Raid 100 Risk vs Reward

Team Tri Adventure Mountain Designs

Team Tri Adventure Mountain Designs

Did you watch the Live Tracking at the Raid 100? Did you imagine what teams were thinking out there? I was thinking, ‘what was I thinking’, by even imagining that I could step up and race Raid 100 in the premier mixed category in the 100hr Raid 100.

This is the Mountain Designs Wild Women Blog, but as we had two ‘Wild Women’ in the team and the support of Mountain Designs, I think it more than appropriate to share this experience.

Team Triadventure Mountain Designs were ranked number 2, so I must admit I was asking myself lots of questions in my head like, am I good enough? Will I be able to keep up? How much am I going to have to suffer?

Anyway, so rather than just write up a race report about each leg of the course we thought about giving you an insight into some of the decisions that take place out there amongst a team racing at this level, as the dots and the live coverage feeds only tell some of the story…… here we go!

Do you think a quick game of Volleyball will help settle the nerves??

Risk vs Reward – Navigation – by Dave Schloss

Wow, having toed the line of many rogaines over the years, I have never been daunted like I was in the lead up to the Raid 100.  Justified, with some of our usual teammates and competitors opting to sit this one out, due to the huge demands placed on the mental side of which controls to get or to drop.  My normal approach to a rogaine is just go HARD and try to clear the course.  Then you do not have to think too much.  So, will this approach lend itself to the Raid 100???  

Dave Schloss

Maps in hand and going through course notes, there were a number of cut-offs that needed to be made.  Then you add in sleep strategy, OMG, give me another beer, this is going to take some thinking.  We worked our way through the course notes and at certain stages worked out where we needed to be when and then worked backwards. 

Our first glimpse at the maps

I have never been one to calculate how many points/controls need to be punched per hour.  As a team we looked at which legs carried the most points and looked at the most economical ways of seeking these points.  When we put the maps down for the night prior to the race, with our gear packed, we thought we had a pretty good route laid out ahead of us.  (Editor’s note:  after about 50 or so scenarios….) We included sleep but had options of possibly pushing through nights if we needed to the get to the next cut-off whilst gaining the maximum points.  Although, there were 2 legs that we hadn’t finalised based on timing and well, wonder what the other teams were planning???

Sloshy looks at the maps and explores options

Half way through map mark up - we are all part of the decisions 

Leg 1 Trek - Paddle.  This was one such leg.  There were so many options.  When to trek?  When to paddle north?  When to paddle south? Best time of day to travel north and best time of day to travel south? This is all in the name of finding those orange and white flags.  We went through a number of options; (Editor’s note: yes, the editor went to bed with a sore head after the 50^th…) in fact, this was the leg that we spent the most amount of course planning on.  Tides, water flow, amount of water in the estuaries all contributing factors.  We only decided our final route choice after we got off the bus when setting up the kayaks.  Was it successful?  Well, we cleared the course, had a good trek in the middle of two long paddles and we finished with enough time to clear the mountain bike, leg 2.  So yes, success! 

Beach start! Run 3k to Kayaks - Team Tri Adventure Mountain Designs Number 2

Leg 2 had some bail out options to make it to the cut-off but with great travel, the only thing that nearly brought us undone was a terribly timed flat.  Finally sorted, we were on track, back to the bus, fed and trying to sleep.  So, we had cleared the course so far!  Things for me at this point were great and somewhat normal. 

Leg 3 was a trek around Washpool NP.  There were a series of ‘out and backs’ and going with the majority on this we moved well and were on track.  Towards the end of this leg, there were a couple of CPs that were an hour out and back.  We finally started to think strategically.  We had a lot of course to go, a long mountain bike to do next and another cut-off at the end of this.  Shall we push through the night and get them all, or consolidate our position, drop some of these long out and backs on the whim that our competitors would also drop these?  Chipesti (also cleared the course) decided not to, but they were moving a fair bit quicker than us at this point.  So - good on them!  We decided to stick with our plan.   We thought we made a great decision until we hit a CP that did not have the best description of which we lost an hour searching for it and was joined by many other teams including Chipesti.  Damn…..not happy Jan! (No pun intended 😊).  Throughout the next few legs, due to cut-offs we started to drop CPs.  Not large values but due to some strict cut-offs we needed to be not so greedy.

