Polaris ChallengeNarooma, NSW, Australia, March 10-11, 2001The Australian edition of the Polaris Challenge is an annual event, and this year took place on the south coast of New South Wales. Over two days, riders in two-person teams have to navigate between a number of checkpoints spread over a wide area. Checkpoints are worth points, with the score for each one depending on its distance and the difficulty of finding it and getting to it. Each team chooses its own route, aiming to maximise the points it gains and still return to the overnight base within the time limit. There are swingeing points penalties for being late. Each team must also carry enough camping and survival gear for two days in the wilderness. The Polaris format therefore combines many aspects of mountain biking: fitness, endurance, navigation and outdoor skills. It's also uniquely accessible: you choose your own route and can therefore take the event as seriously as you like. For many participants it's a tremendous weekend of social mountain biking, while for hardcore endurance riders it's the ultimate test of their mountain biking abilities. Over the next few days, as riders recover from their exertions, and find the energy to put fingers to keyboard, we'll be running their tales of the event here. We kick off with the organiser's offical report, then an account from Jim Trail. Jim's day job is as sports reporter for Australian youth radio network Triple J, and we're very pleased to welcome him to Cyclingnews. Tim Wardrop's story is solid evidence that you can turn up to a Polaris with none of your equipment, still have a go and win a prize for your gormlessness. It's always great to get details of a win straight from the source, so we're feeling very smug about having a full account of the weekend from David Baldwin, one half of the overall winning team. Also winners, by the very thinnest of margins, were veteran bothers Roger and Richard Bourne. They've come close to the overall win in the past, but weren't as fit this year and suffered as a result, as Roger's story tells. Organiser's
report - get to the points Get To The Points!2001 Polaris MTB Challenge Wrap Up By Huw Kingston, Wild Horizons On Monday morning, Casey's Cafe in Narooma on the NSW south coast, was full of Polaris competitors tucking into big brekkies and staring out at the rain that was lashing down. Rain that reminded them of the 2000 event. The summit of Mt Dromedary was lost in the clouds. How lucky they were. For the first Polaris down on the coast the organizers wanted 'beach weather' and the mountain biking gods smiled down us. The locals even organized a pod of dolphins to surf just out from the finish line on Sunday!
40 teams took the Mt Dromedary challenge, climbing 800metres for 120 points. Some blew their weekend by that choice but seemed to care little. Only two teams went to Jeffers Trig, and strangely enough they were placed 1st and 2nd in the event. Dave Baldwin/Adrian Sheppard from Canberra had a 50 point lead on Saturday night which finished as a 30 point margin of victory to claim the 2001 Polaris Challenge title over Simon Tilley/Luis Severino, also from Canberra. So a new winner of the trophy was crowned. The Bourne brothers, Richard and Roger, just stole the Veterans title by one point over David Hill/Chris Waring. In the Mixed, the visiting poms again showed their strength with Sophie Bowtell/Nick Wood clear winners over Helen Jeffs/Shane O'Brien. Sophie was also the highest placed women in the field. On Saturday night Mel Mcintyre/Gaye Camm found themselves pushed for the first time in five events with Penny Maher/Robyn Simionato a mere 10 points behind by dint of the fact they'd taken the Mt Dromedary risk and it had paid off. However, perhaps it took a bit too much out of them as Mel and Gaye pulled away on Sunday to record a fifth straight win. In third place, showing you can be serious and crazy at the same time were the lingerie and sequin clad team (loved the sequin snake stoppers!) of Marea England/Dolores Callinan (aka The Babes in the Wood). Of five teams in the Under 21s, three had members from the Hoye family. The Marshman brothers trumped them all to win the category. Finally the arthritic, stooped-over-the bars Super Vets category was again won by the father and son team of Guido Simionato/Roger Simionato with a strong lead over Kevin Williams/John Scown. And what about the unicyclists? Gabor Holmik/Joel Penson scored 130 points and finished in 173rd position out of 245 teams entered. Mind boggling just to watch them! Finally, spare a thought for those entrants in the March UK Polaris Challenge which has had to be postponed due to the Foot and Mouth disease outbreak! The Winning Route David Baldwin/Adrian Sheppard did the following: Total included 25 penalty points for being late on Sunday due to two punctures and a broken rear derailleur cable! Overall Winners Of The 2001 Polaris Challenge Trophy: David Baldwin/Adrian Sheppard Category Winners Men Women Mixed Under 21s Veterans Super Veterans For details of next year's Australian Polaris contact Huw Kingston on huw@polarismtb.com.au or phone 02 4883 6509 Trail's Taleby Jim Trail (Team Trail/Mee, 33rd overall) After a week of planning like mad and collecting all the necessary bits and pieces, Mikey and Steve picked me up on Friday and