Orion can't be too far from TA3 now.
Most of the SPOT trackers seem to be AWOL, maybe the canopy cover in the rain forest they're walking through. Blackheart's tracker is broken.
Times out of TA2 were...
Orion 8:07
Blackheart 8:12
McCain 8:22
Merrell 8:24
CBD 8:25
alpineepic 8:31
SCAR 8:48
Nga Rakau 9am ish
securify 9am ish
Mawson 9am ish
Osprey a bit after 9am ish
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
White Water Rafting
Sorry for the news blackout, but there was no cell coverage up the Tully Gorge.
We got there last night about 8pm, just after Orion, and just after the first two trucks of gear.
Orion had also beaten the trucks, so had put up their tent and were sleeping down the back of the camping ground. They'd made the good decision to get as much sleep as they could, and pack their bikes up in the morning.
Blackheart had smashed the mountain bike, joining up with Central Bike Depot, McCain and alpineepic.co.nz along the way, and all four arrived at the TA 10 minutes behind Orion.
Then another hour back to SCAR, Osprey, securify.co.nz, Nga Rakau and Mawson. Osprey and securify caught Nga Rakau about 3km from the end of the bike, when Isak punctured. Tim looked to be improving from very seedy to only slightly seedy.
Nga Rakau and Osprey then made what we thought was a good decision to continue on and do the 10km trek to the start of the rafting, and sleep up there. Most of the teams slept at the camping ground, then got up early to walk to the start.
The grade 4 WW rafting was fabulous, we know because we had ! to go in the last boat to make up a boat to pair up with the last team (they were going down in twos).
Only casualty of the WW was Rachel from Osprey, she smacked her nose during a big bounce through the first rapid, just a small cut across the bridge of her nose, not serious but copious amounts of blood. Sonja's going to stitch it up at the next TA.
We got there last night about 8pm, just after Orion, and just after the first two trucks of gear.
Orion had also beaten the trucks, so had put up their tent and were sleeping down the back of the camping ground. They'd made the good decision to get as much sleep as they could, and pack their bikes up in the morning.
Blackheart had smashed the mountain bike, joining up with Central Bike Depot, McCain and alpineepic.co.nz along the way, and all four arrived at the TA 10 minutes behind Orion.
Then another hour back to SCAR, Osprey, securify.co.nz, Nga Rakau and Mawson. Osprey and securify caught Nga Rakau about 3km from the end of the bike, when Isak punctured. Tim looked to be improving from very seedy to only slightly seedy.
Nga Rakau and Osprey then made what we thought was a good decision to continue on and do the 10km trek to the start of the rafting, and sleep up there. Most of the teams slept at the camping ground, then got up early to walk to the start.
The grade 4 WW rafting was fabulous, we know because we had ! to go in the last boat to make up a boat to pair up with the last team (they were going down in twos).
Only casualty of the WW was Rachel from Osprey, she smacked her nose during a big bounce through the first rapid, just a small cut across the bridge of her nose, not serious but copious amounts of blood. Sonja's going to stitch it up at the next TA.
More teams through TA1
Isak with boat
alpineepic.co.nz were out of TA1 in 5th position, 8 minutes behind Orion...looking good.
Nga Rakau out in 6th, but Tim with a squiffy stomach and looking a bit green. Apparently he sat on the side of the boat on the way back from the island and fed the fishes. hhmm. Hope that doesn't last too long.
Osprey out in 8th 8 minutes behind Nga Rakau, and securify.co.nz out in about 12th another 20 minutes later.
Everyone's a bit over paddling a 4-man kayak.
Macpac Girls on Top just arrived. Still chirpy, although a few little dramas out at the snorkelling, the carabina holding their boat while they were off snorkelling broke and the boat drifted away ... and they managed to lose a few bits of gear...
Mark says Isak punched him. Isak said it was a branch and Mark's a clumsy klutz...
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Race starts
The race is now underway, after some logistics issues to start with.
The big boat that was to take the teams to Dunk Island this morning broke down yesterday, leaving the organisers to make alternate arrangements at short notice. This meant ferrying competitors across in multiple trips on smaller boats, which then meant that the race didn't start until 11:50 am.
I spoke to all the Kiwi teams before the start, and each one told me that they weren't going to go too hard on the first day, as the advantage gained would be minimal due to the restart tomorrow morning. Then the horn sounded to start the race and they all went off hard.