These were the most spectacular CP's on this leg! A reminder of Girraween Raid 100 - 1 - Leg 1

Sloshy and Liz - Searching for the CP 

Got it - we all must punch our wrist bands

Leg 4,5 Bike Trek, Packraft. All were no-brainers as far as what CPs to get and what to drop given our timing.  The trek in the middle of the packraft - well, we hadn’t even marked the map on this one.  We would wait and see how fast travel was and how long we had on this leg, knowing the end of the next packraft had a time cut off.  Looking at the trek when walking up the rather large hill, we decided to go in an anti-clockwise direction trying to hit the easy navigation in the dark, as it was only 7pm with a long night ahead.  All things were going well, including a sleep and an off track down a long ridge to CP68.  We decided to miss one planned CP (CP75) in a watercourse due to the course notes description and the fact that it was down in a creek with a lot of vertical loss and was not a good travel option to the next CP. As it would mean a long climb back out, only to return to the same creek.  In fact, we attacked this next CP (CP74), got turned around by the twisting creek, thought we found the CP, only to not and then decided to bail out due to timing.  Looking back at the tracker, we walked straight over it!!  This was our only blemish of the entire race.  If this was any event other than a rogaine, we would have spent more time trying to find it!

Our route on the trek - anticlockwise -  we opted not to try for 75, then could not find 74!

Leg 6 & 7 After t

he packraft, we had a mountain bike, trek and paddle to go.  We were always getting all the CPs on the last paddle as it was more of a linear nature.  So, this leaves the Mtb and trek.  It was pouring rain, and we needed a sleep.  Again, we had not decided our course on these 2 legs until we there.  The trek had more points than the mountain bike, once committed had no bail out option.  If the mountain bike leg was muddy it would be very slow.  So, we made the decision to consolidate our position and do the trek with a short road ride to the paddle.

Our Course - 84, 82 back to Bike Drop - Sleep - 83, 86, 87, 88, 85

Looking back, did we make the correct decisions in each leg?  Well, we finished second, so yes!  Regarding the last mountain bike and trek legs.  Maybe we should have taken a chance on riding as it was quicker than everyone thought.  Buy hey, that’s racing and as a navigator, there are always areas to improve.  Hence why we keep coming back for more!

Risk vs reward – SLEEP (by Elizabeth Dornom)

Throughout any adventure race, one is making decisions constantly, so a race as long as Raid 100 means these decisions are multiplied. Should I eat this lovely fruit cup now, early in the leg as it is heavy so I don’t have to keep carrying it, or do I save it for later in the leg when I am more fatigued and will savour it more. Do I eat this vegemite croissant now because it is exactly what my taste buds are craving for, or do I throw it away because I saw a bit of mould on it (P.S. I totally ate it). 

Elizabeth Dornom

But I want to concentrate on the sleep decisions that took place during the race, so I will leave the nutrition part up to Glenn and you can read about that a bit later!

Liz - making the most of the opportunity to rest before the restart 

The first night, this decision was almost made for us.  Given there was effectively a race restart at 7am on day 2 after the bus, we decided to approach the first 2 stages as a separate race with a cut-off of 3am and go for every checkpoint.  When we were dealing with a few flats on Sloshy’s bike at about 2am at the furthest point in the state forest I was reassessing this.  But yes, I believe this risk paid off as we made the cut-off with 30 mins to spare (in the end this would be our most luxurious cut-off that we did make!!!)  We certainly got less sleep and were less organized on the bus than some other teams but we figured you don’t normally sleep on the first night anyway, so see how it played out.

