The Mountain Designs Geoquest 48hr Adventure Race is now in its 11th year and continues to set the highest standards for AR in Australia. Geoquest AR’s focus is on classic NSW mid-north coast terrain- characterised by perfect beaches, many inland tidal waterways and some tough hilly forests perfect for challenging MTB and trekking.
Having won the race for the past two years (as Team Blackheart), we had a target on our backs with top contenders Peak Adventure Junkies and Mountain Designs keen to take the title. I was very keen to announce Team Macpac on the scene with a bang- and we certainly did by winning the event by 2.5hrs. 2012 turned out to be one of the toughest Geoquest’s yet, with the winning time of 35hrs17mins for the 250km course. Though we pushed very hard by the course, by 2nd placed Peak Adventure Junkies, and by injuries such as Damon’s infected leg caused by a trauma injury on the first leg. An infection took hold and though he battled to the finish, Damon needed to be admitted to hospital twice following the event for treatment to the injury. One of the best features of our team is the professional manner in which each member approaches a race such as Geoquest. There are so many obstacles to overcome, and I’m extremely happy with our performance.
As always with a supported race, our brilliant support crew can take a lot of the credit for our race. Thanks to Fleur, Robert Snr and Julia for a long weekend of driving, waiting and stuffing food in our faces.
And of course a big thanks to all our sponsors, particularly our new naming sponsor, Macpac.
Shotz Sports Nutrition
SILVA Compasses
Ayup Lights
Craft Clothing
Moxie Gear Gaiters
Aussie Butt Cream
Now I’ll hand the pen over to team mate Richard Mountstephens for his entertaining report on the race. Thanks Mounty.
(Photo credits Ben Wolstencroft, Geocentric Outdoors and Julia Preston)
“No more plans for races so I guess the rust will just steadily return” April 29th log entry.
Well that didn’t last long. Before the feeling had even fully returned to my toes from the NZ Godzone race, I found myself standing again at sunrise next to the water ready to jump in for one more race – this time Geoquest as Team Macpac with the newlyweds Rob and Kathryn, and the Damon-ator.
It was three years since I last did Geoquest, and wasn’t planning on going this year either – but with fitness in the legs from Hong Kong and NZ it was hard to pass up the opportunity to race a) not too far from home, and b) with the doyens of AR support-crews (aka Rob’s parents & Fleur) on board.
Pre-Race
With collectively 25 Geoquests amongst the team you’d think a leave-pass from the Friday competency tests might be considered, but nope. At least it was a lovely day and the dolphins were about. After a quick biceps diameter measurement challenge we settled on Rob/me in the Red 7 and Kathryn/Damon in the Fenn, and spent a whole 5 minutes testing the paddling combo before heading back to ‘Camelot’ for pizza and map organising.
With pre-marked maps and the laminator in full swing it was bed time close to 11pm. With an 8am start around the corner, this would mean the rare luxury of a full night’s pre-race sleep (which was a big bonus for me having had a couple of late ones due to work earlier in the week).
Leg 1, Tubing and oyster climbing – 8km
Quite a nice morning as we waited to start. Rob was accosted by the local TV crew for an interview, and professionally fired off sporting clich̩ sound-bites Рeven doing a second take when the camera guy forgot to hit record the first time.
The start consisted of jumping off a wharf in the middle of Forster with each team member allowed 1 car inner-tube for a short swim, and flippers or paddles – take your pick. As expected some teams showed up with truck tyres for some nice fast floating, while we saddled up boogie board style with flippers for the swim to the first island.
On the first swim, it was clear that the flippers I’d bought in Cairns for XPD (and mothballed since) were rather awesome, so I could look forward to taking it a bit easier on the 2km water crossing at the end of the leg.
Damon ended up as the unlucky one, cutting his leg on the metal frame of an oyster farm. Surprised that this didn’t happen to more people given what we were doing – a bit stupid really. We finished the leg in ~2hrs, about 15-20min behind the monster trucks tyres, and jumped in to the skis for the next leg.
Leg 2, Kayak 14km
Gorgeous morning for a spin down some lake, enjoying the sunshine and glassy water. One take-away from the course planning was that the paddles wouldn’t matter much in relation to the rather hefty treks and ride to come, so we took it fairly cruisy and set up for a late morning run along the beach. Finished the paddle 30+ minutes behind Peak Adventure & Mountain Designs, which was enough to get us hustling as we hit the sand.
Leg 3, Trek 15k
The first part of the run was rather nostalgic as we ran through the ‘end’ of the last Geoquest I did, including past the golf course where Sam Maffet’s local knowledge was the decisive move in the race against Guy & Christie.
