race, in fact from the moment we entered this event the cards never really fell our way. Due to the COVID lockdown in Victoria announced on Thursday, Shelly could not get to Cairns as her flight 6hrs too late. Eibhlin was lucky and heard mumblings of the impending lockdown 24hrs earlier and managed to change flights and get out with a few other Victorians. So, it was looking like the team were going to have to race as a team of 3 unranked. This just did not sit well with me, so at about 3.00am Friday,just 48hrs before race day, as Jan and I were driving to the airport to get our flight to Cairns, I sent out a message to all of the women who have raced with Mountain Designs Wild Women before, asking if there was any chance just one person could ‘drop everything’ and jump on a plane to Cairns. Amie Munson responded with a ‘I have been looking at flights’ and soon locked them in…….so Cass, Eibhlin and I were excited as with Amie joining the team we could start ranked!
Saturday 17 July – Pre-Event Registration, Safety Briefings, Competency Checks, Opening Ceremony and Dinner.
XPD
is a tough expedition race and in order to have any chance of finishing you
must have some idea of what you are doing, so the session was to ensure that
teams knew the event rules, can use a
compass to get themselves out of strife, have first aid knowledge and
experience, can use a yellow brick tracker in an emergency; and know ‘what can
kill them out on the course’. Most of our conversation about crocodiles, snakes
and stinging trees. We also had our team photo taken – thanks Jan (Volunteer
Media Crew) for stepping in for Amie. Afterwards we spent most of the day
packing and sorting gear into our tubs and bike boxes. As Amie was not even
here yet we had to make sure we left room for Amie’s gear too.
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| Linda Davis gives us the lowdown! |
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| Opening Ceremony on the beach at Palm Cove |
Amie arrived just in time for dinner and we enjoyed a team chat and some nice wine before heading back to our room to help Amie prepare. Now just so you know I had been preparing for months for this race and knew the logistics like the back of my hand, I had a plan for lights, poles, shoes and everything else…..but imagine being Amie…..she would have been totally overwhelmed at this point. This was also Eibhlin’s first XPD so she too was a little nervous and rightly so, as expedition racing is always tough and can never be underestimated. Cass was on mum duties so did not stay with us and enjoyed her last night with Tess and husband Darryn. So, instead of getting an early night we were up for quite a while helping Amie, first we packed the gear and then we did the food. Lights out 10.30…..not bad!
Sunday 18th July – Event Lockdown, Course Reveal and Race Start
At
7am the course was revealed, and the maps released to teams and from this point
on we had no access to the outside world. All we could do is tweak our gear
boxes if required before submitting them for weighing and loading onto trucks.
We had less than 2 hours to look through the maps and double check our gear.
Cass and I poured over the maps while Craig Bycroft was giving leg descriptions
and important course information. Eibhlin and Amie were reading the
corresponding course notes to us and doing some necessary contacting, and in
charge of submitting our boxes, so there was a lot going on. There never seems
to be enough time, however I did manage to draw the magnetic north lines on all
of the waterproof set of maps. So, by 9.30am we were on our way to the start
down at the waterfront at Palm Cove. All the teams started to make there way
down to the beach in time to set up kayaks and receive some final well wishes
from family, friends and course officials.
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| Cass and Amie check out the set up of the kayaks! |
Leg 1 Team Split Ocean Kayak 22k / Coasteer Trek 16k – Palm Cove to Wanghetti Beach (Day 1)
Cass and Eibhlin were ready to paddle, Amie and I ready to coasteer. Teams assembled on the beach and around 10am teams were off and racing XPD Rivers of Gold 2021. I mentioned that this was not our best race and in fact right from the start things did not go quite our way! As Amie and I made our way around the first headland at Buchan point a dog ran at me and attempted to bite my leg….my heart rate went through the roof at that point, however lucky the teeth did not break through my knicks. Amie said, ‘Kim did you see that dog’ and I said yes when it just bit me! We were however the lucky ones as not long after another team was forced to withdraw from the event due to a dog bite on one of the team’s private parts.
