by Rob Creasy.
|
The Chimpanzee Bar team for GODZone 2015 ADVENTURE RACE
was forged over the weekend with a mission up the Rangitata river, over the back
of the Two Thumbs range and back down
the river. The team including Milan Brodina (captain), Emily Wall (motivator),
Greig Hamilton (navigator), and Rob Creasy (pack horse) assembled in Geraldine
to plot their strategy for GODZone Adventure Race and knock out a solid two
days of training.
However,
a team cannot go far without food to fuel them. Chimpanzee energy and protein bars,
gun powder drink and meal replacement powder kept everyone flying through the
weekend.
The weekend started with a festive atmosphere as Greig and
Emily arrived with two huge boxes and Milan proceeded to divvy up each
Chimpanzee’s allocation of new kit. After a flurry of packing, checking , and
re-packing the team took off to the lagoon to solidify the kayak paddling
combinations. After checking every possible combination, technical proficiency,
and transition speed into and out of the boats the alpha male was satisfied.
Back into cars we swapped kayaks for mountain bikes, hiking
boots, and rafts. The Chimpanzees piled into a van and shot up to Mesopotamia
for the next section of the mission. This started with a mountain bike
following a track upstream alongside the Rangitata river for two hours.
Immediately the new cycling tops were broken in and promptly drenched with
sweat as the sun beat down and the wind dropped off. Everyone had a good
opportunity to test out their bike frames and technical skills on some of the
river bed and scree sections that pocketed the trail. We were fortunate to have
Chris Forn – multiple world adventure racing champion join us, who set out with
a pace that kept everyone honest.
After a sweat-soaked climb and swift descent we ditched the
mountain bikes for hiking shoes and set off for the amusingly named Growler Hut
– and a choice of two options: either up the stream and hills to the left to
drop down onto the hut (a hike that would take 5 hours and arrive in the dark),
or a much easier wander straight up the river bed for 90 minutes to the hut.
After some enthusiastic discussion the easier option was selected, with
everyone agreeing that a pre-dawn start the next day to knock out the 5 hours
of tramping was a better option. The easier option was just that, and after a
quick wash in the stream and dinner everyone was lulled to sleep by the
babbling brook that ran past the (quite luxurious) Growler hut.
The alarm belted out its tune at 5am, rain pelted on the tin
roof, and everyone groaned and pretended not to hear it. Then each team member
sprung into their role: the captain checked the conditions and explained his
infectious optimism for the day ahead, the motivator told everyone the forecast
was for the rain to clear and that they would feel better after breakfast, the
navigator very democratically gave everyone the option to go over the ridge
line or up the stream, and the pack horse stayed in his warm sleeping bag as
long as possible. Once roused the team set off into the pre-dawn showers and
straight up the hillside. Grass turned into scree then scree turned into rock
as we ascended over 2000m to find our path for the next 2-3 hours. Just as the
cold wriggled its way into our bones the weather cleared, the rocky ridge
became a scree slope, and we powered down to the stream to follow our way back
to the bikes. By the time we reached the bikes we had sore feet and happy
smiles.
Wet clothes were discarded, feet were dried and sand flies
dodged transitioning to the mountain bikes. The sun was shining and we had a
slight down-hill and strong tail wind to push us back to the van. Easy days, well,
almost. We had the river to contend with, and it was running surprisingly high.
High enough to knock one team member over and float down river. And also high
enough to make some crossings quite tricky while carrying a mountain bike on
your shoulders. Oh, and we had some camera issues. But it was worth it. Once we
scrambled across the various braids it was pretty simple. Despite 6 hours of
continuous work everyone was full of energy, having a good supply of tasty food
to keep us going all the way back to Mesopotamia.
Bikes, bags, and bodies were loaded back into the van for
the final stage of the mission, a rafting expedition down the Rangitata. The
nor-wester was up, and it was hot, so scooting down the rapids was a welcome
relief. New combinations were tested immediately by the float or flounder
principle. The initial combinations were decided by who was organised first,
unfortunately Emily was last so she ended up at the front with the least
experienced steerer (Rob) while the two most experienced members (Greig and
Milan) had already negotiated the first rapid and were waiting downstream. The
inexperienced pair shot through the rapid, overtook their team mates and
proceeded to set the pace and course down river. Once again paddling
combinations, technique, seating position and strategy were experimented to
discover the best combination. The wave trains were high, the rafts went
straight, and everything went swimmingly (only in the figurative sense, apart
from Chris, who was swimming in the river to cool off when we met him).
For the final time we loaded the van and pinned our ears
back for Geraldine to unpack and return to the rest of the world. Thank you to
Milan for hosting the weekend at your house, planning where to go, organising
the boats, and facilitating such a great relationship with Chimpanzee Bar.
Thank you Greig, you have further reinforced my confidence by navigating such
an accurate course. Thank you to Emily for your optimism and path finding
skills through the streams while I tried to stay upright. And thank you to
Chris for testing out how swift the river was running, finding the best path
through the hills, and doing the shuttle run for us when we were rafting. I’m
looking forward to GODZone, I’m sure you are too.
www.godzoneadventure.com