Kim and Liz - rest relax and refuel before the restart

Night 2 slept on the side of the road after the bicentennial track on stage 4.  Decisions over when, where and how much sleep were talked about for a while prior to this leg.  In the end it was a good decision, although perhaps 2 hours was too long as we were all pretty cold when the alarm went off.  We would take that on board for the next sleep. 

Night 3 we decided to sleep early – probably lying down around midnight for a 90 min kip.  The risk was we were bedding down well before the usual witching hours of 2am till 4am however the reward was we were actually quite refreshed for the early hours of the morning and our navigation was on point.

A team sleeps under a tarp - we did not have this luxury but those little orange bivvies are awesome!

Night 4 - the last night. Do we sleep, do we push through?  I would count this as our most effective sleep strategy, we had all seemed to get the sleepy staggers around the same time and so being close-ish to the TA we ended up in a dry horse shed lying on a questionably stained piece of carpet at about 11pm.  90mins later we were up and moving a darn lot faster than we were before the sleep.  It also meant we were able to push through and stay awake for the long paddle to the finish without falling asleep on the ever enticing long & wide river paddle.

Risk vs reward – GEAR (by Kim Beckinsale)

In every adventure race we have a mandatory gear list, however this, in reality, is the bare minimum gear list that you require if things go pear-shaped.  When I race I am always happy to carry a bit extra so that I am prepared in any situation, however when racing at the pointy end of the field many of these gear decisions are made by the team and based on discipline, leg / stage length, time of day and anticipated weather conditions. So much time before a race is spent gear selecting, sorting and shuffling, then when you get the maps and logistics, you sort and shuffle again and then as a team you check that you have everything where it needs to be! Then while you are out there it is about using the gear when you need it…..no point in carrying something if you are not going to use it!  Yes, it may mean you have to slow / stop but is the risk or slowing worth it???

Gear sorting - where it all begins - the calm before the storm

Day 1 – Stage 1 Paddle / Trek / Paddle – Glenn and Sloshy carried our mandatory gear for the 11k trek on this stage, I only carried a whistle and a water bottle and shoved food in my pockets. The strategy was for Liz and I to go light – risk was worth the reward as we nailed the trek 😊

Leg 1 - Run to Kayaks - Kim ,Liz and the team go light....because we were allowed!

We had decided to clear the paddle course and after the trek we still had more than 40k of paddling to go, I was cool earlier whilst paddling but warm from running.. I discussed putting on my jacket for the rest of the paddle – risk was that I would be too hot and have to take it off again or paddle slower to avoid overheating.  I took the chance and the reward was I was not freezing for the rest of the paddle, did not overheat and did not loose too much energy trying to stay warm. I was stuffed at the end of that stage, but who wouldn’t be after over 50k of paddling. So, we had cleared the first stage.

Leg 1 - Coasteer - Kim, Liz, Sloshy, Glenn

Day 1 Stage 2 MTB – When getting our gear sorted, we divided up the bike spares so that we were not all carrying tools, tubes etc. So, basically Liz and I gave our stuff to Glen and Sloshy to carry. We were at the furthest point out on the bike course when Sloshy’s tyre went flat, Sloshy tried some gas, but the air was still escaping through the valve. Time was ticking away as we had a 3am cut off, so, as a team we worked together helping make the change as quickly as possible. The first tube did not work, so we had to use a second and last tube?? What??? We only had 2 tubes with us…. we knew that team 3 points of contact were just up the road, should we ask if they can lend us a spare….just in case??? Definitely worth the risk! We were thankful that the tube held air for the remainder of the leg, we did not need to use the borrowed tube and we made the 3am cut off with just 20 mins to spare and had cleared the course at this point! Thanks to Nicole from 3points of Contact for the spare tube😊

Day 2 Stage 3 Trek – To tow or not tow that is the question!!! Right from the get go I was suffering! I was trying really hard, my head was spinning - should I say something???? So, I politely mentioned….’someone might need to tow me’. The response from the team at the time was not yeah sure – so the strategy applied by the team was to ‘carry my gear’ so I just had my pack and water. The team did not want to take the risk of towing too early, I could not keep up and felt like I was dragging the chain for the entire trek, out the back door like a poor little lost sheep ready to be pounced on by a fox or a dingo!  Liz, towed me for the last few hours…. I don’t think anyone knows how close I was to rock bottom at this stage, but I know the risk was worth it.