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| Off and racing XPD Rivers of Gold 2021 |
Meanwhile on the water Cass and Eibhlin had a kayak that was not steering too well and that in addition to the choppy conditions made the paddle rather challenging. They had 3 swims all up and I suppose this uses up extra energy and wastes a bit of time, but they did manage to collect CP1 and 2. Amie and I did not have to collect any CP’s so just ran straight to the TA, started assembling the team’s bikes for Leg 3. It was extremely hot in the TA as we waited for the others to check in.
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| Cass and Eibhlin enjoying the ocean paddle! |
Leg 2 Loop Rainforest Trek 8km - Macallister Range National Park
It
was very hot as we set off so took it quite steady for this reason. Lead teams
were already on their way back to the TA CP3 as we started the climb, so at
least this meant that the leg would not take too long. The three CP’s A B and C
were relatively easy to find and there were lost of high fives along the way
when we came across other teams out there. We arrived back at the TA CP5 in
about 10th spot and well under our estimated time.
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| All smiles at this point! |
Leg 3 MTB 42km Wanghetti Beach, up and over Mt Marr to Mt Molloy.
We
set off on this leg around 2pm and it was the hottest part of the day. The
climb up Quad Road was brutal, and many teams were suffering. Amie was not
great at all and was suffering from heat exhaustion, she was really upset and
nauseous. We started towing her, but she was getting worse. So, we stopped let
her rest and hydrate and Eibhlin gave her some electrolyte tablets. When we set
off again, I carried her pack, Cass towed and Eibhlin pushed from behind. We
took it easy and before long Amie started to feel much better by the time we
arrived at CP6. As the sun set over the mountain ranges, we started to cool off
and enjoy the ride. Eibhlin was loving this punchy ride and set a great pace
out the front. After locating CP7 we took the bump track through Kuranda West
Forest Reserve through to Weatherby and then onto Mt Molloy. Now at the end of
this leg there was a transport leg and busses were scheduled to leave at 1hr 30
intervals. We arrived to MT Molloy TA CP8, 30mins before the second bus, so I
really encouraged the girls to get a wriggle on here as I thought we could make
it…and we did. So, in less than 15mins we had our bikes packed up and spent the
remaining time getting boiling water for our meals which we planned to eat on
the bus. We left on the 9.30 bus well ahead of our planned schedule.
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| Team work in transition! |
Transport 30 min bus trip
Leg 4 Trek, Abseil, Ropes 35km
For me this would be the most challenging leg. On paper it did not appear too long or too hard, but there was some serious elevation, and the navigation was difficult. After jumping off the bus we were the last team to set off, this was fine as we had worked hard on the bike and we just wanted to get our head around the maps and work out pacing and timings. We came across Team Mawson as we headed out to CP9, we took slightly different routes to the high point but descended together. The tricky navigation was to come. We were now ahead of Mawson and just as we were about to leave the trail and bush bash to CP 10 on a bearing, we saw another team stay on the track. Cass and I wondered what their route choice was….and changed our plans…..bad move as we would not really see any of the features and could not really tell where we were, so we wasted around 30mins climbing and turned around and wend back. We could see lights right up high in the sky and that is where we were headed. CP 10 was a creek junction and after climbing for what seemed hours we descended into a creek and it got bigger and bigger eventually turning into an amazing gorge. We came across Mawson again and helped them out a bit. They thought they had missed the CP, but we said no, they were more than 1k off still. After finding CP10 we made our way out to the road and headed to CP 11 for the abseil. We were almost out of water and had been conserving water, so we were relieved when we heard from the abseil officials that there would be a swim at the end of the abseil and that we should take our bladders with us to fill. It was about 4.00am and pitch black when we arrived at the abseil point. Thanks to Mason Minto from Climbing Guides Australia for setting up the ropes…it was fun falling into the water off the rope, swimming and then using ropes to haul ourselves out of a steep watercourse.
