Sharing the Pain

Having twice having slugged around the Painathlon course I couldn't face another solo attempt. I'm not quite ready for marshaling duties yet so I enlisted my regular adventure racing team mate, Pete Glorie, for a team entry under our usual name, Woop Woop.

By the time of the start (and throughout the race) we were still arguing over who should do which legs. One thing was for sure, I was happy to watch Pete suffer on the sand at City Beach. After the short cycle up to Reabold Hill I knew Pete was taking the day seriously when he grabbed my bike out my hands, and shoved me off running. Pete then did the DNA tower run and I Mount St. One disadvantage of being in a team was that I felt obliged to run all of it.

My suspicions that Pete was in competitive mode was further confirmed when he completely destroyed challenge 5, the 10km Bridges run, in 41 minutes pacing Leah Glass to a female record.

Onto the bikes and with soloist Marek in tow we made our big move up the field with a combination of hard riding, a clean run on the lights and good route choice using the Reid Highway bike path to bypass Midland. Marek held on for dear life, partly to get a free ride but mainly because he didn't know the route that I was taking.

All the way up the Truth I asked myself why I had volunteered for this one. In the end my time was respectable only being overtaken by a couple of soloists but crucially not the second placed team Nova Scotia, our good friends Andrew Royle and Gregor Urquhart.

On the ride we to the Zig Zags we re-caught the soloists and led them all into transition in a train. More fast transitioning and strong running by Pete saw us leave comfortably in 3rd overall with only two solo Painathletes ahead of us.

We maintained our healthy 6 minute lead over Nova Scotia through the next couple of challenges despite us both visibly flagging no the running. With this kind of buffer we were reasonably confident as we racked our bikes at the top of Jacob's Ladder, the final challenge. It was with some horror then that we saw Andrew and Gregor riding up Mount St; our lead had been cut to the equivalent of half a rep of Jacob's.

Fortunately Pete's legs are much longer than Gregor's and we soon extended our lead a little, although it was bloody hard work doing so. In the end we were stoked with our time, first place team and second overall.

I'm not sure if entering as a team was much easier. The faster pace, partly driven by the close competition took a real toll on my legs, especially when we were sprinting out Jacob's reps at the end. It took several days to recover. However the company during the race, faster riding speeds and small breaks were much appreciated. Having done the solo thing, I'm sure I'll be back to race as a team again. We have our course record to defend as well.

I'm not sure if entering as a team was so much easier in the end. The faster pace, partly driven by the close competition took a real toll on my legs, especially when we were sprinting out Jacob's reps at the end. It still took several days to recover. However the company during the race, faster riding speeds and small breaks were much appreciated. I am over the solo thing, so I'm sure I'll be back to race as a team again. We have our course record to defend as well.