Max24 race report by Pierre Francois, Team No Detour 60. September 21th 2013 https://www.facebook.

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The story There we are: the annual Max24 race. I ticked the date on the calendar long time ago since I know this is (with Geoquest and Rogue24) one the highlight of my adventure races calendar (so far). It is a 24 hours nonstop adventure race involving trekking, MTB, MTBO, coasteering, kayaking, trekking and some mystery activity (tubing this year)! Sounds awesome and both Ross and I are excited for what is our second attempt on it. For obscure reasons (could be due to conflict with other races like XPD, even though I believe people doing expedition races are not interested in Max24) the number of registered teams is quite small this year : only 21 teams will fight for the winning prize. I spent the few nights before to prepare the gear, helped by my little son Maxence

On the gear list ???

Our racing weekend starts by a short travel from Sydney to Swansea, a tourist area only 1h30 drive from Sydney, and well located for adventure racing style course. With magnificent Lake Macquarie, plenty of coasteering, and Watagans national park on the other side of the freeway (now called M1) we were promised to be drenched at the end of event. Game on! At 7pm, the overnight camp is ready; we can get and grab our set of maps.

The organizers (Jared and Henry) have prepared 5 maps in A3 format, a classic 1:25000 scale with 10m contours. Excited as usual for a pre-race time, we start the fastidious logistic time. For those who are unaware of the adventure racing format, we are allowed to use two 55L boxes (with gear change/food in them) which will have access at each transition But only one of each, which makes the logistic critical.

Ross is writing down few notes while I am enjoying myself Even though Ross and I are not the best people to estimate how long it will take to clear the race, we both think it is going to be a tough one. Indeed we spent more than usual amount of time to prepare maps and boxes. At midnight: dinner:tick, boxes:tick, backpack:tick

Boxes are ready to go ! We can recharge the batteries for tomorrow.

It is 7am on Saturday morning; we are both enjoying the view from our motel room.

We are in a good mood, batteries full of energy but I forgot one of them. Indeed, Ross used my car lighter to pump on his car inner tube (on the mandatory gear list for the tubing) and I forgot to check if the battery was still ok. It was f***ing dead! Damn it! Glad Ive been caught with such a trap 10 years ago back in France so I could use my set of battery cables. I ask the motel receptionist if he is keen to share his battery (surprisingly he was hesitant at first saying that could damage the car computer???) and after few attempts and lots of last minute stress we manage to start the car. What a relief.

That piece of gear is now on the mandatory gear list It is now 8:00AM; all competitors are in the bus heading south to the start line. The trip is quite long and confirms it will require a lot of efforts to come back to Swansea, where the tubing leg is planned. In the bus we meet team 68, Team Husband and Wife Chris and Michelle from Port Macquarie. Very nice couple, winner of last year Max12hrs and lining up for the first time on Max24. 9:00AM: we receive our GPRS tracker (very cool thing which gives your friends and wife the opportunity to check if you are lost in the bush (http://www.trackmelive.com.au/live/kathmandu24/replay.html), we are on beach ready to go :

Start line GO ! Ross and I are leading the pack to the first checkpoint, with Michelle and Chris. It is a very uncomfortable position because the first team to head off the beach can bring everyone to the checkpoint, or to a mistake. This happened to us at the Rogue24 earlier this year where all teams followed the leaders and we all overshot the first CP by a couple of hundred meters. As we say you live you learn so when we saw almost all teams heading off the beach, Ross and I (as well as Michelle and Chris) continue our run on the beach, thinking this was too early. Damn! They were all right and we overshot the checkpoint by 1km and had to come back by the beach. We arrive at the kayak transition with a massive 20 minutes gap behind the leaders (it took us 40min for the first leg and most of the teams did it in 20-25min):

Splits Leg 1

At this time, we are thinking the race is over and we will never catch them. A bit disappointed we jump on the kayak and start a small loop on the lake Munmorah and collect quite easily 2 checkpoints (CP3 and CP4) before arriving at the transition.

