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The idea to race the Freycinet Lodge Challenge has been with me probably from the first time heard about it: two days of racing in one of the most spectacular regions of Australia sounded absolutely fantastic.
Most of our fellow adventure racers were there, bringing back great memories and stories, so the Australian Multisport Champs was on the must do list for a long time.
Race headquarters was located at the Freycinet Lodge at Coles bay Tasmania, a place of exceptional beauty with stunning views of the granite peaks of The Hazards, white sand and blue sea including Wineglass Bay (voted by several travel authorities as one of the world’s ten best beaches).
From the Australian mainland the easiest way to get there is to take a ferry from Melbourne and then around 200 km drive to the start place. In our case Serge took a Thursday night ferry, I had a flight to Lanceston where he picked me up Friday morning.
My pre-race thoughts were that flying is easier but i have since changed my mind as after a very early flight you’re quite broken and probably if travelling for the race you will feel better after a relatively long overnight sleep on a ship.
Driving down was quite a challenging experience- every now and then we were terrified by wind gusts trying to rip our beautiful skis from the roof of our car.
We arrived at the start place by around midday Friday and had plenty of time to get ourselves organized, register for the event, attend the briefing, and go for a little ride to enjoy stunning views.
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Equipment wise the race is relatively simple, you need one pair of running shoes, hydration system for the run (the longest run is 18km on a first day), road bike, mountain bike, surf ski, helmet and pfd.
I rode all the way in the same pair of mtb shoes and did not change helmet in between stages either. For me the most difficult part was getting my hands on a proper road bike, as mine is about the same age as me, not sure about its capability of getting through the two days of racing. Massive thanks to CBD cycles for sorting this question out.
For the kayaking leg some competitors used sit-in multisport kayaks, I would say that a fast surf ski is the best option for this race as there is a beach start on a second day and it can get rough there if the wind is blowing the right way. Flow Sharp Ski is my choice which worked perfectly: a fast, light and reliable New Zealand made carbon/kevlar boat.
I am not sure what option for the mountain bike would be the best- I rode my 29er Chiru, carbon hardtale and I think this performed quite well. Some people might find an advantage to have duely there, some downhill sections are rough but speed wise I would think hardtale was the best choice.
With the food and drinks all is simple- bottles with electrolytes on bikes- two bottle for road ride and one bottle for MTB, one little drink bottle for the run and a little bit to the bladder for the kayak (did not drink at all though). Each day I ate about 10 Shotz gels.
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Race format
Freycinet Lodge challenge is two days of racing, second day is virtually shorter than first one but getting a little bit tired after the first day you do not really think that second day is short, it’s actually long enough. For fast boys it would be approximately 4,5 and 4 hours respectively, some people race there I think up to 7,5 and 6,5 hours.
You can either go as an individual or as a relay team of 2-3-4 people.
First day starts with 18 kilometers run, followed by 12 km paddle, then 50 km time trial road ride and 18 km mountain bike.
Second day: 13 kayak, 35 time trial road ride, 18 km bike and 15km run.
This year kayaking course was shortened due to strong wind and we paddled 9 km every day- 3 laps in the bay.
Pre-race briefing is happening at the evening before, race directors going through the main aspects of the course and focused on alterations. At the briefing you get an idea that event is a really massive one, very busy. Course marked, in my mind (that often struggles in multipsort events) perfectly, although few people had issues with some markers blown away.
Event logystics
The race starts and finishes in different places both days, virtually, there are three transition areas per day but realistically they all are very close to each other so we did not have any difficulties with organising our equipment in the morning and picking everything up after the race.
Of course it is very nice to have someone to support you, we got a fair bit of a hand from Alex Hunt’s family who assisted us in the transition areas, but even if you do not have anyone it would not be a huge disadvantage.
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Day 1
Start was at 8 AM from the car park next to walking tracks. All individuals were 5 minutes ahead of teams but it still was quite crowded as all support crews and spectators gathered at the start area. We struggled with the time as it took some time to find a suitable parking space. First, we did a 400 meters loop around the parking cheered by public and then headed to the walking trails along the coast line, up to the saddle and then back to Coles bay town center, where kayaking transition was. As usual, I did not have a great start, two girls went very quickly ahead of me, then in 3-4 km I warmed up, nearly caught a second girl but went after getting too excited crashed on some rocks. The run is very spectacular and relatively technical- rocky trails with some roots, a steep saddle climb and a fast technical descent followed by beach soft section, with the last few km along bitumen.