Trekking poles - worth their weight in gold - a must for expedition length AR

Day 2 &3 Stage 4 MTB – Guess what??? We carried extra tubes and spare batteries for lights - you don’t want to get caught out in the dark.  😊

Day 3 & 4 Stage 5 Packraft / Trek / Packraft - There was a lot of strategy in this leg and it was difficult to calculate exactly where we would get to given dark zones in place and time available. However, this leg was the make or break for may teams and gear selection and equipment definitely made a difference. Should we carry a battery-operated pump / rely on the air bag – well I know now that this bit of kit is worth its weight in gold….it took less than 2 mins to fully inflate the raft. Throw bags were used to rescue gear and equipment, yes mandatory gear and always carried, but now the importance of having a throw bag accessible at all times was very, very clear!  Reminder to always pack and repack your throw bag before use, so it is ready for rescue – as you don’t need it until you do!  Liz and Glenn had to use the rope to try to release their raft from a strainer in the first 10 mins of the first packraft….if we didn’t have the gear and the knowledge of just how to use it, this could have been the end of our race and lives at risk.

Kim's Blue Alpacka Raft - So much gear! Dry Bags, Map Cases, Throw Bags, Jackets, Thermals.....

Dry Bags -  You can never have too many dry bags…. even better if you can clip them onto the raft – it might be heavy but you may just need your gear when / if things go pear-shaped. We finished the first section of the rafting right on the 6pm cut off, stars were shining so we laid our gear on the raft to dry, bummer for us when we finished the trek it was bucketing down with rain - our paddle gear soaked! No reward there - but we survived and just had to paddle hard to stay warm!

Map Case - yep definitely worth the extra time it takes to put the maps inside for paddle legs, better than losing the map altogether.

Day 4 & 5 Stage 6 MTB Trek MTB – As you can imagine in a race like this, you get a bit of chafing, sore feet, sore butt and sore everything. The risk of carrying some extra items and having that extra weight can help keep you and the team moving forward, so well worth their weight in gold – I carried a tube of Bepanthen, sunscreen and hand sanitiser, Liz carried Zinc, and Glenn carried a huge tub of Sudo Cream - GOLD!

Teams had access to bike boxes at every TA and either Box A, Box B or Paddle bag 

Day 5 Stage 7 Paddle to the finish – I took the risk of starting the paddle warm, so wore thermal top, long neoprene pants and gloves…. easier to take off layers than risk loss of energy trying to keep warm, also better sun protection and less risk of sunburn. Being toasty warm can make you want to fall asleep, but nothing that a bit of singing out loud can’t fix!

Risk vs reward – Nutrition (by Glenn Wilkinson)

Nutrition is always something to work on and look at ways to improve on, personally I was looking forward to seeing what others packed and how much people ate in an event such as this.

For Raid 100 we decided to pack 10hr food bags to distribute through the TA boxes for the race. This equated to approximately 2000 calories per bag. Day 1 and 2 worked out pretty well, we had regular team reminders to eat and drink which makes staying on top of energy loss a lot easier for everyone. As time progressed and disciplines changed, eating at regular intervals wasn't as easy, especially during paddle legs or whilst running!  A big take away for me during this race was food variety. By Day 3, the treats and sugar snacks started to harvest ulcers on the tongue and the thought of another Clif bar wasn’t so appealing. Thankfully Liz was like a walking vending machine and kept producing an array of gems like beef jerky, dried mango, licorice, and Byron Bay shortbread cookies. Another treat of special mention was Neil's sausages he was cooking up at the packraft/trek transition at CP60, what a man! We devoured a whole bunch of them while climbing a mountain and morale had never been so high! 