Leg 1 (beach run) and Leg2 (Kayak) We are not strong paddlers but it looks like we pushed a bit (or improve from previous events) because we have the third time for this leg, in just over 1h00. Not bad:

Splits Leg 2

At the transition, no time to eat or drink, we have lost enough time. Next leg is a run and involves 5 checkpoints, splitted between a beach run, long road runs and stunning coasteering. Ross didnt tell me anything but we know that we have to push in order to fill the gap. If we are fast enough we may have a chance to catch the tail before the end of the leg which will be a good thing, at least for our mood, which is pretty low at this stage of the race. Off we go checkpoint 6 is meant to be at a track junction in the sandy track heading to the main beach. In the continuity of our first two hours of racing, we are struggling to find the checkpoint (have you seen a track junction somewhere?) but finally found it by the look of Michelle and Chris, who have already caught us. Yes, we are lanterne rouge (at the bottom of the race). Again my level of certitude is close to nothing and I am thinking this day will be a very long day

On the beach again, we start to see the slowest teams. This is not bad and Ross is dragging me harder to reach them before the road run.

On the boring roads, the number of teams we see is increasing but I am starting to struggle physically. We have been racing for less than 3 hours and I have cramps already. Veryyy bad.

Thats the face of someone struggling I am trying to eat gels, hydrate myself but the heat is not helpful at all. And I am slowing down Ross, I hate that.

Checkpoint 8 is the first checkpoint on the coasteering part of the leg. Stunning views are proposed to us but the very good news is that we can now spot most of the teams.

Ross going down to CP8 with Michele and Chris

On the way to CP9, what a relief: they are all here! Did they struggle to find CP8 or CP9? Thats a possibility. Anyway we have caught the pack and erased our first mistake. The leaders are probably far away but whatever, our spirit is looking great at this moment and I am feeling better too.

We reach the transition ranked 3, just 15 minutes behind the leaders and our time on the trek is the second fastest one, the fastest team is Team Husband and Wife who obviously pushed themselves too (hard competitors):

Splits Leg 3

Leg 3 (coasteering)

Next leg is a MTBO around Cams wharf area. We are not locals but we know a little bit the tracks on the northern side of the leg because we have done the Max Adventures Sprint Series a year and half ago. Whereas the MTB is supposed to be one of my strongest leg I am weak! I cant climb, I cant read the map, I cant push myself. Downhill is ok but this is not enough. We have to stop a couple of times so I can breathe and rest but definitely something is going wrong. The more I think of it, the more I believe my big mistake has to have been negligent with food and hydration during the kayak leg. I am paying this now, and I dont remember if I have already felt that bad in previous races.

Surprisingly we arrived at the bike transition still in third place, behind Team Drift 71 (Su and Jeff Pretto ) and the leaders Team BMX Bandit 55. Our time for this leg is the 4th overall, and I still cant believe it when I think how slow we were on the bike. I had feedback at the end of the race that other teams suffered from the heat and dehydration. Looks like everyone is struggling today.

Splits leg 4

Leg 4 (MTBO)

The bad news came when the Max adventure crews told us that they had to cancel the tubing because it becomes too dangerous with the high boats traffic on the lake. It was not supposed to be our strong leg, but we were promised heaps of fun so we are a bit disappointed. Instead we paddled the 2km junction across the Wangi Wangi National park.

Now on the other side of Lake Macquarie, we have three checkpoints (19 to 21) to collect. CP19 and CP20 are quite easy and offer great views on the lake.

Ross at CP20 CP21 is a different story. Approaching it, we can see that Team Drift 71 is still looking for it whereas they should be well ahead of us. We know they are experienced orienteers and if they have been struggling that time to find it, something is going wrong. We spent 10 minutes with them without success so we decide to ditch that one. On the way to the TA, we spot the checkpoint somewhere in the bush which was definitely misplaced by 200 meters But we got it, so thats fine.