we hit the coast. I've wanted to do the Polaris Mountain Bike Challenge, a 2 day orienteering/MTB event for a few years now, but working weekends complicated that a bit. It wasn't till the announcement that this years event would be around Narooma that I really got itchy and hooked up with Steve as a partner. We rolled into the Dalmeny camp-site around 4pm Friday, and set up camp, registered, caught up with buddies and marked our map. The map is distributed when the venue is announced, only two weeks before the event so no-one can pick up too much local knowledge. Then, the evening before the start, grid references for the 33 control points are released. We translate the six-figure coordinates to a position on the map. Now we know where on the 500 square kilometer map we might be going over the next two days.. Next, a brief what-if session. Not too conclusive, because we still don't know the location of the Saturday night camp, and that has a big influence on route choice. To bed, to sleep. Then up and messing around making sure we've packed all the vital bits of compulsory equipment. You're required to carry enough gear to be able to survive a night in the bush under potentially crappy conditions.if your bike craps out, or you get injured. Or lost. Tent, sleeping bags, warm and waterproof clothes, food, first aid kit, stove, whistle, compass, and so on. Teams start in groups from 8am, with 50-odd riders going off at 10 minute gaps. Steve and I are given a 9.10 start time. Our Saturday finish time is seven hours later, ten past four. After that, we start losing points. Up the hill and around the corner to the give-out point, where we receive the location of the camp and the values of the controls. An easy control, like just down the road from the event centre, might be worth 10 points. A hard one, like the control on top of 800m Mt Dromedary, 120. So a quick roadside plan and into the saddle. Neither Steve nor I had done anything like this before, so we erred on the cautious side on day one. We hit some of the easy 10 point controls around Dalmeny, then inland and climb to a lookout behind Narooma, 20 points. Into Narooma, and a control on an island you had to wade 100m to. Then up to a local café, also a control, where we ate lunch - the food we carried - we had no idea we'd go anywhere near shops.
Feeling good, we stuck to our plan and looped southwest to pick up another 20, before heading for a long climb over a ridge to the overnight camp. After what was to be our final stop, a canoe out to a control in the middle of an inlet worth 30, we had another look at the map and decided if we climbed the ridge well, we may have a chance at an extra 40 points. At the top of the ridge it was looking good, so we started the 8km out-and-back. Bottom of another valley.struggle along a creek-bed, punch our control card.then CRAMP!!! Uh oh, back on the bike gingerly.and fortunately it passes. I guess that after 6 hours in the saddle my body was happiest riding, not scrambling along dense creek beds, hauling bikes! I didn't see it, but I picked up a passenger for a while in there: a nice juicy leech. Back up the ridge, down a screaming descent, and into camp at 4pm, with 10 minutes to spare. Time on the bike: 6.50. 60km. And 170 points to our names.
Same again on Sunday. Up, pack and roll out at 9.10. We grab today's give-out. The point values are different on Sunday, only a 5-hour day. We plan a nice loop, then ditch it in favor of an 80 pointer on a 411m mountain-top! Up we climb.not too hard, but far from easy. Scream back down to the river for a bonus 40 points, then stick to the river flat for an easy 9km. Another bastard climb - and along to a decision point. If we do an out-and-back from here, it's 30 points, but we've only an hour and half and we're still a fair way from the coast. We'd be cutting it fine, but for 30 points we can suck up some late penalties. We did it, and made two mistakes. The first was not checking the entirety of our remaining route (it was longer than we thought). The second, being wrong about the penalties. Dash along a ridge, punch the card, take a shortcut with a 300m ugly climb, pushing the bikes. An hour to go. Head down, bum up. The quickest way back takes us through 2 more controls - 30 more points. We have 200 for Sunday!!! But as the five hour mark ticks over, we're still about 10km from camp. We hit the highway, tuck in (to a head wind, of course) and hurt. 18 minutes later we cross the line, the marshals do a random equipment check, and we're done. Time of 5.18, 66km and 200 points.corrected with penalties - only 145!!!! You lose 1 point for each minute you're late, up to 10 minutes, then FIVE points per minute up to 20 minutes (I thought it was only 2 for 11-20). Worse, the free feed the organisers laid on finished before we did! So we went easy on Saturday, doddled a bit at times, then much harder on Sunday, and over-cooked it. Ah well, it's all about lessons. At least the weather held, and we totaled a respectable 315 (The overall winners scored 360 on Saturday alone, with a total somewhere over 600) 126km, 12 hours of riding, carrying about 12kg of gear each. A nice bonus, we scored booty for coming second in the "team-of teams" category.that is the cumulative score of three teams, entered as a team-of-teams. Tim's (almost) total f**k-upby Tim Wardrop, (Team Wardrop/Shimell, 90th overall) [Tim Wardrop was awarded one of the Polaris' tongue-in-cheek 'specia'l prizes, for harassing his partner all week about making sure she had her stuff, then forgetting all of his. This is his side of the story, and contains some of the sort of fruity language people tend to use when they realise they've driven five hours without vital equipment. — Ed] Through the week I had been trying to organise the team gear with Lainie. On Sunday she had dropped her bike around to me for a bit of maintenance, but she was feeling unwell at the time so couldn't stay. I said something like that we should talk some time during the week about the stuff to take. On Monday she phoned to say that she couldn't go to frisbee that night because she was still sick, and when I brought the organisation up she suggested that we meet on Tuesday to do Polaris stuff. On Tuesday I was stuck at uni doing solar car team stuff, and so called to say that I couldn't make it. Then on Wednesday we finally had a chance to talk about it and sort things out. Lainie was pissed off with me because she thought I couldn't let it drop, and I was pissed off with her because I thought she was making it as difficult as possible to talk for 5 minutes about our gear. I'm not sure who it was that Lainie complained to about this, but somehow this made it back to Huw that I had been hassling her all week (along with the mistaken impression that the two of us are going out, which has never been the case). Anyway, on Friday I left uni a bit early to pack my stuff for the weekend - being as organised as I am (not) I had left it to the last minute. I knew that I had all of the stuff, I just didn't have it together. Because I wanted to sleep in a bit longer on Saturday, I packed my gear for the event separately, ready to go for the morning, with a few clothes and sleeping bag and other stuff for the Friday night camp. I also had a couple of things for Lainie to take - a couple of tubes and a patch kit, a whistle, and the team's 1st aid kit - and the map with pens and contact for marking up on Friday. I put the bikes on the roof, chucked the gear in the car and met Lainie at her work. When she had finished working and shutting up the shop, we headed down to Dalmeny, arriving at about 11 o'clock. We registered, marked the map and covered it in contact, then settled in for an uncomfortable sleep in the car. The back of a Laser wasn't quite big enough for me, nor was the front for Lainie. On Saturday we woke bright and early. Much stuffing around ensued as we got the bikes off the car and reassembled, and then came the awful realisation that I couldn't find my bag, just an hour before our start time! A frantic search revealed that I had completely fucked up and left my bag at home, sitting in my room. After a moment of despair, we began to think about how we could get away with this. I grabbed the green info sheets to check just what we needed to get together to be able to pass the gear check. I had a backpack with my Friday night gear in it, so that was fine. The tent had been packed on my seatpost rack already, so I had that, but not the poles. Lainie had brought her boyfriend's tent for Friday night, which was exactly the same as my own, so we just took the poles from that. The maps were also separate from my other gear because they had to be marked on Friday, and the we also had the 1st aid kit for Lainie to take. That went into my bag. We split the tubes and puncture kit in half, and luckily I had left my roadie pump in the car from the previous week. I had my dodgy sleeping bag for Friday night. There was my sister's short Drizabone which is left permanently in the car, so that went in too. I had a heavy fleece for Friday, as well as a Petzl torch. A terry towelling hat was the closest to a warm hat that I had, and I also had the spare whistle. This left us without a stove, my food, and my compass. I also didn't have any thermals, or a change of cycling clothes, so I hoped it wouldn't be cold and wet. We also didn't have any tools other than patch kit and tyre levers, so had anything gone wrong mechanically we were going to be stuffed. I borrowed a compass (and hat, which wasn't used in the end) from Roy - thanks - and dashed down to the supermarket for food. Wayne also lent me a lighter spray jacket - thanks Wayne, I still have that, BTW. We couldn't borrow a stove from anywhere, but someone suggested we buy one from Narooma. Thanks to Trev and Chris for letting us use their stove and pot to boil some water at the overnight. As it turned out, everything went well, and the lack of gear wasn't too much of a problem. The only big thing was that I didn't have my camelbak bladder, and Lainie's popped out of where she had strapped it to her bag some time in the first hour, so we both suffered fairly badly from dehydration. We bought a hexamine stove in Narooma, which was lucky, since the stove was one of the things we were asked for at the gear check. The terry towelling hat raised eyebrows from the guy checking our gear, but he let it pass reluctantly. So it all worked out well in the end, and it is very amusing in hindsight. We had a great time, and went home exhausted but happy. We even scored a couple of mini compasses for my stupidity! A Winner's