Blackheart are reclining on the winners podium, after arriving at the finish at 8:55pm.
The last 60km trek turned out to be another epic leg, taking Blackheart around 27 hours. That included very little time sleeping, and no particular navigation errors.
Orion and alpineepic were there to greet and congratulate them as they lounged in deckchairs beside the pool on a balmy evening. Craig (organiser) emptied his pockets of electronic devices before they arrived, as, with the pool only a few feet away, it seems he feared a certain amount of retribution.
Brent's next destination is the A&E for some medical advice on his very fat and hot ankle.
And at this point, remaining Kiwi teams .. Nga Rakau are halfway across Lake Tinaroo on their way to the start of the final 60km trek, and Macpac Girls on Top are at Mt Mulligan preparing for the 130km bike leg. The remains of securify and Osprey are just past and just before Mt Mulligan respectively.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Waiting at the finish
Nga Rakau on the road ...Lost track of Blackheart on the Spot tracker ? So have we. Apparently the person stationed at the Crystal Cascades checkpoint still hasn't sighted Blackheart ... and he's been there all day. Odd.
Nga Rakau are closing on Lake Tinaroo (end of 130km MTB), the remains of securify are closing on Mt Mulligan (end of the first 60km trek), and the Macpac Girls on Top are heading down Branch Creek to the Mt Mulligan TA as well. They should be there before midnight.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Orion out of the race
An hour ago a help call came through from Orion. SAR have just been in to pick them up from somewhere on the later part of the final trek. Brent's ankle had swollen up, and he just couldn't go any further. Amazing they got as far as they did, our friend Nikki's down here from the last TA, she said Fleur had a leech bite on the back of her foot which had got infected, and was so swollen Nikki didn't know how she could have got her foot into her shoe.
We're back at HQ waiting for Blackheart to come in. The race is now for 2nd, between McCain and Merrell.
alpineepic are back here at HQ, pretty disappointed. Shane's cellulitis on his feet was spreading up his legs, and he could barely stand.
Nga Rakau look to have stopped doing circles, and are down in a place that Craig (organiser) says is a good route - rather than up where SCAR currently are.
The other Kiwi team still in the race are ... of course ... the Macpac Girls on Top. They're trucking along on the trek, with a bit of luck they'll make it to Mt Mulligan by late tonight.
We're back at HQ waiting for Blackheart to come in. The race is now for 2nd, between McCain and Merrell.
alpineepic are back here at HQ, pretty disappointed. Shane's cellulitis on his feet was spreading up his legs, and he could barely stand.
Nga Rakau look to have stopped doing circles, and are down in a place that Craig (organiser) says is a good route - rather than up where SCAR currently are.
The other Kiwi team still in the race are ... of course ... the Macpac Girls on Top. They're trucking along on the trek, with a bit of luck they'll make it to Mt Mulligan by late tonight.
Day 6
We just drove out of Mt Mulligan.
Nga Rakau finally came in off the trek after 10pm last night. We were expecting a bunch of sad sacks, but they were all in great spirits. Tim had a bit of a 'melt down' in the first section, not quite enough food and drink, and they had to ease back until he was back together. Then didn't have an altimeter set correctly which they needed to help them find CP16 (although a lot of teams had trouble finding that checkpoint).
Word through from race HQ is that alpineepic have had to pull out at CP21 (start of the Lake Tinaroo paddle) because someone's feet (most likely Shane's) were too bad to go on.
When we left Mt Mulligan, only 13 teams had finished the trek. There'll still be teams out there next week at this rate ...
Update on securify ... they apparently broke a paddle early on the Walsh River paddle, continued on with the one in one boat, then Dave got really badly dehydrated. They rested up for 12 hours or more to try and get him right, then struggled out to the end of the river, but Dave was too crook to go on, so Colin went back to Cairns with him (but not so crook you need to be worried Mrs Dave ... apparently now he's fine!), and Jill & Jerry went on with another part team. Which was supposed to be Osprey, although the Spot trackers seem to suggest that's not the case..)
