Team Tecnu in the Pantanal

Rob Preston / 08.12.2015

­We've had a running joke in my regular AR team that comes out when things aren't going to plan and morale is waning: "The worst day on holidays is still better than the best day at work". So it probably comes as no surprise that my team mates "work to live" rather than "live to work".

One of the first comments I read on Facebook after returning from the Pantanal was from Damon saying that while following the online coverage of the 2015 Adventure Racing World Championships in Brazil that he was glad he was at work and not racing. Wow! Did the race really seem that hard!? And was that view an accurate reflection? Well in my opinion, yes it was.

But as I start start writing this report at 2.06am on my 5th twelve hour work shift within 9 days of reaching the finish line, I'd still rather be in the Pantanal than at work. 

I remember the 2008 ARWC also in Brazil involved an epic journey just to reach the start line and this year was very similar. Finish work, drive 2hrs to Melbourne. Finish packing, go to bed. 15 min taxi to airport in the morning. 90min flight Melbourne to Sydney. Transfer bus to Sydney international airport. Sydney to Santiago, 14hrs. Santiago to São Paulo, 4hrs. 60min taxi to hotel. Spend a day recovering in São Paulo before another taxi back to the airport. 2hr flight to Campo Grande. Wait a few hours and then 6hr bus transfer to Corumba. Meet my team who live in US and I haven't seen since July and have a few days packing gear and food before finally another 12hr trip on a navy transport ship to the start. As far as pre-race transfers, the navy boat was a real novelty and much more pleasant than a long bus trip. 

Leg 1; 49km Paddle

Race morning was spent at a remote school, interacting with the students and enjoying  some nice fresh food for the last time. Just before 1pm on Saturday the 31 teams took to the warm waters of the Rio Paraguay for race start. I would never have believed that a paddle leg could be as hot as Leg 1. 2hrs into the race and I could no longer keep myself cool and had to resort to a swim to see if that helped. Well no, a warm bath is not really useful for dropping core temperature. Fortunately I made it through the worst of the afternoon and with a little cloud cover and finally a bit of a headwind breeze I felt stronger and we made our way through the field to finish the paddle in 4th place. 

Leg 2; 26km Trek

We soon left the lake and had a couple of hours jogging along Jaguar alley, with a little detour into Bolivia (tick), and still we were just learning how hot it would stay in the jungle overnight. CP2 was in a farmhouse and we were a bit surprised to see Haglofs Silva just leaving. We quickly caught them on the climb to CP3 which had a bit of breeze and helped cool everybody down.

From the top of the hill we could see the lights of TA4 as we carefully picked the right spur to descend with the Swedes joining us. The final part was through some tough jungle, but I felt I could have been in any trek leg from an Australian Geoquest 48hr AR as we weaved down an overgrown creek line and I was relieved to pop out into open farmland in sight of TA. A bit more surprised to hear we were now in 1st place and had passed Seagate. Things were looking up. 

Leg 3; 36km Packraft 

We were first onto the water with Haglofs Silva in our wake and Seagate had just turned up. I spent 10mins investigating the potential portage short cut before deciding to take the more conservative paddle option. But Haglofs Silva persisted and an hour later we watched them pull their rafts from the jungle as we met on the other side still equal.

Unfortunately the up to now accurate map had lulled me into a false sense of  security, and into a false channel that was inaccurately mapped and we turned to see Seagate paddling away into the distance. They never found CP6 and we seem to have been the only team to have found it by all reports. The story was it must have gone out with the tide ...

The morning sky was cloudy, and a stiff headwind formed when we reached the lake which was good for keeping cool, but I don't think I've ever paddled a boat quite this slow as the packrafts struggled to break 1kph. Finally we reached the shoreline, having lost sight of Seagate long ago, but with Haglofs Silva and several other boats not far behind. 

We decided to approach CP7 straight up the spur rather than the longer, flatter route choice to the left. The jungle at the bottom of the hill was horrendous, and now the sun had turned up and started tightening the screws on everyone. I suffered almost immediately and after a few rests panting like a dog trying to cool down I considered turning back to the lake for a rest. But we slowly persisted up the mountainside on the spur leading to the CP, wondering if we would ever reach the strange "hill" that was marked on the side of a steep mountainside.

