Geoquest 2009 - Out Of Range at Fairy Geo (Half)

I had not been intending to do Geoquest this year. I was not in the mood to train for a fast full course team or to try and arrange a team with all the associated angst of keeping a team together until the race start. Also as my nav is not fast enough to really pull a team along I probably would have more difficulty talking 3 other people into it once again. When I mentioned I was not keen on full Geo this year to Alex in January he asked if his team could borrow Matilda so she could go have the adventure. I said sure have fun.

My cousin Scott has been doing some of the AROC races recently, after doing a number of mtb races and finding all of this has been a nice change from his triathlon schedule. He and his friend Greg were keen to do the Geo half (not feeling up to the added distance and time involved in the full quite yet). However they wanted someonoe who could navigate and had experience in the longer races so I said sure sounds like fun count me in. I was able to look forward to this race and not feel under any pressure and not have to do any training and still be confident of finishing it comfortably which was a nice feeling.

When our fourth teammate was injured Scott and Greg found another woman, Su, who wanted to try out a longer AR also. Su was able to race after her son who would have been racing injured himself competing in the Northface 100 KM trail run (which she also competed in) so she joined in the team and we were set to go have a fun weekend racing the Fairy Geo. No full race report this time around, just photos taken by myself and Greg.

The race was a lot of fun, I like the change in course format Craig and Lou made. The full course start at 5:30am would have been a little tough if the white water had been in the race though. It was interesting to see how lost some people seemed out there, I ended up giving hints and nav tips to a few teams. I also was giving away food to a few teams through the race, after running out of food in a leg a few years ago I have a tendancy to carry far more than I can possibly consume. So I felt it was good to share it around when I saw others running out of food.

Due to XPD 2010 being on in May, Craig and Lou are shifting Geo to the October long weekend next year, I kind of hope it comes further south (warmer time of year down here) again, maybe along the coast somewhere like Narooma. I will almost definitely be lining up for the fun weekend that is Geoquest again whereever it ends up though.

fullsize Greg getting ready at the cold start of the first trek. fullsize Su. fullsize Scott toughing it up (before throwing on lots of warm clothing. fullsize As seen here with Louise in the background abotu to do the start briefing. fullsize Scott here with Su in the background ready to go. fullsize Looking over to Libby (blue buff) and Pete of Entropic who ended up winning the half, Scott's father in law Terry and wife Kim (cream coat) and eldest son Rhys (flouro coat) are in the background also fullsize Some other teams at briefing. fullsize Briefing. fullsize Looking toward entropic again, Pete is holding his daughter before the start. fullsize Scott with the map. fullsize Su. fullsize The snake I stepped on, squealed like a girl, then stayed on the log while it reared its head to take a photo. Greg also got a photo of it. A rather large python. This was about 100 metres from CP Z. fullsize On the bikes at last. fullsize Climbing a grassy hill refueling fullsize While Su and Greg got up there also. fullsize When Greg fell and could not get up we had to get a photo before we helped him out. fullsize Nice view of some rock formations over toward Gloucester (I think) fullsize Showing that Celia and Sal did get the chance to sit and enjoy the sunshine while Mark, Alex, Randall and Selina were out smashing themselves. fullsize Greg in transition. fullsize Scott with Rhys in the foreground. fullsize Su during the paddle. fullsize Scott and Greg after passing another team. fullsize Greg about to whack Scott with a paddle maybe? fullsize Danielle's team Tasman after crossing the finish line. fullsize Team photo, Gary, Danielle, Matt and Mike

fullsize Selina just after finishing with the other ARNuts in 6th place. fullsize Randall. fullsize Alex. fullsize Mark showing off his stripey blue tights. fullsize Australaps at the presentation talking about their race to come in 3rd. Chris on mic with Heather, Nathan and Andrew. fullsize The first version of our raft that Scott and Greg built in Newcastle the week before. fullsize Scott doing raft work pre race. fullsize Scott in the competency checks. fullsize Greg proving he can swim in competency checks. fullsize Steve and Su closer to the bank. fullsize Steve and Su. fullsize Alex watching us do maps. fullsize Greg reading instructions and Steve replacing the batteries in the map walker. fullsize Greg wondering what is taking so long with batteries. fullsize Scott poring over the maps. fullsize Su, Scott, Kim, Terry and Steve pre start. fullsize Greg. fullsize Team photo pre race. fullsize And again. fullsize Scott, Su and Steve on a four wheel drive track! fullsize Looking on the map to see where to find X on this spur. fullsize Going down a hill in damp conditions. fullsize Another team crossing a river. fullsize Steve on the log above the snake. fullsize Greg's photo of the snake Steve stepped on. fullsize Last control on this trek.

fullsize Riding. fullsize Greg showing where he kept the control card for the race... fullsize Heading toward a big climb. fullsize Coming down a long descent where Entropic blazed a trail. fullsize Kim at a transition. fullsize About to ride after the paddle, all ratehr cold by now. fullsize Warmed up within 5 km so Scott and Su took their jackets off. fullsize Greg and Steve. fullsize Yet another control. fullsize Having fun in the dark. fullsize Greg getting ready to kick somehting covered in lots of thick mud. fullsize Some of the mud we battled through. fullsize More mud. fullsize There may be a theme here. fullsize Bulladelah transition. fullsize The cave with control I. fullsize The rock wall above the control. fullsize Greg at climbing. fullsize Scott about to climb. fullsize Steve and Su on the final descent of the race. fullsize Looking down the hill. fullsize Rainy conditions. fullsize Scott in the rain. fullsize Greg seeming happy in the rain. fullsize Scott and Steve starting raft assembly. fullsize The raft version 2, not enough anchoring of the tubes in place so they slipped out and we needed a rebuild on the way across.