TaleBy David Baldwin (Team Baldwin/Sheppard, first overall) What a hoot! The Polaris is really one of the best events around. After last year's Friday night soggy mud-wallow camping experience we booked a holiday unit in Narooma for the weekend. Julie and I left Canberra mid-arvo after some last minute spares purchases. I wanted to start with new tyres and tubes. Mal Bennett suggested a spare gear cable wouldn't go astray. Lots of tubes and CO2 cartridges (secret weapon after last year's flats in the last half hour each day). Got to rego at Dalmeny about 5 and picked up our stuff. Bought an Activent jacket for $99 since a jacket was compulsory and this was the lightest option available - they didn't have a medium so I bought a small figuring it would be lighter! Found the unit in Narooma where Simon and Luis were already busy marking maps. Cooked up a big feed of veg curry and rice and marked maps while we waited for Adrian and Sammy to arrive. Mobile phone came in handy for last minute directions - they got in about 8. Stuffed ourselves then packed bags so some could go to bed while Adrian and I spent a bit more time analysing the map and control locations marking on strategic spot heights, big climbs and optimum routes between controls, finally contacting our maps and getting to bed about 12:30. 6am rise and off to the start by 7:15. Everything sorted out in plenty of time for our 8:20am start. Last minute directions from Huw as we looked to see if any teams from the 8am start would head north along the beach to a few controls up that way. None did, so a few minutes later when we were on our way and at the handout it was no surprise to see pitiful points up that way. There were a bunch of controls near the coast, a few scattered in the forested hills inland, and the hard to get options located on the trig points of Mt Dromedary (800m), Jeffers (550m) and Cadgee (410m). Dromedary was on its own, no easy controls nearby. The 120 points allocated was not worth the effort. The western side of the map was another story. Jeffers with 130, Cadgee with 90 and four controls on the obvious through route worth an average of 30 points each - a total of 340 points available if we were prepared to go the hard yards. We decided on a route down through Narooma picking up a handful of 10 pointers, then a string of 20s and 30s before we hit the big time cherry-picking. The first couple of 10-pointerss, #4 and #28 went easily, with a steep descent down to the highway, passing the Bourne brothers. There were a few teams pushing bikes up this hill! Gotta wonder... Across the bridge into town for our first novelty control - #5 located on the island in the estuary. The tide was rising and it was a knee-deep wade of over 500m out to it then back again. Luckily we didn't have to take our bikes with us! Up the hill to Casey's Cafe for #6 - another 10 points then around the south side of the inlet for a bit of singletrack riding into a seat by the shore for #13 and 30 points - very scenic and fun riding. Back up the hill and around to the scenic drive down to the next novelty control located on an oyster farm in the middle of an inlet. Canoes supplied, and luckily for us no queue. A bit of paddling while the legs had a rest and #14 at another 20 points, plus the occasional bath for Adrian who was in the firing line of my erratic paddling. Now we made our bee-line for the cherries in the SW of the map. A slightly overgrown trail to a washed out old bridge #23, then a sticky climb up through a logged area. Back onto firm trails again on a ridge top with fine views. I got out of sight ahead of Adrian and took a left turn down towards our next control #21, leaving him with a few minutes of indecision before he caught up with me halfway down the descent. Down to the bridge where we were the first team through. The flag had been stolen apparently, but the marshal made a record of our passing. Now we were into the "cherry orchard", with still more than half the time for the day remaining. A steady climb led to the first 30 pointer #22 where again we were the first team through. Ridge tracks led to the big bonus 130 points #20 at Jeffers trig. We missed the turn onto Orange Ridge road initially and had to spend five minutes back-tracking. The track now became untrafficked with branches across it and lots of sticks eyeing off our derailleurs. The hard work was a steep, rough climb gaining 200m altitude on to the ridge and then finally the control. 130 points for less than an hour's work! Retracing our path, with our seats dropped, the descent was completely rideable even if a little steep and loose in places. Back onto the main ridge road, our derailleurs having avoided a sticky end, it was all down hill to the next control #31. Along the way Adrian noticed his rear tyre getting a bit soft. I whipped out the CO2 canister and gave it a shot. A minute later we were on our way again - sweet! The next 30 points came up in about 40 minutes, then a fanging descent to the Tuross River ford, passing a glossy black snake who got more of a fright than we did, where we bagged #18 and another 40 points for 25 minutes' work after stopping for a good drink at the river and refilling our bottles. We had an hour to spare to mosey down the scenic valley past rustic homesteads and an over-turned truck to the