A bit of Cowgirl history to
start…..
The Cowgirls all female team have
been making an appearance at Geoquest since 2005, and that being our first year
we raced the Half course and were vaguely confident we could achieve the
distance. Things were a bit different
back in 2005 – we had an ocean paddle (just like the Full course), we had to
copy the CPs onto our maps via co-ordinates (eastings/northings) and we had to
contact the maps as well. This took a
lot of time in map preparation. Things
are so much easier now! Getting back to
that original team in 2005 – it consisted of some great females in adventure
racing. Kim Beckinsale, Thorlene
Egerton, Susie Blissner and yours truly to make up the 4. We had no goals in that event other than to
complete it as a happy team.
As it
turned out we won the race outright – we were in shock to say the least….. The
all-male team that we came in ahead of had chided us for drinking red wine the
night before the event – they soon learnt this was a good strategy…..and we
learnt that too….so have continued on the tradition for many years since!
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2005 – on the beach ready to
start – what were we getting ourselves in for??
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Moving on the 2006 – where do you
go when you win the GeoHalf? No other
choice but step up to the Full course.
We put together another great team – Janie Cooksley, Wendy Read, Kim
Beckinsale and yours truly. This race
had the infamous hike-a-bike up Mt Yarrahapinni – the toughest one ever – and
we Cowgirls had a 20-minute sleep half way up as we were struggling big
time. This race was one of the longest
ever as well – the winning team took 37 hours and we Cowgirls finished the
whole course when half the field retired or were short-coursed. There was a 1.5km portage option on the
paddle down the Nambucca River – but we couldn’t lift our titanic sea kayaks –
so ended up paddling and extra 10kms around.
We kept ourselves awake (as we were now into the 3rd day..) by
singing very loudly. We found every CP
but it took us nearly 53 hours – so we had missed the presentations when we
arrived in on Monday morning! This was
truly an epic adventure with some truly amazing women….
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Kim and Janie expertly fix a
broken chain in 2006
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| Our cover shot |
2007 – we were in Sawtell! I rounded up some more legends
to join the Cowgirls. Kathryn Preston
was keen for her first Geoquest, Linda Davis joined in as did Tamsin
Barnes. It was another great team. We made it out through the surf on the ocean
paddle and went on the complete the event again. I think we finished in 48
hours that year – with a swim across the same creek as 2017! Kathryn Preston went ahead in leaps and
bounds after her initiation with the Cowgirls – it was great to have the
opportunity to show her the ropes…
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| Ready to go on the beach |
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| Cowgirls on the hike-a-bike in 2007 |
2008 – I had Thor, Tamsin and
Alison Curtin in the Cowgirls that year.
We survived the ocean paddle once again.
It was another great experience and we finished in about 42 hours with
champagne on the finish line at 2.00am – yee-ha!
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Thor, Alison, me and Tamsin line-up for 2008!
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Nothing
like champagne straight from the bottle at 2.00am!
2009 – This year Geo was in
Forster. We had another gun team – Kim,
Narelle Ash, Wendy Read and me (actually, I wasn’t a gun at all, I was 49 and
getting rather slow…). This was the year
we had to construct a raft – it was probably one of worst legs in AR that I
have ever done – Cowgirls are not known for their engineering prowess! I think we were on that raft for 5 hours
drifting around the Myall Lakes – not something I wanted to repeat again in a
hurry. Unfortunately, we had to retire
that year as one of our team-mates developed hypothermia and we couldn’t revive
her. We still raced for 40 hours…..so
got plenty of time on the course.
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In the years since then the
Cowgirls have been firmly ensconced in the Geo Half. I have had some amazing girls come through my
team and demonstrated to them what girls can do on their own. Lee Burgess,
Julie Drysdale, Diane Croft, Mandy Caldwell, Susie Blissner, Gina Dunsdon,
Michele Krome, Wendy Flanagan, Kelsey Harvey, Linda Thompson, Cass Kimlin, Shan
McGrath, Abbey Anderson and Kelly-Anne Speight – you are all extraordinary
women and I hope you are proud to have been part of the Cowgirls Tri
Adventure……as I have been so pleased to have you on board! Not one cross word
or one complaint has been made from these girls over the course of 13 years…..and
no tears either…..pretty incredible I think!
