Team Blackheart Adventure Racing Blog

Damon's Coastal Challenge race report

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Preston) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 10:01:00 +0000

The Coastal Challenge is an annual 6 day, 225km adventure run through Costa Rica. The location alternates each year between the rainforest in the south and the volcanoes in the north. In 2012 I went to compete in the north, along what they call “The Route of Fire” with about 50 other competitors mainly from North and Central America. The race organisers moved our kit around and set up a camp for us each day, allowing us to run with only the minimal equipment. Each night a feast was also laid on for us, with more than enough food (provided you liked rice and beans).

The race start was in La Fortuna, next to Volcan Arenal, a classic cone shaped volcano towering 1500m above and would finish on the Pacific Coast within sight of Nicaragua. I ran most of the 25km of Day 1 which included 1500m of steep climbing, with Canadian Chris, until he dropped me on the final descent into Rancho Margot, our first camp for the race. I felt comfortable though and knew I had kept plenty in the tank for Day 2, which was to be the toughest stage - 63km and 4200m of ascent.

Day 2 started off fun with a few tricky river crossings before a steep and often muddy 900m climb. I got to the front early in the climb and I was with Chris again until he dropped off, only to be replaced by Roiny, a local who I was to have a great race with for the rest of the week. It took me about 40km to finally shake him as we ascended a ridge covered with wind turbines, before reaching the finish line in a local village. I must have pissed Roiny off, because he came out hard on the relatively easy 33km

Day 3, with another 1500m climb. We ran together until he got away from me in a neat little singletrack section and disappeared and I was unable to catch him again.

Day 4 was a little tougher, 47km and 1500m of climbing and I loaded up with Shotz gels, determined not to let him get away again. After about 15km I made the first break on a long climb and managed to get out of sight for about 30 mins until Roiny came charging past on a steep downhill. The final km was up an awesome river canyon with several crossings and swims before finishing at a waterfall. This is what I had come to Costa Rica for and was one of the highlights of the race. The heat and humidity had been intense so it was refreshing to have a swim, and it was a good chance for me to wash as I’d forgotten to pack any spare clothes for the week and it was starting to be noticed. Later at camp I was told that after the 4 stages and 165km of running, Roiny had taken the overall lead by 7 seconds! 3^rd place was several hours behind so it was a 2 horse race. The remaining 2 days would be relatively easy, however it was promised to get even hotter in the areas we were to enter and I knew that would advantage the locals.

The final stages consisted of a 11.5km time trial and then 20km run on Day 5 and a 22km run to the finish on Day 6. Starting in reverse finishing order at 1 minute intervals, I set off and slowly caught all the runners ahead except for a few before finishing and turning to see how Roiny went. The minutes ticked by until it became apparent that something had gone wrong. He had missed a turn and ran an additional 5 kms before realising his mistake. He finally arrived just over an hour later, obviously devastated. Knowing I now had a pretty handy lead, and with a fresh shirt donated by my suffering race mates, I could relax a bit and enjoy it (provided I didn’t get lost). To his credit, Roiny, the tenacious little bastard (the Americans loved me saying this), came good after his mistake and got back some time in the next 2 stages but I still managed to get the overall win by 1 hour in a total time of 20hr38min. Roiny Villegas from Costa Rica was second and Chris “Turets” Barth from Canada was third. It was a sensational week of running in a real paradise, supported by a helpful crew of locals and volunteers, I can definitely recommend it.

cheers

Damon

Damon Goerke wins the 2012 Coastal Challenge ultra run

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Preston) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 10:19:00 +0000

Damon has won the 2012 Coastal Challenge Ultra in Costa Rica. After a tough battle with local Roiny Villegas, Damon finally gained the win in the last 2 stages of the 220km running race. Damon can now add this title to a growing list of international wins that include the Namib Desert Challenge and Gobi Desert run. Now he has just 3 weeks to recover before a title defence at the Maroondah Dam run. Congratulations Damon.

report and photos thanks to http://blog.leadadventuremedia.com/

Stage6 - Australian wins 8th edition of The Coastal Challenge

Australian Damon Goerke is The Coastal Challenge's new champion. Goerke is a long distance runner and international adventure racer.

This is his first event in Central America's tropical jungles and accentuates Roiny Villegas's strength throughout the race. Roiny missed markings on SectionA of Stage5 and ended up running twice the distance, losing his recently gained first overall on Stage4 merely 7 seconds ahead of Goerke.

Today's stage started in Junquillal, a natural reserve located on the Pacific Coast and headed north on reef and sand to finish at Bolaños Bay near the border with Nicaragua.

Male/Masculino

Damon Goerke (AUS) 20:38:42 Roiny Villegas (CRC Elmec): 21:39:17 Chris Barth (CAN): 24:21:10

Femenino/Female

Laura Hronik (USA): 29:03:48 Kelly Wilson (USA): 30:32:12 Patricia Ossenbach: 31:11:03 ---

Today's Stage:

- Km: 22Km - Start: Bahía Salinas - Finish: Bahía Salinas

DAMON GOERKE CLIMBS NEAR ARENAL VOLCANO

Damon in great battle in Costa Rica Coastal Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Preston) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 23:52:00 +0000

Damon is involved in a tight battle for the lead of the Costa Rica Coastal Challenge with local Roiny Villegas. Damon finished a close 2nd in stages 3 and 4, and with 2 stages left he is just 7 seconds behind. There are reports that race leader Villegas got lost on stage 5 so Damon may have taken the lead.

More race reports from http://blog.leadadventuremedia.com/

CRC runner, Roinny Villegas came in first position on Stage3, taking off 6m45s from the overall leader, Damon Goerke who came in second today. Goerke continues on the lead by six minutes.

Etapa de hoy:

- 33Km - 1550 Metros Elevación Acumulada - Inicio: Tierras Morenas (Faldas de Volcán Tenorio - Meta: Cuipilapa (Faldas de Volcán Miravalles)

Today's Stage:

- 33Km - 1550 Elevation Gain - Start: Tenorio Volcano - Finish: Miravalles Volcano

Male/Masculino

Roiny VILLEGAS 02:54:39 Damon Goerke 03:01:24 Chris Barth 03:39:55 Steve Bremner 03:44:41 Christian Schiester 03:48:14

Femenino/Female

Laura Hronik 04:12:19 Kelly Wilson 04:16:15 Patricia Ossenbach 04:44:47 Ana BARRANTES 05:05:40 Tanya Meeth 05:27:30 ---

Stage4 - Costa Rican takes first overall at The Coastal Challenge

Roiny Villegas runs ahead of Australian, Damon Goerke after four stages of running in some of Costa Rica's most remote locations.

"The Australian is very strong," kept repeating Villegas as he grasped first position. After 200km of running Villegas shortens the remaining five minutes separating the two racers and starts Stage5 first in the general list.

Went from the Miravalles Volcano to the Rincon de la Vieja Volcano.

In the girl's field Laura Hornik (USA) holds tight to first place, followed by Kelly Wilson (USA) and Costa Rican Patricia Osembach. "I think I'm running with one less toenail," said Osembach as she complains about strong pain in her feet after 200kilometers of racing.