Leg 5 (Kayak) and Leg 6 (Trekking)

Splits Leg 5 and Leg 6 It is 4:23pm, and we are ready to tackle a long kayak leg, going across the lake Macquarie (for about 9km) and then into Dora creek for 6 km where our bikes will be waiting for us. On the few first km Ross suggests that we may want to sing so it will be more pleasant. I did my lullabies repertoire. The key is to find the entrance of Dora creek, which seems quite narrow compare to the size of the lake. Ross, the navigator on the kayak, is doing pretty well and we enter the creek on schedule with the sunset. Great.

Wed like to hear from other teams how hard it was to find that creek in the darkness In the creek, the paddle is pleasant and after a quick stop to install the mandatory glow sticks, we finished the paddle with team Drift again.

Leg 7 (Kayak)

Again, our paddle time is not bad, third time It is 7.10pm and we are freezing! At the time we packed the box, you are never sure if youll need dry clothes after each paddle but glad we put a full set in the box. Some teams didnt and weve heard that one team Bathurst Bushies had to pull out there because they were close to hypothermia. On the bikes, we are heading up to the next TA which is the start of the big leg: Rogaine. I wont detail the bike leg because it was mainly roads ride without difficulties.

Leg 8 (MTB)

Splits leg 8 It is 8:11pm, the crew up there are so excited to hand out the Rogaine map. I dont know why but I will understand it quickly. By the look at it, it looks like we do either clockwise or anticlockwise, but well need 6/7 checkpoints to avoid 2hr penalties per missing checkpoints. Gaiters are on, our plan is to start by checkpoint A to get confidence and do an anti-clockwise loop starting from F-G-E-C-B. We decide to attack A by the shortest way, from the south. Ross and I have done the Lake Macquarie Rogaine in the same forest few weeks ago and we know that we can expect a lot of lantana. For those like me who havent heard about that thing, here is the definition: Lantana (Lantana camara) is a large flowering shrub native to Central and South America that readily grows into thickets For my French readers: en gros, des ronces!

That was AWFUL! We spent almost one hour in this rubbish and we both have the impression that we are not making any progress, at all! The compass is showing north, then west then south then east We persist up to almost an hour thinking this might get better but nothing We resigned and decide to get back on the track, and spent again a long time to find a way Cant imagine a worst start of a rogaine! We are devastated so we decide to play security for the next checkpoint F and attack it by the northern track. When we reach the creek, looks like there is a party down there with probably 4/5 teams looking for the creek junction and so the checkpoint. Again we are getting confused because we cant spot any creek crossing. Luckily, by the time we decide to skip it we found it on the way back. First checkpoint and we have already consumed 2 hours. Then comes the first decision make mistake. To reach checkpoint G, I decide to go from the south which (I know it now) was much longer than from the north. For my defense the map has been destroyed by the lantanas during the first attempt to checkpoint A and it becomes quite hard to read it. On the way to G I make a point to Ross that the shortest way to reach E is again composed by thick lantana and I convince him that it might be a faster option to stay on the track and thus do the big loop from the north. After having found checkpoint G, this is what we did. We climb the endless hill (20minutes hike) and after 1 hour of fast walking, we reach the track heading up to E. Not sure that was a good idea Checkpoint E is decribed to be A highpoint, and not THE highpoint. We have few unsuccessful attempts and on what consists in to be the last one, I found it! Indeed it is a highpoint!

Time is flying and we have spent 4 hours on three checkpoints. We are sick by the lantanas, and are getting worried by not being able to finish the race before 9am (cutoff time) so we decide to stop the

disaster and plan to head back to the TA. The only way (for us) is to go again through thick lantana, east (by looking at the map now I am still wondering how I didnt see that going to checkpoint C alongside the ridge would have been easier and worth checkpoint C) Again the terrain is dangerous and very very very slow progress. We are losing a bit of our concentration and are both struggling with which direction we should go. After 1 hour fight, we finally reach a track! To me this track is going east and should bring us back to the TA. We walk for almost an hour and the compass is not always showing East. That makes Ross very confused and after long minutes of debate we both think we are totally screwed up. Lets face it, we have no idea of where we are! What do we do? We have to find a way to relocate us on the map and at this point, the best is to come back North. Hopefully we were right. We finished the rogaine in 6hours, having collected only 3/6 checkpoints.