camp, picking up #16 and another 20 points along the way. We were rather glad there wasn't enough time to attempt the 400m climb to Cadgee trig! Camp was in a grassy field with a sprinkling of thistles and cowpats - hazards for the unwary. First priority was a good drink then we set up the tent and waited for Sammy and Julie who had started with us. Half an hour went by, then Simon and Luis arrived, just a little late. By this time Adrian and I had been into the river with the crowds for a refreshing dip and caught up with a bunch of people swapping tales. Finally Julie and Sam arrived, 45 minutes late and with Sammy's front rim blown out with a hoop of metal hanging off the side. They'd walked from the last control since her bike was unrideable. The scores for the day were up and we were surprised to see ourselves with a huge lead on 360 points from Simon and Luis on 305 then daylight on 280 and below. We asked around in vain for a front wheel for Sammy but there was none to be found. I checked with Huw that if one of a "team of teams" didn't finish they would simply score no points allowing the remaining scores to be counted - maybe we would still be in with a chance. At 6pm there was the "Eurobodalla Meander" down-river dash along the shallow sandy river. I was hoping this would be a swim race and Adrian was pleased it was a run, but there were some real sprinters in the field and he was well off the pace. Time for dinner, and every second stove in the place seemed to be cooking up pasta with pesto. As darkness fell so too did the rain with everyone scurrying for cover. By 6am a steady murmur of stirring campers emerged for the second day of activity. Wet tents were shaken and packed while we breakfasted on mother earth bars. By 8am we were ready for our start and watched the first starters of the day head up and down the road. Our turn came and we were off to the handout. Points were much the same as Saturday, with the big points on Dromedary and Jeffers knocked out. Cadgee trig was still 80 points and with 20 on the way and 40 at its foot our initial route for the day was set. We headed off up the valley, passing a number of teams picking up #16 before heading back towards the coast. After the bridge the numbers thinned substantially. One team tried to hook on as we passed them puzzling over their maps at an intersection. Down through Cadgee village and onto the steady climb we unloaded them in the first couple of kilometers so they wouldn't see which turnoff we took. Left into Gardiners Rd which had been recently graded and was smooth as silk. The occasional sharp pinch made us work a bit but we were soon at the corner of the track below the trig. Off our bikes we lugged them up the steep slope to the top for a hefty 80 points. A short bush bash took us through to the track for an exciting steep descent which gradually backed off and 25 minutes later we had another 40 points in the bag. Retracing the previous day's route we climbed back to #31 for another 30 points - 170 so far with more than half the time left. Time to get the cherries back home though before they start going off. Our route led us past a control, but along the way Adrian flatted. No obvious cause, and the CO2 canister again saved us a heap of time. Shortly afterwards though he pinch-flatted on a rough descent. This time I made sure the tyre was rock-hard, putting in a full cartridge plus the remnants of the previous one. A long descent led us back to #21 and another 20 points. As we filled our bottles at the creek, Simon and Luis appeared - they had gained 20 mins on us! We scampered off up the hill. We now had a dilemma - a long ride to head back to near the finish and see what we could pick up in the time remaining, or spend a little more time going back through #23 for 20 points and see what time was left. Greed won out, and we were soon descending to the old bridge again, this time a well-worn track to follow. With just under an hour remaining we looked in good shape to pick up one or two more controls, so we headed out to the scenic drive again. Just before we met it I noticed my rear derailleur had stopped shifting. Adrian could see the broken cable, so I stopped and we considered our options. I had a spare gear cable and didn't relish the option of trying to get home on the 11-tooth cog at the back - there was still a 200m climb to come! I set to work unthreading the cable while Adrian worked out how to get the old one out of the shifter, then we laboriously threaded the new one in through all the housings and finally clamped it into place. It shifted passably well, with the biggest cog at the back easily reached. On our way again, we knew it would now be a sprint to the line. As we reached the top of the climb up Box Cutting Rd our five hours clocked over. We needed to pick up a link track from the road we were on down to the highway and the Dalmeny Rd. If it was overgrown or covered in fallen trees we would be in trouble. The track appeared and a newly-worn single track along a partly overgrown old fire track. There were only a couple of significant obstacles before we finally hit the highway and time-trialled for the finish, passing within a few hundred metres of two controls along the way. We finished 13 minutes late, only just starting to reach serious cherry-wastage, losing 