Male/Masculino

Roiny Villegas: 04:02:00 - General 15:53:43 Damon Goerke 04:07:00 - General 15:53:50 (00:00:07) Vicente Charpentier: 004:56:17 - General (+6:39:40

Femenino/Female

Laura Hronik: 5:57:58 - General 22:15:04 Kelly Wilson: (se define en unos minutos) Patricia Ossenbach: (se define en unos minutos)

---

Today's Stage:

- 46Km - 1550 Elevation Gain - Start: Miravalles Volcano - Finish: Rincón de la Vieja Volcano

Damon Goerke competing in Coastal Challenge, Costa Rica

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Preston) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 02:48:00 +0000

Team Blackheart's ultra running machine Damon Goerke has started 2012 in fine form. Firstly he placed first in the Bogong to Hotham 64km ultra. Unfortunately the race was cancelled at half way due to poor weather and Damon didn't feel right about taking the trophy. But he was in front of his best previous time at Langfords Gap by 7mins so he was certainly in good form. Good enough form that he booked a flight to Costa Rica and is now running The Coastal Challenge. This race has been on Damon's bucket list for a while now and its easy to see why. The course looks amazing and this years edition is 220km over 6 days.

The good news is that Damon was 2nd in the first stage, just one minute behind Canadian Charlie Barth, and in front of several time Coastal Challenge winner Roiny Villegas.

But Damon has taken the lead on a the extremely tough stage two and now leads by 11 minutes with 150km left to race. Keep it up Damon!

Here is a link to the website-http://www.thecoastalchallenge.com/
But there are more updates via the facebook page http://www.facebook.com/TCC.Rainforest.Run

Race Facts:Dates: January 21- January 28th
Length of Race: 6 Days
Location: The remote and dry Northwestern coast and volcanic regions, through inland lakes, windswept highlands, jungle and tropical dry forest. The course is set in Costa Rica's driest area.
Terrain: jungle and rainforest trails, rough and winding dirt roads, farm roads and some asphalt; mountain trail and some single track across ridgelines, passes and highlands; beaches and rocky outcroppings or reefs, dry tropical forest and rainforest, open lands including river/water crossings and more...

here is the stage one and two reports translated to English from http://blog.leadadventuremedia.com

(TCC2012) RECAP - STAGE 1

SUNDAY, JANUARY 22, 2012 AT 2:57 PM

In Stage 1 of The Coastal Challenge was Chris Barth Canadian who comes in first place in stage one of the event. This is the second occasion on which the Canadian competing in the sack.

The Stage 1 was very sunny and moderate wind in the hills west of Lake Arenal, where he met the goal of this first stage. This is one of the shorter stages in preparation for the second stage which has a distance of 62km.

The competitor Roiny Villegas (CRC) ELMEC team comes in third position and remains one of the favorites to win the eighth edition of the Coastal Challenge.

Kelly Nelson is the first woman to finish the stage in the female category this is the first occasion on which Kelly competes in this event and leads the overall standings.

Stage one of the event was a distance of 24 km, up to 1550 meters and accumulated two checkpoints.Started in La Fortuna de San Carlos, climbed the hill flat, went through the Arenal Volcano and came to the castle (Rancho Margot) on the shores of Lake Arenal.

This year participants from Australia, Austria, Canada, Costa Rica, Japan, Latvia, Mexico, Sweden and the United States were present to participate in the eighth edition of the ultra-marathons planet's strongest stage.

1. Barth Christ - Canada - 2:26:07

2. Damon Goerke - Australia - 2:27:15

3. Roiny Villegas - Costa Rica / ELMEC Team - 2:30:39

Stage 2 Find New Leader

In stage two of the Coastal Challenge Expedition Run World's Damon Goerke was (AUS) who won the first position followed closely by Roiny Villegas (CRC / ELMEC). Chris Barth (CAN), who finished first in yesterday's stage today suffered the consequences of a scorching sun and a cumulative total ascent over 4200mts losing first place in the overall standings.

From this stage the fight is between the Australian national Roiny Goerke and Villegas.

The Stage 2 began in the Arenal Volcano and went to the Monteverde Cloud Forest, then heading north through the mountains to pass Tilarán Wind Project near Lake Arenal and then turning to the community in Moray Land Volcan Tenorio

In the women's U.S. Keri Nelson had to retire in the Doping Control after presenting two knee problems and fatigue.

The stage went from tropical rainforest in the Cloud Forest Arenal to Monteverde area and then dry forest in Guanacaste where competitors have four stages to go before reaching the finish line in Bahia Salinas near the border with Nicaragua

There is nothing defined yet, four stages remaining after the event and more than 150 km yet to go on the slopes of the volcanoes of Guanacaste.

Masc. 1. Damon Goerke - Step 6:18:49 - 8:46:04 2 General. Roiny Villegas - Step 6:27:09 - 8:57:30 3 General. Chris Barth - Step 8:15:53 - 8:57:30 General

1 female. Laura Hronik - Etapa 8:48:10 - General 12:12:24 2. Kelly Wilson - Etapa 9:14:31 - General 12:50:38 3. Patricia Osembach - Etapa 9:14:31 - General 12:57:48

More #ARWC2011 photos- thanks to Craig Shadbolt

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Preston) — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 12:12:00 +0000

Craig’s full photo album is here.

The photos of Team Blackheart are at the end of the 2nd last MTB ride and the final coasteering section. There’s also a few good pics of City Bike Depot hunting us down on the final trek.

There are some great photos of the river crossing at Reynolds Falls. I particularly like this photo of Aaron Prince of Team SILVA. The look on Aaron’s face is pricelist. It brings back the memories of “oh shit, do we really have so swim across there?” I don’t think I really appreciated the beauty of the waterfall until I looked at these photos.

Australia's newest adventure race, the X-Marathon

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Preston) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 05:17:00 +0000

Need a new adventure fix? Then sign up for Australia's newest adventure race, the X-Marathon. Set on the banks of Lake Nilahcootie in the remote Strathbogie Ranges and Mount Samaria State Park, the X-marathon Adventure Race incorporates paddling, trekking, and mountain biking to provide a remarkable racing experience for all levels of athletes.

X-Marathon is brought to your by Adventure Junkie, the same crew who brought you the Winter Challenge last August. This event was a great success, with electronic timing, updated and quality printed maps, and great adventure challenges. We are hoping the X-Marathon event will be even better.

This time, the race course will be more serious for the Pros; it will have about 2000m total ascent and this will not be a trivial effort! Kayaking will take place on lake Nillahcootie, located between the two ridges of Strathbogie and Samaria, with spectacular views on both sides. And the bush trekking in Mount Samaria State Park will be nice, classic trekking – remote access to the park allows the bush to retain its virgin beauty and, on the last scout, koalas were heard and hundreds of deer were seen on the lower mountain slopes.

There are three courses on offer: Pro, Adventure and Lite, with expected winning times of 12, 6 and 2 hours, and time limits of 24, 12 and 4 hours, respectively.

The race starts early on December 17, and registration is already open on the race website at adventurejunkie.com.au. This race caters for all levels – Lite is suitable for beginners, while the Adventure and Pro courses are more demanding, but the stunning views along the course will make any pain along the way worth it!

Best of all, there's $1000 total prize money up for grabs for the Pro course – and it is going to be a hot field. Australia's top Australian adventure racing team, Blackheart will battle it out against recent Adventure Racing World Champions, Team Thule from France. Do not miss this opportunity to race side-by-side with the strongest racers in the world!

Kathryn and Josh won the Mixed Category of the Adventure Junkie Winter Challenge- Kathryn's report is here.

Kathryn and Josh in the Winter Challenge

Anaconda Adventure race Lorne- Boat's for hire

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Preston) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 03:34:00 +0000

Team Blackheart have a range of boats available for hire for the Anaconda Adventure Race in Lorne on 4th December. The boats vary in speed and stability, but hopefully there is something to suit your needs.
Boat hire is $100 for the race, hire of a paddle an extra $20. Boats can be picked up from various locations around Melbourne, or delivered to the race. Early pick up (in the next two weeks) is also available depending on boat option.

