Race Report Team Kathmandu

Team Kathmandu recently participated in the Kathmandu 24 hour adventure race in Budgewoi, NSW. It was a great experience and a memorable one for lots of reasons!

The hours prior to the start were a bit chaotic. Late flights and running around doing gear drops left us with only a few hours to pore over the maps and plan out our race.

The field looked very competitive as we lined up for the start at 8am. We were feeling good and were confident that our planning was thorough. The first leg was a paddle up Mooney Mooney Creek, which was full of oyster farms that we had to pick our way through. Considering that paddling is our weakest discipline, we were happy finishing the leg in about 10th place.

Our approach to transition is to get in and out as quickly as possible, so we were soon out on the trek leg along the Great North Walk after a quick clothing change and a bite to eat. We maintained a steady pace at the start of the run and easily found the first trek checkpoint (CP), CP6. At CP7 we caught a few teams that were having trouble finding the marker, due to some confusion about where the falls actually were. Steve found the CP for us and all the other teams. We headed off with four teams right behind us and after racing uphill most of the way, finished leg in 12th place overall. We were definitely looking forward to riding our bikes.

We started the bike leg feeling good and were looking for a fast time in this section. We were a bit concerned when we realised that about 1km into the ride that we had no pump. We decided we would push on and hope we did not get a puncture. Luck was on our side and we remained puncture-free! We had great fun going down some steep single track and didn’t have quite as much fun basically carrying our bikes back up the other side. So much for looking forward to riding! This was a tough part of the course. We did the bike carry with another team, which made the time go a bit faster. Once we got CP9 we headed down the other side of the hill and did some more bike carrying downhill which was easier, but a bit more frustrating. We then headed up a stonking big climb up a dirt road. This climb was an absolute leg crusher. We then navigated our way to CP10 with the help of the powerlines; these would also come in useful in the rogaine section. We made the Transition Area (TA) in 10th place.

When we started the rogaine after another super quick transition, it felt like we were the only team out there. We did not see another team for at least an hour, by which time we were almost onto our second CP. The powerlines helped with the navigation as they gave us a bit of a guide as to where we were along the creek. It can be hard to navigate along creeks because it is difficult to judge distance with all the twists and turns. Teams were allowed to choose the order in which they tackled the checkpoints, and we met lots of teams coming from the opposite direction, which planted the seed of doubt that maybe we hadn’t chosen the best order! Although we got all five CPs, our time on this leg was relatively slow, and we spent a lot of time in tough terrain literally crawling on hands and knees through the scrub. We started to lose light just before we got to the second last CP, so had a slow time making our way back to the TA in the dark. We felt for the teams we saw just starting out on this leg, who were going to have to do the whole rogaine in the dark.

After finishing the rogaine, we headed out on another bike leg to find three checkpoints along some single track. Once we had found the single track we had a lot of problems following where we were. On the map it seemed a short distance but in real terms it ended up being much further than we expected. After getting CP I we struggled to find CP J, which ended up being the only CP we missed for the entire race. Riding along the single track looking for CP H, I was convinced we had gone way too far, but it was good riding so we continued on for another 5-10 minutes and chanced upon CP H. So much for precision navigation! From there, it was an easy nav and road ride to the boats. We arrived with another team and there was already a team in the TA.

Again we were in and out quick and got into the water well in front of both other teams and were now in 8th place. We had been racing for 13 hours and I knew at the start of the race this would be a very hard leg mentally. We paddled solidly down the river and enjoyed the calm waters, as we knew that the open water would be a different story. When we reached the river mouth we could see the lights on the bridge we were aiming for, and it seemed a long way away. Sometimes it felt like we weren’t making forward progress as those lights just didn’t seem to be getting any closer. The boats we use in these races seem to go very slowly and after 2hr and 34 minutes we finally landed at the last TA. As soon as we got out of the boats and stopped moving we became extremely cold. We were wet and the wind chill was freezing. I was shaking uncontrollably and could barely get changed to head off for the run.

As we were leaving on the final leg, the team we had overtaken in the last transition were just coming in off the boat. We knew we had to maintain a good pace if we were to hold our position. We warmed up again soon after starting the run. The navigation on this part of the course was fairly straight forward as the majority was the beach run to the final CP. Although running in wet sand was the last thing we needed after hours and hours of being on the go, we had the advantage of being able to follow the footsteps of the teams in front of us.

So after 17hours and 22minutes we finally crossed the finish line! We ended up in 6th position overall, as a few teams had failed to find all the rogaining checkpoints. I felt good at the finish and was happy with what we had done. I also felt that we raced well and had not made any costly mistakes, so we are learning from our past experiences and improving. The Kathmandu gear we raced in was fantastic and stood up to the rigours of the race and kept us warm during the cold night. The area around Budgewoi was a picturesque setting for the race and the course was challenging and enjoyable. Even the weather was good for racing. Thanks to Steve for a great race again. Also, thanks to all the other teams who make racing in this sport so rewarding – everyone competes hard but still shares the sense of adventure and camaraderie that makes these events unique.. Well done to the team at Max Adventure who put on another great event. Steve and I will be at Lysterfield in Melbourne in November to defend our title.

See you then!
Matt Tait Team Kathmandu