Interview with the Team Hammertime (Brett Jacobi, Andrew Baker), overall winners of Lysterfield Sprint Series Adventure Race

AJ: We know you teamed up a week before the event, but apparently your tandem worked very well during event. Had you done any training sessions together prior to event, did you know each other before the event? What’s your normal training schedule?

Brett had entered the Lysterfield event with a friend for the original date, and neither of them had done an adventure race before.  They entered largely due to the prodding of a few friends who are regular AR competitors, including Andrew.  The format of the event seemed perfect for an introduction to the sport.  However with the new event date, Brett’s original teammate was unable to attend, so Andrew was called to fill in.  So unfortunately there were no training sessions together having only teamed up the week before, but we did know each other already through a mutual friend.

Our sporting backgrounds are quite different.  Brett has recently started cycling and running regularly with more of a gym focus previously.  Andrew’s background is mainly orienteering and rogaining, which is a big help at fast-paced navigation events such as these.

AJ: Was there some tricky team strategy in place? To win a sprint race within such a competitive field you certainly need to have couple of tricks in the sleeve?

Our team strategy was to simply have fun with no expectations other than to finish the race.  Being Brett’s first race and the first time we’d teamed together we just set out to have a good time.  To come through with a win was a real surprise to say the least.

Getting the navigation right is obviously a big factor, as you lose far more time going in the wrong direction for 5 minutes rather than taking a few extra seconds to study the map.  Every time we had to make a tricky decision it was simple - “Stop! Hammertime!” to make sure we didn’t rush things.

The only real strategy we gave any thought to was the order of the legs.  We did the paddle leg first as we assumed the wind would get stronger the longer the day went, although that didn’t really seem to happen.  We split the run and ride with the maze to give the legs a small break.  And we did the stand up paddle last as we were sure we would fall in and didn’t want to be running around soaking wet for the rest of the race.  A down side was that it meant we were doing the maze on our own, and it would have helped to have some other teams around to help find the hidden control (took us longer to find than any other control).

AJ: What leg you would estimate was your best effort?

We didn’t really have an outstanding leg, but we got through the roadbook section reasonably cleanly which seemed to cause other teams a few problems.  Again, not rushing things and making sure we knew where we were helped a lot.  As always, “Stop! Hammertime!”

AJ: There were numerous different team strategies to get Stand-Up-Paddle checkpoint, which one did you choose?

Our strategy for SUP was not to fall in.

We had seen some teams using one board for two people and others standing up on their own (and falling in).  We both wanted to give it a go so we went with separate boards and decided kneeling was the best option.  It worked well for us.

And if we’d gone out together on the one board, the board sits a lot lower in the water and at least one of us was going to get very wet.  A lot of our race decisions were based on comfort and self preservation, rather than race strategy.

AJ: There were a few kayak options to choose, which one worked for your team?

With the double kayaks the position of the foot pedals is a lot more critical, because you can’t fit into the boat if your knees are too high.  We went for the single Endorfinns where you can instantly select a boat which is set up about right, rather than wasting time trying to find a double which suited both of us.  Also, as we’d never paddled together before, teamwork on the boat was not going to be our string point.

Alas, this was not the best decision we made at the event, and was probably the worst!  Numerous teams paddled past us on the double boats, and they were not necessarily paddling with a high degree of teamwork.  For our limited paddling skills, the double boat was definitely the better option, even if it would have taken slightly longer to get going.   

Also, Brett had only ever paddled a canoe polo boat (in a swimming pool) and soon learned that Endorfinns are much tippier than the boats he’d used. First comment after sitting on the boat was “Uh-oh, think I'll be swimming before long” and we then set off across the dam wall through the side chop.  It was a real baptism by fire, but we survived the whole paddle (without swimming). 

AJ: Some teams spent a lot of time at the start of the roadbook, one team even managed to ride to the end of the roadbook and tracked all turns and distances back to get all the CPs. What was the key for success in that stage for your team?

Like many others seemed to, we also had a bit of trouble getting our head into the roadbook at the start.  Things just didn’t seem to make sense, so what did we do?  “Stop! Hammertime!”  We tried to find something we could recognize and looked at the third or fourth direction clue which was a funny u-turny thing, and luckily it looked exactly like what we were standing next to.  We compared the next few directions to the map, and it seemed to make sense.  Again, when we weren’t sure, we took our time and tried to get it right.

AJ: Quite a few teams missed some CPs thinking that they got all of them. Some of them beginners, some of them Pro athletes. Could you please give some tips for them?

Always look through the checkpoint descriptions and make sure you get them all.  Checkpoint 43 and 44 were not on the map, but had checkpoint descriptions so they had to be somewhere.  Read the instructions and look a bit closer.  If we’d simply looked at the map, we easily could have missed those two.

AJ: Overall how was your experience? How Adventure Junkie could improve their races and make them even better?

We both had a great time at the event.  Brett realized he could paddle a boat without falling in, and Andrew realized he could use a paddle board (albeit on his knees) without getting too wet.  We both had the chance to try new things we hadn’t done before, which is what events like this are all about.  As well as catering for faster competitors, the courses seem well suited to kids, and the number of family teams competing adds to the enjoyment of the day.

AJ: You’ve got Winter Challenge free entry certificate, do you plan to race it and what are your other racing plans?

Brett - I'll let Andrew take on Winter Challenge Pro Course, maybe next year for me. As for other races, I hope to do the next AJ Sprint in September.  I'm doing my second rogaine this weekend and have a few mtb and trail running events that I'm looking at in the coming months.  It's all still very new to me.

Andrew – Well the Winter Challenge of course, but like Brett there’s a rogaine this weekend, although we’ll be competing against each other this time.  The Upper Murray Challenge is also a really fun event in early October that I’m looking at doing again, although as there’s no navigation I certainly won’t be near the pointy end of the field.