Boats available
Finn Endorfinn x 4. Very stable suitable for beginners.
Finn Molokai x 1. Very fast and tippy- suitable for experienced paddlers only.
Custom Kayaks Icon Surf ski (Kevlar/Glass and trailing rudder) - quite tippy and fast. Fixed leg leg suitable for 170-180cm height
Red 7 Surf 80 double surf ski- only suitable for racers in pairs category.

Contact
Rob Preston- mobile 0403296516, email rob_preston@hotmail.com

ARWC 2011 photos by Ben Wolstencroft

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Preston) — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 03:23:00 +0000

ARWC 2011 photos by Ben Wolstencroft

VIEW SLIDE SHOW

DOWNLOAD ALL

Adventure Racing World Championships Course Overview #ARWC2011

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Preston) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 23:11:00 +0000

The race starts at 9am tomorrow, but I feel I've been racing all day to get ready. The course looks awesome, with shorter legs for the first half til Midcamp at Strahan, then some Epic legs for the remainder.

Remember to get on to www.arwc2011.com, click on teams then scroll down to #3 TeamBlackheart.com and check out the photos and post some trail mail. Also follow the team via Facebook at www.facebook.com/teamblackheart

Here is my race summary.
Leg 1- 20 km ocean kayak from Burnie to Penguin
Leg 2- 20km trek to a shooting range where you must shoot a clay target. No shortcuts thru the back of the shooting range.
Leg 3- 4 CP's to collect in the Dial Ranges
Leg4- Quick Mtb ride down to Gunns Plain Cave
Leg 5- Caving. Part one is a tourist cave. Part 2 more hardcore caving and will involve getting wet and muddy.
Leg 6-MTB. Starting to get rougher
Leg7- the first Epic trek over Black Bluff Range with views to Cradle Mountain. Remote hiking track to Reynolds Falls. Abseil of a waterfall then canyoning down the Vail river to Lake Macintosh.
Leg 8- First paddle with 4 people in one kayak. Then pick up a 2nd boat and paddle 20km including 2km portage. This finishes at town of Tulla.
Leg 9- MTB from Tulla up the Sterling valley route through old mining settlements and some great MTB trails and rail trail thru Zeehan to Strahan. Midcamp at Stahan.
Leg 10- Long beach trek 65km north including some tricky nav in Henty Sanddunes. A few river crossings and then some climbs and good views. Leg finishes with some tough route finding to finish in Granville Harbour.
Leg 11- long 150km MTB. Could start with a ride on the beach. Cross over the Pieman river with rafts. Enter the Tarkine Region an amazing wilderness area. Stop for a coffee at some town then into amazing forests.
Leg 12- Epic 75km of river kayaking including grade 2 rapids and 12km of trekking up side valleys. This river has a dark zone from 7.30pm to 6.30pm with no portaging allowed. It will be very difficult to finish this leg in one full day. Remember to pack marshmallows for campfire.
Note- do not misplace boats this year!
Leg 13. MTB down to the coast
Leg 14- Coasteering around Rocky Cape to Boat Harbour
Leg 15- "Straight forward" ride to the finish. Note- ignore anything Craig says is straight forward.
Finish- suck down the champers, pizza and icecream on the finishers lounge with the satisfaction of finishing the 2011 Adventure Racing World Championships.

The full course information is at http://www.trackmelive.com.au/xpd2011/Course.aspx

ARWC2011 minus 5 days

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Preston) — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 11:53:00 +0000

Well the final organisation tasks are falling into place, and Team Blackheart board the ferry to Tasmania on Saturday night. Lets pray for a calm night…

Media appearances

Rob was interviewed yesterday by Coach Jeff, a prominent triathlon and Multisport coach from Queensland. Also interviewed was Robbie Andrews from Team SCAR. You can listen the the full podcast here..

Also Team Blackheart featured in an article in The Advocate, Northern Tasmania’s largest newspaper. Here is the online article.

XPD 2010 Review

While preparing for XPD 2011 I’ve had lots of thoughts about our previous 4 XPD races. There were plenty of tough moments during the 2010 Cairns expedition, and if you haven’t already watched the below videos they are a must. At least there is no FNQ Stinging Tree in Tasmania….

XPD 2010 Video 1

XPD 2010 Video 2

Ultimate Adventure Racing gear- SILVA OMC 66 Wrist Compass

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Preston) — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 13:27:00 +0000

The SILVA OMC 66 Wrist Compass arrives just in time for AR World Championships. This is my favourite piece of race kit and I've been waiting two years to get some more Southern Hemisphere compasses. So if you want a compass that is comfortable and doesn't get in the way while riding, running or kayaking then check it out here and get in your order in quickly.

And don't miss out on the great prices for Shotz Sports Nutrition either. A box of 25 Shotz Gels is just $65 and Electrolyte Tablets $18 for tube of 20. Orders need to be in by 10pm Tuesday 25th October to get free deliver to ARWC in Burnie.

Contact Rob on rob_preston@hotmail.com

Get a SILVA compass in your hand for the World AR Champs

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Preston) — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 03:54:00 +0000

Rob Preston is a member of the Australian Orienteering team and has been using SILVA compasses for 25years. Rob is an agent for SILVA and is offering a great special for competitors of the 2011 Adventure Racing World Championships in Tasmania. You wouldn't skimp on a new part for your bike, so why buy an inferior compass? SILVA compasses are guaranteed to improve your Adventure racing performance*.

All compasses are greatly discounted- you won't find cheaper prices anywhere in Australia.

Payment is available via PAYPAL, and purchases can be collected at registration for ARWC2011.

Contact Rob on rob_preston@hotmail.com or 0403296516 for more information.

*Compass cannot be blamed for human error ;-)

Compass Model	Description	ARWC Special Price	RRP
SILVA Jet 6 Spectra	· Available in both right and left handed · Silva 6 Jet Spectra is the optimal thumb compass for orienteers · it is the favourite among most National Orienteering Teams. · The transparent baseplate with distinct markings ensures easy map reading. · Elastic thumb strap and rubber pad for safe grip.	$135	$198
SILVA 6 NOR Spectra	· The classical Silva 6 Nor compass features a straight and wide needle for easy and fast reading. · Strong magnet gives quick dampening. · The transparent baseplate with distinct markings ensures easy map reading. · Elastic thumb strap and rubber pad for safe grip. · Left hand version only	$75	$106
SILVA Jet 5 Baseplate	· Specially constructed capsule with the focus on quick dampening in combination with stability while running · Clear baseplate. Wide, straight, fluorescent needle for easy and fast reading · Special magnet in combination with dampening plate on the needle give optimal orienteering features · Two points in the capsule bottom	$140	$200
Eclipse Compass GPS 96	· Baseplate compass with special scales for defining co-ordinates · Perfect for use with a GP · Five different Romer scales	$100	$145
SILVA Ranger 3 Baseplate	· A classic baseplate compass that is used all over the world. · Easy-grip compass housing in Dryflex · Built in magnifier · Map scales in millimetres · Recommended for Secondary schools, Scouts, Hikers	$40	$54
SILVA Clip-on compass	· Compass in "clip‐on" model for easy fastening on the map · Perfect for MTBO and AR Useful for all types of map reading · Fixed liquid filled compass housing	$30	$35
	Miry Mapboards (25mm diameter mount only)	$100	$149
	Shotz Energy Gels Available in 8 flavours $65 for box (25gels) Mixing of flavours available
	Shotz Electrolyte Drink Lemon or Orange/Vanilla flavours $18 (20 tabs)= 10L drink

Four weeks until the big one!