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| The abseil in daylight! |
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| View of the waterhole that we jumped into! |
On return to CP 11 we collected our mandatory gear and started heading on a track alongside Desailly Creek towards the next CP. We were greeted by the media car just as the sun was coming up, we were in good spirits. After leaving the track we headed for CP 12 and came across about 3 other teams, the navigation to CP 13 was all off track and required careful picking off of features along the way. We nailed CP 12 – Creek junction but hit CP 13 a bit high….our altimeter had us too low when we hit the spur on a bearing, so instead of heading down the spur we went up….and up… and up…nothing! So back down we went and there it was. In hindsight I should have been a bit more confident of the bearing and features! On the map it looked like a short stroll on tracks back to the TA, but it was long, hot and teams were suffering! On arrival at TA CP14 I was shattered and could barely walk another step, so I just sat in the shade with the team while we contemplated the next leg.
Leg 5 Kayak 53km Mitchell River.
It
took us a while to get going, officials told us that we should take helmets if
we have them and if our helmets did not arrive before we left that they would
be brought to us at a point on the course. I immediately thought that the
rapids marked on the map must be big and longer than expected but thought
nothing more of it as that was near the end of the paddle anyway. Amie and I
went down to the river and cooled off…..this made me feel so good…..I managed
to cool down and this then allowed me to get in some nutrition.
With
some great teamwork we managed to get the kayaks down to the river, thanks to
Kev from Mawson who helped and soon were on the water paddling in the shade. There
were quite a few teams around and this always makes you feel better, however we
were not ready for what we were about to encounter! Strainers and rapids, more
strainers and more rapids! Cass and Eibhlin were in front, and Amie and I were
waiting back, we were paddling safely and looking after each other as it was so
easy to get stuck and or caught. We were not getting very far at all and there
was lots of getting in and out and over and under logs, it was rather difficult
to get the CTR’s to steer using the foot pedals so good white water paddle
skills were required. I was slowly coming good, meanwhile Amie was amazing
jumping in and out of the kayak as nimble as ever helping Cass and Eibhlin out
of trouble many times when their kayak got stuck in strainers…. this was going
to be a long paddle. It was starting to get dark and we had gone less than 5k
in about 5hrs…. really????
Darkness
came upon us, and things got rather scary, no helmets and paddling rapids and
negotiating strainers at night. We decided to play it safe and stop and check
or portage if it did not look safe making the paddle take even longer than we
had expected. At one point, Cass and Eibhlin got stuck under a tree and Eibhlin
almost drowned, lost her paddle but luckily we managed to find it caught on
another strainer…this was scary stuff! We also began to see little crocodile
eyes staring at us from in the water and on the banks…yes baby crocodiles
everywhere…. but where were mum and dad???? Can you believe one team of guys
decided it would be fun to catch baby crocs!
In what seemed hours later we finally were stopped by officials and given our helmets. We were relieved as at least we felt a little safer. However, the rough challenge conditions continued and Eibhlin and Cass got flipped and stuck again, this time Eibhlin lost her paddle for good. Amie and I spent a while looking but it was gone. We portaged a long way and I found a stick that Eibhlin could use as a paddle, so at least she could push away from rocks etc. This really slowed us down as Cass and Eibhlin could not paddle any rapids and had to portage. We continued down the Mitchell River and eventually came across CP15, soon after the rapids subsided, and the paddle turned into a kayak drag….it seemed to take hours and hours and it did. At one point we got rerouted up a side creek and probably lost 30mins ….at least…. we were not happy but just had to turn around and go back. Just as daylight was approaching we were all quite delirious and starting to see things like signs and buildings…. but of course, they were not real! I suppose it was about 7.00am when we arrived at TA CP16. What an epic paddle but we survived! We reported the lost paddle to event officials who informed us that it was within the rules to acquire another paddle from another team. We had now gone almost 48hrs without sleep, so we put our bikes together ready for the next leg, put on the jetboil to have a hot meal and then had a rest before setting off on the next leg. It was comforting to see some familiar faces here whether they be officials, supporters and teams who had already completed leg 6 waiting out the 1hr compulsory stop.