25 points in penalties. We now had a nail-biting wait to see if Simon and Luis would capitalise on their 20 minute advantage and pick up another 30 points or more since we'd last seen them and match our score. Fortunately for us they lost the plot a bit, only managing to score another 10 points which they then lost finishing 10 minutes late. Between our two teams though we still managed to clean up the "team of teams" category and win 6 Activent jackets which will come in handy for morning rides as the Canberra weather cools into winter. For our win we picked up a nice new two-person tent and a wrist compass/watch, as well as getting to keep the beautiful trophy for a year. Afterwards we headed back to our unit for a clean up and big dinner then an early night. The next morning the rain had set in so plans to climb Dromedary were shelved and we headed up to Caseys Cafe again for breakfast then did a craft crawl through the shops of Central Tilba and Bungendore with fish and chips in Batemans Bay for lunch. Vet treatmentBy Roger Bourne (Team Bourne/Bourne, fifth overall, first Vets) Well as usual I managed to miss meeting anybody from mtb-oz (apart from a fleeting glimpse of Jaymz arriving in camp a wee bit late) [MTB-OZ is sort of on-line MTB club centered around a mailing list run by Cyclingnews tech ed John Stevenson - Ed]. I'm not absolutely convinced that the rest of them really exist. For what its worth here's my Polaris adventure/debacle: (A few control numbers missing, and tenses wandering all over the place). I had reasonable expectations of this venue in terms of how we'd go (I'm talking competition here, no nancy pancy toodle to the cake shop, then the lookout for a bit of daydreaming, then off to camp two hours early). Lots and lots of tracks (most of which were likely to have disappeared) meant a definite advantage for navigators over thugs. This suspicion was confirmed by a quick recce of the area on the way in on Friday afternoon. Unfortunately I forgot that a Ford Festiva is not in any way similar to a 4x4 and went within a casuarina needle of getting high centred on a waterbar a few kilometers from the event center. Nor is the front spoiler much use as a 'dozer blade. Expensive takeaway chow mein from the Sun Palace was inedible and I slept about one hour. One old bagel for breakfast and a few mouthfuls of coffee from campground "espresso" van. Coffee only suitable for waking bowels. 8:10 start on Saturday and we quickly decided to rip down to Narooma via 40 points ( #4, #30, #28), out to the island (#5) before the tide got up, past the cafe, and round to "The Seat" #13, the approximate location of which we'd checked the night before. Things came a bit unstuck here as neither the seat nor control flag was in evidence. Nor was the bunch of riders who'd left the cafe just before us. At this point I decided to check the grid reference and found I had marked the control 2km too far to the east. Stick to original plan (despite 30 point deficit) and go back through Narooma and NW to lookout (#21). Approach road ends at someone's front gate. Barge in anyway, right through yard, nobody home. Over garden fence, past chooks and ducks, dog out too thank christ. Old track just visible through scunge at end of paddock. Push and granny up scree for a kilometer or so to the lookout. Not feeling the best and still five hours to go. Headed for the 40 point creek junction - the usual Polaris fiasco of teams dragging bikes to places where there is no need or sense in taking a bike. Nice rainforest gully with hanging vines chopped to shreds by chainwheels and banks caved in by people stumbling around with bikes. Still, 40 points is not to be scoffed at. Grind back the way we came and slump down for a status report. Feeling very much like 20km a week on the road for the last couple of months is inadequate training for Polaris. I realise we are almost at the NE corner of the map and my plan to visit the trig at the SW corner of the map has become insane. The alternatives are to go across the top of the map (several big hills) or west past the camp site via good roads and a sick climb: 350m up to Cadgee trig. We opt for the latter with the hill north of camp thrown in. A nice cruise way down to the river, through another farm garden, wade across the river and try to find the track up the ridge. The going is slow and hot and the only rough track leads to another farm house. I persuade my brother to abandon the control we were targetting, recross the river and head via #16 for the trig. I don't tell him, but the way I'm feeling I have serious doubts about whether I will be able to get up the hill at all. The camp site is a few hundred metres away and I feel like being at home with my fighting daughters would have been a lot more fun than this. The next three hours is not going to be in any way pleasant, but if we don't get up to the trig then our score will be useless. After getting zapped through the glove on the electric fence (sweat is a great conductor) we wade back across the river again and spend 15 minutes traveling 30m through head high bracken to the road. A few kilometers of flat leads to the hill which starts with a kilometer of 55 degree scalding humid sunshine and no shade at all. We are having a lot of trouble climbing the hill faster than the