Team Goanna race report by Chris Schulz

Well, Team Goanna finished the Maximum Adventure 24hr
race on 24/25 September 2005. What an epic adventure!
The race had us up at 4am to drop off bikes and boxes
for the 6am start. At the "start" we were told that
the "real" start was at 7am and that we had busses
waiting for us outside... We marked our maps up on the
bus as we made our way to the Rangers office near
Bungonia Caves.

We had a short-ish trek to the first TA where we were
issued kayaks. After we inflated them we had to trek
1km down (and I mean down!) to the Shoalhaven River.
The next leg was a kayak of about 5km, including an
awesome rapid section (well, it was fun for a kayak
novice!). We suffered a slow leak in the left side and
had to stop to re-inflate about half way. It was
smooth sailing after that into TA2. Then began the
next trek... up Bungonia Creek and into Bungonia
Gorge. I had only ever seen this gorge from the
lookout at the top. I had also read the many warnings
at the top about the nature of trekking through the
gorge. The best part was the boulder field where we
ended up in a sort of 3D maze. After the checkpoint
was obtained, the trek back was OK as we found the
trail we should have followed in the first place! The
climb up to TA3 was very hard but in hindsight it was
a breeze compared to what was to come...

We reached TA3 at around the 5 hour mark where we
filled our packs and had a quick feed before the
descent back to the kayacks at TA4 (same as TA2). The
downhill was tough on the knees and I was concerned at
this point about continuing. My teammate was a
considerable distance ahead of me and it was after
this realisation that I had the first though about
killing him (only joking Graeme...) . I tried to think
only happy thoughts as I checked the map again and
noted that there wasnt much more downhill and
ascending presented me with no "bad" pain.

I was nervous about the next kayak leg as this by far
my weakest discipline. This was going to be a long leg
(10km or so) and I wasnt sure how Id hold up. I had
done a little gym work after the last 24hr at Myall
Lakes where my effort could be described as pitiful...
I certainly didnt get as much pain this time but the
shallow sections saw us out of the boat and walking
(falling!) quite often which was a welcome break from
paddling. We both opted to wear gaiters and after
looking like idiots at the start, we felt much better
after seeing some other beaten shins at the finish.
This leg is where I discovered that Glad Snap-Lock
bags are NOT waterproof! My mobile phone completely
filled with water and hence I can not supply any
in-race photos :( Graeme discovered that the easiest
way to get over some of the rockier sections was for
me to stay in and steer while he dragged himself along
on the very back of the kayak. Im sure we need work on
our style but it got us through unscathed. After
fixing the left-hand valve at TA2, we now had a
slow(er) leak on the right hand side! We ignored it
and paddled on knowing that the checkpoint wasnt too
far away.

Words simply cannot describe the agony associated with
this next section. We had to portage the kayak up a
450m climb which was only 1.7km long! About 1/3 of the
way up my brain snapped. Something had to change...
This could not be real... Someone get me out of here!
NOW! Graeme did his best to get some food and drink
into me and we switched positions. I found that,
despite our height differnce, carrying the back of the
boat was easier than being at the front. I owe Graeme
a lot for his efforts on that section. Im not sure
when we got into the bike TA as my
BP-service-station-$30-special-waterproof watch was
filled with water as well.

I luckily saw the comment on the map control reference
sheet about doing the points in any order and having
at least 6 before doing the abseil. Missing that could
have meant a nasty disqualification. We left the TA
just before 6 and rode the tar sections without
needing lights. We put our lights on as we hit the
gravel. I am still confused as to where the hell we
went on our way to CP5. We figured we overshot the
entrance to a trail and verified that by matching the
next one (or so we thought). We went back 200m and
took the "trail" which was just a tree-felling path.
Still, it was heading in the right direction... until
it wasnt... bugger... We decided to break the first
rule of orienteering and press on regardless. Luckily
that paid off and we successfully relocated ourselves
(30 min lost!). I found the controls challenging given
the map scale and the riding was slow due to the thick
fog that rolled in. We made a few mistakes on this leg
but nothing noteable.

We rolled into the abseil at about 9pm. This was only
my second abseil (the first being the 24hr in Jan) but
I found it quite easy this time. In fact, at only 20m,
it was a little dissapointing but logistically I think
it was the best the organisers could do given the
restricted access to cliffs. The ascent via the wire
ladder was fun... I was put off by the lad in front of
me who had great difficulty but I found it not too
difficult at all. I though I was going to freak out
when the ladder started to turn around but my teammate
sorted it out for me. We were out of there pretty
quickly, maybe too quickly because we both hit the
wall within minutes of each other. I saw Graemes head
hit the map board, eyes tightly closed, gasping for
air. I just needed snakes, lots of snakes. I ate 5 in
one go and nearly vomited. Our goo was causing gag
refexes in us both. We needed to finish. Soon. The
last 3 CP's were OK, we took them slowly and tried not
to make any mistakes. I got excited and shot off to
one but the realised I had ridden straight past it (I
was one trail behind where we actually were). I could
see Graeme was very tired he calmly got us back to the
control and I am still alive to tell this tale! :)

The down hill ride back into town was a very welcome
relief. Almost as nice as the pie and saussage roll at
Marulan truck stop at 12:30am. Mmmmmmm truck stop...

We finished in about 17h and 40min (including the bus
ride) and I was happy with that. These long events are
hard, sometimes you finish and you think you could
have gone faster here or there but you never really
know whats around the corner...

Id like to thank Gary and the Maximum Adventure team
for an excellently planned and executed event, the
volunteers were awesome. I especially owe great thanks
to my teammate, Graeme for his perseverance and skill.