Here's the full story...!
First off was a sea kayak from town to Opotiki (about 22km along the coast). It was decided at 6:30am that this was still on, despite the sea looking fairly rough. Just past the bar I heard a slightly nerving creak, followed by a louder one again, and turned round in time to see the rudder snap off the back of our kayak. Having absoloutely no control over steering isn't too much fun when there's a 2.5m swell and a large group of dangerous looking rocks just to the right. Still, it could have been worse. After being rescued by the coastguard, we tried to fix the boat (trusty old duct tape...not quite strong enough however) but to no avail, and ended up being taken back into shore. We were pretty sure we'd be disqualified, but having put in the training, we were all keen to complete the race anyway. Jamie & Gary continued kayaking, while Dean & I said we'd meet them in Opotiki to start the next section.
However, after contacting the race director by radio, and managing to get ourselves a lift to Opotiki, we were told if we biked from half-way and met the other two in Opotiki, we could continue the race. That was exciting. Almost every team capsized on their way into shore at Opotiki, but as soon as Jamie & Gary tumbled in, we all hopped on our mtn bikes and started the long slog up the Motu. 6 hours and way too many hills later we arrived at the top, after some interesting moments along the way. My gears were having serious issues whenever I tried to change down, and every time they slipped when I was standing, I slipped too. Once I couldn't unclip the pedals, and toppled nicely onto a big rock, which caused quite the gash on my elbow and knee. Next I decided to hit the corner of a plank while crossing a bridge at speed, and did an excellent dive (although I say so myself) straight into the side. The guys all thought (for the second time) the race was over and I'd broken something, but it was one of those perfect crashes that looks and sounds horrific, but actually ends up okay. I decided the only way to prevent the pain coming on quickly was to keep moving, so up the next hill we went (unfortunately, the pain still managed to sneak its way through).
The 12-hour trek started with a steep downhill to a creek, then through the creek and up another steep hill to a ridge. We only had about an hour in the light, then the headtorches went on and it became a bit slower. After reaching the first hut, we then had to make our way up a creek, which ended up taking nearly 4 hours, and was definitely my least favourite part of the race. I don't enjoy hopping over wet rocks in the light, so in the dark I was less than amused. Plus, I knew I was holding the others up because they were much more confident on this section so that was frustrating too. I took 3 unintentional swims, but preferred that to traversing over wet and jagged rocks several metres up the side. Finally we reached the second hut, and from there it was a relatively straightforward run up through a forest track, followed by a 4WD track to finish. It felt so good to be moving more quickly again, and I suddenly felt re-energised for this section. I still managed to slip off the side of the track though and landed straddling a tree 5m below - not helping the already aching joints from the earlier bike crash.
We reached the final transition and after a quick break and more food we jumped back on our bikes for a predicted 3-hour ride to the finish. However, 3 hours of pushing and carrying the bikes through a creek later, we had only completed about 2km of the course, because we couldn't find the turnoff and ended up going back and forward several times. We were followed by at least 4 other teams who had the same problem, and eventually realised the side creek we were searching for was a dry creek, and the leading teams had also passed it initally, leaving wet tyre marks further on - adding to the confusion. Not what anyone needed at 5am when we were so nearly finished, but we finally made it out - relief for about 4 seconds before I realised we still had our predicted 3 hours to go. Jamie got a puncture (we really didn't have the best of luck!) and then we started the slog back towards Opotiki with the sun coming back up, before finishing with a final hill climb (very slow going for me, my left knee seemed completely disfunctional by this point so my right leg was doing all the work, and wasn't too pleased about that) and cruising down towards the surf club finish line. 8:15am - I was SO tired I barely made it into the van before falling asleep.
I've got some interesting scrapes and bruises, but to be honest I'm probably lucky not to end up with anything more severe than that. Bring on the next one :)
The overview...This weekend saw Dean, Jamie, Gary & I complete the Whakatane 24-hour adventure race, in 25.25 hours, and 4th in our category (southern traverse category - meaning 4 in a team with at least 1 female). Not too bad considering the "extreme" nature of some sections, plus our unfortunate luck (or lack thereof) several times.
In short, we had a sea kayak to Opotiki, followed by a 6-hour mtn-bike ride, a 12-hour trek in the dark (with WAY too much time spent going up a creek and having a few swims), and finished off with a 6-hour mtn-bike ride, 3 hours of which was spent pushing and carrying the bikes through another creek until we finally found our turnoff. Eventful moments included the rudder on our kayak breaking 10 mins into the race, me taking a header off the bike at speed into a bridge, me (again) toppling onto a large stone when my chain slipped out, me (again) falling 5m off the side of the track while running in the dark and landing on a tree, me (just one more time) taking 3 unintentional swims while scrambling up the creek, and Jamie (just to give someone else a turn) getting a puncture just as we finally found the turn-off for the last mtn-bike section. One more amusing (and just
slightly frustrating) moment was finding out that Gary (our team-mate), who went up the steepest hill in top gear & whistling, hasn't been on a bike in a year and a half.
All said and done, it was much tougher than the last one, partly due to injuries and equipment mishaps, but primarily due to the course itself...however, I still really enjoyed it, and we're all keen for the next one in the series (i think :) )
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