tu-tu'ed ballerinas (or are they fairies?). Then the serious hills start and its pushing time for me. With the few remaining functional brain cells I fumble out a power gel and abandon the thought of returning to camp via the 40 pointer at the ford. When we get within 100m of the trig I'm too tired to drag my bike to the top through the scrub so have descend about 50m to the track junction and grovel back up to the top via the track. We arrive at camp 15 minutes early and the night passes in a daze of cup-a-soups and VBs. I was not so rooted that I omitted to get the beta on who went where during the day and what the riding was like. 230 points puts us first in the veterans, but only by a single frightening point due to the other team being one minute late. We look at their route choice which includes a trip up the Dromedary and decide they are insane, and also probably totally wiped out from their day's climbing. In other words, they are not a threat if we have a half decent ride on Sunday. Sunday. We have a plan: get out of the hills ASAP and gobble up low pointers along the flat coast line. The points are conducive so we bolt south to #21, grind 200m up to the ridge and get a pleasant surprise to find a fast trip down to the old bridge (#11). The next surprise is the lack of hills out to the canoe ride (#14). Unfortunately, our canoe has a Woolworths trolley wheel underneath and we zig zag about 200m to get to the flag 100m offshore. Just as I grab the punch the wind blows the canoe away and the punch rips off in my hand. It takes a couple of minutes to paddle back to the flag and a couple more to tie the punch on again in a way that the next team will feel responsible for its falling off. We shoot up to #12 then down via the bitumen and a little extra climb to #13. Time is running low so the controls to the south of Narooma are abandoned. Back past the cafe in Narooma and don't bother wading out to the island (#5) as the tide is high and we're moving on... and we're gunna be your number 1. All the crap rises to the surface of your brain when you are tired. A quick walk up the hill to #28, then #4, and we think we've got plenty of time so pop over for an extra 10 points at #30??? before we hit the highway and cruise up to knock off #1, #2, and #3 which we are reliably informed takes only 38 minutes and we have 50 minutes to spare. On the way to #3 we realize we have not been reliably informed. What looked like an optional cruise down the beach to the finish is no longer optional. It's the only plausible way of getting back on time and we have no idea how rideable the sand will be. We race through #1 and find with horror at #2 that the beach is covered in rocks. Fortunately the rocks don't extend far south and we hit the sand and sink in. Ahead there are plenty of teams but most of them are walking. Ten minutes and 1.5km to go. You cannot ride that fast in the granny. The last resort is to let the tyres down. To my surprise this makes a huge difference and we wind it up to 15km/hr. The final bonus is that despite the tide the bridge is not necessary, we just roll across the mouth of the creek, scramble up the bank, and hop back in the saddle to ride the last ten metres through the finish with 90 seconds to spare. We obligingly explode our kit all over the corral for the marshal who wants to count the number of bristles in our tooth brushes. All in all, an excellent day's ride with no stuff ups and no major energy deficits. There's no way the other vet team will get anywhere near our score of 180. A couple of hours later we are told we have won by one point. "Nagh, that was yesterday we say". But its true, the smelly old bastards have also got 180. At goodies time we are even more shocked to find they look older then us. Next year will not be relaxing.
Overall Team No Category 1 Baldwin/Sheppard 71 Men 545 pts 2 Tilley/Severino 131 Men 515 3 Tavener-Smith/Wilyman 123 Men 480 4 Gibbs/Hart 104 Men 420 5 Bourne/Bourne 52 Vets 410 6 Hill/Waring 58 Vets 409 7 Hunt/Freeman 118 Men 405 8 Ylinen/Scotford 83 Men 402 9 Turnbull/Davies 234 Men 400 10 McKie/Cutri 55 Men 390 11 Lee/Sydenham 61 Men 381 12 Bisa/Carpenter 27 Men 380 13 Uhlmann/Uhlmann 2 Men 380 14 Bowtell/Wood 12 Mixed 380 15 Morgan/Morgan 137 Men 370 16 Sutherland/Pike 36 Men 370 17 Coates/Hailstone 18 Men 367 18 Wentzel/Christie 191 Men 357 19 Duncan/Franck 126 Men 350 20 Mcintyre/Camm 1 Women 350 21 Binks/Dee 110 Men 345 22 O'Brien/Jeffs 102 Mixed 345 23 Begbie/Watts 224 Men 340 24 Liver/Lambkin 168 Men 330 25 Simionato/Simionato 94 Super-vets 330 26 Beggs/Larkin 8 Men 330 27 Barrow/Davis 42 Men 330 28 Morrell/Wiencke 136 Vets 330 29 Meuronen/Bontjer 135 Men 330 30 Griffith/Watson 98 Vets 322 31 Grabovszky/Klein 4 Men 320 32 Morton/Robinson 226 Mixed 320 33 Trail/Mee 229 Men 315 34 Hawke/Garrad 186 Men 310 35 Mortensen/Davidson 184 Men 310 36 McKinnon-Matthews/Pope 33 Mixed 300 37 Haynes/Behrens 60 Vets 300 38 Carden/Page 159 Men 300 39 Brown/Childs 122 Men 300 40 Griffiths/Broughton 114 Vets 300 41 Auton/Gomez 171 Men 300 42 Bowman/Paterson 225 Men 289 43 Trew/Proudfoot 100 Men 280 44 Standen/Standen 146 Vets 280 45 Perry/Davis 69 Men 280 46 Davies/Smart 63 Vets 280 47 Jallard/Robinson 21 Men 280 48 Alderton/Phillips 153 Men 280 49 Simionato/Maher 155 Women 280 50 Liden/Lindqvist 99 Vets 270 51 Strong/Brown 