Eventually we topped out on the ridgeline and turned right to continue looking for the mysterious "hill". Only when we reached the top of the mountain did we turn back, and started passing teams coming back up who had found the CP. Just 40m past where we had scrambled up the mountain we found a Swedish photographer and then the incorrectly placed CP7. 

Pissed off, very thirsty and for the first (but certainly not last) time in the race we were short of food. The remainder of the Packraft leg looked pretty straightforward. Just head down the hillside and find the marked path that would take us 4km into TA3. We were happy to find a small trickle of water in the creek line we descended just as darkness fell. But since we'd be soon in transition no one filled more than a bottle or two. At the bottom of the hill I searched for the trail, only to find 4 teams in despair that they couldn't find the trail.

I didn't wait around for a press conference but just continued down the creek line into one of the worse patches of scrub I have every encountered. Out with Max the Machete. Fortunately Kyle was smart enough to get Max sharpened before the race started. Unfortunately for the team that meant we almost single handedly had to cut the path to freedom while the other teams followed or "took a nap". 

Finally we made it to clearer forest but still couldn't find the track. By now the team badly needed water and I tried several times to find a way into the lake that we knew was so close but couldn't penetrate the scrub. I was getting very tired by this time and struggling to make a decision for the next frontal assault so we decided to try to have a power nap. Problem was, I couldn't get any sleep because we had no bivvy bags and the mosquitos were feasting on me.

After two failed attempts I managed to find a gap in the scrub to find a marsh where we filled some bottles (filtered through Mari's cap), 5 mins later we found the elusive trail, and 30mins later we were at TA3. So a leg that had started so promisingly had resulted in us dropping from 1st to 11th place and losing 7hrs to Seagate and even 3hrs to Haglofs Silva, who we had been with just a few km's from transition. Anyway a concrete floor had never been so comfortable, at least it was almost mozzie free.  

Leg 4; 56km Amolar Mountain Trek

At first light, after 2.5hrs sleep, we started the next trekking leg. It was to be tough and hot, but one of the highlights of the race. The heat was still stiffling in the jungle even at dawn but we had the company of some macaw to keep us entertained.

The climb to CP10 was long and getting hotter by the minute. We found a great running creek to follow for a while with beautiful cascading waterfalls and amazing cool water which was like an oasis and my highlight of the course. Eventually, after what felt like 5 mins of walking followed by 10mins resting in the shade for hour after hour we reached the campsite and CP10. Kudos to the guys who spent 2 days carrying a huge esky full of drinks up the mountain. 

The view along the mountain range and down to the surrounding wetlands was stunning. We moved along the route sometimes following footprints of other teams, sometimes on our own path. Being conservative with water and filling up 5-7L each time we never ran dry on this leg, but it definitely slowed the pace with heavy packs. As darkness fell we started to see the lights of a few teams in front as we summitted CP11 on the highest point of the range. We stopped for a 2hr sleep near the top with a nice breeze keeping the biters at bay.

By first light we were almost at CP12 and could see the multiple summits near the CP that caused many teams trouble. The descent from CP12 was steep and again I was annoyed not to find many tracks to follow through the bush at the bottom but found the track out without too much trouble. The leg had taken 26hrs and with only 16hrs of food packed we were now getting pretty good at rationing our energy over the longer legs. It was super hot again by the time we reached TA4 and after a bit of medical treatment on Jason's huge hand blisters we were ready to paddle. 

Leg 5; 60km paddle (fortunately downriver!) 

This was another great leg and much more enjoyable paddling the boats downriver. I was happy to be fueled by 2L of Antartica Guarana, my favorite Brazilian super soft drink. We had some great wildlife sightings, 2 angry looking river otters and a few Capabaras. The sunset as we came into TA5 was one of the best I have ever seen. Most days had amazing big red sunrises and sunsets but this one was particularly memorable. 

This transition was again famous for its mosquitos and we had a poor quality 2hrs again without our bivvy bags that were still in Box B which we never saw when we wanted it. The 2nd night debacle meant we were well behind our expected times so to readjust we were sleeping in places we didn't plan to pre-race.  

