The race started with a 12km rogaine where we were to collect the CPs in any order. There were a few bolters who took off into the darkness but clearly hadn't adjusted too well to the night time navigation and came passed us again shortly after..... We seemed to be on the popular route and got to the first CP in first place, however 5 - 6 teams arrived just behind us. Luke continued to navigate us around the course very efficiently and we arrived at the TA in equal third place with the all male team Rogue, having taken 2hrs 10mins. The two lead team of MDs and all male SCAR were leaving on their bikes as we arrived.
We quickly jumped on our bikes and headed out onto what would be a 42km bike ride with a short 2km run down into a creek. We chose a route which took us a lot further than the shortest route, even passing our next stop for the river run, however we hoped we could move faster on what looked like far better roads on the map. This ride included heaps of fun 2WD roads, fire trails and even little bits of single / walking track. We arrived at the river run section in third place, now 20 minutes down on the leaders. We quickly found the two CPs down in the river and got back to our bikes now in second place and only about 10 minutes off the lead. We continued on bikes down towards a large lake making good time on the now mainly sealed roads arriving at the next TA just as the sun rose.
This next leg involved a short run to the edge of the lake followed by a 'surprise' tubing leg across to the other side of the lake where our boats were waiting. Luke and I not really being 'water people' were helped along a little by subtle pushes from Dave! Once in the boats we felt more at home with Dave on his single ski and Luke and I on our double ski. This leg took about 1hr 25min where MDs maintained their 10 minute lead over us. We could see that SCAR were about 25mins behind as we paddled passed them on an out and back section of the paddle.
Once off the boats we 'tubed' back across the lake and ran back to where we'd left our bikes via a couple of CPs. MDs gained a couple of minutes on us here as we struggled to locate one of the CPs in a saddle down near the shore of the lake. Their lead was now out to 14 minutes with a bike ride and a mystery leg left before the finish.
This next bike ride was only a short 16kms however included a difficult 'bike push' up to the top of a ridge. What made in more difficult was that there was no specific track - just a slashed path which left it very lumpy and uneven underfoot. We quickly spoke to the landowner before we started the climb - he was very proud to have us use his land and had slashed the path up just for us. We thanked him and started the climb. We were very hot by the top but got to enjoy some great descents all the way back to the final TA back at race HQ.
To our surprise we were informed that we had taken the race lead and were now in first place. We were also informed that this final mystery leg was to be an 'Aquagaine'. We had to gain 4 CPs which were located mainly on buoys in the surrounding dams. We also had to wear / carry our PFDs. As soon as we left for this leg we saw team MDs entering the TA. They had broken a derailleur and one of their team members had to ride his bike like a scooter. That would have been fun! We headed out and to our surprise MDs caught us at the 2nd CP. We noticed that they weren't wearing their PFDs so thought they may receive a time penalty upon finishing. We ran with them to the 3rd CP and stayed in contact to the 4th but they were too quick for us and ran away heading towards the finish.
They finished 7 minutes ahead of us, however received a 30 minute penalty for forgetting their PFDs. This penalty meant that we were bumped up into first place and were the winners of the inaugural AR Darkside 12hr Championships!!! Thanks to Dave and Luke for a great race, and to the race organisers for setting a really interesting and challenging course :-)
You can check out full results and photos here: http://www.adventureraceaustralia.com.au/results.php#DARKSIDE
