Mountain Designs Wild Women : Where Legends are made!

Mountain Designs Wild Women lined up for the inaugural Legend Expedition Adventure Race Jindabyne in February 2023. https://www.legendexpd.com.au/

Mountain Designs Wild Women - KIm, Alina, Del, Nicola

The 500km Wild&Co ARWS Regional Qualifier event was staged in the Snowy Mountains over 6 days and involved navigating with map and compass through 14 stages of the course on foot, kayak and mountain bike. Only teams who completed the full course and found all the CPs can truly claim ‘Legend’ status.

The Mountain Designs Wild Women were represented by Kim Beckinsale, Alina Mc Master, Del Lloyd and Nicola Jelinek. As a team of four we had not all raced together before, but each of us had our strengths and weaknesses going into the event. I was certainly nowhere near as fit as I had hoped following a tumultuous 2022, Nicola was super fit and on fire, Del was coming back from an ankle injury and stepping into the team just at a few months out after not doing any sort of expedition racing like this since before kids, and Alina only just joined us a few weeks out.

We were super excited to race together, so after a few zoom chats and messaging forward and backward as the event drew close we were super excited to see the course planner when it was revealed 10 days prior to the start.

This helped us to organise the equipment we needed and determine our food requirements as at the event we would need to pack gear into our bike boxes, 4 gear tubs and a paddle bag. Bike boxes were allowed to weigh 30kg per box and tubs just 25kg and the paddle bag 20kg.

Now, you would think that being smaller and lighter would be an advantage here, but it was not…… as at our first weigh in, all boxes were a few kgs over. So as a team we spent quite a while shuffling, sorting and discarding items we may not need. Skimping on food and gear can be a disaster in these conditions if the weather turns poorly.

In addition to gear checks there are also competency checks which include navigation, first aid, use of tracking device, swimming and kayaking capsize and re-entry. This is to ensure that individuals are capable of surviving up to 6 days in remote areas with just their mandatory gear and their teammates.

Click here and see Alina chat about mandatory gear

Jan (Race Referee) checks our mandatory gear

Navigation and First Aid Test

Race Director Chris Dixon explains how to use the trackers

Click here to hear what the team had to say!

So, here’s a little about the course and little bit of detail…..

Leg 1 -Trek - Jindabyne - 5k - Elevation Gain / Loss 0 – We managed to run and keep 3POC in sight – thanks to Alina we were able to manage a few short cuts.

Leg 2 - Climb & Abseil - Jindabyne Rock - 500m - Elevation Gain / Loss 100m – Nicola and Del took this on while Alina and I studied the maps. I also ate half of Alina’s Lamb wrap….now that’s team work. We had a compulsory 1hr 30 stop there.

Del on the abseil

Leg 3 - Gorge Trek & Swim - Snowy River - 15km - Elevation Gain 200m / Loss 340m – Wow this was amazing and nowhere near as cold as we expected. No need for the frog skins we carried.

Mountain Designs Wild Women swim the Snowy River Gorge

Leg 4 - Mountain Bike - Cootralantra - 51km - Elevation Gain 950 / Loss 570m – A super-fast leg where we chose a nice fast route making it to TA 2 just on dusk.

On the bikes heading to Berridale before the sun vanishes

Leg 5 - Kayak - Lake Eucumbene - 40km - Elevation Gain / Loss 0m – This was one of the toughest night navigation experiences on a kayak leg for most of us…..it was pitch black.

Course Notes - Leg 5-9

Finally, we have light at the end of a dark challenging paddle across Lake Eucombene

Nicola all smiles as we approach TA 3

Leg 6 - Trek - Monaro High Plains - 45kms - Elevation Gain 1100 / Loss 1285m – A spectacular trek which had everything – it was so hot though….who would have thought. Thanks to Nicola for swapping packs with me for a bit as my new pack was no where near as comfortable as my trusty old Mountain Designs pack.

Mountain Designs Wild Women - hike through the plains

Nicola charges ahead as we near CP11

Kim pauses to check the map - the flies were tagging along too!

Nicola punches CP 11

Mountain Designs Wild Women all smiles after CP 11

Leg 7 - Cave Rogaine -Yarrangobilly Caves - 8km - Elevation Gain 50m / Loss 50m – We tried to do this before dark, but did not quite transition fast enough…..wonder why…well we had had no sleep in 48hrs. We did enjoy a swim in the thermal pool though after a bit of a dash around the cave to fins 5 CP’s….the caves were pretty cool at night…..even though we had none of the views.