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 06:46:00 +0000

In four weeks time today we will have started the 2011 edition of XPD, which this year doubles as the AR World Championships in Burnie, Tasmania. Since our last race together in June we've all been busy preparing for this race, which is our focus for the year. Recently, Rob and Josh have spent several hours chasing each other around the Upper Murray Challenge multisport race course in north east Victoria finishing 4th and 5th. Damon's been spending his time telling Rob and Josh that they were lucky he wasn't there or they would have been down a place in the results.

To compete in an event like this we all put in many hours of training per week. The more you do pre-race, the less the event is going to hurt. That's how it works for me anyway! I've just spent two weeks exploring the endless hills behind Fairhaven and Airey's Inlet on the Great Ocean Road, plus plenty of hills west of Brisbane. Here's a couple of photos of those areas.

Airey's Inlet, Great Ocean Rd

Northbrook Gorge, Brisbane

Looking after the body is particularly important in maintaining high volume training. We need to thank one of our sponsors for helping keeping us all injury free (MTB crashes don't count - they're 'unfortunate accidents', not injuries!) for 2011 after some specific overuse issues that saw me miss a couple of races last year. With disciplined use of our Trigger Point Therapy tools I've kept the muscles nice and supple which has kept my troublesome achilles at bay. It's like getting daily massages without the cost. Have a look at their website and check out their products. Kristian would be more than happy to help with any queries.

So, with less than three weeks before we leave, our preparations are all going well. We're looking forward to having the opportunity to race a World Championship in our home country without the usual issues of jet-lag and excess luggage expenses!

Snowy Hydro Upper Murray Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Preston) — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 20:17:00 +0000

Josh Street has smashed the previous course record in the Masters Class by over 20mins to set a new mark in 6hrs2mins57secs. Josh finished outright 5th place, and spent most of the race in sight of 4th placed team mate Rob Preston.

Jarad Kohlar (www.peakadventure.com.au) put together an amazing race, starting with a course record on the bike leg. Extending this lead on the Murray river kayak leg he was able to cruise a the line in 5hrs28mins beating Jeremy Ross’ previous record by 4mins. Two time UMC winner Luke Haines (www.train4adventure.com) was satisfied with his race, setting a personal best time and comfortably in 2nd place 4mins behind Kohlar. John Kent from Bright had a very consistent race to take 3rd place in front of Blackheart.com.au boys Rob and Josh.

Kathryn Ewels (6hrs51mins43secs finished in 3rd place in the Women’s category, behind one of the best female multisport athletes in the World- Mimi Guillot from France, and Australia’s #1 athlete Deanna Blegg. Kathryn overcame a mechanical on the bike- a bolt fell out of the shock in her brand new Gary Fisher Superfly 29er. After some very grateful help from a course official she was back on the bike battling the super hilly mtb course. She improved her kayaking time by 10mins from her 2008 race, and then smoked the final run leg in 2hrs13mins- taking back 10mins from Mimi and 16mins from Deanna.

If you haven’t done the Upper Murray Challenge before then you should really put it on your must do list for 2012. The course is fantastic and the community support behind the race really makes the trip to the Towong Shire worthwhile.

Full results Race website

Rob’s full race report to follow

Josh is happy with his new paddle thanks to Meek Kayaks and free 1 on 1 training session with Jarad Kohlar

Kathryn collecting her medal

Team Blackheart heading to Upper Murray Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Preston) — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 07:18:00 +0000

3 Blackheart team members are in the car heading to the Upper Murray Challenge, one of Australia’s premier multisport race. The race consists of a tough and hilly 38km mountain bike, 26km downriver paddle on the Murray River, and finishes with a 25km run.

Rob and Josh will be out there trying to keep race favourites Luke Haines and Jarad Kohlar honest. Though Josh insists he is racing in the old-man category so he doesn’t need to get caught up in any grudge matches with the young bucks.

Kathryn is also racing, and hoping to repeat her podium finish from 3 years ago.

Check out the race at http://uppermurraychallenge.com.au/

Live results- from 8am

Course map- http://uppermurraychallenge.com.au/UMC2009V4.pdf

Rob’s Walhalla Wound-Up 50km Ultra run report

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Preston) — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 14:24:00 +0000

I’ve always wanted to run the Walhalla Wound-Up, but this year was the first in 3 years that I’ve either been in the country, or not doing another race. I only considered doing the 50km about two weeks ago, when I decided to skip the Bunley Half and save my legs. While recently I was in France and Switzerland training and racing with the national orienteering team, I haven’t done a run longer than 30km all year so I was a bit scared of the distance.

The weather outlook wasn’t particularly friendly and at 8am when the 50km run started it was raining steadily and I decided to keep the Salomon gore-tex on. Good thing too as while the rain was intermittent, I never got hot enough to take it off for the whole race. Right from the gun, the eventual winner David Staehr took off to the lead and was out of sight in no time. I was hoping that he didn’t know what was coming up and was over ambitious, but turns out he is just a really quality runner.

The first 9.5km down to The Old Steel bridge is in my opinion the nicest part of the course. The old tram line is a delight to run on as it weaves slightly downhill from 400m elevation to 250m. There were plenty of erosion slips and fallen trees to contend with, but that just adds to the challenge. I passed through 10km in 47.24mins which I was happy with and started getting a bit more competitive. My original goal was just to be 4hrs28mins, which was the time my mate Josh Street did last year. I decided to see how I was going after 20km before I pushed any harder though. The section to Coopers Creek (17km) is really nice, though the trail opens out now and gets hillier. The climb out of Coopers Creek was a real killer- 300m climb in 4km, and I was glad to cross over the main road into the more undulating section. However this was the wettest and slipperiest part of the course with many big puddles to traverse.

The 9km section along the Cowwarr road are quite flat and relatively fast. I ran through half way in 2hrs04mins20secs and was feeling pretty good still. The turn-off to Brunton’s Bridge came quicker than expected and it was good to have a quick chat with Margaret and get stuck into some coke and lollies. She informed me that the leader had 10-15mins on me, so I figured it was going well and I didn’t need to expect him coming back to me anytime soon. The descent down to Brunton’s Bridge is one of my favourite tracks on earth, though normally I’m flying down it on the mountain bike. The path is the original coach road to the Walhalla gold fields and is cut into steep hillsides with deadly drops off the side. The whole area was burned in the 2006/07 fires and the forests are still recovering. The bridge was recently restored after the fires, so runners don’t have to run through the Thomson River any more.

I was expecting the final stage over Happy Go Lucky to be very hard, and it didn’t disappoint. Not many courses can claim to throw in an 8km/400m climb after 37km. I was starting to suffer at 42km drink stop and the km rates were slowing and I thought that running 5min/km average (4hrs10mins) was unlikely now. Finally the summit came and so did the final drink stop with 5km to go. I figured it was mostly downhill from here so gave it everything as the legs had just a little more to give. The final few kilometres are great fun, perfectly declined and twisty, and you don’t get to see Walhalla until you’re literally on top of it. I was really happy to finish 2nd in 4hrs08mins59secs, about 20mins ahead of my goal and just sneaking under 5min/kms. David Staehr ran a new course record of 3hrs54mins24secs which is a great time considering the wet and cold conditions.

And congrats to Kathryn who claimed the win the 21.1km race.

Thanks to Bruce Salisbury and all the other Traralgon Harriers who helped organise the race. And also to Michael Leaney of the Star Hotel for sponsoring the event. It is certainly a fantastic course and I’d recommend everyone head there next year before the old tram lines get washed away forever!