The first leg consisted of a run up around and over Dunk Island, a kayak round the back of the island, two legs of snorkelling around some pieces of reef that were apparently pretty spectacular, then back to the island. Then paddle back to the mainland. We're waiting back on the beach for the first team to appear.
When we left the island, Orion were in front with Merrill on their heels. Alpineepic were fourth, a few other teams back to Blackheart, then several more Kiwi teams round 8th to 10th including Nga Rakau, Osprey and securify.
None of which is too significant at this stage of the race.
Orion just arrived in first place. And just had word that Merill holed their boat on an oyster-covered pylon, which is going to hold them up somewhat.
securify.co.nz run down the beach on Dunk Island
before the start
Brent in pre-race mode
The big boat that was to take the teams to Dunk Island this morning broke down yesterday, leaving the organisers to make alternate arrangements at short notice. This meant ferrying competitors across in multiple trips on smaller boats, which then meant that the race didn't start until 11:50 am.
I spoke to all the Kiwi teams before the start, and each one told me that they weren't going to go too hard on the first day, as the advantage gained would be minimal due to the restart tomorrow morning. Then the horn sounded to start the race and they all went off hard.
The first leg consisted of a run up around and over Dunk Island, a kayak round the back of the island, two legs of snorkelling around some pieces of reef that were apparently pretty spectacular, then back to the island. Then paddle back to the mainland. We're waiting back on the beach for the first team to appear.
When we left the island, Orion were in front with Merrill on their heels. Alpineepic were fourth, a few other teams back to Blackheart, then several more Kiwi teams round 8th to 10th including Nga Rakau, Osprey and securify.
None of which is too significant at this stage of the race.
Orion just arrived in first place. And just had word that Merill holed their boat on an oyster-covered pylon, which is going to hold them up somewhat.
securify.co.nz run down the beach on Dunk Island
before the start
Brent in pre-race mode
Course revealed
The course was unveiled this morning.
Tomorrow morning the teams will be taken by bus about 250 km south, from where boats will take them out to Dunk Island. The race will start out there, and there will be a few hours of kayaking (4 to a boat), snorkelling and running round the island.
Teams will then kayak back to Mission Bay on the mainland (4 to a kayak again), then mountain bike inland for 100km. Then there's a dark zone, which means all teams will get some sleep the first night.
Leg 3 is a short trek to the Tully River, for whitewater rafting. That won't start until 6:30 Thursday morning. Two teams will depart together every five minutes, with a half-hour gap until the next 12 teams. This means that any advantage on the first day will only count towards the start position on day 2.
A big trek and another big MTB will take the teams to midcamp at Dimbulah. This is slightly less than half-way in distance for the whole race. After a minimum 6 hours in midcamp, the race restarts with ... a 20km wheelbarrow push. That's a tribute to the mining history of the local area, where a wheelbarrow was the only transport available for the miners to get their possessions up to the gold fields.
Then things get serious. A 70km kayak into the back of beyond, followed by a 60km trek through the back of beyond. (Craig said when he bought the map from a local shop, it was the first one the guy had sold in 20 years).
After that, just a 130km MTB, short kayak and 60km trek back to Cairns.
Macpac Girls on Top ... ready to go ...
Monday, May 17, 2010
Hazards
... and there's lots of them.We're just back from the safety briefing. There's more dangerous plants and critters up here than you can shake a stick at. They've even got the tree with the most painful sting in the world.
Louise (Nga Rakau) was looking more and more unkeen as the briefing went on...
Sunday, May 16, 2010
At Cairns
We've made it to Cairns.
This is the view from our hotel. That's Cairns harbour ... and that's about as much water as I've seen in it.
The registration and gear checks have been done. Lots of laughs at the team introductions.
7 Kiwi teams are in the race (plus a few other teams with one or two Kiwis in them).
Aotearoa Crocodile Hunters(Jo Holden, Mark Rickard, Glen Warner, Shane Ross)
Macpac Girls on Top
(Debbie Chambers, Anne Lowerson, Vivienne Prince, Zoe Albon)
Nga Rakau
(Mark Struthers, Tim Cochrane, Isak Meyer, Louise Mark)
Orion Adventure
(Brent Edwards, Marcel Hagener, Fleur Pawsey, Carl Bevins)
Osprey packs / nitelights.co.nz
(Mike Walker, Rachel Ockelford, Mark Hearfield, Liam Drew)
securify.co.nz
(Jerome Sheppard, Colin Slater, Dave Rudge, Jill Westenra)
http://www.alpineepic.co.nz/
(Sophie Hart, Shane Armstrong, Angus Jennings, Nick Ross)
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