HORDER FITNESS

GLOUCESTER MOUNTAIN MAN CHALLENGE THE JOURNEY CONTINUES


I left Sydney Saturday morning and drove North West to Gloucester to take on the Gloucester Mountain Challenge.

Held on the second Sunday of September each year, the Gloucester Mountain Man Tri Challenge is somewhat unique, consisting of a 20.4 km mountain bike ride along mountain and 4WD roads, creek beds, cattle tracks, rainforest and open country. The second leg consists of a 10.7 km kayak paddle down the crystal clear waters of the Barrington River, and the third being an 8.8 km run leg along the scenic Thunderbolts Way and back into the Gloucester District Park.

I had high expectations for this race and was aiming to finish within the top 5. I knew the mountain bike leg would be my weakest leg due to my bike training only starting 2 before the race. My strength for the race would be the kayak leg so to get a feel for the river I decided to have a practice run the day before the race.

This turn out to be a big mistake, in the first 5 minutes of charging down the powerful rapids my rudder broke which left me with no steering. Rebounding from bank to bank my surf ski took a real beating causing cracks to appear all down the surf ski. Cracks on a fibreglass surf ski is not a good situation to be in when paddling down a river, the surf ski started to fill with water to the point where it sank and I still had 5km to the end. It should have taken me 55 minutes to get down the river but due to the damage it took me 3 hours to get to the end of the river where my brother was waiting.

I ask my brother “should we go home now” or “should we stay and watch the race tomorrow”. My brother’s reply was quite funny, he said “on the TV show myth busters they once built a raft out of duct tape” I laughed. Driving home I had a realisation that if they can build a raft out of duct tape I could surely tape a surf ski back together. So 5 rolls of duct tape later we managed to tape the rudder back to the surf ski which was previously held together by two dunabolts, we then taped up all the cracks and made the executive decision that this may just hold for the race.



Sunday morning I awoke from my freezing cold tent and started to prepare for the race. My attitude was different than usual as self doubt set in, I still wasn’t sure if the surf ski would stay afloat for the 55 minutes I needed to get down the river.

10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 the siren has sounded and the race begins.

The gruelling mountain bike leg was first and I came in 47th with a time of 1:09:48. Now the challenge begins, “would the surf ski hold”. It must have been Groundhog Day up at Gloucester because 5 minutes into the paddle the rudder broke again down one the rapids; I blocked it out of my mind and continued down the river with no steering. 3km’s to go I could feel the surf ski getting heavier and heavier, it was filling it up with water so I knew it was make or break time.

I paddle my heart out and managed to get to the end of the river still afloat with a time of 1:01:31, I whispered to myself “thank god for duct tape”.

Now it was time for the 8.8km run back through the mountains to the finish line. I finished the run leg in 44:55secs, so considering the obstacles of the surf ski I was able to finish the Gloucester Mountain man race in 2:56:14, positioned 1st in the 25-30 age group and 12th overall.

The 3 things I have learnt from this race are:

1. Every problem has its own solution
2. Never ever, ever, ever give up
3. Don’t leave home without a roll of duct tape.

Stay tuned for my next challenge the Hawkesbury Classic on October 23rd.