Six friends and I recently took part in the Jindabyne Multisport Race which is run by the ever amazing Sri Chinmoy. As usual this was a pretty awesome event.

As I only did two of the twelve legs I asked everyone in the team to add their thoughts, lets just say they got carried away! I’ll have to work on my own reports eventually (potted summary kayaks are slower in surf skis, but can make it through storms without capsizing) but for now enjoy Alex and Joyce’s reports.

Alex

I got up at 5am super excited to get my 1.5km swim out of the way. Paddy and Rose accompanied me to the start line with 40 or so other competitors. I was worried about how cold it would be but the main thing was the darkness. The sun was only just coming up and it was overcast and … I had tinted goggles. I couldn’t see the buoys I was supposed to swim to, so great start! We started with the Sri Chinmoy minute silence before the race and off we swam! I panicked a bit but just tried to stay out of the crowd so I wouldn’t get swum over. After calming myself down and getting into my stroke, I eventually realised how warm the water was and from there all was well. I still couldn’t see the buoys but I just followed the swimmers ahead of me (there were plenty of them) and it was fine. The course was a loop, swimming clockwise around 2 buoys before heading back into the start line. Once they got our team number down, I quickly went to high five Paddy and push his kayak into the lake and he was on his way!!!

I now had the whole day ahead of my before I would have to run the final leg. Rose and I went to where Paddy was to finish his paddle and got her ready for her run leg. Paddy arrived and Rose was on her way! As I took the kayak back to the car with Paddy he mentioned “That was hard, really hard … don’t tell Rose”. And I didn’t… until the end of the day 😛

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Lucy organised amazing accomodation that allowed us to watch the 2.5km swimmers and paddlers in the lake. All the swimmers looked the same (sorry Hazo) but we got to cheer Rose on as she paddled on the way out! She was going hard! There was an awkward soloist behind her who was asking for directions. Just follow the others?

After a solid nap and some lunch and more waiting, I eventually got the call! With my lift held up due to poor Joyce waiting for her ferry, Rose drove me to the start of my run. We waited again for Paddy and was given serious warning about the slippery muddy bank, which I needed to be careful of when tagging my fellow paddler. Paddy came in, we high fived and I was off! This was an easy, flat 5km run, mostly along a footpath to the end. A soloist had just come in minutes before Paddy and I was slowly catching up to him. Maybe 10 minutes in I overtook him and had an awkward exchange where I congratulated him on being totally amazing for doing the race solo. He replied that I shouldn’t take it personally but he doesn’t like being beaten by girls. I told him that it should give him extra motivation and went ahead. Eventually he caught back up to me and we kept each other going for a bit … it was friendly again. I went too hard too soon and at about the 3km mark I let him go. I think he finished maybe 100m ahead of me … no hard feelings (mostly). I couldn’t believe I made it in under 25 min (I still can’t, I swear the course must have been shorter). I love the food at the end of the Sri Chinmoy races. It’s not that great (vegan burgers with stale bread) but it’s just so much fun that who really cares. It’s a free feed. Thank you to all my wonderful team mates for an awesome weekend!! I would highly recommend the event to other adventure inclined folk!

Joyce

Jindy Leg 9

It all started with a burning bite from a phantom ant, which also got James later. This was while we were waiting for Lucy to come in from her run.

Then Lucy came in, the awkward high-five while trying to pass my jacket to her. Then off I went, and had to stop barely 10 meters later … to put on my gloves. What a great start to the 42km of hills.

To sum it up the rest of the ride in a few phrases; spectacular scenery, beautiful creek crossings (other than the part where I had soggy shoes), lots of hills but fun downhills, and was a bit of a mental game. I’m just glad I’d taken the time to write down were the main hills were.

For much more detail, continue reading.

The first 8 km of uphill on tarmac was good, I was pushing myself a bit uphill, but kept counting down the km to the top of the hill, the highest point in the course. In slow motion, I passed two people on the first hill along Kosciuszko Road. Then came the tarmac downhill ride – Wee!! flew down the hill, and hit 73 km an hour! Then a right-hand turn onto Island Bend and a bit more downhill- this time winding towards to bottom of the valley – the scenery was stunning. I knew the hill would end at when the road crossed over Snow River, so mentally I was preparing myself for another big hill. The river was quite dry, but the large boulders at the bed was so beautiful – would be great for a photo if I wasn’t in a race. That was the halfway mark and 53 mins into my ride; I could not believe that I was going that fast, but I guess a large portion of the first part was on tarmac. The hill after that was steep and out came the granny gears. I was still trying to push my speed going uphill, trying to go for smooth pedal strokes and that’s when I passed another person. “Just keep pedalling” I told myself, and eventually I came up to a point where there was an awesome volunteer handing out water and electrolyte. After a quick drink of nice plain water (the electrolyte in my hydration pack was a bit too sweet, and just sucking all the moisture out of my mouth) it was time to tackle the next hill. I had to get off my bike for part of this one, the water stop made me realise how tired by legs were. Then back onto my bike, and more pedalling. The next challenge was to make it to 25ish km and it’ll be downhill with a small kicker until the plateau. Then a creek crossing – the creek looked beautiful and the water was nice and cool. Although I was not a great fan of soggy shoes, I was stoked at getting to cross a creek – it’s not everyday that you get to do that. Before the kicker, I could see the top of the hill (or what I thought it was), the fire road was quite clearly winding its way around, and the scenery was no worse than before. Once again, I kept thinking … “keep paddling and the scenery up there would be even better!”. On the way up, I passed another participant walking up the hill, then road with them for a couple of minutes, before trying to hammer it down the fire road hill. A sharp right turn where another great volunteer was, and then onto the plateau. The next part was a lot slower than I expected. The fire road led onto tracks from flatten grass; that just seemed to suck out all the energy from my legs. The scenery on the other hand was stunning, riding through the grass planes, with some hills on either side. More stunning scenery, a few more creek crossings, and passed another rider, all the while thinking that there was just one more hill. Over the hill and down some speedy fire trails with a few close calls (riding into the water flow-off, and nearly wiping out on a steep downhill rutted road when I got caught on the wrong side; the warning signed early set up by the organisers probably saved me as I eased off on the speed when I saw it). Then back out into the clearing with undulating hills that I was not expecting. The last 5km felt much longer, primarily because I could see the lake, and did not expect the grassy undulating hills. Then the beach came into sight! My thoughts at that point were “Pedal hard and try not to stack when you hit the sand!” The transition to James was timed perfectly. Just as I entered the beach, he arrived on the ferry and off into the water he went. In the meantime, I waited …and waited … and waited (with my emergency blanket when the rain came) for the ferry to go back. Other than the cold on the beach, the people were great, had a good conversation with some of the other participants.

Last but not least, a great shout out to all the volunteers and the organiser!