So…..it’s 2017. We are back in Sawtell. I am now 57 (!) – luckily the rest of my team
is much younger J Kim is racing with the Mountain Designs Wild
Women – we have a house full of women ready for adventure! We are happy to see there are 2 other
all-female teams entered in the Half course and one other in the Full
course. Girls are finally breaking away
from the role as the ‘token’ female…
The east coast low
had brought the rain to the mid-north coast (as it did in 2011 when the event
was eventually called off..) and we were faced with another critical situation
where the race director had to make hard decisions for the safety of the
competitors. A few sections of the
course were cancelled, including our only paddle! This meant we had about 43kms of trekking and
60kms or riding. There was no question
our legs were going to suffer!
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On the run towards Moonee Beach
We started at Coffs Harbour with
a 13km beach trek and one CP to collect along the way. To my surprise we ran the whole way on this foot
leg – that would be the last time we ran until the last 500m! There was one rather challenging section on
this beach where we had to make a quick sprint around a rocky section or be
sucked out to sea with the crashing waves.
We all made it – but some were a bit shaken by the experience! It was bucketing down rain (repeat this
phrase for 18 hours…) when we hit the TA and our crew fawned over us - a
thousand ‘thank-yous’ Steve & Michele!
Our first bike leg was 38km. It
took in some roads and many slippery trails.
We handled it like Cowgirls – slow and steady – looking after each other
all the way – especially on the slippery downhills!
At the next TA our crew had ham
and cheese toasties – thanks again Michele and Steve – this was awesome! We trekked off in the late afternoon and were
hoping to bag the first of 3 CPs in the daylight – we didn’t quite make it but
it was an easy walk into the creek junction to punch. The next 2 CPs were on tracks – so we walked
right onto them…..and then we had to tackle a massive uphill to Peak Trail
(thanks for the tow Kelly-Anne!) and then the long slippery downhill to the
road. Kelly-Anne was brilliant at this
and she went ahead and helped us pick the easiest way down. We slipped and slid…..mostly on our feet, a
few times on our backsides….but made it to the bottom eventually – with a sigh
of relief! Our crew had Mandy’s split pea soup on offer here – Yum – I didn’t
think I could make it as well as Mandy, however it was delicious……but we had to
do the archery first and this was a bit of a challenge! Shan proved to be the best – getting 3 shots
in, the others were good too – they got one each – I was absolutely hopeless –
missing every one – not sure how I come from family with a champion bow hunter
father…..sorry Dad!!
We were on the bikes for the ride
down to Mylestom – and the knowledge that we would be finishing early spurred
us on. At this point we were passed by
the some of the Full course teams – had a little chat and they left us in their
dust (actually that would have been mud…).
We did have a small bush-bash with our bikes to find the inland track
and then sped into the TA, had a super-quick change of shoes, donned our
Gore-tex pants and off we went.
Did I mention it was
raining? Um….well, yes it was. It absolutely bucketed down again on this
trek. We walked quickly, however the
lights of Sawtell in the distance didn’t seem to get any closer! After what seemed forever, we reached the
outlet of Bonville Creek which we had to cross to get to the finish line. It was a raging torrent of flood water. There were about 6 other teams milling around
wondering what to do as it looked terrifying and completely unsafe and no-one
was game enough to attempt the crossing.
I was keen to get across, and we watched a Full course team arrive (with
a very tall man), link arms and head into the water. They seemed to drift a little and then got
their feet onto land again and they were over.
Ok, Cowgirls, we have to do this….so off we went with one of the other
teams. We stuck together until we
started to float, Kelly-Anne was strong trying to keep us from floating away
and, just when it seemed like it was all going pear-shaped, we got our feet
onto hard surface and dragged each other up to the shallows. We were all a bit shaken – especially Shan –
but we had made it and only had 500m to go to the finish line! That’s when I decided to ask my body to run –
and it agreed – thanks old body! I did
hold onto Shan’s pack to keep us together and we ran up the beach reflecting on
our race.
It had been very tough – it
always is – and it gets harder every year for me – but I am a stubborn old
thing! We had been the perfect team –
everyone worked well together and we laughed and chatted a lot but then were
comfortable in the silences as well. We
had looked after each other too - this is what it’s all about – and come home
happy and proud of our efforts as 4 females in a very challenging event – and 1st
female team J….
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The Cowgirls have been doing this
since 2005 – getting women out there together, driving our own event, carrying
the gear, making the decisions and finishing up with a bond that you can’t
really describe to anyone who hasn’t done this.
Thanks to all the Cowgirls over the years – you have been awesome – and
hopefully we’ll ride again for a few more years to come. Yee-haa!!
