Upper Murray Challenge

The Upper Murray Challenge has had my attention for a very long time as a must do event, it still does. This year was to be the year that nearly was, with my running legs still arguing with my competitive brain about whether they as a team were over the Bull of Africa, my individual aspirations would have to wait. In the end it was to be my paddling that would get me an invite that was too good to pass up.

Scott Rantall approached me looking for a capable paddler, for which I was most flattered. Self belief is still not my strongest suit so to get an invitation from one of the best runners in the country was a fantastic compliment and I intended to do my very best to prove myself worthy. Scott planned on doing the ride as well as the run in an attempt to build on his goal to become an adventure racer, but alas, the quickest legs going around only mean it hurts more when you fall off your bike! Scott ripped the skin off his forearm and damaged his shoulder a couple of weeks before the race, he couldn’t ride... If I had a little more confidence in how well I was going on the bike I may have been a little more assertive when I suggested I was capable of doing the ride in his place, you’ll know why if you read the Surf Coast Six Hour report...

After some stress during the week leading into the event with Scott being both injured and unwell, we finally locked in a team only a day or two out. Our rider, Tim Briggs, was to be the unknown quantity to both Scott and I, but we had started to believe that as long as he could ride in the top 20% or so, Scott’s run speed and a solid paddle from me would get us somewhere near the podium.

Keen Torq’ers navigator Luke was in his element the day before the race, walking me through the course and giving me the heads up on what was to be expected on race day, valuable information that gives you that handy little edge. Very heavy rain had been forecast for the region, which had prompted much debate over the expected river levels for the paddle, those that had concerns wouldn’t have felt any better when they awoke to the sound of heavy rain on race day!

There were some tense moments prior to the start as I wandered around in the rain unable to find my team, but eventually we managed to track each other down. Tim appeared nervous which I took as a good sign, and before we knew it he was riding off into the hills and we were on our way to the MTB/Paddle transition for the long wait. A really long wait. So long in fact, that we were compelled to ask the event organisers if Tim was still coming at all! As time went on I started to worry about food, I had planned my day without allowances for waiting this long, and with only two TORQ gels (one to have 10-15 before starting and one during), my nutrition and hydration requirements were thrown into a bit of a tailspin, the longer I waited, the more my body would crave it’s next meal.

The wait continued, most of the mountain bikers had already finished the ride, and we were sure something wasn’t right. Eventually we noticed the event Director conferring with some safety people and looking in our direction. That look is unmistakable, it speaks volumes, bad things have happened.

Tim had come off his bike in apparently spectacular fashion and broken some ribs, all for a free ride home in an ambulance. Our transponder and race bib were on their way to transition and we had to make the decision as to whether or not we’d proceed as an un-ranked team. As thoughts for Tim’s wellbeing tortured me, I resisted the urge to jump in my car and head to his bedside in hospital where I could hold his hand and tend his wounds in his time of need, and decided to go for a paddle first instead (insensitive bastard that I am)! Donning the race bib it was time to hit the river.

Snowy Hydro lets extra water out of the reservoir for the race, so the river was up from the day before. Conditions for paddling were perfect, little wind, and not to warm. I ramped the pace up early planning to rate as high as possible for as long as possible.

The body felt good and with the river littered with paddlers to chase down (averaging about 1 per km), it was shaping up to be an ideal situation for a quick time. One of the best thing in any time trial style of race is the carrots that dangle ahead of you, there was no shortage of these as I had left so late, so gunning past them was a great motivator that kept the adrenaline delivered from start to finish. Some grade one rapids along the way bought variation that kept my attention the rest of the time. The river wound its way through farmland between Khancoban and Corryong, Luke had told me there would be several bridges with one main bridge signalling the half way point. Passing under the half way point suggested I was on target for a very sharp time, unless the bottom half was longer or slower than the top half I would exceed expectations.

Doing the maths is one of my favourite ways to motivating myself and occupy my mind during this type of race, calculating my progress was getting me a little bit excited, I was moving well and before I knew it there was a ‘2km to go’ sign on the side of the river!

All thought of taking care of my boat vanished as I rammed it into the rocky bank near the finishing line, leapt from the seat and sprinted for the transition. Scott was ready to go and we transitioned very fast, my wife Iris was genuinely surprised to see me already, having timed some of the earlier paddlers and made a guess as to how long I’d take. It’s so difficult to tell if you’ve gone hard enough when you’re paddling, the rate of recovery is so much better than running or riding, so it’s easy to convince yourself 5 minutes after the race that you maybe could have gone faster!

Scott ran very well, but his illness that he’d had through the week took its toll. The run course was apparently torturous, Scott’s first words at the finish line were “that was hard, I’d rather run a marathon, a marathon’s easier than that…” That said, he over took a very long line of people and ran us into 3rd position in the teams, pretty impressive!

Discussions at the finish line centred around trying to find out ‘who’s done what’ to see how your times would compare. There was one common theme when discussing the paddle, everyone expected Australia’s K1 marathon representative Tim Naughtin to produce a repeat performance and smash everyone in the paddle split, especially hot from the World Championships in the Czech Republic. I had accepted that he must be in a league of his own so imagine my surprise and pleasure when provisional results were posted at the finish line showing that Tim and I had indeed smashed the field, but the best news of all, I had Tim by about a minute!

Scott ran the 4th fastest run time which I think he was a little disappointed with, but keeping it all in perspective for him, he had been sick as a dog and nearly pulled out all together. God help us all if he gets a good lead in to an event, especially if he learns to keep up in the kayak!

The Upper Murray Challenge is now etched in bold print on the list of must do events for me as an individual competitor, hopefully 2009 is the year.

Grant Suckling