Along Smith’s beach with Robbie setting the pace (and taking some photos) before the crux of the leg - climbing a trackless fern-covered hill to a trig point. This sort of stuff is made for Robbie, so I wasn’t really surprised when we arrived at the TA to find we had pulled in half an hour on Peak Adventure and MDs hadn’t arrived yet. We weren’t going especially fast, but Rob was nailing the unmarked trails and less thick bits consistently.
Leg 4, MTB 35k with a ‘fox & chicken’ raft crossing
Flat and fast ride this one on fire trails over to Myall lakes (with 2 PFDS in our packs), and past the camp sites that I used to visit every year as a teenager. Interestingly, the thought of going running or riding at the time never occurred to me (which probably explains why I was a podgy teenager). Instead of taking the car ferry across at Legge’s camp, we had to do a back and forth crossing with various combinations of tubes/bikes/PFDs to get to the TA. This meant that Damon/Rob got to do a butt-freezing swim while Kathryn and I relaxed with Serge and Maria waiting with the bikes for the raft to return.
It was here that I realised Kathryn was sicker than she’d been letting on. She’d mentioned a cold, but it was apparent it was more of the ‘cough up a lung’ grade of cold which couldn’t have been easy to race with. Wouldn’t have guessed it though as she was solid all weekend.
Highlight of the race for me was the raft crossing when we were firstly snapped from ‘race mode’ by the absurdity of being overtaken by a swimming duck, and then entertained by Rob tying the raft to his bike tow rope and dragging it up the road at high speed for a km to the TA.
Leg 5, Kayak 10k
Back in the skis for a paddle on sunset up to Nerong. On the water is the best place to be at sunset, and it was a beautiful evening on glassy water as the sun went down. Had swapped combos for this one with Damon & I in the Fenn making fun of the newlyweds in the matrimonial boat with matching jackets.
I had the map, and was concentrating super-hard on hitting the gap across the broadwater, only to come around the last point to see a bright red nav light marking the entrance in the distance.
In to the best TA of the course at 6pm – in a hall, with hamburgers on offer and a cute local dog – and out quickly for the start of the ‘real’ course a few minutes behind Peak Adventure.
Leg 6 Trek 16km, 6pm
A bit chilly to start as we were still wet from the kayak, but a big uphill soon took care of that. Route choice here with 3 checkpoints spread along a steep ridgeline, with the choice of going along or up/down with a track along the bottom. We went for the up/down option as the bush was pretty thick and rocky and kept a nice tempo each time we came down to the track. Was nice to get off the track every now and then for a thick scrub induced rest, despite the climbs.
Anyhoo, no trouble with the nav and in to the unsupported TA with no other teams in site. Heard later that we had got past Peak Adventure on this leg, and had a half hour gap. Having said that, at this point we started to realize that it was going to be a long course and we weren’t going to be having lunch tomorrow in Forster.
Leg 7 MTB 59km, 11pm-6am
Super-crew had dropped bikes and some food at the unsupported TA, which we loaded up together with our running shoes and launched straight in to some narsty pinch climbs. After about half an hour of riding it became clear that this was going to be a looong leg due to the conditions. The tracks weren’t overtly muddy, but the surface was dead and tacky due to the rain earlier in the week which meant that the bikes didn’t roll nicely. Predicted split for the leg in race notes was 4:30, and it took us 7hrs in the end.
After a couple of hours giving the granny gear a work out I started to get the sleepies, and struggled from about 2am-4am more than I’d like to in a one day race. Was awake on the uphills, but the fast moving terrain flashing thru the lights on the descents was hypnotizing in a weird way and I did quite a few of them not really awake. Unsurprisingly I got a flat in the midst of this – sidewall cut – which I let the others change, reflecting how the way the brain works when near to sleep is rather strange. It somehow manages to ride down technical hill-sides OK without one’s full attention, but changing a tube was way too complex to countenance.
The old Shotz wrapper in the tyre trick to protect the cut, and we were off thru the last checkpoint and an absolute ripper of a long singletrack descent as payback for the earlier ups. We arrived just on dawn to super-crew who had correctly deduced that noodles is what we needed. At least I did – had been a bit short on food in the night, and realized I needed a good refueling to get thru the day.
Fleur said that Peak Adventure will close behind, but Damon suggested she often plays mind games in TAs so I shouldn’t necessarily believe her! (She was telling the truth). All good, and off for the rogaine and hopefully a chance to take some time.
Leg 8 Trek 18km, 6:30am-11:30am
The next leg was a steep looking rogaine with 4 out of 5 CPs required and starting to take us back towards Forster. I loaded a couple of bananas in to the pack - my ‘go to’ food when the tummy gets lazy – while Rob debated the merits of the letters B & D with his dad.