Given the lengths of some legs we all made a conscious effort to keep weight in our packs as low as possible, this meant relying on fresh water on the course and calculating the correct food quantities before we set off on each leg. This could have gone horribly wrong if our planning was not accurate, however, between the team we managed both food and water very well and yes, we did carry coke on every leg.  We topped up water from streams on numerous occasions and treated the water just to be sure it was clean enough to drink.  So, you should always pack and carry water purification tablets.

You can put hours and hours into planning food for events, but at the end of the day you need to pack what you think you want to eat, pack enough calories to get you through each leg and then when you are sick of your own food or can’t eat the entire lot, share it amongst your team as sometimes your most favourite food from a previous event can taste terrible the next time. 

So there you have it a bit of an insight of what happened out on course in terms of thinking….risk vs reward for team number 2 Tri Adventure Mountain Designs 2^nd Place Raid 100 2022

The finish line of Raid 100 - Tri Adventure Mountain Designs - 2nd Overall

Next up….. Geoquest AR for the Mountain Designs Wild Women….hope to see you there!

Need some gear for you’re your next race…..well check out all of the gear at Mountain Designs online. 

Mountain Designs supporting Adventure Racing in Australia for over 20 years!

Thanks to Liam St Pierre for another Raid 100 

Liam - Raid 100 Race Director 

Thanks to all of the volunteers for your time and enthusiasm...where we would we all be with out you at the TAs , especially Jan for also editing our story, Greg, Michele and Mitchell Krome, Fiona and Richard Crossley and Heather Fearby for just being out there to make us smile!

Jan relaxes with Keith before map hand out!

Michele & Fiona at final TA - sending Andrew and Wendy off on the final kayak!

Finally congratulations to all of the Tri Adventure members in who were out there for finishing Raid 100, no easy feat, even for the adventurous!

Tri Adventure Girls 1 & 2 ( aka MD Wild Women)

The Brork Life

Sunshine Unicycles

Idodopes Redemption

Tri Adventure Girls - Amie, Cass, Eibhlin and Ali - aka Mountain Designs Wild Women

Team The Brork Life - Nathan, Kelsey, Stu, Mitch

Sunshine Unicycles - Andrew & Wendy

Isodopes Redemption - Ian and AP

 

Mountain Designs Wild Women - Hells Bells – It’s Party Time!

Wow, we got to compete in another event in 2021…..how lucky are we right now! I do feel sad for everyone in NSW and Victoria at the moment, unable to train, race or travel because of COVID. Hopefully restrictions will start to ease soon, and we might all be able to get out and race interstate and OS again in 2022.

Hells Bells 2021 - HQ Mooloolaba

So rather than give a leg-by-leg description of Hells Bells I thought I would ask the girls a few questions that the dot watchers or those new to the sport of adventure racing might like to know. I can tell you that backing up after XPD and MOJO was made much easier because we themed it the ‘Party Race’! That’s because it was Cass’s 40^th Birthday on the original Hells Bells weekend and then when it was postponed, we were also celebrating Gina’s 50^th. Gina was racing with the Tri Adventure Girls, so we planned a big girl’s weekend that just happened to feature an overnight adventure race!

The Party Girls - Pre Race

I thought it was a great course and as a team were stoked to finish with a top 4 overall result and winners of the female category. Our navigation strategy for the event was to share the nav one CP at a time, so I would navigate to one then Cass the next and this seemed to work well. This was a spur of the moment thing that I thought of just as we started, so it’s always great to try something a little different even if there is a bit of risk involved. I loved the trek legs because we could run quite a lot but also, do a little bit of bush-bashing (off the top of Wild Horse Mountain) and swimming (across a muddy river in the dark)! Being out in the Glasshouse Mountains as the sun was setting as we rode towards the silhouettes of Mt Tibrogargan and Mt Tibberoowuccum was spectacular. Unfortunately, we didn’t quite finish by 2am and earn a champagne finish but we did get to watch a stunning sun rise as we paddled up the Mooloolah River to the finish.

