The Anaconda Adventure Race in Geogrpahe Bay has now been and gone. And I'm happy to say that my team managed to complete the course, within the time allowed, even after a few last minute surprises to the course layout. A few days before the race we found out the the Mountain Bike leg was actually a bit further than first thought. The MTB course was meant to be 20km, but was infact 20miles. This meant the MTB's had to ride 32km. Whoever measured the course originally must have had the GPS set wrong. Our second little surprise, this time the day before the race, was that there was a compulsory swim section in the RUN. Everyone knew that the competitors would be running through water as some stage...but swimming!!!. This was never mentioned before hand. To most this wouldn't be a great deal, but our team runner was less than impressed due to the fact that her swimming experience is very very limited. It was ridiculous to have a compulsory swim in a run leg.  We mentioned our little predicament to one of the race organisers, that our RUNNER couldn't swim, and that there was never any mention of a COMPULSORY swim in the run course up until the day before the race. We were told that if the swim was not completed that we would incur a 30min time penalty. We reassued our runner - who by now was visibly very nervous about the swim - that she didn't have to do the swim. Take the 30min time penalty, after all we were only competing for fun. I don't know if this helped in any way.

The morning of the race we arrived in Dunsborough (we were staying in Busselton) around 6.20am. The race was due to start at 7am.  The next 30 minutes more and more people gathered on Quindalup Beach for the race start. There were 304 entries totalling 801 competitors competing in the inaugral Anaconda Adventure Race Geographe Bay. I can remember thinking that I was glad I wasn't doing the swim because it was "bloody cold". We kept reminding our swimmer of this, who responded with a nervous laugh each time.  Speaking of nerves, our runner was starting to get very nervous, almost to the point of being sick worrying about having to go for a swim herself. The run leg was up next after the swim.

About 10 minutes before the start of the race the swimmers were all asked to head to the starting line. We said good luck to our swimmer who was about to head of on his 1.9km swim and headed closer to the shore to get a good vantage point for the start. The official start of the race was the moment "Anaconda Man" - a guy dressed up as a super hero in an orange lycra suit - made a mad run towards the water and completely submerged himself. The race was now underway.  It was time for the rest of us to make our way up to the run transition and final finishing line some 2km up the beach and wait for our swimmer. The next time we would be standing on Quindalup Beach together would be a few hours later in the final team run to the finish line.

Just under 58 minutes later, our swimmer emerged from the chilli water of Geographe Bay and into the transition to pass our race bib and timing chip onto our runner who wasted no time in heading out for the 12.5km run (and swim) over rocks, along beaches and through water along the coast to Bunker Bay. After congratulating our swimmer on a job well done is was now time to get breakfast, so it was off to the Dunsborough Bakery for a.....meat pie.

The next time we saw our runner she had just completed the "compulsory swim" and was no starting to look relaxed. She managed to get through the little swim section with the help of another runner. Whoever that runner was, thanks for helping out our swimmer and avoiding the 30min time penalty.  After seeing our runner again on Meelup Beach and suppplying her with another drink we decided to make our way up to Bunker Bay and wait for her at the transition.

2 hours and 9 minutes after setting out on the run, our runner appeared at the transition and it was now time for rider to head of on his 20mile (not 20km) ride from Bunker Bay to Ngilgi Cave and back again. Once at Ngilgi Cave he needed to get off his bike and find 3 check points before being able to make his way back to the transition.

As there were no vantage points to see the bike leg from, the rest of us waited at the transition area for our rider to return. We also tried to estimate what time I would be heading out for the paddle. Due to the difficulty of the course this was no easy task. Our swimmer would normally swim 1.9km in around 40-45 minutes and he took just under 58 minutes. Our runner usually runs 12.5km in around 1 hour, but took 2 hours and 9 minutes. How long would it take to ride 32km??? The cut off for the ride was 1.30pm. At 1.20 I was waiting in the transition and an official rounded up everyone who was still waiting and informed us that in 10 minutes if our riders were not back we would have to start the paddle. No official result would be recorded but we were allowed to finish the race if we wanted to.  Five minutes later and our rider still wasn't there. 4 minutes, 3 minutes, 2 minutes 1 minute and still no sign of him. Then the official started to count down - 10, 9, 8, 7, 6...."wait one more" I shouted, our had rider arrived. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 GO.  Everyone remaining took off towards the beach and out on the paddle...except me.  Our rider had literally made it back in time with 5 seconds to spare. Now I had to change into the team race bib, put on the timing chip and run down to the beach by myself for the 14km paddle back to Quindalup Beach on my Finn Affinity Surf Ski.

