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| MD's ready for the night trek... |
September and October have just flown by, it seems..... Hardly a drop of rain to dampen spirits and trails are now dry and dusty....a far cry from earlier this year when we were slogging around in mud up to our armpits! Highlights in the last couple of months were Hells Bells....where MD's took out the event again... The course was challenging and we all struggled with the maps, however got through somehow and filed this event as a good one to get under the belt.... Read on for a 'not so brief' report....
HELLS BELLS 2012 – The Wrap
Tri Adventure teams in Hells Bells this year = 4
Tri Adventure teams in Fairy Bells this year = 2
Race HQ = Landsborough Primary School
Race format for Hells = 7km trek, 10-12km paddle, 10km trek,
25km mtb, 20km trek, 42-46km mtb.
Race format for Fairy’s = a bit more than ½ that distance
Race start = Coochin Creek camping area
Race day temperature = hot, hot, hot! Race night temperature = very warm too!
Teams scattered everywhere when Robbie yelled GO! at 12
noon, or close to this time. We (Hells)
had a 7km rogaine style trek….Fairy’s went straight to the Sevylors (lucky
them…as they got all the good ones!)
Most Hells teams did quite well on this first trek….using a very
difficult map….except we all (our teams anyway…) got together at CP U….hidden
very well in a slight gully with no visible track… Luckily MD’s were still
there and pointed everyone in the right direction. Thanks Aunty Kim!
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| Howie punching in... |
Next stop….TA1….where we would meet up with our most
un-favourite boats, the dreaded Sevylors… Jules got a lesson in pumping up one
side…..and on the third go she found out you have to pull out that little valve
thingy first….ah, the finer details…..Anyway….it finally stayed up! Meanwhile, Mandy & I were busy pumping up
the rest of it and attaching the dodgy seats……and grabbing the rest of our
gear. After quite a while we launch and
immediately start taking on water…..Want to go back…..no, never……so we paddled
in puddles up to CP2…..where we tried to empty the boat….without any
success…..Oh well…..we will just paddle the thing until in sinks then…..(!!)
(!!) We find CP3 at the sunken boat then
turn around (with great difficulty….as anyone who has paddled these vessels
will know very well….it’s actually easier to turn around when you don’t want
to!!!...) and headed towards TA2.
Winding our way through mangroves…..we had a few walks in the very
shallow water…..and I struggled severely keeping the damned thing going
straight…. Every time I took a second to look at the map we skewed sideways and
the girls up front could not bring the massive blow-up banana around….as hard
as they tried….. Struggle, struggle, struggle on, on on…… We find a sneaky
short cut into Hussey Creek….and walk along in the shallow water…..This is much
nicer than paddling at this point. In
the far distance we see a fire burning…..we decide it’s the Sevylor BBQ…..as
that’s what we want to do with this thing when we finally get to that TA…..
(!!)
We arrive at TA2, luckily as another boat is pulling in…..as
it was very hard to spot up on that bank.
Drag (no… carry, of course) the Sevylor up the slippery mud bank…..and
shock, horror…..no Sevylor BBQ! I don’t
care anymore as I have resigned myself to the fact that I will never paddle
these things ever again…..and would rather enjoy a plastic Toy-Boy sit-on-top
any day…..wouldn’t anyone….????
Off we go on Trek #2. We are very hot and the first CP has a
creek crossing with a handy rope. We all
enjoy getting in the manky water to cool down!
We find all the remaining CP’s…..a tricky one hiding at C…..and it’s
dark by the time we arrive at Wild Horse Mountain where are bikes are waiting
for us! I check in and see that we are
already 3hrs behind MD’s….Wow! they must have flown through the paddle and trek! But we were happy enough…..we had taken some
main road options as we struggled to find some of the minor tracks on the dodgy
map. The bike is my favourite leg and
it’s here I take over the Nav again from Mandy who has done a great job on the two
treks! It’s a bit challenging for Jules
and Mandy now…..the tracks are rutted and sandy.....and they are trying to
concentrate on their riding…..and I am asking them to look for tracks while I’m
looking at the map! We find CP4 after
searching for the road tunnel…..and then nail CP5 which was very tricky and
took a bit of lateral thinking to locate it.
When we arrive at CP8 we find a Kombi in the forest (no hallucinations…)
and Coach Jeff on hand to guide one team member for a swim in a dam…. Mandy volunteered
and she smashed it for the fastest swim in the entire race! Go Mandy…..I know how well you swim as you
were one of my little engines when we had to ‘tube’ 8kms across Lake Wallis in
Geoquest! CP9, then TA4/5 was close by
and Robbie (race director) was a cheery site as we rode in and prepared for the
long (and it was…) night trek.
Setting off, we chose to climb up the middle of The Twins
for our first CP…..Then we went the long way around to a tricky one in a creek
junction (G)…..then we lost the plot looking for H & I. We took a lot of tracks which were not on the
map…..and lost concentration a bit following another wrong track. When we finally realised where we were we had
wasted over an hour……and Mandy was developing terrible blisters that were
growing by the minute. We eventually
found our way to I……Woo-hoo!...but that was about all she could do on those
feet with blisters on every pad of each foot - she was now struggling to
walk. We made a team decision to head
back to the TA and miss the remaining CP’s as we wanted a finish in this race
and needed to look after ourselves and get to the finish line the fastest way
possible.
We found out the remaining mtb leg had taken MD’s 5
hours…..so our best option (thanks to Robbie) was to take the road back to HQ
and the finish line…..which was still about 1 ½ hours of riding. It was also 99% on tar which pleased my
‘roadie’ team-mates….and meant that Mandy would not have to step on her feet at
all till the finish. It was now daylight
– about 6.30am – so, in reality we would not have been able to complete the
final mtb leg anyway…..especially as it would take us much, much longer than
MD’s 5 hours.
The girls were happy as we rolled over the tar and down to
the finish line. We finished at about
8.00am….so 20 hours on course…..enough for us, we thought! Personally, I would have loved to ride the
last mtb……but, you can’t have everything, and looking after the team and
getting everyone to the finish line in these sports is the prime
objective…..and this we did... We recorded a valid finish….the only
all-female team….and were very tired ladies!
MD’s won the day/days…..but many teams had struggled with
the heat (reminiscent of the very first Hells Bells in 2004…) Gina & Ian’s team lost one of their
Isodopes to heat related illness which was a shame as they were going really
well….. In Fairy’s, Haley had to pull
out of the Turtles with back problems….but Mel and Michele went on to finish….a
very long race for them…..but they did it!!! Bish, Bash, Bosh (Howie, Justin & Paddy)
had Justin suffering from the heat…..but soldiered on……and made it to the
finish line in 2nd place male team – even after incurring a 1hr
penalty for missing CP11…. The stand-out
result has to be the Fairy’s team of John, Rosemary and Penny (Swinging Sixties
as they are all 60+ in age) who cleared their course…..finished within the
cut-off and placed 3rd mixed team!
Well done you three….an awesome result!
So, in a group discussion after the presentations, we all
agreed on a few things.
1. Ditch the Sevylors – even if this means going to 2 or 4
person teams…
2. Improve map quality…..please!!!!!!!!
3. That Robbie and his team are a fantastic, warm bunch of
people…..and make their events really enjoyable!!!
See you next year!
Aunty Jan