Map 6 - The inset has the CPs marked for the caves.

There was a swim to get this CP - we all jumped in as it was so refreshing.

Leg 8 - Mountain Bike - Spicers Creek and Cumberland Trails - 85km - Elevation Gain 1650 / Los100m – Massive 7k climb out was tough, but then we almost froze when we started descending…..lucky we had to head into the bush to find the CP’s – this warmed us up. Loved the last CP on this leg as the lookout was spectacular…. despite the fact we were running out of time to get to Talbingo before the Darkzone cut off.

Riding into the TA at Talbingo - excited to have made it before the Dark Zone

Alina cranks up the Jetboil - no cafes here but we have milk and coffee to make our own.

Leg 9 - Kayak (towing MTBs on Kayak) - Talbingo Reservoir & Talbingo River - 20km - Elevation Gain / Loss 100m – Phew – we made the cut-off – even had time to eat, secure or bikes to a kayak for towing. This was certainly not a fast transition but a rewarding one! The paddle was actually nowhere near as bad as we thought it would be…. our bungee length that we had tested out pre-race – worked perfectly and the fact that we could actually see….unlike the previous one!

Off we go - travelling fast despite towing 2 bikes on a kayak

Rounding the corner just before CP 15

Leg 10 - Mountain Bike - to Marable - 11km - Elevation Gain 680m / Loss 50m – We had a big feed before heading off on this leg as leg 10, 11 and 12 were sort of all together. It would have been great to sleep here, but we did not want to lose light.

Course Notes - Leg 10-14

Leg 11- Trek Rogaine - Maragle - 7km - Elevation 50m / Loss 50m – We arrived just on dark…. bummer, but still headed out on the rogaine….not sure if this was the best choice, but we did find all the CP’s.

Leg 11 - Rogaine - we were to find 5 of the 7 (We did F, G, J, K, L)

Leg 12 - Mountain Bike - Happy Jacks to Guthega - 143km - Elevation Gain 4250m / Loss 3800m – Wow what a ride this was….and it was not a fast one….a lot of pushing, walking but some wicked descents. We split the leg into two by sleeping in the CSIRO hut…. that was a treat…..but still freezing!

Red arrow - where we searched in the wrong creek for 2hrs
Blue arrow - where we were meant to look for Cp 22 - oops!

Leg 13 - Trek - Main Range Trek Kosciuszko – 28km - Elevation Gain 1073m / Loss 1328m – This was the most spectacular part of the course and we lucked out with the weather for sure. Nicola towed me for most of the leg…. what champion she was….

Mountain Designs Wild Women - Traversing the Main Range

Mountain Designs Wild Women - in the Mountains!

Mountain Designs Wild Women - feeling on top of the world.

Leg 14 - Mountain Bike - Thredbo Valley Trail to Finish in Jindabyne - 47k - Elevation Gain740m / Loss 1085m – Unfortunately we had to do some of this in the rain…. probably not the best idea to ride wet slippery roads after only 7hrs sleep in 4 days….but we survived…the hot mix and the singletrack on the TVT.

Wild Women ride to the finish - powered by Ay Up Lights

Total Distance – over 500km

Total Time – teams had 6 days to complete the course as a team of 4

Total Elevation Gain – Approx 10000m

Total Elevation Loss – Approx 8500m

Total Check Points – 35

The Mountain Designs Wild Women found all of the CP’s and finished the full course well before the advertised finish. Here are some of the challenges we faced and also some of the highlights!

Mountain Designs Wild Women - smile at the finish

Challenges the Mountain Designs Wild Women faced throughout the event.

1. Trying to get our maps marked up before the start and not miss the bus transport to the start.

2. Del overcoming her fear of heights and choosing to be one of the two to complete the climb and abseil on Leg 2.

3. Jumping into the Snowy River and choosing to swim sections on Leg 3 instead of trying to hobble over rocks.

4. Night Navigation on the kayak when you can only see about 2 metres in front of you because of thick fog.

5. Packing and unpacking our bikes into boxes without losing something important and getting our bikes going for the final ride.