Leg 6; Swamp trek

This leg was described as being the start of the two crux legs of the race. It certainly pushed the boundaries of heat exhaustion, wet feet tolerance, almost impossible map contact navigation all while allowing alligators to get closer and closer to your personal space without flinching.

The initially muddy swampland at the start gave way to long clear waterways full of fish life that was quite stunning at night. By morning it was even more beautiful and not quite as wet but by midday were were wading through swamps so hot you wouldn't bath your baby in them. Our pace dropped off again as we tried to hide from the sun and I lost our path a few times as the map became harder to follow. While on the route this leg was pretty easy going, but once off it there was the potential to lose huge amounts of time trying to relocate on 1:100 000, contour-less and partially accurate vegetation map. 

In late afternoon our hungry team walked into the now famous TA6 farm. What a great place, a real working farm surrounded by huge mango trees. My original thoughts of a quick transition were soon diminished as Jason was treated by the race doctor and when daylight disappeared we were no longer in much of a hurry to leave. Teams were scattered inside and out sleeping on a relatively pleasant night and most importantly no mozzies. The only disappointment was the food supply (along with the patience of the farmhouse cook) seemed to have been used up by the first few teams or anyone who could speak Portuguese.  

About midnight Team  Godzone returned to the farm whinging only the way poms could about the difficulty of the Shubi-swamp Packraft leg. I slept through this conversation but Kyle decided we might as well keep sleeping and leave at first light.

At 5.30am we were just about to walk through the farm gate to start pack rafting when I was distracted by a conversation between teams Godzone and Raidlight and thought we'd better see what was going on. Godzone were trying to contact race director Shubi to express their concern over the difficulty of the leg. We thought be couldn't really leave now without finding out the latest information. This included news that Team Columbia had activated the YB Tracker (surely not good news) and that Seagate were now 24hrs into the leg and still nowhere near finishing.

Two hours of waiting (using valuable daylight) and the conversation with Shubi had finally taken place. The decision was made to cancel the Packraft and there would be small planes arriving to pick up teams and transport them to TA6, skipping two legs. Well I certainly didn't see that coming. While we didn't know the effect this was going to have on results or the future of the next two days racing it was assumed the 5 teams already on the Packraft leg would fill the top 5 positions and now we would be racing for 6th. Very disappointing but not much we could do about it. 

Within half an hour of this decision I had eaten most of my 2kg of food packed for the next two legs. Finally, a full tummy but then the horrifying thought came that what will happen if the planes never arrive.... A lazy day was spent chatting with the other teams, sleeping and shaking the mango trees in the hope an almost ripe fruit would fall to the ground. The first plane arrived mid afternoon and started moving teams 3 members at a time. The flight was lots of fun and the terrain looked scenic. What was all the fuss about!? We would never find out how hard it was. 

Leg 9; 200km-ish MTB.

The world's longest short course mountain bike leg - somewhere over 200km of pushing our bikes through endless sandy tracks, alligator swampland or dodging random grass fires. We started just before dark on night 6 with Godzone and Merrell about 90 and 45mins ahead. The night was long and warm and the tracks very sandy. The navigation looked very difficult on this leg with a maze of trails, however it wasn't so bad as long as you kept in contact, mostly using the fence crossings. There always seemed to be one more major track (used my more vehicles) but many smaller tracks diverging and converging again that usually presented the better riding possibility. We had our first Americanized bee attack, fortunately it wasn't too bad. Well not as bad as the crazy ants that attacked when we tried to have a power nap.

We came across a farm about 6am and this was the first sign of civilization really since the race started as they had mains electricity. It was almost breakfast time for the Cowboys and we joined them for some coffee (amazing) and cold water (almost as good as the coffee). We really should have stayed until the eggs were ready but there was a good chance we may have never left again once that happened.

As light came so did the dark and ominous clouds. No one really believed it was going to rain, but BOY DID IT RAIN! One of the best storms I've raced through and made the sandy tracks a bit more rideable. But it also made the clay sections we were to find later less rideable. Finally we made it to CP21 and would have loved to stop and chat to our Portuguese to Australian translator/volunteer Lindsay but now we had time gaps on the two teams ahead. We picked up the pace and smashed out the 20km to the ferry, where I had hoped we might get a break waiting for the ferry. Nope, straight on the ferry, so we had to have a break and buy some food at a store, the first one all race. 

