Well, Team Goanna finished the Maximum Adventure 24hr race on 24/25 September 2005. What an epic adventure! The race had us up at 4am to drop off bikes and boxes for the 6am start. At the "start" we were told that the "real" start was at 7am and that we had busses waiting for us outside... We marked our maps up on the bus as we made our way to the Rangers office near Bungonia Caves.
We had a short-ish trek to the first TA where we were issued kayaks. After we inflated them we had to trek 1km down (and I mean down!) to the Shoalhaven River. The next leg was a kayak of about 5km, including an awesome rapid section (well, it was fun for a kayak novice!). We suffered a slow leak in the left side and had to stop to re-inflate about half way. It was smooth sailing after that into TA2. Then began the next trek... up Bungonia Creek and into Bungonia Gorge. I had only ever seen this gorge from the lookout at the top. I had also read the many warnings at the top about the nature of trekking through the gorge. The best part was the boulder field where we ended up in a sort of 3D maze. After the checkpoint was obtained, the trek back was OK as we found the trail we should have followed in the first place! The climb up to TA3 was very hard but in hindsight it was a breeze compared to what was to come...
We reached TA3 at around the 5 hour mark where we filled our packs and had a quick feed before the descent back to the kayacks at TA4 (same as TA2). The downhill was tough on the knees and I was concerned at this point about continuing. My teammate was a considerable distance ahead of me and it was after this realisation that I had the first though about killing him (only joking Graeme...) . I tried to think only happy thoughts as I checked the map again and noted that there wasnt much more downhill and ascending presented me with no "bad" pain.
I was nervous about the next kayak leg as this by far my weakest discipline. This was going to be a long leg (10km or so) and I wasnt sure how Id hold up. I had done a little gym work after the last 24hr at Myall Lakes where my effort could be described as pitiful... I certainly didnt get as much pain this time but the shallow sections saw us out of the boat and walking (falling!) quite often which was a welcome break from paddling. We both opted to wear gaiters and after looking like idiots at the start, we felt much better after seeing some other beaten shins at the finish. This leg is where I discovered that Glad Snap-Lock bags are NOT waterproof! My mobile phone completely filled with water and hence I can not supply any in-race photos :( Graeme discovered that the easiest way to get over some of the rockier sections was for me to stay in and steer while he dragged himself along on the very back of the kayak. Im sure we need work on our style but it got us through unscathed. After fixing the left-hand valve at TA2, we now had a slow(er) leak on the right hand side! We ignored it and paddled on knowing that the checkpoint wasnt too far away.
Words simply cannot describe the agony associated with this next section. We had to portage the kayak up a 450m climb which was only 1.7km long! About 1/3 of the way up my brain snapped. Something had to change... This could not be real... Someone get me out of here! NOW! Graeme did his best to get some food and drink into me and we switched positions. I found that, despite our height differnce, carrying the back of the boat was easier than being at the front. I owe Graeme a lot for his efforts on that section. Im not sure when we got into the bike TA as my BP-service-station-$30-special-waterproof watch was filled with water as well.
I luckily saw the comment on the map control reference sheet about doing the points in any order and having at least 6 before doing the abseil. Missing that could have meant a nasty disqualification. We left the TA just before 6 and rode the tar sections without needing lights. We put our lights on as we hit the gravel. I am still confused as to where the hell we went on our way to CP5. We figured we overshot the entrance to a trail and verified that by matching the next one (or so we thought). We went back 200m and took the "trail" which was just a tree-felling path. Still, it was heading in the right direction... until it wasnt... bugger... We decided to break the first rule of orienteering and press on regardless. Luckily that paid off and we successfully relocated ourselves (30 min lost!). I found the controls challenging given the map scale and the riding was slow due to the thick fog that rolled in. We made a few mistakes on this leg but nothing noteable.
We rolled into the abseil at about 9pm. This was only my second abseil (the first being the 24hr in Jan) but I found it quite easy this time. In fact, at only 20m, it was a little dissapointing but logistically I think it was the best the organisers could do given the restricted access to cliffs. The ascent via the wire ladder was fun... I was put off by the lad in front of me who had great difficulty but I found it not too difficult at all. I though I was going to freak out when the ladder started to turn around but my teammate sorted it out for me. We were out of there pretty quickly, maybe too quickly because we both hit the wall within minutes of each other. I saw Graemes head hit the map board, eyes tightly closed, gasping for air. I just needed snakes, lots of snakes. I ate 5 in one go and nearly vomited. Our goo was causing gag refexes in us both. We needed to finish. Soon. The last 3 CP's were OK, we took them slowly and tried not to make any mistakes. I got excited and shot off to one but the realised I had ridden straight past it (I was one trail behind where we actually were). I could see Graeme was very tired he calmly got us back to the control and I am still alive to tell this tale! :)
The down hill ride back into town was a very welcome relief. Almost as nice as the pie and saussage roll at Marulan truck stop at 12:30am. Mmmmmmm truck stop...
We finished in about 17h and 40min (including the bus ride) and I was happy with that. These long events are hard, sometimes you finish and you think you could have gone faster here or there but you never really know whats around the corner...
Sleepmonsters has a race report here:
http://www.sleepmonsters.com.au/racereport.php?race_id=1443 They have a galley link on that page too.
Id like to thank Gary and the Maximum Adventure team for an excellently planned and executed event, the volunteers were awesome. I especially owe great thanks to my teammate, Graeme for his perseverance and skill. Cheers. See you at the AROC :)