6. Managing to get through all of the MTB sections without any race destroying mechanicals.

7. Staying alert in the caves on Leg 7 when we had had no sleep for the past 2 nights.

8. Working out the best way to strap two bikes to a kayak and then tow the kayak for the next 22km when time was running out fast to get onto the water before the DARKZONE cut-off!

9. Problem solving when Alina could not find any of the batteries for her lights (end Leg 7 ) that she thought she had packed. We then had to ration and share what we had to get through the next 4 stages until she remembered they were in Nicola’s box.

10. Navigating on the bike using 1:50000m maps, when Kim lost her night specs we only had one set of glasses between the three of us….. thus, we had to bounce back from a little navigational hiccup as a result of this (see point 10 in highlights).

11. Keeping going after dark on the 150km bike ride after riding since 6am and realising that there was not going to be anything open in Eucumbene or Nimmo…. we were dreaming of a bacon and egg roll!

12. Sleeping in a bivvy, bivvy bag and bothy bag and then somehow managing to get all of the mandatory gear packed back into bags.

13. Realising we had climbed the wrong peak on the Main Range Trek – Leg 13 and having to descend and climb a bit more!

14. Riding the TVT MTB trails sleep deprived and tired – Nicola without rear brakes without any serious crashes – we were falling like dominos at times.

15. Getting to the Finish Line, without being short coursed. As a team you must travel together from start to finish, carrying all of your mandatory gear, food and any extras, your equipment must not fail, and you must also find all of the CPs to be in a position to be ranked and not receive any penalties. This is what Adventure Racing is all about and the MD Wild Women achieved this at the Legend Expedition Race.

Highlights for the Mountain Designs Wild Women during the event.

Trekking down the down the Snowy River and not freezing to death when we had to jump in the water and swim.
Finding checkpoint 7 on the Leg 5 Kayak after spending two hours searching rocky points in the pitch black.
Getting to the end of the Leg 5 Kayak in the daylight and not needing hot shower to warm up.
Stopping for lunch at an alpine hut on the Monaro High Plains Trek and then finding the final checkpoint after a little navigational glitch occurred when tracks on the ground were not as they appeared on the map.
Swim in the thermal pools on the Cave Rogaine and then sleeping in our bike boxes for an hour.
Spectacular views and great descents on the MTB in the morning after riding all through night.
Making it to Talbingo before the Dark zone cut-off and then enjoying the paddle towing our bikes on kayaks – it was nowhere near as hard as we thought it was going to be.urs and then sleeping in our bivvies for 3 hours (total sleep – 4 hrs in 3days)
Sleeping in the CSIRO Hut for 3 hours after riding and pushing our bikes up hills for more than 15 hours (total sleep 7 hrs in 4 days)
Working out that were in the wrong creek after searching for CP 25 for a few hours and then getting to the TA at Guthega by midday! Singing ‘Wild Women Do’ when we arrived at the TA thanks to Lauren one of the volunteers
The main range trek was stunning – we were feeling on top of the world here – especially when we found all three CPs and saw snow on the mountains. Eating Jan’s fruitcake which may have had a bit of rum in it.
Running, yes running down from the top of Mt Kosciuszko range to Thredbo village – yes we could still run but were thankful to have our trekking poles. ‘Sending it’ down the Thredbo Valley Road – the hot mix was a great reward for our tired legs and Alina was on fire!
Finding the last 2CP’s on the bike meaning we had now found 100% of the CPs and just had to get to the finish to become legends. Nicola managing to ride this section of the TVT without rear brakes……they simply fell off her bike!
That finish line feeling just after 3.30am on Friday 3 March – Completing the inaugural Legend Expedition Adventure Race in 2^nd place overall and 1^st Female Team in just under 4 days and 18 hours.

The Mountain Designs Wild Women now feel like we are legends after that result. Obviously we would like to thank Mountain Designs for their ongoing support of the team and adventure racing in general, Ay Up Lighting Systems for ensuring that we had all the lights, fittings and batteries that we needed for the event, and Tri Adventure for a bit of extra kit, so we looked good out on the course.

Finally, thanks to Chris Dixon from Wild and Co and his team of officials and volunteers for having the guts to go ahead with such an ambitious course in such a spectacular part of the world, because wow it was just such a great race and I am sure that in the future many Legends will be born.

Written by Kim Beckinsale (Mountain Designs Wild Women) March 2023

Photo Credit - Wild & Co Facebook Page - Photographer - Murilo Mattos