Well, that’s enough from me! Here is how the girls responded after the race:- 

Mountain Designs Wild Women - 1st Women (4th Overall) 

Do you ever stop - XPD Mojo now Hells Bells??? How do you manage that?

CASS 

There's never really a stop. As a mum of a soon to be 1yr old, I have to take the opportunity to get out as much as possible. I like to always have an event on the horizon to look forward to. Hells Bells gave me a chance to have a weekend away with some of my greatest AR mates. My super supportive husband Darryn always helps too!

Cass in action - trying to fit 8 bikes in the van....teamwork

AMIE 

Stopping training or racing is something I find almost impossible at any time of the year.  As I'm getting older, I find I have to force myself to rest as my recovery isn't what it used to be.  Doing the races so close together can sometimes cause one race to be a little harder than you thought it would be when you realise you haven't recovered properly from the previous one.  Your legs decide there's nothing left to give, and fatigue is impossible to push through.  We found this happened at Mojo this year after XPD was so close.  Best way to help with this is to try to space your races out, I guess!

ALI

I sometimes try to stop and rest once in a while... but it's hard because I'm easily sidetracked by the next big adventure, ha ha. My workload has been quite heavy the last few months, so I didn't compete in XPD. I therefore went into the Mojo 12 hour feeling fresh and backing up for Hells Bells a month or so later was no problem. You girls are amazing having done XPD as well.

What was your favourite part of the course?

CASS

The short, fast legs were great this year. We did a lot of running in the trek legs and the race seemed to fly by. I always love seeing the volunteers at transition areas too!

AMIE

Hells Bells was an awesome race again this year and I really enjoyed the course being not so hilly as usual! My favourite parts of the course were the bike legs through tunnels and any of the single trail in Dularcha or Ewen Maddock we got to have a ride on. 

ALI

My favourite part of the course was the trail running around Mount Beerburrum and the Glasshouse Mountains.

The Glasshouse Mountains - always spectacular 

What did you find hardest about Hells Bells this year?

CASS

The short fast format meant that nothing seemed too difficult. We were motivated to get home for birthday champagne and breakfast!

AMIE

The bike legs seemed super-fast so I just do all I can to hold onto the other girls as any sign of an incline and I tend to fall off the back a bit. 

ALI

The hardest part of HB for me this year was getting really sleepy around 2 - 3am, which unfortunately coincided with us spending an hour or so looking for that CP near the creek, making it harder to snap out of!

Ali Wright - Mountain Designs Wild Women

Kayaking in the ocean looked like there was some swell....how did you manage that?

CASS

There was a bit of swell, but nothing too crazy. We train in the ocean as much as possible, so we are used to swell and chop!

AMIE

The paddle legs were great, the swell at the start of the kayak was rough but not unmanageable if you went down the beach a bit and paddled out where the waves were not dumping.

ALI

I didn't think the ocean swell was that bad at all... I think it's all relative to what you're used to and in particular your 'baseline'. Geoquest in Sawtell a few years ago was particularly scary for me, plus a few outings on my surf ski near home have been a bit dicey, so Hells Bells at Mooloolaba this year didn't make me panic luckily! Plus, I was in a boat with Kim and I knew she wouldn't be fazed by it at all either!

Cass and Amie on the right heading for the waves!

 

There was a bit of swell but Ali knew this river mouth well!

What happens to you when you can’t find a CP??

CASS

CP 26 was a tricky one for us. When we have nav issues (which aren't to often thankfully), we stop and discuss our options and make a plan for moving forward. In Hells Bells, we backtracked to our last known location and got ourselves to a better attack point. We were all excited when Amie spotted CP 26 on the side of the creek.

AMIE

We took some time trying to find one of the CPs on the Mooloolah wetlands trek (26). Cass and Kim worked together on the maps outstandingly, as usual. When the girls are focusing on the maps Ali and I are just trying to listen to their discussion and look around at tracks the girls might miss while they have their heads in the maps.