Leg 9 (Rogaine) By the time we are gearing up for the coming bike leg, we can hear that a lot of teams have ditched some checkpoints as well, but a few got 6 checkpoints and one team got them all. They should have found a better way than us to attack each checkpoint or they should like the lantanas with 3x2hours penalty time, race is definitely over for us.

The first part of the bike leg is a 10 minutes climb up to CP27. We did it with team 52 Scotty and Damo. I am feeling better than during the first bike leg, but still slowing down Ross who has obviously made good progress on the bike. We got 27 from a shortcut track and start our descent to reach the freeway. The tracks are in good conditions and should be easy to follow without hesitations but at one point I get very confused by a track junction which is obviously not mapped. I have to take a decision whether the track in front of us going north is wrong or whether the track going south east is wrong. I chose the wrong one and by the time I realized my mistake we were way too far down the valley. Damn it! I should know it : NEVER TRUST A MAP IN SUCH REMOTE AREAS! AND CHECK YOUR COMPASS EVERY MINUTES

I am upset against me and we do a long detour by the road. We are late, tired, cold, with no hope to win the race and decide to ditch checkpoint 28.

Leg 10 (MTB)

At the transition, we are more than happy to hear from the mouth of the organizers that the swim across the channel has been cancelled, due to the high risk of hypothermia. Therefore we have to ride the bike up to CP31, which is a fair 1 hour time saving. The problem for us is that we dont have the map with us so we have to guess our way. Not bad we reach the transition without being lost. It is 5:06am, the sunrise has started and we are on foot again for a coasteering. The map was not in the box as we have expected (we have probably lost it during the rogaine fight, as well as one battery, a bottle, a zip bag ) and it will be challenging to find CP32 and CP33 with the clue sheet only. Well at least coasteering means following the coast so lets try that. We are aiming for a Trees water edge . That is what we did and even though we were quite slow on the coasteering, I liked it.

By 6:48am we reach the last transition area.

Leg 11 (Coasteering)

Splits leg 11

The last leg is a paddle across the lake to reach the finish line, about 5km. We did it in less than one hour and crossed the line at 7:46AM, after almost 23 hours of racing!

Leg 12 (Kayak)

Splits leg 12

There are pros and cons to be late finishers, but one advantage is that you finish during day light which means we can do a memorial picture!

Conclusion That race was definitely harder than what we have expected but at least it was worth the money. A lot of coasteering, a technical MTBO with key decisions, and above all a tough tough rogaine. We would have loved to try tubing across the leg, we would have been keen to swim at 6am but we are glad to have reached the finish line before the cutoff; that made us a bit worried at one stage of the race. We finished the race ranked 6th out of 21 teams, 4th in the male category (same rank as last year). Congratulations to Team Scott and Damo who got the male division. For the end if the story, Michele and Chris finished the race second overall. Team 69 Professional Amateurs are the winners of the Max24 race by the shortest margin, 3 minutes. They managed to get all 7 checkpoints on the rogaine (not on purpose, but because they didnt know 6 checkpoints was enough to avoid penalty ) and that gave them a 1 hour bonus time. Impressive and well done.

I will finish my report on a sad news that the Max24 wont happen anymore. Indeed Henry and his team made an announcement that the interest in long events was decreasing in Australia and for economic reasons they decided to stick on 12hrs format next year. We definitely understand MaxAdventure as they obviously have spent number of hours to prepare such a nice race and only 21 teams turned out. But this year was better than previous ones in term of length, difficulty, variety of legs and the use of GPRS trackers was good fun for our followers. I hope they will try to continue in that direction for Max12 next year. After AROC end on 24 hrs event few years ago, it is MaxAdventures turn if anyone across NSW is keen to organize a 24 hours adventure race, there is a spot ! Pierre FRANCOIS.