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| Teams panned for gold at the end of Leg 6 |
Leg 6 MTB 50km Trek 15k and Gold Challenge - Hurricane Station Goldfields
This
was an interesting leg where we would search for gold on bike and foot. We were
to ride to a CP, drop the bikes and then go on foot to search for a CP at the
CP we were to collect a bag of dirt with the hope of finding gold. We probably
set off around 11.00am and it was heating up. We opted to go for the CPs in
order M1 – M4 in that order. So, on arrival at M1 we dumped the bikes and
headed off on foot. We had three fast river crossings to negotiate so teamwork
was required. G1 looked simple on paper so walked in 1km and then set off on a
bearing to the creek, unfortunately things went pear-shaped when we did not
find the CP. We ended up having to use a few safety bearings to get us to a
point where we could reset. Luckily, we came across a track on the map and it
lined up…phew and there was our first Gold CP and a bag of gold in a box! Getting
back to the bikes was pretty straight forward but involved three creek
crossings again and after collecting our bikes we then had to take our bikes
back through these crossings again. We worked really well as a team and
supported each other safely through. The ride to M2 was dusty but fast, we
dumped our bikes and set off to G2. Again it looked simple on the map but when
we arrived at the high point where we thought the CP would be, it was not
there….looking across a saddle we could see where we thought we should be but
it did not make sense on the map….maybe we were tired and maybe we had made a
mistake….but we kept going and hit G2 just on sunset. We enjoyed a roast dinner
here…..beef jerky and dried vegies….not too bad! We got a bit spun out when making
our way back to the TA, things went a bit pear-shaped as they can sometimes do on night 3 of an
expedition race….and after nothing making sense we just had to take a bearing
and hit the road….oh well just a few extra hills never hurt anyone! I must say
it was a relief to hit the road and make our way back to the bikes at M2. Cass
and I were sharing the Nav most of the race but for this leg we only had one
map, so at night Cass has better eyesight so she was in charge. We made our way
to M3 and then set off for G3, Cass was methodical and particular and we were
in and out in what seemed a flash. We headed for M4, dumped the bikes and used
a bearing to get to G4. It was a creek junction and looked fairly simple! There
were other teams around who we caught or who were tackling this leg in the
opposite direction. We nailed this CP and grabbed our bag of gold and made it
back to the TA CP17. We ate a meal and enjoyed a sleep in our bivvy’s before
waking up just before sunrise! It is amazing how great you can feel after less
than 4hrs sleep over 3 nights……
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| Ready to head out into the goldfields! |
Leg 7 MTB 86km Hurricane Station to Kingsborough via Mt Mulligan
It seemed like another beautiful day, hot but fine and after a strong bike last night we were excited to get on the bikes. We were now well behind our planned schedule, had had little sleep but thought we were still well on track to complete the full course. The team were all in good spirits and no one had any issues other than sore feet, a few blisters and a bit of fatigue. We were motoring along towards CP 18 when my bike free wheel hub imploded….yes I was spinning to nowhere! I tried to keep riding and the hub would engage then spin then engage….we looked at how far we had gone and decided to keep going forward…hoping that another team may come along and have idea on how to fix or at least help us go a bit faster. So we continued – Eibhlin was towing me and Cass and Amie pushing from behind…..for a while when the bike was at 12km per hour it was just engaging so we thought it may come good. However, after we stopped at CP 18 the bike was dead……so we just had to push pull and tow and dead weight….me! It was getting hotter and whenever there was a slight rise it was impossible to tow so I was walking / jogging….this was going to be a long day! We had a hike a bike before CP19 so I got to enjoy a bit of a thrilling ride but then it was back to pull, push, tow. We missed the track up to CP 19 and found ourselves searching in the wrong spot. Eventually we worked it out at arrived at CP 19 just as Team Directionally Challenged arrived. We explained what had happened to my bike, Max and Ricky then zip tied the wheel spokes to the cluster so the wheel would rotate, so we put the chain back on (we removed it earlier) and unfortunately the zip ties broke on the first pedal stroke. Not long after a car stopped and old mate inside had some wire and wire cutters, so Cass and I tried the same idea with pieces of wire….it held together but I could not ride the bike as the chain had to keep spinning and was just getting caught up every time the wheel rolled. In hindsight we should have single speeded the bike but that may have wrecked the spokes.
