Training Log Archive: Kim

Lake Tinaroo Paddle 15km 1151hrs - 1449hrs

A quick transition and we were onto the boats about 5 - 10 mins ahead of Orion. A non-eventual paddle in the heat where we probably dropped a couple of minutes to Orion.

Trek 60km 1449 - 2055hrs (Tues)
We jogged the first section of this, walking the uphills. Firstly the track we needed was marked differently on the map so we walked back up to the top to re-check. Once we got into the track section all the tracks and ribbons made no sense. We stuffed around in here with Orion for hours before finally taking the track that went in the opposite direction that we wanted. It did finally turn around and go the right way. Orion were ahead of us here after taking the track before us, however we found them at the bottem tucked away in their tent. Unfortuantely Brent had got an infection in his ankle and they made the decision to withdraw, putting us back in the lead. We walked on, while I struggled to stay awake for a while. We couldn't find the next CP at the lookout (great spot with 360 degree views) after not having the course correction. The next section was a 5km off road bash through rain forest to the road,. This took us 5hrs 15mins, but took some teams days! Once on the road we jogged what we could all the way into Cairns for a hard fought victory back at the Ridges Hotel for Champagne and pizza. Phew - that was a long one!

MTB 130km 1729hrs - 1151hrs

Got spider bite (received at home on the Sat before leaving) infection drained and patched, but still got out of TA before Orion. Fast riding until a dodgey section where the tracks made no sense. Orion caught up after a couple of hours trying every track. They'd slept shortly after leaving TA and had the same problems here. We then both decided to go off road on the ridge to find the track. We slept shortly afterwards for 2hrs while they rode on. We woke just before sunrise and found some nice animal single tracks which led us to where we wanted to go eventually. I think all other teams went a longer but faster way around. There loss - they were cool tracks. Once out onto the road we hear that from a random that Orion were not far up the road. We found them about 15kms from the TA after they'd taken a wrong turn. We rode with them for a bit before riding off arriving in the TA about 10 - 15 mins before them in the heat of the day.

Mongrel Trek 60km 1600hrs - 1729hrs (Sat)

We left here in 4th place, 2hrs behind Orion and McCain. Rob absolutely nailed the nav to the first CP 6hrs away by taking a route to the north, whereas all other took a route more to the south. We walked straight onto it, and unfortunately led both Orion and McCain onto it also who'd been looking on a different knoll I think. We then left with Orion, and walked with them for 30mins or so before going our seperate ways. We stopped shortly afterwards for 2hr nap on a sandy section next to the creek. Once awake we trudged on before reaching the river which we followed until the road. It was getting hot by now so the river was a good sight. Once on the road we heard from the media that Orion were about 3mins up the road so we arrived into the TA close behind them.

Walsh River paddle 70km 1525 - 1600 (Friday)

This was a cool stage on probably the most stunning river I've paddled on. We saw plenty of fresh water crocs, and once it got dark we would only saw two yellow eyes which would disappear as we got close. During this stage we had to get two CPs which were about 1km from the boats. On the first one we managed to lose our boats, along with Orion who parked them next to ours. We got here in first place with Orion 2 hours behind. We left in 5th place, 6 hours later after losing our boats, taking a couple of goes to find the CP, and then having a 1 hour sleep to settle ourselves. It's funny now looking back at it. Once we got going we caught CBD at the next CP and finshed the stage just in front of them. It was a cool paddle with heaps of neat small rapids and plenty of jumping in and out. After the rafting this would def. be my favourite stage.

Mid-Camp 0655hrs - 1255hrs

Overnight we felt the stinging from the stinging tree so deceided to get treated before heading to bed. Hydrochloric acid was put on the stings, and then it was repeatedly waxed. It was not so bad for me as I only had it on the right forearma nd right 'pinky', however the guys were not so lucky and struggled big time with the treatment. VERY FUNNY to watch. Anyway we finally got to bed, however were woken before our alamrs by both the heat and a couple of council workers grinding some concrete (or something similar just as loud!). We probably only got 2hrs sleep, however had a good meal and were ready to go on time.

Wheelbarrow 20km 1255hrs - 1525hrs (finish time rough as the fill in sheet was not there)

We loaded up the wheelbarrow with everything and headed out onto the roads to the Walsh River. The guys swapped turns pushing the barrow, while I just tried to keep up. I struggled particularly on the downhills. I was spent by the time we hit the river in the heat of the day. It was a fun leg however, and surely a first for AR.

Raft on the Tulley 13km 0736hrs - 0805hrs

Misty Mountains Trek 47km 0805hrs - 1854hrs

MTB 130kms 1854hrs - 0655hrs

Run / Paddle / Snorkel 1136hrs - 1615hrs

XPD again with Team Blackheart.com.au with Rob, Damon and Josh. we started with a quick run around the walking Tracks of Dunk Island taking pretty easy as I had a suspect achilles. Jumped in the boat (4 of us in the one Seyvlor!) in about 6th position and paddled out to two different locations where we hitched the boats and went for a quick snorkel. I got some cool chaffing from the PFD rubbing. Fairly non-eventful with the murky wind chopped waters. We then jumped back in the boats and paddled back to Mission Beach on the mainland. Unfortunately the media boat came past as we were approaching the beach so all 5 other team who were heading too far north were given the TA position. We ended up coming 4th, with the top 6 teams within 10 minutes of each other.

MTB 80kms 1615hrs - 1950hrs

We got out of transition a little slow in 5th spot but fairly quickly picked up Alpine Epic (NZ), McCain (Sth Africa), and CBD. We then rode as a bunch the rest of the way resulting in a pretty cruisy 80kms. The NZ and SA teams sat on the back all the way reluctant to do any work. Bit disappointing really. We (Josh) won the sprint to the TA meaning we would go off in the first 2 teams in the raft with Orion who finished 10mins ahead.

We then had about a 5hr sleep before getting up and walking about 8km chewing the fat with CBD to the start of the raft. Good times.

Event: XPD Expedition Adventure Race