Nga Rakau now appear to be doing circles on the MTB, apparently the nav somewhere in the middle of that leg is really tricky.
Nga Rakau finally came in off the trek after 10pm last night. We were expecting a bunch of sad sacks, but they were all in great spirits. Tim had a bit of a 'melt down' in the first section, not quite enough food and drink, and they had to ease back until he was back together. Then didn't have an altimeter set correctly which they needed to help them find CP16 (although a lot of teams had trouble finding that checkpoint).
Word through from race HQ is that alpineepic have had to pull out at CP21 (start of the Lake Tinaroo paddle) because someone's feet (most likely Shane's) were too bad to go on.
When we left Mt Mulligan, only 13 teams had finished the trek. There'll still be teams out there next week at this rate ...
Update on securify ... they apparently broke a paddle early on the Walsh River paddle, continued on with the one in one boat, then Dave got really badly dehydrated. They rested up for 12 hours or more to try and get him right, then struggled out to the end of the river, but Dave was too crook to go on, so Colin went back to Cairns with him (but not so crook you need to be worried Mrs Dave ... apparently now he's fine!), and Jill & Jerry went on with another part team. Which was supposed to be Osprey, although the Spot trackers seem to suggest that's not the case..)
Nga Rakau now appear to be doing circles on the MTB, apparently the nav somewhere in the middle of that leg is really tricky.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Update from Mt Mulligan
We're waiting here at CP18 at the base of Mt Mulligan (10am). No internet coverage, so no updates lately sorry.
Five teams have been and gone, with the sixth about to leave.
Orion in Sun 17:24 out 18:31
Blackheart in Sun 17:29 out 18:17
Merrell in Mon 00:55 out 02:57
McCain in Mon 02:30 out 06:55
www.alpineepic.co.nz in Mon 05:57
City Bike Depot in Mon 08:37 out 09:16
Orion and Blackheart arrived within 5 minutes of each other last night. Orion looked pretty wasted, they'd pretty much run out of food, and despite two sleeps along the way, Brent in particular was pretty tired. He grabbed a 10 minute powernap while the rest of the team finished the packing up. It was super hot out there yesterday, averaged around 30 degrees where we are at the TA, probably more out on the course.
Blackheart all looked pretty good. Their feet were all fine, and they did a pretty sharp transition to be out 15 minutes ahead of Orion.
Merrell came and went in the early hours of the morning. McCain arrived then slept, they were tired and had also run out of food before the end of the trek.
alpineepic came in and slept. Shane has a nasty little rash on the top of his feet. The medics patched them up before the team took a couple of hours sleep, they look a smidgeon better now, and those guys are packing up and nearly ready to leave.
CBD arrived an hour ago, all looking good, and they've headed off on the MTB.
Our fears about Nga Rakau being stopped at TA7 were allayed when they finally got going at around 8am yesterday morning (apparently they just overslept their alarm slightly!) We heard they'd had a slight sense of humour failure when they arrived at the end of the kayak, but were all in good spirits again after a sleep when they headed off on the trek.
Our fears about securify.co.nz were confirmed, apparently they were stopped on the side of the river for so long because one (and quite possibly two) of the team had bad dehydration. I heard two of the team pulled out of the race when they made it to the end of the kayak, and the other two were considering their options.
Based on the departures from TA7, SCAR then Nga Rakau should be the next to arrive, but there's no guarantee of that, and you'll know better than us from the Spot tracking on the web site.
Apparently SOAR (who left TA7 a little after Nga Rakau) activated their emergency transmitter somewhere out from CP16 (mid trek), and a helicopter is being sent in to retrieve them.
Of the other two all Kiwi teams, hopefully Osprey are still going as a 3-person team, and Aotearoa Crocodile Hunters are pretty much out of the race, with Mark out of the race, Shane was heading off to paddle the Walsh river with a media person and pick up the controls for the officials.
Five teams have been and gone, with the sixth about to leave.