Thanks to Salomon for the fantastic Speed Cross 3 shoes. I hadn’t run further than 10km in these shoes prior to the race and couldn’t believe how good they were over 50km of wet and rugged terrain.

Thanks to Shotz Sports Nutrition for the best sports gels around. I tried the new Mango/Passion flavour- fantastic!

Damon and Fleur taking on the Gobi Desert run in China

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Preston) — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 13:25:00 +0000

Damon, and partner Fleur Grose have arrived in Urumqi in China's Xinjiang Province for the 4 Deserts run across the Gobi desert. The race is 250km over 7 stages, and participants are required to carry all gear for the week. Damon has been having a fantastic year, having already won the Namib Desert Challenge in March, and also the first Australian finisher at the North Face 100km in May. Add to that wins in the 30km Mt Macedon Run, Maroondah Dam run, and Geoquest 48hr Adventure race with Team Blackheart just two weeks ago.

To follow the race head to www.4deserts.com/gobimarch. I will try to post some updates on the blog too.

Stage 1 Update for the Gobi March (China) 2011 will posted on 26 June.

Course:

Stage 1 is called Tian Shan Mountains, and begins at Gaoyachun village, 1,557m above sea level. The stage will be 34.6km (21.5 miles). The course begins by following dirt roads out of the village before competitor head up into the hills and the rolling grass plains where the Kazakh herders livestock roams. There will be some steep hills tto cross with around 1900m of elevation to negotiate. Camp 2 is in the middle of a sheep grazing pasture with breathtaking mountain views.

GeoQuest 48hr Adventure Race

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 01:47:00 +0000

GeoQuest 48 hour Adventure Race has just been held over the Queens Birthday weekend, this year based out of Nambucca Heads. This was the 10th running of the event, which Damon and I have competed in every year. We were joined by Josh and Rob, who have 10 races between them, however were yet to clock up a win. This year was tobe a very competitive race with strong teams competing including CBD, Peak Adventure, Mountain Designs, Off Our Nuts (full of accomplished orienteers), amongst others.

As per our prediction (as it has for 9 out of the 10 years), the race started off with an ocean kayak from Nambucca Heads to Hungry Head, 15 kms north up the coast. We got away to a great start enjoying the wind and swell behind us the whole paddle. This was such a great stage that I was disappointed when it came to an end, it's not often that conditions are this good. We came in third still in sight of the leading team - CBD.

Next up was Craig Bycroft's little 10th birthday special - a 16km MTB mega split with a 2.2km pack raft to top things off. GeoQuests have often included split legs where teams split into two groups of two. This year teams were able to split 4 ways to collect several checkpoints (CPs), meeting again at the start of the rafting leg. We decided to split 3 ways, with Rob and Josh collecting the majority of the CPs whilst Damon and I took a shorter route with the rafting gear with the idea of having them inflated by the time we re-grouped. All went to plan and we re-grouped and went to start the pack rafting leg. We had two rafts with max. capacity of 197kgs each, with the idea of two people and two bikes paddling in each. As we hopped in we discovered a puncture to one of the two main compartments of our rafts..... After a couple of re-shuffles we set off with Damon in the punctured raft with two bikes, with the rest of us in the other linked by a tow rope. A few hundred metres in we decided to re-shuffle again. We now had 4 bikes on the punctured raft and the four of us plus bags in the other = more than 280kgs in the one raft! We got going again until about half way when Rob very calmly stated, "Guys, we've got a bit of a problem...." - our four bikes had come adrift and were bubbling their way below the surface. It would have been funny if it wasn't salt water... Finally we made it to the end of the raft with no doubt what-so-ever that we'd stuck to the 10m rule in this leg!

After a quick transition we were onto a quick 11km kayak. We chose the northern route thinking that the marked oyster leases at low tide could slow things down on the slightly shorter southern route. These weren't a issue so we lost a couple of minutes here, however were still in 3rd place, about 20mins down on Peak Adventure and CBD.

The next leg was a short 5km pack raft / run along the beach after crossing the river twice to gain a couple of CPs. We used our undamaged raft for this section, and as luck would have it we punctured this one remaining raft getting out just after the final time we needed it. (We all apologise to Josh's two kids who were looking forward to having a new toy each upon our return!). We quickly bush-bashed to the beach and had a quick run to the next transition arriving just before 2pm, which is where the rain started (and I believe still hasn't stopped....).

We were now into the more serious part of the race with the next leg being a 32km MTB with CPs requiring a short trek into the bush to obtain. We found ourselves a little lost shortly after beginning this leg. Despite speaking with a local farmer for a good 10-15mins we were still none the wiser. We finally back-tracked and ran into a few other teams who seemed to enjoy seeing us a little confused. We found we'd missed a turn (along with several other teams) and were soon back on our way. We slowly ticked off the CPs with the pace slowing due to the developing wet conditions, and slippery tracks. We found ourselves off and pushing on occasions but also had some nice slippery downhills to make up for it. Towards the end of the ride we ran into Off Our Nuts, where Prong and Ben started bagging us about our big stuff up earlier. Apparently the news we were a little lost had travelled back through the teams behind until it reached them and they were taking great delight in reminding us about it! They were now one team we had to beat, but knowing they were mainly orienteers and therefore couldn’t ride, paddle or run trails, we should be right :-)

The next leg was a 15km trek along the well known historical Syndicate Track which gains 800m vertical ascent. We were still in 3rd place about 30mins behind Peak Adventure. With a Mountain Designs voucher on the line for the fastest team on this leg, plus a 1 hour car move at the end to recover we set about this leg to chase the others down. It started off with about 5kms running along quiet farm roads, and then hit the track proper. We started climbing straight away and were quickly down to a walk. About a third of the way up we came across CBD who'd stopped for a moment. Guy from CBD had had a run in with a tree and had narrowly missed his eye. The gash was impressive none the less. We soon came to a junction but couldn't find the shorter route, thus adding some extra distance to the leg. After gaining the only CP on the leg we were soon running again on the flat / undulating tracks to the transition. At this stage we'd implemented a 'double-tow' so I was being dragged along at quite a good pace, and being launched off the many water bars along the way :-) Not far from the top we saw lights ahead. Assuming it was Peak Adventure, we were shocked to again pass CBD who'd taken the correct route, showing how much further we must have travelled. At the TA we were in 2nd place, 18mins down on Peak Adventure, and 1 min ahead of CBD, having successfully run the quickest time for the leg.

Support Crew Dave met us here for the car move, but more importantly was the only crew up there waiting meaning that we'd leap-frogged our way into the lead by a sterling effort from our crew. The drive down took us 48mins not leaving us long to prepare for the next MTB. Support crew Julia and Rob Snr. were waiting with our bikes and some hot noodles at the TA so the 12mins was just enough to get us on our way again. The hot noodles were extra important for Josh as he'd spent the last few minutes of the car ride projectile vomiting half a can of beans firstly on the back seat of Damon's car, and then out the rear window. The acoustics were something none of us had heard before - enough said! Josh offered the beans to Rob to finish, who took one look at the beans in the can and another at the undigested beans on the floor and window and passed.

Shortly after beginning the next 44km MTB we found ourselves bashing down to a creek then back up the other side. We heard later that Peter (Off our Nuts) had to convince his teammates that Craig would, in fact, send us down this overgrown, lantana covered creek with our bikes, as they were assuming they must be in the wrong place and were suggesting they backtrack. After 10 Geo’s we now what Craig will put us through. We soon found a steep over-grown track which we pushed up for what seemed like at least an hour. Not far from the top we realised we were on the wrong spur, however could easily ride around the top and drop down onto the next CP. We did this but couldn't find the CP. We went in and out a few times, checked other track junctions, rode several kms out to confirm our location with street signs, before finally returning and finding it 200m from where we thought it would be, arguably not at a track junction as described..... The remainder of the ride was fairly uneventful with the tracks getting wetter and slipperier.

