Wildside Adventure Race

Time Keeps Ticking Away

Richard Old (Wildside Adventure Race) / 12.10.2014

For some teams Day 4 was connecting with the journey to the finish line. For others it was a frustrating day as nav errors began to erode any chance of a complete race.

Modified course teams began to get close to the Forster finish line trekking over Mt Alum, Bulahdelah towards Korsmans Landing. Mt Alum is the only exposed outcrop of alunite in the world and has a long history of mining and timber felling – relics of this lie around the mountain. Between the Mountain and the next TA lay 17km of forest featuring ghost tracks and numerous route choices. What looked easy on paper was actually going to be a hard trek. At the end of this leg was the 22km Myall Lakes paddle.

The Myall Lakes are recognised as a wetland of international significance. It covers an area triple that of Sydney Harbour and has an incredible 280 bird species that call the lake home, which is more than Kakadu. This leg sent teams across the main lake and towards its northern most shores. There was a portage option near the start. Those that paddled during the day found it easily. Night paddlers had a harder job and at least 2 times gave up and paddled the extra 5ks.

IB Bandits without their maps did the whole paddle leg using a small marketing brochure they collected in Bulahdelah. Not a bad job considering this was their first expedition race.

Behind these teams were the full course racers. The night before most tackled the Barrington River tube & trek. This leg was interesting as there really was no fast way to do it. Teams had to slow down and just enjoy the ride down the river. At night it got cold and teams were rugged up in the TA post-tube trying to warm up.

On from the tubing was an 87k mountain bike to Bulahdelah. ‘The hard way or the easy way’ best describes this leg. If you picked the right trails you were rewarded with a beautiful piece of rolling single track. If you chose wrong it was a long and arduous hike a bike.

In the lead Team Mountain Designs chose wrong and consequently spent 4hrs climbing out and then back into the forest. Other teams found the single track. While this was going on Tiger Adventure had still not arrived in Barrington. They were lost on top of the last ridgeline and while running out of food and water spent the night in a farmers shed awaiting daylight.  31hrs later they took to the river determined to make up ground and get home.

While all this was going on the clock kept ticking. Time was running out for teams. They had to start pushing it if they wanted to get to the finish line in time.

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