We plodded along in the heat of the day pushing pulling and towing, now teams were passing us and leaving us behind as we arrived at CP 20 on the Hodgkinson River. Day turned to night as we arrived at the old ghost town of Mt Mulligan CP 21, so we rested a bit and then continued on to CP 22 at a cemetery where we were so excited to see Kelsey and her team Peak Adventure Allies. I think we rolled into the TA CP23 at Kingsborough sometime around 2.00am. We were just glad to get there, so we used the Jetboils again and enjoyed some hot food and chatted to some other teams then slept till 5am ready to embark to the next epic leg.
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| View of Mt Mulligan |
Leg 8 Trek 60km– guided by the Bicentennial National Trail back to Mt Molloy.
We got up at 5.00am, ate some breakfast as Cass and I had a look over the maps, we set off just as the sun was rising! We were in the middle of nowhere and the walk up to CP 24 provided us with some great views. Again, we worked well as a team using pace counting timing while we were on the trails. We were aware that some teams had decided to skip a few CP’s on this leg to try to get to the paddle, Cass and I and the team decided that this was not in the spirit of the competition and that we would try to continue on the full course trek and try to find all of the CP’s, the downside was that we had lost a lot of time on the bike leg. CP 25, a saddle, looked tricky but Cass and I worked really well on this one checking off every creek line along the way. This was off track for more than 10k, so some teams opted to skip and just take the track. We nailed the CP and soon were back on the track moving towards CP 26. We arrived at the east branch of the Hodgkinson River and were greeted by 3 other teams resting and refilling water…it was now after lunchtime so a great opportunity for a bit of a rest. We walked into CP 26 which was on a creek junction and soon found a rather obvious track which we started to follow. We were moving well and trying to use the features on the map to work out exactly where the track was headed….it was going in the perfect direction that I had marked on the map but the track was not on the map. The track became very vague at times and then there seemed to be tracks everywhere….we saw a high point up on the Southedge Range and tried to make the map fit what we saw….we were looking for a small hill and climbed a big hill and did not find the CP. I thought we still had about 3k to go but could not resist the urge to have a look. We got back to the track and we were losing light, we found the track and again it became vague as we neared the creek, came across another team who were also struggling to make sense of everything. We found another track and it went to a high point….but no CP…bummer. As a team we now felt that it was going to be hard to find the CP, it was pitch black and we did not really know where exactly we were. We came across another team who sounded super confident and were using altitude to try to contour around to the CP. The team thought this was the go! I explained that this is a technique that I had not used before but I did think it could help us try to make sense of the features and help us relocate on the map. Minutes turned into hours and after 9.30 we had not found the CP. I had sensed a change in the wind and a change of direction as that we were now heading east, and had been for a while. Exhausted and confused we stopped and had a chat behind some big rock boulders. The team had lost confidence in our ability as navigators to locate the CP, so Eibhlin suggested that we eat and rethink. So that is what we did. No one wanted to have another crack, so I set a safety bearing North and headed for Dora Creek. As we started heading down the hill the conditions were rough and rugged, we encountered steep gullies and big boulders….I think it took over 1hr 30 just to get there. We found a bit of a water hole – we called this toad water and camped there in our bivvies. I think this was the lowest point of our race. I woke the girls at 5.00am and our aim was to set off at 6.00 as it would be light by then. I went for a bit of a walk and saw lights up high on a hill…I could see that was where the CP was however the team had already decided that we would not get the CP and take the 10hr penalty. I explained that usually in XPD this would mean the team would be unranked, but as this was not the case we would keep moving on. The reality now was that we would not make the time cut off for the paddle so we decided we would collect all of the remaining CPs on the trek. As were walked east on Dora Creek we eventually worked out our location on the map and picked up the Bicentennial Trail – it was like a superhighway. Water was scarce so we refilled from a few dodgy water holes and made sure we purified. We made our way to CP 28 and 29 up over the Slaty Range and descended onto Bakers Road. This was a physically demanding section of the trek and we still had 12k to go, so I suggested that we walk down to cool off in Rifle Creek and then try to walk / jog back to the TA at Mt Molloy. As we had no trouble finding CPs 28 and 29 we were now in great spirits so we enjoyed cooling off in the creek and made our way to the TA. Along the way we came across another female team, they had not done all of the checkpoints and had lost a teammate but gained another, they too were in great spirits. We collected CP 30 at the cemetery and arrived at the Mt Molloy TA CP31 just before 5.00pm and decided to reward ourselves with a meal at the pub. Officials informed us that we were short-coursed and ensured we had the correct maps to take us to the finish. So instead of a Bike / Paddle / Trek – we just had a bike to the finish which covered most of the final trek that those on the full course were completing. Oh and my bike….well word had got out that I needed a wheel so Shaun Jackson from Team Mawson (who sadly had to withdraw) lent me, not only a wheel, but a whole bike, so I we were pretty excited about that - thanks!