We again met our support crew and set out for a 19km trek leg. This transition was located at a picnic shelter at Bellingen - this shelter was completely flooded two days later. We were still in first position with a 50min lead over Off Our Nuts and Peak Adventure. We trotted down the road for a bit before hitting the hills to a series of CPs mainly located in the bush. We kept the navigation safe, fought of the odd bit of weariness until reaching the unassisted transition for the last MTB of the race.

We phaffed a bit at this TA (amazed at our sparkling clean bikes) until finally leaving at 7.20am just as we discovered an electric heater set up by the volunteer staff! This bike was a more straight forward leg being 40km of larger roads with easier navigation. The final few kilometres were quite fast on sealed roads to the TA at the river's edge set for the final 20km kayak to the finish.

Once on the river it took a couple of kilometres to find our paddling arms again, but once we did we enjoyed a very pleasant paddle with a nice tide behind us all the way to the finish. Just as we had the finish in sight the rain doubled in strength and absolutely bucketed down. The race was soon to be cancelled for all but Off Our Nuts and CBD who were both also on the river paddling to the finish. The remainder of teams stopped at the next TA which they arrived at.

For us though it was a very successful race to cross the line in first place at 12.30pm Sunday, 2hrs 1min ahead of Off Our Nuts which contained friends, including Rob's brother Pete. CBD were 3rd another 43mins back. We certainly didn’t have the perfect race, with quite a few setbacks and mistakes, but we were able to hold it together to hang on for the win. We'd especially like to thank our amazing support crew of Dave, Julia and Rob Snr. In tough conditions they did more than we required, and leap-frogged us into the lead overnight where we stayed. Thanks also to Craig, Louise and the other staff from Geocentric for another great event. It was a tough call to cancel the race when they did, but looking at the flooding still occurring in the area it was clearly the correct decision to make!

Thanks finally to our supporters who continue to help us get to these races:

Blackheart
Salomon
Silva
Shotz Nutrition
Aussie Butt Cream
Trigger Point Therapy
Ay-up Lights

Photos thanks to Dave Provan, Julia Preston and photoevents.net.au

Blackheart members competing in SILVA National Orienteering League

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Preston) — Fri, 20 May 2011 10:02:00 +0000

Round 3 of the SILVA National Orienteering League and final World Championship selection races are on this weekend in Tasmania. Team Blackheart members Rob Preston and Kathryn Ewels are hoping to continue their recent good form this season.

First up on Saturday morning is a sprint race on University of Tasmania’s Launceston campus. A quick recovery will be followed by a short drive to Benbullen for the Middle distance race. This map was previously used for the 2009 Easter Carnival and features a mixture of open farmland, plantation and native forest with a scattering of granite boulders. Sunday’s Long distance race is on Lively’s Bog near St Helens, and with recent heavy rains the marshes could be more boggy than ever.

In the women’s series, Kathryn holds a small lead from Victorian Nuggets teammate Jasmine Neve and SA’s Vanessa Round. Kathryn’s Victorian team is leading the National League and look confident of retaining their 2010 title. In the recent competitions in WA, Kathryn picked up 2nd in the 2011 Australian 4-days Championships, and also the Australian Sprint Distance Championships.

In the men’s series, Rob is currently sitting in 3^rd place behind SA’s Simon Uppill and Canberra Cockatoo’s Grant Bluett. Rob has had a consistent start to the season, winning race 3 and not finishing worse than 6^th in any race. The competition will be tough this weekend with the return of NSW’s star Julian Dent. Dent missed the last round of races due to commitments with his Swedish club Malungs, but his form shows he is the hot favourite. NSW Stingers are looking to extend their lead in the team competition, with the aid of Dent and Ian Meyer who is returning from an injury induced break.

Next week the Australian team to compete at the World Championships in France in August.

Rob finishing the Aus Sprint Orienteering Champs in Mandurah

Kathryn on the podium at the Aus Sprint Distance Champs

Sabah Adventure Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Tue, 17 May 2011 05:47:00 +0000

Over the Easter break, Fleur and I (Damon) travelled over to Borneo for a bit of a holiday and to compete in the Sabah Adventure Challenge, a 3 day adventure race. Arriving at Kota Kinabalu, we were picked up from the airport and taken to race registration at a nearby hotel and then transported over the Crocker Range to the town of Tambunan, the event centre located in the middle of the island. There were a few Aussie teams joining us and it seemed like a bit of an AR couples convention as we were joined by the Farebrothers, Meryments, Koerbers, Tsalina and Luke as well as Hanny Allston and her partner Graham from Tassie.

Day 1 started with a 35km jungle run. It was supposed to be significantly shorter, but landslides had closed some roads forcing the relocation of the transition areas. Heading straight up the nearby mountains on a fire trail, it was sweaty work, with the heat and humidity hitting us pretty hard. Reaching the top, we had the option of taking some shortcuts along walking tracks but opted to stick with the recommended route rather than potentially getting lost in a maze of local village tracks in the jungle. The main route soon narrowed into a singletrack, following local rubber tapping tracks, and descended steeply down a muddy, slippery slope to cross a bamboo bridge before climbing again. Luckily the trail was still in reasonable condition for us as we were close to the front, as more people passed, it trail would steadily deteriorate making it a nightmare for those later on who ended up sliding down on their backsides. More jungle, hills and bamboo bridges followed until we hit a dirt road at about 30km, which we would follow into the next transition. We staggered the last few km’s as it was now in the heat of the day and no longer had the protection of the jungle canopy. I readily accepted the offer of a wet sponge over my head from an enthusiastic local in the TA, not realizing he had soaked it with icy water and I suffered the worst ice cream headache ever as a result. Now we got to hop on our bikes for a short lived ride to the next hill. The course restructure meant we had to get the next CP via an out and back climb up a massive hill. We were soon pushing our bikes and managed to pass a couple of teams who were suffering in the heat. Numerous teams passed us coming back down and we counted the mixed teams to find we were 3rd by the time we made the top. I was disappointed to see the clouds coming over as we started the descent, thinking all the teams behind were going to get it easy as it cooled down. We passed all the other Aussies on the way down (noting that a smiling Megan was riding a loooong way ahead of an unusually quiet Gary). It wasn’t far back to town and the next TA, where we dumped our bikes and grabbed some inflated car tyre tubes for a 6km tube down the river, through some fun corners and standing waves. I need to work on my technique a little as I got thrown off a couple of times. It had started to rain while we were on the water and I was relieved to reach the end and then run the final 6km back to the finish in Tambunan. We were the 3rd mixed team for the day, and 7th overall. The rains turned the trails to mud and trashed all the bikes behind us, with big Mike being one casualty when he had to bail off his bike into the bushes during the descent after losing his brakes!

