Adventure Race (Run to the Treetop Walk) 2:38:46 [4] 16.0 km (9:55 / km)
shoes: Salamon XT Wings
This leg was always going to be a case of getting as much time bonus as possible without jeopardising getting to the Treetop walk and out before the 5pm deadline. We started with a pretty substantial hill, so got Saz on the towrope early.
What I assumed was the marked track up the first hill had a very big Private-No Entry Sign on it, so we took a parallel track up the hill, but seemed to go forever before we hit anything and we weren't totally confident where we were. There were a couple of other teams with us on the road, and as we crested the hill, I was pretty happy to see street signs. Even happier to see the Goats charge straight down the hill on the (unmapped bit of the)road. I waited till they were far enough gone, turned left, then on we went. The first checkpoint was in thick, nasty bush and we marginally overshot it, looked around, and decided that it would be too mean even for JJ for it not to be visible from the road. Sure enough 20m back up the hill I saw it. Got the just on a couple more teams here.
The first time bonus control we went for we had to hack through a couple of hundred metres of bush along a creek, then had the choice of repeating the dose or going 4 times as far around a track. We took the track option, but the junction we needed didn't exist, and the overgrown track we thought we might have been on disappeared and we ended up back on the main road and decided to cut our losses.
Things were getting a little tighter for time than we would have liked, so we picked up the intensity a little and we were clean through the next few through to the track-creek crossing at 17. The control had been moved pre-race so we thought it might be a little tricky, and despite being confident where we were, no sign of the marker and we had a little bash through to the farmland, up the fence to the corner and back to where we started. tRicky channelled his Caffeinated experience here and sure enough the control was right next to us in the concrete culvert pipe. Annoying, and now really pushed for time.
We decided that despite the extra 10-15 minutes down the toilet we could still get a very valuable half an hour at 18 only going very slightly longer than the shortest way to the Treetop walk and the steep downhill finish looked like we would still get there comfortably. Pity I had the contours upside down and we had 2 savage climbs to get over.
Bolted into the Treetop walk, speed-walked over it and caught Woop Woop, who we thought were taking it surprisingly easy. Turns out they had already missed a compulsory. A quick run arounf the Ancient empires walk and out to transition.
Tooms and the support crew assure me they were always confident that we would make it, but the first team had only been through 15 minutes before us and many hadn't made it. The time when we hit transition? 4:57pm. 3 minutes to spare and I was abdolutely shattered. The tow rope had gradually begun to get heavier as the leg progressed...
Sooooooo happy to be sitting/lying/cramping out the next leg. Got on with the process of rehydrating and eating as much as possible as the cold shivers had set in a goof hour before the finish of the run and I knew the next MTB wouldn't take long.
Confident that we were going to finish the first day in a good position after this one.