157 Vets 270 52 Trevallion/Grelck 89 Men 270 53 Townsend/Fredericks 148 Men 270 54 Bayfield/McCloy 79 Vets 270 55 Morris/Grimmer 151 Men 270 56 England/Callinan 62 Women 270 57 Mawkes/Hansen 29 Men 270 58 Stephens/Beltrame 75 Men 260 59 Rooney/Houghton 243 Mixed 260 60 Martin/Simons 140 Men 260 61 Forbes/Wilson 232 Vets 260 62 Lahodny/Evans 176 Women 260 63 Garrod/Thompson 51 Men 260 64 May/Davies 92 Men 260 65 Brittle/Gamble 130 Men 258 66 Board/Dwight 40 Men 250 67 Anderson/Hinshelwood 185 Men 250 68 Fitzgerald/Hannan 138 Men 250 69 Thompson/Baber 117 Men 242 70 Russell/Clement 7 Men 240 71 O'Brien/O'Brien 74 Men 240 72 Prosser/Prosser 246 Men 240 73 Adams/Lane 39 Men 240 74 McHugh/Barlow 233 Men 240 75 Main/Cyrus-Main 41 Mixed 240 76 Marshman/Marshman 154 U21 240 77 Gors/McBain 244 Men 240 78 Balster/Balster 47 Men 230 79 Clout/Beardslee 187 Mixed 230 80 Wainwright/Morris 109 Men 230 81 Laing/Oswald-Sealy 70 Mixed 230 82 Bagge/Broder 202 Mixed 230 83 Bye/Bye 240 Men 230 84 Borness/Whybrow 50 Vets 230 85 Singleton/Acheson 239 Men 230 86 McNee/Caldwell 19 Vets 230 87 Blake/Cullen 26 Men 223 88 Williams/Scown 6 Super-vets 220 89 Weiss/Owen 77 Mixed 220 90 Wardrop/Shimell 129 Mixed 220 91 Carritt/Lowres 72 Women 220 92 Ray/Lane 128 Men 220 93 Harris/Harris 182 Men 220 94 Lawlor/Moon 115 Vets 220 95 Hayes/Wilkinson 120 Men 220 96 Ellis/Whitelaw 14 Men 218 97 Hoye/Hoye 236 U21 213 98 Gascoyne/Mckenny 84 Men 210 99 Cowey/Eden 173 Men 210 100 Creighton/Arnott 167 Women 210 101 Brulisauer/Hovermann 160 Men 210 102 McIntyre/Carling 201 Men 210 103 Newman/Bragg 38 Men 210 104 McNeice/Shailer 78 Men 210 105 Wallace/Dale 214 Men 210 106 Boer/Smith 230 Mixed 210 107 Searle/Searle 96 Men 210 108 Mcnamara/Mcnamara 17 Mixed 210 109 Davidson/Nicholson 190 Men 210 110 Cooper/Cooper 57 Mixed 210 111 Everitt/Uren 106 Men 210 112 Boothby/Bakker 206 Men 201 113 Orellano/Orellana 101 Men 200 114 Worboys/Gonsalves 22 Men 200 115 Hoye/Roth 235 U21 200 116 Bobbin/Johnston 125 Vets 200 117 Vrlic/Wallace 37 Women 200 118 Mackenzie/Bent 34 Women 200 119 Monteban/Stuckey 238 Men 200 120 Carpenter/Champion 54 Men 200 121 Good/Jenkins 156 Vets 200 122 Maslen/Wade 25 Women 191 123 Rawlinson/Smith 48 Men 190 124 Stephens/Westbury 174 Women 190 125 Avery/Sutton 192 Mixed 190 126 Suckling/Suckling 59 Men 190 127 Pound/Selwyn 97 Mixed 185 128 Loudon/Jerram 205 Mixed 180 129 Furlonger/Piazza 194 Men 180 130 Joss/Button 142 Mixed 180 131 Collier/Ho 111 Men 180 132 Kee/Kee 196 Mixed 180 133 Wilson/Prowse 227 Men 180 134 Lahiff/Caddis 11 Men 180 135 Flaherty/Busch 149 Women 180 136 Lenehan/Lenehan 20 Men 180 137 Langsam/Linton 189 Men 170 138 Hobden/Winkler 46 Men 170 139 Radford/Selby 9 Mixed 170 140 Roberts/Edwards 210 Mixed 170 141 Henry/Fenech 143 Vets 170 142 Bernyk/Paull 76 Men 170 143 Ervin/Weidlich 198 Mixed 170 144 Savage/Prendergast 145 Mixed 170 145 Hendy/Pickering 216 Vets 170 146 Scott/Rimes 211 Men 168 147 Yorke/Kirkpatrick-Jones 177 Men 160 148 Squires/Shearer 141 Men 160 149 Skyrm/Skyrm 221 Men 160 150 Gregg/Foster 49 Vets 160 151 Easton/Catterall 162 U21 160 152 Ford/McDonald 175 Vets 160 153 McGuinness/Carter 93 Men 160 154 Reynolds/White 13 Mixed 160 155 Collins/Davies 200 Vets 160 156 Cook/Lawton 68 Men 150 157 Chiam/Brown-Sarre 209 Mixed 150 158 Hoye/Thornhill 218 U21 150 159 Mutimer/Hurley 108 Men 150 160 Sumner/Flick 112 Men 150 161 Earls/O'Young 66 Men 145 162 Hallot/Hallot 53 Mixed 140 163 Godyn/Dowd 169 Men 140 164 Gutherson/Chesworth 166 Mixed 140 165 Vote/Mackley 121 Vets 140 166 Summersgill/Filan 132 Women 140 167 Lloyd/Cleife 228 Mixed 140 168 Miles/Turner 183 Men 140 169 Bramma/Beck 44 Mixed 140 170 Paull/Paull 16 Men 140 171 Dark/Budd 134 Men 130 172 Francis/Lockley 87 Men 130 173 Holmik/Penson 91 Men 130 174 Rengger/Vella 90 Mixed 130 175 Dale/McManus 215 Mixed 130 176 Kaminski/Powell 213 Men 130 177 Hunter/Brown 32 Mixed 120 178 Roberts/Loveday 28 Vets 120 179 Nettle/Williams 245 Mixed 120 180 Ervin/Ervin 133 Super-vets 120 181 Easton/Heuchan 163 Super-vets 120 182 Warren/Warren 73 Men 120 183 Russell/Robin 139 Women 120 184 Donnan/McNulty 144 Men 120 185 Minter/King 43 Men 110 186 Cranston/Cranston 95 Men 110 187 Blackwell/Roskell 113 Men 110 188 Wright/Straney 219 Men 110 189 Mills/Suneson 237 Mixed 110 190 Greaves/Fisher 181 Women 100 191 Joy/Hately 3 Men 90 192 Weaver/Arnot 204 Women 90 193 Mulquiney/Sack 107 Mixed 90 194 Jones/Foster 217 Super-vets 90 195 Baalbergen/Acterstraat 212 Women 89 196 Szczerbanik/Wilson 165 Men 80 197 Noakes/Linwood 10 Men 80 198 Torres/Torres 65 Men 70 199 Goddard/Worsfold 35 Men 70 200 Helyar/Ervin 105 Men 70 201 Barker/Clydesdale 207 Men 70 202 Boyle/Boyle 88 Mixed 70 203 Woldhuis/Woldhuis 119 Mixed 70 204 Podmore/Vandemolen 23 Vets 62 205 Dodds/Winkler 203 Mixed 60 206 Donnelly/Donnelly 103 Men 60 207 Briggs/Wyer 231 Men 60 208 Marshman/Vandyke 170 Vets 60 209 Birkin/Kidman 5 Men 60 210 Butler/Shields 31 Men 50 211 Melbourne/Simonetto 64 Men 50 212 Akers/Jenkins 172 Men 50 213 Ray/Thompson 67 Vets 50 214 Winter/Winter 195 Men 40 215 Paroissien/Cramphorn 30 Mixed 40 216 Bosch/Bosch 15 Vets 40 217 Durran/Williamson 188 Men 40 218 Holley/Brown 147 Men 30 219 Burgess/Herborn 86 Men 30 220 Krawiarz/Corona 178 Men 30 221 Glasgow/Hudson 124 Men 30 222 Prineas/Lange 152 Men 20 223 Dagher/Loane 208 Men 0 224 Ries/Wales 179 Men 0 |