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| Not quite the route we were after - in search of CP 27 |
Leg 9 MTB 65k Mt Molloy via Kuranda West Forest Reserve to the Finish at Palm Cove
So
just on dark we headed to the café and enjoyed the biggest bacon and egg
burgers that I have ever seen with some nice hot chips. We marked up our maps
for the journey home and set off on our final adventure. As we started riding,
we realised we were headed back the way we had arrived at Mt Molloy 4 days
earlier we collected CP SC32 and SC33 and CP40. On the maps it did not seem far,
but this leg took us over 8hrs. We really enjoyed this ride and had many laughs
along the way….Eibhlin took on some creek crossings and fell in, I could not clip
out of the cleats on Shaun’s bike, so fell multiple times….no one was hurt so
we just laughed. We got a bit spooked in the pine forest just after the
bewitching hour but backtracked and safety made our way down the unrideable
descent, collected the final CP’s 41, 42 and 43 before crossing the finish line
around 3.30am Saturday morning….we had been out there almost 6 full days!
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| Mountain Designs Wild Women at the Finish 3,30am Saturday morning! |
So, Mountain Designs Wild Women finished the Short Course of XPD 2021 Rivers of Gold fully ranked and first Women’s team. This was certainly not our best race but a race that required commitment, teamwork, persistence and the ability to survive and keep moving forward in extreme conditions. Thanks Cass Kimlin, Eibhlin Fletcher and Amie Munson for everything – you would have to be some of the strongest fittest mums out there!
Thanks once again to Mountain Designs for your ongoing support with essential gear for the race! So, what essential AR gear did the MD Wild Women use in XPD Rivers of Gold?
1. Mountain
Designs Cool Max Socks – thick and cool – perfect for preventing blisters
and providing comfort especially on those long trek and bike legs
2. Mountain
Designs Merino Blend Thermals – lightweight and durable – perfect for part
of the mandatory gear – this race we used these for sleeping in as when you are
dehydrated and tired your core temperature drops rapidly and popping on one of
the thermals is a great way to stay warm when tucked up inside a bivvy.
3.
Mountain
Designs Wayfarer Gore-Tex Hooded Jacket – lightweight and waterproof –
essential part of mandatory gear. Because this was such a hot race and it did
not rain, we did not have to get these out much, but when we were up high
searching at night for the illusive CP 27 it was cold and windy, so out came
the jackets and we were warm and comfortable in minutes
4.
Mountain
Designs Tread TF Carbon Trekking Poles – perfect entry level trekking poles
for anyone getting into adventure racing. The poles fold up and can be carried
easily when not in use, while not the lightest on the market for the price they
are adjustable and can be used by people of various heights unlike other
brands.
5.
Suunto
A-30 SH Metric Compass – perfect for any time when you need to set a
bearing – what I love about this compass is that the dial glows in the dark,
making it really easy to see at night especially when you are paddling with
lights off and or using a safety bearing to get out of trouble.
6.
Women's
Heritage Acid Tee Black & Acid Print – Mountain Designs Wild Women look
stylish in the MD Acid Tee’s at the XPD Rivers of Gold Presentations
