That’s the Bash done for 2017.  What great weather was turned on for us.  Perfect for racing.

Thank you all for coming out and supporting our event.  With your support (and feedback) we can continue to grow and offer more options and create ever more challenging races for you.

I always love the pre-race strategising and preparation that goes into these races.  Some people know what they are doing:

Others are, well, maybe not so sure:

To the race.  This year we decided to split into two groups, with one group starting the run and kayak legs, and the other group out on bikes first.  This created the funny picture of seeing people running off for a mtb race that looked like they forgot their bike.  We think it eventually worked out well, with the intention of not clogging up the bike paths.

The main part of the run was held in a combination of trails and paths.  Not sure how many got down to CP4 in the mudflats, but later in the day, the tide was certainly heading up which would have been a bit messy.  Some people reported seeing the guy who seems to have made himself a nice little riverside abode.

My first port of call was at the kayak leg, which was held in Parrearra Lake.  Steve and Trent seemed to have all in order, so I just waited for the first competitor to hit the water, that being the Get After It ladies.  They must have made a bit of a bee-line to get there (eager to get on the water).  Looks like a few people made the full course, which by my measuring was just over 2.5km.  Unfortunately, some people had a bit of a struggle, even resorting to hitting their partner on the head with the paddle to get some speed out of them (like a jockey with a whip?).  Needless to say, that didn’t work for The Novices.

Next I went off to the start of the mini foot rogaine.  On the way, I ran into the Ando-Stevos out by CP12.  Great to see families out racing.  The mini-rogaine was a source of some amusement (for us anyway).  A bit of competitive cheerful banter (some may say “sledging”) was being held between the Tops Off guys and seemingly anyone in earshot, being Vegie Mites, the Goons, Xcite staff, dogs and passing locals.  All those teams were moving through the slippery zone a bit quicker than I thought they would.  Just on that area, when I first marked out CP30, there was a nice beach access and it was sitting nicely out of the water.  By the night pre-race, it was nearly under water and the beach was gone (apparently tidal rivers will do that, hmmm, who would have thought).

Back to transition, and competitors were coming in at a fast pace.  That was slowed down by the impact of the mini-mind challenge (that is a mini challenge, not that you have mini-minds).  How hard is it to get 6 words in a word search puzzle?  Apparently, the answer is very hard, after running or riding for 1.5hrs.  Some of these stumped a few people – you can blame Fiona for this one, she can be a bit nasty.

The final wash up saw the Tops Off guys win the Mens and overall (even though they didn’t have a clue what they were doing, they just went fast).  It was a very close thing with the Frankland Plasterers Racing Team in second Mens (they were our favourite to win only because they had Racing in their name), and somehow, the Super Slugs in third (still would have been third even without penalty).

The Mixed Teams event ended up with a very experienced pair of Roar AK winning, with the Vegie-Mites in second and The Locals in third.

The Womens race was won by 80psi (does than name come from their combined ages?), followed by the Brown Girls and Zen Warriors.  The ladies had to leave early, but we are expecting photos with your medals.

Some nice little internal races going on, with the Browns Boyz just pipping the Browns Girls by 10 points.  That was CP16 – did the Boyz wipe off the card from the Girls, or just sneak off and grabbed that CP when they weren’t looking?  The Adventure boys also just pipped Team Tui (husband and wife rival teams).  Maybe the card wasn’t properly marked, maybe it was a fair wind, either way, bragging rights for the guys.

We would really like to acknowledge all the families who competed today, particularly the Brown Boys and Girls (all the way from Kingaroy), You Owe Me Ice Cream (great name), and the Ando-Stevos.  Well done kids (and parents).  Maybe we could see a Family category next race.

We have a million photos that we will upload during the week.

Next race is 13 August at Twin Waters.  There will be some different challenges on offer.

Thanks again to all who raced today, and a special thanks to our volunteers, Steve and Trent (at the kayaks), Mary (at the mini rogaine), Collette (at registration), Matt (for the lugging of kayaks from Golden Beach), Garth (for taking my car for a spin – better than your Torana).  Also thanks to our suppliers Tony Jennings and Golden Beach Hire for the kayaks.  And don’t forget Bike Fix mobile for all your bike repairs (so much easier to bring the workshop to you, then going to the workshop).