I was stuffed before I even sat down on my ski due to the run down to the beach. As our team was still in the race, I thought I better get paddling as soon as possible. I didn't want to be the last team to cross the finish line. The paddle was alot of fun.  The wind was at my back and there was a few nice swells to help push me along. I aimed to make sure I finished the paddle leg within 2 hours. My goal however was to do it in 1hr 45minutes. Some time into the paddle I stopped to have a quick drink and checked my GPS to see how far I had come. The GPS had read 356 meters. Bugger, I had covered the reciever for the GPS in my PFD. My guess was that I had already covered about 6kms. I left my GPS on my lap to find the satellites again, and when it fixed my position a few seconds later I was very surprised to find out that I had actually paddled 8km (assuming I had paddle in a straight line directly from the beach)  It then recalculated my time and I realised that at this pace I was on target to complete the paddle in 1hr 45min. By this stage I had passed quite a few people (mostly the paddlers who left before their rider came in) and I was literally paddling by myself. The closest person in front of me was about 500m away and the closest person behind me was even further back. Once I could see the 2 pine trees that indicated the finish line of the paddle, I paddled a direct line towards them.  I was a bit surprised to see all (but one) of the paddlers in front on me not taking the direct line towards the paddle finish line. This would have added a fair bit of extra distance to the leg. It also helped me pass about 3 or 4 more people on the way in.  As it turned out, my GPS read 13.8km at the end of the paddle leg. Considering my GPS had dropped out for nearly the first 8km, I probably paddled just over 14km.

1hr and 38 minutes after leaving the bike transition I was back on Quindlup Beach where I had been standing some 8 hours earlier. I had completed the paddle 7 minutes quicker than I had planned. I was impressed. I can't remember what the rest of the team said when I arrived on the beach, I told them that I could take 2 hours, but after we got my ski out of the water I can remember our swimmer telling me that it wasn't over yet and we still had a 2km run up the beach to the finish line. That quickly took my mind off the time I finished the paddle in. I am definately not a runner. As someone mentioned later on that evening, I am more accustomed to the water than I am to land. The next 2kms confirmed that. As I mentioned earlier, the paddle was fun. I found it reasonably easy once I got going. The same can't be said for the run. My back ached everytime my foot landed in front of me. I somehow bruised my left heel about a week before the event and had to run on my toes - not exactly a great way to be running. I would be regretting that for the next 2 days. The rest of the team kept telling me that we had to pass the team in front of us. Easy for them to say...they can all run. We did manage to pass 3 teams along the way, including one in a sprint to the finish - well, we were sprinting, I don't think the other team really cared. The 2km run to the finish line took 12min 59seconds. Our total time for the 63.1km course was 8hrs 18minutes and 57 seconds. And we had completed the race within the time given.

They say everything happens in 3's. I just had a 3rd surprise when checking the split times for our team. According to the results for the race, the swim leg was actually 2.6km not 1.9km as first stated. 

Here are the split times for each leg:

00:57:57    2.6km Swim - Rob    

02:09:32   12.5km Run - Bruni

03:19:40   32km MTB - Dave

01:38:49   14km Paddle - Me

00:12:59   2km Team Run 

08:18:57   TOTAL TIME

Apart from the few little surprises thrown in during the lead up, the race was a very good event. For me it was the first time I've ever really competed in anything like this. Before the race I did have thoughts of doing it solo next year, but I think I might stick to doing it in a team. We managed to have fun and that is what is was meant to be about - for us anyway. I will definately be competing again next year, lets just hope the rest of the team will aswell. A solo performance from me might have to wait till at least 2008.