ALI

I have complete faith in our lead navs, Cass and Kim, to locate the CPs. When we were struggling with one near the end of the course, we found that pacing from our last known point helped and I tried to help in that way, followed by 'grid searching' with the team.

Looking for CP 26
Our tracker does not look like we had as much trouble as we did!

What do you like so much about spending your Saturday nights in the bush in a creek?

CASS

I love my team mates and I'm a bit of a Type 2 Fun junkie - things that aren't that much fun at the time, but when you look back are pretty epic.

AMIE

A moment of unease for me that night when I realised, we would have to swim across the muddy Mooloolah River (which in hindsight wasn't even an issue and is funny now).  Stripping off to hold our packs above our heads and wade across the creek was good for the people without a height disadvantage! 

ALI

Saturday nights in a bush in the creek... well, what can I say, I do enjoy things a little different to the norm!!!

Amie Munson 'Where was that muddy creek? or was it the Mooloolah River?

3 tips you could give to others who want to take on Hells Bells next year!

CASS

1.       Practice your nav as much as possible. Get a map and get out there. Rogaines and MTBO are great ways to practice. 

2.       Be prepared for anything - even swimming across the Mooloolah River at 2am.

3.       Do it! 

AMIE

1.       Lots of lube

2.       Good snacks

3.       A team of people who you know can hold it together in extreme circumstances.

ALI

1.       Embrace the adventure and GO FOR IT!

2.       Speak to others who have done the race a few times before and can provide useful background and experience.

3.       Join in an orienteering / nav skills type session such as the ones run by Tri Adventure, to increase your confidence and learn from the legends.

Tri Adventure Girls - Some very skilled women in this bunch too! 
Kelsey, Jan, Hayley, Gina

Thanks Cass, Amie and Ali for sharing your post-race thoughts and thanks for being such amazing team mates to race with…..here are a few tips from me!

1.       Navigate, Navigate, Navigate! Spend time practicing your navigation like you would with the other disciplines. Do as many Orienteering, MTBO and Rogaine events as much as you can. Start off going out with someone who is better who can pass on a few tips and then go out and go on your own. The best way to learn is by making mistakes and learning how to work it out.

2.       Paddle, Paddle, Paddle! Some people underestimate the paddle legs of adventure racing, so get out and paddle at least once a week and practice paddling in a pair as well as paddling in time and having someone at the back who can steer and paddle in time makes for a slick team.

3.       Transitions, Transitions, Transitions – this year HB had over 10 transitions so you can make up a lot of time if you are fast but lose a lot of time if you are slow. So, practicing changing disciplines with your AR pack, food and other equipment is definitely a big help! 

Mountain Designs Wild Women - Amie, Ali, Kim, Cass 
with Race Director Chris Dixon

Thanks to Chris Dixon from WildnCo for having the courage to go ahead with the event after having to postpone in August and to everyone else who supported the event!

Next up on the Calendar…… Wild Women Adventure Race – Saturday 9^th October!

I am looking forward to putting on my race director hat and spending a bit of time on the other side of the fence!

Hope to see you out there! 

Kim ready to put on here event director cap again!

Mountain Designs Wild Women XPD Rivers of Gold 2021 – A story about women, teamwork, endurance and survival!

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.

Linda Davis gives us the lowdown!

The opening ceremony on the beach at Palm Cove provided us with an opportunity to feel like a new settler to Australia in search of gold….we would be embarking on a journey from the sea through rainforests over the great divide into the outback rivers of gold and returning ‘hopefully’ before the event cut-off on Saturday 24 July.

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 18^th 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.

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. 

Off and racing XPD Rivers of Gold 2021

Kim and Amie Coasteering

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.

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 10^th spot and well under our estimated time.

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.

Team work in transition!

Transport 30 min bus trip 

Mulligan Highway via Mt Carbine to start of leg 4 – rest eat and review maps for next leg.

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. 

The abseil in daylight!

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.

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……

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.

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!

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!

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