The World Adventure Racing Championships (XPD Australia)
A Misty Morning at Tullah
Rob Howard / 03.11.2011
Through the hours of darkness the top 10 teams came into a damp and misty checkpoint at Tullah – all of them with tales of the severity of the canyon, and the cold. There were reports of sleet and snow up in the hills and everyone and everything was wet. Per Vestling of the Thule team was wringing out a pair of socks. “These were in my dry bag,� he said, “its not so dry is it! Luckily I had my sleeping bag in a zip lock.�“In the canyon we probably lost some time,� he added, “as we went into the bush alongside the river and it was very slow.� Other teams were in and out of the river pools and crossed the river many times. Even out of the riverthe ground was wet and boggy, especially where the river feeds out in the lake. Tatum Prins described the terrain as “like Scotland, hard, long, epic and damn cold!� Her team Merrell Adventure Addicts, had lost a few places on the trek and stopped to sleep for 40 minutes when team captain Graham Bird was ‘losing it’. Kim Willocks of Blackheart said, “I can’t believe they made us go down there through that water�, and many said it was one of the hardest things they’d done in a race.
Sleep deprivation is really starting to take an effect now as the top teams try to push through without sleep to the mid-camp where they have a mandatory rest for 6 hours. Some were taking quick naps of 10 to 15 minutes to recharge their batteries. Team adidas Terrex, who said they had “a sense of humour failure� in the canyon are trying this tactic, and were all set to leave when Tom Gibbs laid down on the stage and fell asleep. After a 10 minute sleep the team were on their way in 5th place.
Buff Thermocool were next to leave (they’d received a 2 hour penalty for losing one of their race bibs which will be served at the last transition), followed by AXA Sports, who were pumped up to hear of Seagate’s penalty and left in high spirits. After this most teams were taking longer to sleep and rest though there was precious little space in the hall as most of it was taken up with bikes! Teams had to unpack them in the narrow aisles between the bike boxes and the stage in the hall was the best spot to sleep. It was busy and noisy, but it didn’t stop anyone falling asleep!
At the front end of the race Silva left Tullah, knowing they were technically in the lead but they had a setback when the derailleur on one of the bikes broke. There was some frantic fixing going on, involving a plastic spoon at one point, but they may now have one single-speed bike. Third to arrive at Tullah was Thule Adventure, who had found some portage wheels in Burnie the day before the race and from the portage ran along the road with their kayaks into transition to arrive ahead of Blackheart. (They didn’t have wheels after all.)
[Latest news is that Seagate and Silva arrived at the mid-camp at Strahan only 20 minutes apart. Seagate were still first at 06.25 and they too arrived with a broken derailleur, then Silva came in at 06.45.]
[Team 37, Spin City Cycles/Ali Rush are now unranked after Ali Wright had to pull with a knee injury. She is now at Tullah and in good spirits, hoping to perhaps rejoin the team later on.]See All Event Posts