Straight in to a steep climb up to straightforward ‘A’ and a nice sunrise, then all the way down again to a less straightforward ‘B’ and some early morning bush bash (wet plants, urgh). Had enjoyed a banana by now and was starting to feel stronger again.
Big loop back to ‘C’, electing to go round the tracks rather than thru any of the sh*tty bush. Politely declined a lift in the ute of ‘crazy man with chainsaw’ and then over to ‘E’ and towards the next TA. Damon was starting to look a bit shaky here – as it turns out the oyster cut infection had gone up his leg which in hindsight explains the limp, and was a bit dehydrated. But when Damon isn’t at his best he’s still pretty good, and we jogged along in good time to meet super-crew for lunch.
Leg 9 MTB, 49k, 11:30am-3pm+
Lovely sunny morning at the local school in Wooton when we arrived. Super-crew took support service to a whole new level when Julia came over and gave me an update on my kids sporting results over the weekend, and then quickly on to the bikes for the home stretch.
There was a split in this leg, where we were allowed to separate to collect a couple of controls. As Rob and I had mapboards, plan was for Damon & Rob to get the one on the hill, while Kathryn & I went for the valley route. With Damon having a bit of a flat spot, we changed plans at the separation point and I went with Rob (Kathryn’s lack of mapboard offset by the fact that she’s a much better navigator than me anyway). We had the pleasure of a really steep singletrack climb nicely chopped up by trailbikes before the relief of finding the others at the meeting point. Mechanicals are always the worry when splitting up.
The short break seemed to help Damon perk up, and then it was homeward bound for some fast firetrail riding. Enjoyed the ride as I was feeling good, as Kathryn presumably did too as she was riding strongly (albeit with the cough still in play). Having said that, with 100m of dirt to go before we hit bitumen Kathryn tipped over in to the sloppiest mudpit in the neighbourhood and we rode towards the TA struggling not to laugh.
Leg 10 Kayak 16km, 3:30pm-5:30pm
The bike ride was the first leg in a while that we had gone under expected split, and were flattered to find Rob Sr had gone for a walk thinking we couldn’t get there that fast and missed us. The kayak began with a 1km portage down a road before a ‘Hawkesbury Classic’ style paddle down a winding river.
There was 1 checkpoint on a graveyard next to the river that promised to be tricky, and we were glad to get there before dark. This CP brought home the advantage of having done previous races with a particular course setter. The map was marked with a white square amongst green, and we were given a grainy photograph of a grave that would have the CP with punch only (no flag). We found the 100*30m square with graves amongst ferns, but none of the graves looked like the photo. Figuring that Craig set the course, guessed that another section of graveyard hidden somewhere off amongst the ferns is the sort of thing that he would do. Sure enough, wandered off down a little track and stumbled on to more graves and the flag. Met the others coming down another track who had had the same thought. Heard later that teams had spent a long time here (MDs 1hr).
Felt great in the boat for the run home, and arrived at the final TA just on dark with a comfy lead and 11k run before hamburger time.
Leg 11 Run 11km, 5:30pm-7pm
Off on the last leg, with a seemingly straightforward run down a track to the beach then along the sand in to Forster. A bit chilly off the water, but having done the entire course in the same pair of nix wasn’t going to change now.
The first ‘challenge’ of this leg was that the bridge marked on the map had seen its best days, and was in fact a walk across an old log 2m above the water with metal spikes in it. Wobbled across to find challenge #2 – the ‘track’ to the beach was very overgrown with ferns and tricky to follow in the dark. Potentially risky as the CP was 50m in from the beach and would be bloody hard to find if not on the track. Long story short, Rob & Kathryn nailed it, and it was on to the sand for the sprint home.
Nothing better than feeling strong on the last leg of a long race, and really enjoyed running down the beach towards the lights of Forster. We were moving pretty well here as talk turned to pizza vs. Mexican and champagne spray techniques. The 2nd last CP was on the north Forster break-wall with the last 100m away direct but a 3km run around to the bridge to get there.
We hit the last CP just behind a Geo-half team who thought they were about to be overtaken and put in an impressive sprint to the finish and walked up the beach to the Forster surf club for booze, happy snaps and comparing notes with the race organisers.
Big thanks to the team and crew for a most enjoyable weekend.
It was great to race with a strong running team and be able to stretch out on the treks. Felt a lot less rusty than in NZ and have pulled up quite well afterwards. In fact legs feel good after Geo, but toes are still numb from NZ.
Richard Mountstephens.
Technorati Tags: Rob Preston,Kathryn Preston,Richard Mountstephens,Damon Goerke,Team Macpac,Macpac,Adventure Racing,Geoquest
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