We’re going back to New Zealand!
Bob Miller’s crazy race, the Guats Logs Rocks and Steel Multisport Adventure went off in the rain, mist, and wind on Saturday. Hosted at the Frost Centre on Highway 35, about 50 solo and team competitors lined up for the ‘Championship Course’ race and 150 (including my sister!) for the shorter ‘Frost’ course.
Woke up to intermittent rain and reasonably strong Southwest winds (enough to buffet the flames on the stove we used to make morning coffee). Mom looked after breakfast, Jody got my hydration systems ready while I arrayed the rest of my gear.
The race started at 08.00 with about 200m of double track then into a rooty/stony single-track. I knew I had to press my advantage on this terrain early, so took off quickly and held HR at around 180 for the first 15-20 min. Bill Wells was close with me for the first long time, and I could still see him on the switchback climb away from the lake about 4km in. GPS finally picked up a signal after 40 minutes, which came in handy for the road section as I was motivated to keep the pace high. This road section ended abruptly about 10k into the race, when the course switched to a “trail” that looks to have been last maintained about 10 years ago. But for the pink ribbons marking the course, it would have been tough to identify, but it was fun crashing through the wet branches. Eventually back on to good trail, it wasn’t long before a stream crossing and a short stretch of road that brought me to the boat transition. Run Time: est 1h 20.
With 7 portages, the Paddle section involved a lot of pond-hopping. Lots of other lakes and portages head off the main race route, and after some anxiety during the 2009 race, I was glad that I took the time to summarize and memorize the paddle course maps. An extra beaver dam, barely submerged logs, and lily pads made me glad to have a flip-up rudder on my decade-old south african marathon K1 (the low weight was great for portaging). I’d hooked my hydration bag under the seat bolt so it wouldn’t fall out if I tipped or drained the boat at a portage, but that meant it was a bit loose so I had to tighten it up at one portage. Also, the boat’s interior is a bit tight for running shoes, and pointing my toes to control the rudder led to cramping early on, but a salt pill helped with that. In the third last lake, poor route choice meant I ran aground on a floating mud mat, and I promptly fell out while trying to pull across it…then fell through the mat, managed to get back up and spread my weight enough to be able to get back in the boat. Took on some water, but thankfully the next portage was only 100m away. The last 2 k was the only really exposed section of the course, and had some waves up t0 15″, but not unmanageable. It was fun catch some Frost Course paddlers (who started 2 hours later with a 4k paddle). I tried to keep the boat around 11 km/h on the water. Split: approx 1:25
Paddle-to-Bike Transition setup wasn’t quite as efficient as I hoped, with camelback straps crooked, the waist-belt still done up, and my salt pill not wanting to leave the baggie i put it in, then falling onto the ground. My friend Andrew was volunteering and I could hear his catcalls… lets go VanDorp!
The bike course was pretty muddy and lots of Frost athletes were already on it, making it fun and sometimes challenging to maintain a steady line through the slop. I caught sister Jody a few km into the course. After 8 km or so our course diverged from the Frost Course and I was on my own. A bit of chain suck in the lowest gears kept me in the middle ring, and every time my foot hit the ground I worried that someone would overtake me. The brambles were not so bad as I had remembered (though my legs are pretty scraped up). The last 15km on gravel road were faster, but large puddles meant fine-grained clay between the pads and discs, and the wet road made for slower going than 2009. A photographer I passed said something like “you’ll hold the lead” but I didn’t want to trust him. finally hit the hard asphalt road, dropped my elbows onto the bars, and gunned for home in Time trial position, crossing the line in 5 h 30 min – 2.5 min slower than 2009, but on a different course and in wet conditions.
Compared to 2009, the run was perhaps less technical (save for the bushwacking section), but the portages slowed down the paddle. The MTB was definitely muddier, but better hydration / salt management and memory for what it was like helped keep me going.
Barb Campbell had an amazing race, coming off the paddle in 10th overall and going on to win the female championship race.
Sister Jody finished second female in the Frost Course, and fellow Grey-Brucer Scott Thomson won the Frost Course race.
Guats threw in $1000 to help defray travel expenses, work has given me clearance, so its time to gear up for NZ! Updated race calendar to follow soon.
