Team Hopeless Jokes – Race Report
Sunshine Coast Adventure Race 18th March 2007

Pre race
Living in Central West NSW and being a keen Adventure Racer takes some planning and preparation. Knowing that the Sunshine Coast race is always on the third weekend of March (so far anyway) I was able to plan my families annual holiday in Qld around the race weekend.

This was the 3rd time that the Hopeless Jokes had competed in the Wild Horse race so we had a pretty good knowledge of what to expect. We knew that it was likely to be hot and that navigation would be the key. After a moderately successful nights sleep on my sisters couch my team mate Paul picked me up at 5.45am from Brisvegas. The mood in the car was really relaxed and our negotiated goals for the day were to i) have a good day and ii) not muck up the navigation.

We had our usual pit stop at the servo opposite Wild Horse Mountain and judging by the amount of lycra in the male toilets I knew we were in the right place. I think all four of us in the male toilets wearing bright coloured lycra felt a little uneasy at the time with each of us making a hasty exit!

After getting a great park in the shade and away from the long grass we unpacked, registered and picked up our map. The “Purple” course it was for us and after some careful map reading and team negotiations we went with out tried and tested plan of Paul navigating the run and me navigating on the bike. Having had half a Power Bar each we counted out our Gu’s packed another couple of Power Bars and went to briefing ready to race.

Run leg
By the time we were ready to start it was hot and humid. A heap of teams were ahead of us at the beginning as we started very casually on the run leg ready for a potentially long and hot day. Paul and also a number of other runners rolled their ankles on the pine cones hidden in the grass but other than that the run leg was incident free. Paul was navigating on this leg and he followed the instructions of choosing a “creek crossing point carefully” really well because he ended up finding a spot where we only had to step over the creek while other competitors took a full swim.

As we moved from CP 4 to 5 and back to transition we started the third of our goals for the day. Remembering that our goals were to i) have a good day and ii) not muck up the navigation to this we added goal number iii) “lets just catch that team ahead of us”.

Ride leg
Coming into transition we had our first Gu each and also a big slurp of our electrolyte drinks that were waiting at the bike stand. It was my turn to navigate on the bike and after costing our team plenty of time on the bike last year I was focused on making no mistakes this year. So we counted blue trees with care, trails with precision and even track bends with intent. With Paul doing the lead work and me drafting behind we caught a few teams between CP 9 and 10.

We then hit the water for a swim and we were amazed at how strong the current was and just how much effort it took to swim against the current as we ended up below the exit point on the opposite bank.

Kayak leg
Having learnt at race briefing that CP 14 was not included in the race we floated the idea of tactically not doing the kayak leg at all and taking a 20min time penalty instead. However after asking Gary what the time penalties for the day were and receiving the answer “This will be decided at the end of the day.” And “I don’t want teams missing check points for tactical reasons.” We realised that Gary was one step ahead of us (who would have thought!!) and that we would be taking the big plastic bath tub Voyagers for a paddle.

Focusing on paddling in time and “keeping our legs turned on” we had a cracking paddle and we were once again able to “catch that team in front.” Being a runner Paul was not at all looking forward to the paddle but he kept his head down and paddled really strongly for the whole leg. The only confusing part of the paddle was seeing a number of all male teams just finishing the kayak leg as we were starting. We knew that these guys could not be an hour ahead of us – we had only been going 75mins – but we were not sure if there was a different male category or what really was happening. All would be revealed as we crossed the finish line!!

Ride leg
After having caught at least three teams on the run back to the creek crossing we had another big swim and we were then back on the bikes. It was at this point of the race last year that ourselves along with heaps of teams made some navigational errors and lost at least 40mins of time. So I was super keen to get this bit right. The only problem was I found myself immediately disorientated by the number of bends in the track relative to the creek and I was at a bit of a loss as to where the track and creek junction was for CP 19. It was at this stage that Narelle Ash and her partner peddled alongside us and also were looking for CP 19. We quickly realised that we had just passed the junction and after a short double back where we were joined by the teams we had just passed on the run we punched the card and headed off for CP 20.

During the rest of the bike leg we rode with Narelle and her partner and it was a great feeling to be racing alongside (in a different category thankfully) to one of the stars of Australian Adventure Racing. Narelle was great and could not have been more friendly or helpful and it really did add to our enjoyment of the whole race. Not to mention the fact that she did point me in the right direction after I had missed a right hand trail – thanks Narelle!

Run leg
Somehow we managed to get ahead of Narelle and her partner plus a couple of other teams at the roped creek crossing. It was at the creek crossing that a pair of the fantastic volunteers advised us that we were in third place in our category. Did she say third I asked myself?

Feeling enthused by this and wanting to stick to our goal of “no navigational errors” we had a quick mid trail team chat and we decided to take a navigational gamble that Paul had suggested. So we found ourselves short cutting through the pine needles and pine cones looking for the adjoining track. Even though the running was hard work the gamble paid off and we hit the CP perfectly and then nailed the rest of the run before crossing the creek again.

Ride leg
Feeling confident that we were still in third and that we had opened up a lead on the teams behind us we headed off for the last few CP’s. At CP 29 we caught the leading Mixed team and then we raced to the finish line with them. We ended up crossing the line at the same time as the mixed team and also a male team (M104) who were “running” to cross the line. Again we were a bit confused as to what this meant and what impact this might have on what we thought was a third place finish.

After another quick chat with Gary we learnt that the Blue course and the Purple course were all competing against each other and that we had finished equal 5th with team M104 in the men’s category and equal 6th with the Mixed Team and team M104 overall. At a time of 3 hours 19 minutes we were only 13 minutes behind the overall leaders which we were thrilled with.

So for a day spent focusing on “enjoying ourselves”, “nailing the navigation” and “catching that team in front,” Team Hopeless Jokes could not have been happier with the outcome – even given the lycra issue at the servo earlier in the day!!

Congrats again to Gary and your team of friendly volunteers for putting on a great day.
Thanks - John