A week ago I took part in the Anaconda Adventure Race. This is an off road race based around Forster, where Carol and Bob live, in fact the first day goes right past their front door. I had been booked to race in both days of the event, but as I’d only borrowed a surf ski a couple of weeks before, I was not confident of paddling in the ocean so pulled out of the first day. This was a great move, as i found out that the race was really hard.
The second day of the race was also the Anaconda Half race. It started off with a 1.9km ocean swim at Seals Rock, which is a very picturesque village with a light house. but no matter how pretty it was the swim was hard. It went out around a headland and the current made it very difficult to make headway at one point. I managed to finish though and got changed ready for a 17km run. After an uphill towards the lighthouse there was a nice gentle run along the beach. If there was going to be a hard run, at least there were nice views. Then it headed off into the forest along sandy tracks, it was very different to a triathlon as most of the time I could not see anyone in front or behind me. There were a couple of very steep uphills on sand dunes which made is difficult.
After a couple of hours running i arrived at Bungwahl to change onto my bike, then back into the forest. After a long period of dry it had rained the previous few days so the tracks were very muddy in places. And at one point I had to wade through mud up to my knees, it was hard work. Some of the cycling was great fun though, single track and 4wd tracks through the forest. One of the problems was that I had to hold on to the handlebars all the time so it was difficult to take and drink and something to eat. I also did not have enough liquid with me so i could not eat my powerbars, as they need extra water.
I was very tired when I reached the Myall Lake at Coomba Bar and had cramp in both my calves, so I wasn’t looking forward to the lake paddle. It was lovely to see Sarah and the kids waiting there for me, and just as lovely to see the big bottle of cold water that Sarah had for me. Half straight down my throat and the rest in my hydration backpack for the paddle. I had only practised a few times on the surf ski and still struggled to keep balance but set off at a reasonable pace. And once I was going I was fairly steady and able to look around at the gorgeous scenery.
It was a 13km paddle which should have taken 90 minutes, but I stopped at every sandbank I came to, to stretch my legs. Then I finally paddled past the wharf at Forster and across the lake to Tuncurry. there was a bit of current heading out to sea which caused a few waves for me to get through. I ended up falling off just before the end as I was too tired to keep balance. At another sandbank though, so I was able to have a rest then get back on.
There was a 3km run across the bridge to finish at Forster Main Beach. Even my normal slow running speed was too hard for me and I walked some of this, and it was a great relief when I finally ran up Main beach and into the finish chute. I was absolutely shattered and feeling not too well after not getting nutrition right. Still I will know better next time, which I am sure there will be.
All in all it took my 7hrs 24 minutes, and was very hard. But I felt good about it afterwards. It was one of the harder adventure races, so I shall pick an easier one next time round.
