A beautiful morning arose on beautiful Port Stephens as I drove in to Soldiers Point with my mate Stuart “Stew Beef” Blyton. The sun was rising up over Tomaree Headland, and the waters looked calm and peaceful. Sadly, they did not stay that way!
From where the registration and finish line was, we walked up 1km to the end of the point to where the swim start was to be. Here, the TO’s informed us that the water was too warm for wetsuits, so around half of the starters had to strip theirs off. Paul from H-Events gave us the briefing, and then sent us on our way.
The 1.75 km swim was straight across the port to a little beach west of Pindimar. The exit flags were a little on the tough side to see, but there was a boat with flags on it that was a fair bit more visible, and during the briefing Paul mentioned just to head for it. Perhaps no-one told the guys in the boat that we’d be heading towards them, because as the exit flags became more noticable I also noticed that the flagboat was off to the right. I thought perhaps that it was trying to guide us around a shoal of rocks or something, but everyone just headed straight in and no-one got rockrash or anything. I got out of the water at about 29mins, and I guess all the swim training we’ve been doing together at Terrigal twice a week paid off, as Stew Beef emerged about 10 seconds behind me.
Then game the longest run into transition ever devised by a Race Director. None of this 100m or 200m jog up the beach into transition, but a 1.35km jog along the beach and across an awesome sandy floodplain to where our bikes were waiting for us. Stew Beef and I jogged most of the way together, but he broke away in the last 50m to show me up. Admittedly, he was doing a relay with one of our friends Regina Gilbert and didn’t have to leap onto a mountain bike…
The bike started with a click and a half through the streets of Pindimar and along a nice pedestrian boardwalk before heading offroad. This was mainly along long, straight dirt roads with the odd sandy patch or grassy paddock thrown in. No single-track twists and turns, and only two or three hills to worry about which weren’t that gruelling to attack. Through the cow pastures and on, we wound up emerging on Tea Gardens Road so the last 5km or so was spent on a sealed road. As I screamed down the last hill and onto the flat straight that leads into Tea Gardens, the southerly we had been warned about blew up. It didn’t really make that much difference to my progress on the bike, but I knew it would make the kayak leg very interesting. I arrived at T2 in 44mins, and took off in my Mirage for the paddle across to Shoal Bay.
As soon as we were under the Singing Bridge and had veered around to the right to head south along Myall River, I noticed that there was a nice breeze which was threatening to be a nasty blow once we hit the open water of Port Stephens. I also noticed that one guy on a surf ski flew past me like I was standing still. The Mirage handles quite well in open water and can get up a decent speed, but those guys on skis seem to just slice through the water on top of it, whilst us sea kayakers are much lower in the water and wallow a touch. To put it in triathlon terms, it’s a bit like the difference between an entry-level road bike and an aerodynamic carbon framed bike with aero bars, deep rim carbon wheels and a stormtrooper helmet.
Either that or I just suck much more than I thought I did!
Just before we hit the end of the river, my BPA-free water bottle which was under my deck cords fell out into the water. If it were a freebie or a $3 bottle from a bike shop I probably would have gone ‘meh’ but as it was one of my Camelbak Podium bottles I spent a couple of minutes in the increasingly stronger breeze doing a couple of loops trying to get alongside it and pick it up. After I had it more securely under the deck chords it was on to the mouth of the Myall, where the sandbanks made it almost necessary to get out and wade across dragging one’s craft. I used this as an opportunity to get my gloves and hat out of my day hatch and have a drink. Stew Beef was back on course after tagging with Reggie back at T2, and even though he hit the water 5mins after me had caught me by the 3.5km mark!
So a bunch of us hit the open water at the same time and set off for the other side of Port Stephens at Shoal Bay – heading at first towards Nelson Head Light. By now the southerly had blown up to hit us in the face with 30 knot winds, and 1 – 2 foot chop that made going rather tough. On calm water I can hoon along at around 8-9km/h, but heading across I was lucky to hit 6km/h!
Apparently, one guy who came along after us was in a self-inflating buoyancy vest which is designed to inflate only when one falls into the water. Apparently, it was hit by the chop and spray and inflated on contact with the water so he had to do the crossing with it chafing up under his armpits! Ouch!
As we made it into the shelter of Shoal Bay two nice lasses cruised past me offering me encouragement but crusing past nonetheless. I noticed that like Stew Beef (who had charged ahead half an hour ago) they were using those awesome scoop paddles that look like two big spoons rather than the relatively flat-bladed thing I was using. I then figured out how I could improve on the paddle leg next year.
1. get a scoopy paddle
2. learn how to balance on my ski without falling off
3. get out and learn how to paddle!
I arrived up on the beach at Shoal Bay 1:29 after leaving Tea Gardens, 8.8km ago. I thought I might be able to pull this off in just over an hour, but the wind and waves kind of put a dampener on that goal! Stew Beef had arrived 10mins prior and helped me lug the Mirage up the beach, and then I spent a nice leisurely 9mins in transition rinsing the sand off my feet, getting my shoes and socks on, having a drink and a couple of mandarin segments before hitting the run course.
The first 4km of the 14km run course was fine. I trotted along at my go all day pace of around 10.5km/h, but at the Dalbora Marina I started feeling less than energetic. At Nelson Bay we had to go up and over the hill that leads down to Corlette, but to try and save energy I walked up and trotted back down the other side. At Bagnalls Beach rather than run along the road I headed down to the beach and ran along the sand as my feet were starting to develop awesome hotspots under my big toes. At the end of the beach at around the 6.25km mark I gave up on this running business and walked for half a click to try and give myself half a break.
For the rest of the run, I alternated between walking and running. During one of my last walking bits around Salamander Bay a lass ran up behind me and so I cried “I got nothing!” As she ran past she mentioned that I at least had an excuse as she saw me get out of my boat, whereas she was in a team and just doing the run. I thought that was nice for her to say.
Running along the last bit of Salamander Bay and walking up over the last headland to the top of Salamander Shores I ran the last 200m or so down to the finish line. This would have to have been the most inclined finish chute in history, and as I ran through I worried for a second how I was going to stop, whether they would have catchers employed to arrest out-of-control athletes or whether there were inflatable baffles to run into at the bottom of the hill.
Fortunately, I was able to stop, and fortunately Reggie’s boyfriend Bill had a beer waiting for me. Possibly the best beer I’ve ever tasted!
So, my breakdown:
1.75km swim in 29:45
(avg speed 3.5km/h)
1.35km beach run in 7:43
(avg speed 10.5km/h, avg HR 168BPM)
15.45km mountain bike ride in 44:44
(avg speed 20.7km/h, avg HR 156BPM)
9.03km kayak in 1.29:43
(avg speed 6km/h, avg HR 123BPM)
13.37km run in 1:38:32
(avg speed 8.1km/h, avg HR 147BPM)
TOTAL: 39.46km in 04:43:43
So all in all, a very challenging event. Much more challenging for me than the Port Half Ironman last year. If anything, it really proved to me that I’m so not ready for the Jindabyne Multisport and both days of the Anaconda Forster. I might just pull back to one day at the latter, and leave the former for 2012.
As for the Bay Adventure? I will most certainly be back for next year’s event. Big thanks to Paul and everyone involved at H-Events for putting such an awesome and different race together.