Orion in Sun 17:24 out 18:31
Blackheart in Sun 17:29 out 18:17
Merrell in Mon 00:55 out 02:57
McCain in Mon 02:30 out 06:55
www.alpineepic.co.nz in Mon 05:57
City Bike Depot in Mon 08:37 out 09:16
Orion and Blackheart arrived within 5 minutes of each other last night. Orion looked pretty wasted, they'd pretty much run out of food, and despite two sleeps along the way, Brent in particular was pretty tired. He grabbed a 10 minute powernap while the rest of the team finished the packing up. It was super hot out there yesterday, averaged around 30 degrees where we are at the TA, probably more out on the course.
Blackheart all looked pretty good. Their feet were all fine, and they did a pretty sharp transition to be out 15 minutes ahead of Orion.
Merrell came and went in the early hours of the morning. McCain arrived then slept, they were tired and had also run out of food before the end of the trek.
alpineepic came in and slept. Shane has a nasty little rash on the top of his feet. The medics patched them up before the team took a couple of hours sleep, they look a smidgeon better now, and those guys are packing up and nearly ready to leave.
CBD arrived an hour ago, all looking good, and they've headed off on the MTB.
Our fears about Nga Rakau being stopped at TA7 were allayed when they finally got going at around 8am yesterday morning (apparently they just overslept their alarm slightly!) We heard they'd had a slight sense of humour failure when they arrived at the end of the kayak, but were all in good spirits again after a sleep when they headed off on the trek.
Our fears about securify.co.nz were confirmed, apparently they were stopped on the side of the river for so long because one (and quite possibly two) of the team had bad dehydration. I heard two of the team pulled out of the race when they made it to the end of the kayak, and the other two were considering their options.
Based on the departures from TA7, SCAR then Nga Rakau should be the next to arrive, but there's no guarantee of that, and you'll know better than us from the Spot tracking on the web site.
Apparently SOAR (who left TA7 a little after Nga Rakau) activated their emergency transmitter somewhere out from CP16 (mid trek), and a helicopter is being sent in to retrieve them.
Of the other two all Kiwi teams, hopefully Osprey are still going as a 3-person team, and Aotearoa Crocodile Hunters are pretty much out of the race, with Mark out of the race, Shane was heading off to paddle the Walsh river with a media person and pick up the controls for the officials.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Updates from TA7
Updates from the film crew who went up to Nine Mile (end of kayak) last night...
- Orion looked pretty shagged when they came off the kayak
- McCain looked quite happy off the kayak
- Merrell looked shagged (probably leading to them doing loops whilst trying to find the first CP on the trek)
- Blackheart looked pretty good. And their feet looked really good. Which is important because this leg is going to be very hard on feet, after they just spent the last 20 hours in and out of the water.
- The reason Blackheart stopped for so long in the middle of the kayak was that they left their boats to go and get the CP, couldn't find the CP and spent ages looking for it, then when they tried to get their boats they couldn't find them. While they were searching for the CP they came across Orion - who had found the CP - but Orion too couldn't find their boats and spent a while trying to find them.
That was last night. It's now 8am in the morning, and currently
- Orion still going strong out the front; taking a different route to Blackheart which will make it interesting
- alpineepic.co.nz going strong up at the front of the field
- Nga Rakau got to the end of the kayak at 2am, we worried about why they haven't left the TA yet
- securify.co.nz haven't moved a lot from their position 2/3 of the way down the river for some time - worried about them too!
- Macpac Girls on Top still trucking nicely along down the river
- Osprey's 3-person team still working their way down the river
- Aotearoa Crocodile Hunters at midcamp. Mike has a dodgy stomach, and they're waiting for him to come right. They'll continue their journey by bike, and skip these two big legs.
- Orion looked pretty shagged when they came off the kayak
- McCain looked quite happy off the kayak
- Merrell looked shagged (probably leading to them doing loops whilst trying to find the first CP on the trek)
- Blackheart looked pretty good. And their feet looked really good. Which is important because this leg is going to be very hard on feet, after they just spent the last 20 hours in and out of the water.