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Then you're arriving at the kayaks and doing 3 laps along the beach -head wind and down wind at each lap. By the end of the first lap I passed both girls who were ahead of me on the run, but was not 100% sure whether they are doing a first lap and whether they are actually those girls.
During my last lap wind picked up making head wind section really tough and downwind section really enjoyable, so I finished kayaking leg with the thought that I would love to go for one more lap at least.
Next section was a 50 km road ride, one way and then return on the almost flat road. The wind that picked up during last leg of the kayak section became a really big issue, making our progress very slow. In about 5 km I already had a feeling that I was all my life on this bike, so it is worthwhile to train your road biking really well before the race. Quite a few team riders passed me during this leg but I got some relief catching up closer to the finish one girl who passed me at the beginning of the leg.
Quick transition into the mountain bike leg and 18 km of riding on my lovely Chiru -carbon machine. The best part of the race for me, no killer climbs, technical enough but not too much, most of the way on 4wd trails of different quality. The finish line appeared a bit ealier than I expected but after 5 hours of racing it was a very nice surprise.
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Day 2
The first leg was a kayaking section - the same three laps. We were supposed to have a mass beach start, so there were more than 100 boats lined up for the race. About 10 minutes before the start some racers began to move down along the beach making their first lap shorter, organisers tried to control it but wind made hearing them difficult.
At some stage someone got into the water with his kayak, the rest of the field followed this move. Next few minutes and all of us were sitting in our kayaks. Safety crew made a cruise along the line of boats trying to make sure everyone was moving back but it did not help and we eventually had a water start. I was quite confident in my kayaking abilities so had a nice paddle without pushing too hard, bearing in mind it's a long day to go and anyway I was fairly confident I would not be beaten on the kayak.
The second leg was another road ride- the same course as a first day with a u-turn 7 km earlier than on the 1st day, overall 35 km. Today team riders did not look that strong as on a first day, I had a comfortable ride, not pushing too hard but being relatively consistent (as I thought but apparently had a quite slow time). My strategy was simple- I did not believe I can be passed that quickly after the significant advantage on a kayak I believed I had.
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Again after a quick transition to the mountain bike and the same ride as on the first day but opposite direction. For this leg I started even more conservatively, thinking that the worst that could happen was that I crash on a downhill section: no point to risk it. The other direction I liked the course even more, most of all uphills were ride-able and challenging but not too hard.
On thehe run leg I started almost celebrating my victory, which was a bit early apparently. First section of the run is a long bitumen section leading to walking trails, then up to the saddle and back to Wineglass Bay. On the way down there was an accident- one of running earlier participants seriously crashed. SES was already there when I passed and as we were informed later, he is ok and recovering by now.
On a sandy section in Wineglass Bay I was passed by Megan (second girl) who was running really well, she looked strong and focused on beating me. Of course I did not let her run away from me and followed her until the start of the climb back to the saddle. Rocky climbs are my strongest point of all so I passed her and few other guys there. Megan seemed to get demotivated after that and did not make an attempt to follow me.
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After the climb it was a downhill from the saddle to the car park and last 3 km bitumen to the finish. I tried to keep a good pace but expected Megan to pass me there. Apparently it did not happen and I crossed the finish line first.
Finish was at Freycinet Lodge with stunning coastal views, lots of people and fantastic atmosphere: The feeling of crossing the line cheered by everyone and running through the barrier of people for the last 200 meters was something worthwhile to train for, push yourself all those hours and travel hundred of kilometers to get to the start.
Overall it was a very pleasant experience and I'm looking forward to coming back next year.
Thanks to the race organizing committee for the massive job of creating and maintaining this fantastic event, all volunteers that dedicated their time to assist us, all event sponsors, Freycinet Lodge in particular, my sponsors and training partners.
Event-pictures by Richard Jupe
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