Restarting on Day 2 on our bikes, we headed out down the river for 10km’s before a push up a hill to the first CP. I haven’t ridden my bike much recently and realized the day before I still had not replaced the chainrings on my bike from before xmas and was forced to run all of the hills as my chain kept slipping (amazing how these things don’t fix themselves). We headed across to a small river for a fun bike carry downstream following the creek and small trails on the banks. We were surprisingly overtaken by the polite leaders from day 1 and some not so polite followers as they had made a wrong turn somewhere. The maps were generally pretty good, supplied already laminated at about 1:50,000 with 100m contours – therefore not recommended for orienteers who need to see every rock, blade of grass and 1m contour detailed, although Hanny was probably the first orienteer I have met who didn’t whine about maps in an adventure race! Crossing a suspension bridge we had another bike push to the next CP where we had to drop a bike and could only use 1 bike over a 12km loop, with towing and dinking not allowed. I opted to let F ride the whole way while I ran. We then only had to ride back to Tambunan and the finish. But first we had to climb Hamburger Hill, a massive bike push up the steepest and slipperiest hill I have ever done. It was still in OK condition when we were there and I felt sorry for those who came after as it only got muddier and slipperier. We finished the day in 3rd place again, 6th overall and felt pretty good. We had kept ourselves well fuelled throughout the day, thanks to Shotz, and it was interesting to see a competitor sponsored by a rival sports nutrition company had passed out halfway through the day, and was now on a drip, totally Hammered...

The final day was only short, with a fun run up a small creek into the nearby hills before coming back to town and jumping on our bikes for some mountain bike orienteering around town. We started just after 8am and you had to get 12 CP’s before a midday cut off. This was one of the highlights for me, riding the trails around town and seeing the locals. The CP’s were plastic bottles hanging on a post with a code inside. We struggled to find one and assumed it was missing so had to get a 13th (others later found it so lucky we got another). We made it back well before the cutoff and found we were the first home. The lead bunch must have had too much rice wine at their homestays the night before and made another nav error on the run and came in half an hour later. The Farebrothers had a great ride and came in 2 minutes later in 2nd for the day.

The all male team of Team Salomon Bonaqua Racing was 1st overall. Mixed teams took the next 3 places. Team of Paris – Lafuma was 1st mixed, with “Find your Feet” consisting of Hanny Allston and Graham Hammond 2nd. We managed to make a fair bit of time up on the last day but still finished 3rd in the mixed, 4th overall. We also both successfully completed another 1 jersey race, however we did change shorts on the third day. All the Aussie couple teams had good races and finished with good results, and as far as we know there have been no files for divorce after the race, just don’t ask Gary about his bike glove.

Big weekend of racing for Team Blackheart

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Preston) — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 19:55:00 +0000

The team is spread out between 3 countries, and 2 states within Australia this weekend in the pursuit of some great racing.

Damon and Fleur are in Sabah, Malaysia competing in the 12th Sabah Adventure Challenge. The 120km 3 day stage race has 50 pairs from around the world competing. Its only a couple of weeks since Damon's victory in the Namib Desert Challenge so hopefully he can keep up with Fleur!
Check out the race at http://www.sabahadventurechallenge.com/sac

Big Dave and Kim are in Geelong competing at the Australian Marathon Kayaking Championships. Dave just recently took home the Australian title over 5km in a K2 with his mate Bennett. The races are also qualifiers for the World Championships later this year in http://marathon.canoe.org.au/

And Rob and Kathryn are in Western Australia competing in the 2011 Easter Orienteering Carnival. This includes 4 days of racing over different distances and is followed by the Australian Sprint and Middle Distance Championships the following weekend. Rob and Kathryn both have good form in the forest, having won the last round of the SILVA National Orienteering League in Canberra last month. http://www.orienteering.asn.au

And to finish off Josh is racing around New Zealand, trying to keep up with his hyperactive children and wife!

Have a great long weekend!!

Damon's Namib Desert Challenge Report

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 05:15:00 +0000

The Namib Desert Challenge is a 5 day 220km run though the Sossosvlei Desert in Namibia, held on March 27-31. After arriving and spending the night in the capital Windhoek, all 42 competitors were picked up by bus and transported to the Sossosvlei. It seems it wasn’t just Australia that has been hit by rain recently, with Namibia also receiving a belting, especially heavy on the day I landed. Our bus tried to cross a washed out road and got bogged, forcing us to wait 2 hours for a suitably sized tow truck to come to the rescue. All that rain did have a bright side though, with the red desert now covered with grass providing quite the contrast and something very rarely seen in the Sossosvlei. After a quick briefing and pre race feast, we settled into our first camp which contained flush toilets, showers and a pool. What luxury. This race seemed like it was going to be a fair bit more enjoyable than similar multi day stage running events I have done. You still had to carry all your own kit, but you could leave your sleeping gear with the organizers and only had to carry 1 days worth of food, collecting your prepacked daily rations each night at camp. Too many of these races seem to thrive on making you suffer for the sake of it, making you carry everything, rationing your water in 40+ degrees, making you sleep in crappy tents which barely keep out the wind and sand and scorpions.

Photo by David Montgomery

The first 3 days were similar distances, between 40-44km, day 4 was 56km and the final day a shorter 28km, with manned checkpoints every 10-15km where you could get water and some food. All of the recent rains had also brought humidity and I found myself sweating heavily from the beginning each morning. This would be the norm over the next week, humid and overcast in the morning, then by mid morning the sun would burn off the clouds with the sun out the temperature would rise in excess 40 degrees. The trails were mainly jeep tracks, sand dunes (including the longest in the world at 27km), some highway verge, and some unmarked open crossings across the desert guided by natural landmarks. These were my favorite sections, choosing your own route across the grasslands. The course was generally well marked but there were some nervous moments when I took wrong turns. Wildlife encounters were frequent, with herds of springboks, oryx, numerous ostriches, and jackals, and I even managed to surprise a hyena and chased it for a while. By the end of day 3, I was in first place with about an hour to the second placed Graham Booty from England. This was a similar position to when I raced in the Atacama Crossing in Chile in 2009, where I had a 1 hour lead after day 2, only to blow it and end up finishing fourth so I wasn’t about to ease up just yet. That race was complicated for me by vomiting and severe nausea brought on by kidney failure. I was pretty nervous pre-NDC that something similar was going to happen this time, but I was still feeling great and looking after myself, drinking heaps, peeing heaps (with no blood) and taking loads of my favorite Shotz Electrolyte tabs so I was confident I could hang on.

Photo by David Montgomery

Day 4 started with a neat canyon section which involved some swimming which cooled things down and the wet clothing provided some relief from the heat for the next hour until we dried out, and then it was a stinker. This was the longest day at 56 km, and meant I had to suffer the full heat of the day for an extended period. The final 10km was alongside the highway, into a dirty headwind which dried you out and my water was running low. Finally I could make out the finish several km’s away, but it seemed to take forever to make it to the final CP. Unfortunately it wasn’t over yet, we had to climb up Dune 45, touch the summit flag and then run back down again. The mood in camp afterwards was one of relieved excitement as competitors came in knowing the race was almost over and they had survived – all that remained to conquer was Big Daddy, at 325m high, one of the biggest sand dunes in the world.

Photo by David Montgomery

After winning all 4 days so far, I was keen to make it a clean sweep so at the start of the last day I took off ahead of the others and arrived at the base of Big Daddy after about 20km’s. Gary Burrows, race Director, showed me the route to take and pointed out Karl, a volunteer, who was halfway up carrying a flag to the summit from which we were supposed to take our name tag off to prove we made it. I passed Karl with about a third remaining and really started to struggle. Having to break the trail through the soft sand myself, my pace slowed and I looked back to see Booty and Wayde catching me. Cresting the summit, I made sure I walked all over the top to prove I was there as Karl was out of sight. Our map then had us descending the dune to a salt pan and the next CP, which we should have been able to see. Unfortunately I could not see anyone or a CP and was hesitant to run down in case I dropped off the wrong side as it would take me an hour to climb back up. Double checking the map (which consisted of aerial photographs with CP’s marked and a route line) to be sure, I set off for the most fun of the race, a 325m descent down the steepest sand dune I have run, with fingers crossed that I was going in the right direction. The sand was the perfect consistency to bound down, sinking and sliding with each step. I made it to the bottom before the next guys started the descent and constantly looked over my shoulder as I ran across the salt pan, until I saw the others had followed my path. Eventually I found the support crew, hidden at the other end of the salt pan, where I was given my final water and told there was 2kms to go. That was it, I was going to make it and I enjoyed the final run in to the finish line where I was greeted with a cold beer.