- The reason Blackheart stopped for so long in the middle of the kayak was that they left their boats to go and get the CP, couldn't find the CP and spent ages looking for it, then when they tried to get their boats they couldn't find them. While they were searching for the CP they came across Orion - who had found the CP - but Orion too couldn't find their boats and spent a while trying to find them.
That was last night. It's now 8am in the morning, and currently
- Orion still going strong out the front; taking a different route to Blackheart which will make it interesting
- alpineepic.co.nz going strong up at the front of the field
- Nga Rakau got to the end of the kayak at 2am, we worried about why they haven't left the TA yet
- securify.co.nz haven't moved a lot from their position 2/3 of the way down the river for some time - worried about them too!
- Macpac Girls on Top still trucking nicely along down the river
- Osprey's 3-person team still working their way down the river
- Aotearoa Crocodile Hunters at midcamp. Mike has a dodgy stomach, and they're waiting for him to come right. They'll continue their journey by bike, and skip these two big legs.
Friday, May 21, 2010
70km Kayak
Word is that Orion have made it to TA7, at the end of the 70km kayak. Roughly 20 hrs in the kayak (after about 4 hrs pushing the wheelbarrow). Enroute, they've regained the lead. McCain are also about to finish; both have passed Blackheart along the way.
Blackheart obviously stopped and slept along the way, they would have needed to as they got no sleep at midcamp, partly because of their stings, and partly because it was just too hot. For a while there we wondered whether they might have holed one of their boats, as they seemed to be stopped for a fair while, but they eventually got going again at a good strong pace.
Kayak repair kits were handed out as the teams left midcamp, but they didn't arrive in time for the first 4 or 5 teams - but apparently Blackheart had one of their own, so wouldn't have been completely stuck if they had had an issue with one of their boats.
Osprey with their two slightly ill team members awoke this morning to find that one (Liam) was feeling a bit better, but the other (Mike) was still feeling quite crook. They waited until late morning when Liam decided he could go on, and Mike decided he couldn't. They headed off as a team of three just after noon.
Nga Rakau and securify still appear to be trucking along well, past halfway in the river. They should make it to end around maybe 8pm tonight.
Macpac Girls on Top arrived at midcamp around 11:30pm last night, and were up and away at 6am. (Zoe requested an extended sleep, but Debs said no).
We drove up the road a little later in the morning, and found them near the kayak put-in, still full of good humour (although Zoe's feet were hurting). Viv was wearing the team bracelet (the 'Harden the F**k up' bracelet), I think she'd complained about the flavour of the snakes someone gave her yesterday, which earned her the bracelet.
Debs doing a turn...
Blackheart obviously stopped and slept along the way, they would have needed to as they got no sleep at midcamp, partly because of their stings, and partly because it was just too hot. For a while there we wondered whether they might have holed one of their boats, as they seemed to be stopped for a fair while, but they eventually got going again at a good strong pace.
Kayak repair kits were handed out as the teams left midcamp, but they didn't arrive in time for the first 4 or 5 teams - but apparently Blackheart had one of their own, so wouldn't have been completely stuck if they had had an issue with one of their boats.
Osprey with their two slightly ill team members awoke this morning to find that one (Liam) was feeling a bit better, but the other (Mike) was still feeling quite crook. They waited until late morning when Liam decided he could go on, and Mike decided he couldn't. They headed off as a team of three just after noon.
Nga Rakau and securify still appear to be trucking along well, past halfway in the river. They should make it to end around maybe 8pm tonight.Macpac Girls on Top arrived at midcamp around 11:30pm last night, and were up and away at 6am. (Zoe requested an extended sleep, but Debs said no).
We drove up the road a little later in the morning, and found them near the kayak put-in, still full of good humour (although Zoe's feet were hurting). Viv was wearing the team bracelet (the 'Harden the F**k up' bracelet), I think she'd complained about the flavour of the snakes someone gave her yesterday, which earned her the bracelet.
Debs doing a turn...
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