At CP25 we collected our climbing gear, and had taken big time out of the teams ahead. The following 12km along the old railway line was not really appreciated after nearly 24hrs on the bike. (Race directors take note: just don't do it!)  We passed Godzone, and then rode/pushed strongly to the ropes section over 1000m climb. The ropes was quite small but the views were great when the clouds and fog cleared. It was so hard to adjust to the freezing wind chill here after days of heat wave conditions. 

The bike descent from the ropes was brilliant, but the fun soon disappeared when we hit horrendous mud sections. Again the course had found another sting in its tail. Leapfrogging Merrell, we passed CP29 then the mandatory way point and were now within 12km of the final canoe leg. But like almost everything in this race it was going to be much more difficult than we imagined. There was no trail. Merrell tried a few different approaches while I came at one with the machete and cut a trail under the power lines for about an hour, ever hopeful it was going to open up and become rideable. Finally I gave up and we joined forces with Merrell pushing through the scrub closer to the water. Food was depleted and light batteries running out as we came across two houses.

Excellent, there should be a track from here. Nope, after a Spanglish-Portuguese-sign language conversation with the very friendly local we'd woken at 1am, we were under the impression it was a 4km carry through the lake in chest deep water. Well motivation was well and truly dissipating and Merrell headed for a sleep in the home of our new friend and we went and made friends with his neighbour.  4 hours of bug free sleep in a hammock, coffee served for breakfast by our friendly hosts. What a great night if only you could forget we were racing. 

With daylight and a few encouraging words from our hosts and we were off forging a trail through the scrub. Not long in and we ran into Merrell, and then were surprised to find some more foot steps in front. Seems we'd been passed through the night. And by 7am we had reached a few more houses and the bitter sweet view of a nice fast road to ride on.  It turned out Godzone had teamed up with Seagate during the night and with some better directions courtesy of a Brazilian team member communicating with our local friends, they had persisted a little bit longer and reached the end of the nightmare bike whack leg.

Soon we were at the transition onto the local canoe for a short paddle to the finish. This might have been quite fun if it were downriver, but like most things in this race it was upstream and harder than it needed to be. Four team members in one boat was entertaining for a little while and Mari joked about whether this heavy wooden boat would float if tipped over. Well we were soon to find out. A wake from a passing boat put a small wave over the side of the boat. Then the boat level dropped a little and a few more waves came over. Within 15 seconds we were floating out of the boat. Surprisingly to all of us the boat didn’t sink immediately but it was hard work swimming it to the shore.

After a good laugh at our situation no one was very keen to get back in the leaky boat so we climbed the fence of the naval pier we found ourselves perched on and walk out (along with a very funny look from the gatehouse keeper who had to buzz us out). The short walk to the finish gave the team a chance to talk about the funny moments of the race as the “racing” mode was well and truly finished for us.

We crossed the finish line with little fanfare and got a chance to catch up with a few of the other teams who’d beaten us in. Then with the crazy schedule it was an afternoon finding and unpacking boxes (Mari) or drinking beer by the pool with the other Aussies (me). With the presentation at 8pm, and buses at 4 or 8am the next day there certainly wasn’t much time to sit back and digest the last week.

A big congratulations to the winners Team Seagate, and 2nd placed Haglofs SILVA and 3rd place Swedish Armed Forces. And of course a huge thanks to the race organisers and volunteers who put their heart and soul into showing off an incredible part of the world.

There has been much talk both during the race from spectators the world over, and by racers since the race has finished about the difficulty of the course. While I’m not going to add too much more that hasn’t already been said, I do appreciate the opportunity to race in such a wild and varied area. It is a huge regret for myself and the team that we didn’t get to complete the infamous Shubi-swamp Pack raft leg, but the race organisers made a tough decision and unfortunately we were stuck on the wrong side of the fence.

When the skin stops peeling off my feet and the insect bites stop itching, the memories of my time Brazil’s Pantanal region will be well and truly consolidated in my mind as a positive experience. The experience was great adventure and well worth the hardships so long as you could forget we were actually there was for a race.

And huge thanks to our supporters especially our major sponsor Tecnu.

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