Photo by David Montgomery

I finished in first place, in 19hrs. Graham Booty from England was second and Wayde Kennedy from South Africa in third. Linda Doke from South Africa, was the first lady and finished 4th overall. It was a sensational race, where we raced hard and suffered during the day, but had comfy tents and pools to recover in afterwards. The wildlife, African scenery, bush camps and sunsets should ensure this race grows from the 42 competitors this year. Big thanks to Gary Burrows and Terence Southam from Kinetic Events for organizing the event and all the other volunteers and competitors for making it so enjoyable, especially those who suffered blisters and gave us so much entertainment as we watched them being treated each night. Thanks again to Shotz Sports Nutrition for supplying me with Electrolyte Tabs and gels which kept me going every day, Blackheart and Salomon for the best trail running gear, and Aussie Butt cream for keeping me chaff free. I luckily did not get any blisters and the only inconvenience I suffered was some chaffing from wearing wet shorts around the pool all afternoon!

For more info, check out http://www.namibdesertchallenge.com/

Marysville 2 Melbourne Multisport Race

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 05:04:00 +0000

Last Sunday Fleur and I took on the inaugural M2M Multisport Race, dragging along Dave and Damon as our 'super-crews'. Fleur had a rough night Saturday night having eaten something slightly suspect .... not the ideal preparation. We began at 6.15am at first light with a 19km trail run from Marysville to Dom Dom Saddle. The race organisers would make excellent real estate agents as my GPS was reading over 20.5kms by the time I finished..... Fleur and I ran along together for the first few kilometres before going our separate ways. We all found the trails very slippery with the overnight torrential rain seeing our fair share of sliding crashes. Fleur and I came together again at the end of the run entering the TA within 4 seconds of each other. Once in TA it was a matter of searching for our cycling gear which Dave and Damon had randomly placed while we were running.

Once on the bike I had a great descent down the Black Spur, and then again down into Healsville. We were then in for a pleasant 8km climb then some undulations to Kinglake which marked the 50km point. I picked up an extra bottle here and proceeded to have a fun ~10km descent towards Eltham. With my new compact cranks fitted I spun out a few times, but appreciated them on a final few pinches which saw some guys around me off and walking - good times.... Fleur had a good ride, despite nearly throwing herself off her bike on the first corner having just had her brakes serviced. She too had a smile brought to her face riding passed fellow competitors walking up the same pinches :-)

Having not really prepared for running off the bike I knew the next 15km run on the Yarra Trail was going to be interesting. That is was, as the legs felt like jelly, and feet like ice blocks with the cool temperatures on the bike. I ran this leg like I was pushing the upper age limits of the Vintage category, even stopping at a public toilet on the way. Fleur on the other hand, after a few early wobbles said she would have been happy running all the way to Docklands! Right-o, maybe you can do that next weekend!

Into the next TA to the paddle leg I saw a couple of paddlers waiting to get on the water which I was keen to beat on and get a wash from them if I was up to it. I rushed through chasing Dave who was carrying my boat to the put in point about 100m upstream. I was quickly on a wash however was working quite hard in the turbulent and narrow waters. I stayed there for about 3kms before another friend pulled up beside me encouraging me to jump on. I did, but just long enough for us to compliment each other on our flash looking boats, before getting into my own rhythm for the remainder of the 31km paddle. I'd settled into a great rhythm until about 4kms before the portage around Dights Falls where I decided I'd better add a swim leg to the race, as it was clearly lacking one.... I lightly hit a fully submerged log and before I knew it I was swimming as my boat continued with the flow downstream. I completed my swim leg by sidestroking my boat to shore and perching up on a small tree root to re-mount my craft. Not too much time lost and I was again on my way with a couple of inches of water now (fortunately I had a pump). I was again chasing Dave and my boat down the Yarra Trail on the portage, struggling to catch up. Once in I was back in the high flow water heading for town. About 10kms from the finish the tide was coming in strongly but we had to stick to the middle to avoid the debris getting stuck on the nose and rudder. I passed quite a few more boats in the final few kms to finish the race just outside the 10 hour mark in 10:00.31 in 8th place.

Fleur too had a fun paddle despite also assisting with the dredging of the river with her rudder! She even made friends with a fellow competitor enough for him to stop and help clear her rudder. Fleur finished just as the sun was setting at 6.01pm in 15th place.

Thanks again to our supporters: Blackheart Silva Shotz Nutrition Aussie Butt Cream Salomon Champion Systems Trigger Point Therapy

Something Different....

noreply@blogger.com (Kim) — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 09:48:00 +0000

Last weekend, along with thousands of others, I spent the weekend on the Sunshine Coast to take part in one of the many events that made up the Mooloolaba Triathlon Festival. A hugely impressive production was put on for the elites racing on Saturday and Sunday afternoons as part of the Triathlon World Cup. Due to a late injury, I got the call up from some friends to do the 10km run leg in the more social Corporate Teams Triathlon event on Sunday morning.

This was the first time I'd really tested out my achilles injury since aggravating it about 6 months ago. In those 6 months I have religiously rolled out my calves and soleus' a couple of times a day using my TriggerPoint Therapy massage rollers and gradually increased my running. The result after 10km flat out = 7th in our category and a 12 year 10km PB! Very happy :-)

Thank you to one of our team supporters Kristian from TP Therapy - I highly, highly recommend your products, they got the result that my physio did not!

Damon Goerke wins AURA Maroondah Dam 50km Ultra

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Preston) — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 13:52:00 +0000

Damon cleaned up the AURA Maroondah Dam 50km Ultra on Sunday. The full results can be found here. Damon's report follows....

It’s been nearly 10 years since I last ran the Maroondah Dam trail run. I’d only ever done the 30km option and was keen to check out the full 50km. Starting from Fernshaw Reserve just out of Healesville, it climbs up to Dom Dom saddle then across to Mt St Leonards before a knee crushing 13km descent to Maroondah Dam. The total ascent is almost 2000m, with an almost equal amount of descent. The weather was cool and clear, ideal for running, but unfortunately the recent bad weather had trashed the trail and we were warned to be prepared for a bit of bush bashing in the first 10kms.

I found myself at the front within the first 500m and by the time I hit the overgrown section, everyone was already out of sight behind. The organizers had done a great job marking the route with tape, but they were right about it being overgrown. There was no track for several km’s up the first climb and I was bashing through chest high scrub covered in wait-a-while vine, trying to stay out of sight of the runners chasing me so they couldn’t follow my route. After about 45 minutes I found myself out of the scrub and onto a fire trail, my legs covered with blood after being ripped apart in the vines. That was the end of the fun stuff, and the next 30km’s were a combination of fire trail and some off road sections to the summit of Mt St Leonard. I was still in front and told I had about a 10 min lead. I was pretty confident I could maintain my lead on the long descent, so I didn’t take any risks and took the rocky, slippery trail easily. I was just starting to hit a low patch when I came to Donnellys Weir, which I knew was 3km to the finish and was able to finish strongly on adrenaline in 4hr24. Dave Eadie came in 8 minutes behind in second place.