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Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team articles - more articles

Go Go Girls All over 60 – 2017 Jindabyne Multisport- Perspective from each discipline

SWIMMER - Helen

Suddenly I remembered….

Yes the Go Go Girls are back to test ourselves at Jindabyne after a 6 year break.

The first swim at daylight is always a heady mix of excitement, nerves and cheering as we headed off to the buoy in calm overcast conditions.

Suddenly I remembered for those at the rear end it is akin to swimming in a spa as the thrashing of legs and arms whip up a foam and fog with a sea of colourful caps ahead.

Gasping with the effects of too much adrenalin suddenly I remembered _ “It is OK, goggles are on, just swim to the finish, tag Jeannie for her paddle”. That team greeting at the end of swim 1? It feels great.

After several months of training in the local pools where the water temperature was up to 31 degrees, the only alternatives was a coastal estuary one hour drive from our farm. Depending on the tide the estuary was a mass of seaweed, the occasional blue bottle, small fish and curious pelicans.

All was going well until a friend mentioned that Bull sharks lurk there! Not wanting to have shark assisted times in training, I took to our farm dams. The leeches were pleased, the ducks and tortoises rather surprised.

Joy of joys the conditions are calm for the second swim and having Jeannie paddling alongside is very reassuring.

Suddenly I remembered how good it feels to swim in this cool clean lake water.

“Goggles are on, just swim”.

The team is going steadily and well as the day progresses and we are waiting at Horseshoe Bay for Peggy when a black line of clouds appears from the south. Pelting rain, wind and Peggy arrived all at the same time. The previously glassy lake is now a boiling mass of chop and the buoy barely visible in the squall. I was so grateful Jeannie was paddling despite the headwind and waves. Suddenly I remembered - “goggles are on, just swim and breathe at the top of the wave.”

When Sue ran to the finish and we were cheering suddenly I remembered how wonderful it is to share this day with three fabulous women on our team, other teams and the brave solo athletes.

Thanks to everyone at Sri Chinmoy and the volunteers who make this event so special.

PADDLER - Jeannie

Sing ho! for the brave an’ gallant sea kayaks

The rockets and epics and fenns are fast, but Lake Jindabyne is renowned for whipping up some choppy seas.

So I decided to take my trusty, comfortable, stable, but slightly slower ‘Mirage 580’. I had tried out my nephews fenn kayak, but found the slight instability meant I wasn’t much faster in it, and the paddling was less enjoyable. Having done some “training” – paddling between Wonboyn and Tathra the week before the race – I was hoping for a bit of rough weather! Well it did happen. A dark clouded squall hit just as our swimmer set out on the last swim leg. I paddled along with her – partly for safety, company and a sort of a warm up before my paddle leg. Helen bravely rode the waves and managed to breathe at the crest – mostly. While I revelled in a bit of stormy seas and pelting rain in my gallant sea kayak.

Jeannie with granddaughter, Frida (mascot for 2 teams) and daughter, Melanie (competitor in team 701)

Thanks so much to Sri Chinmoy team in holding this event. A wonderfully enjoyable day.

RUNNER - Sue

I was privileged to be a part of this great team. Swimming, paddling, mountain biking no problem for Helen, Jean & Peggy. The conditions were pretty good too, only one nasty squall in the afternoon which the girls in the water handled without missing a stroke.

The run legs were challenging. I ran steadily on the first and third ones, but the long, second run was by far the most difficult. It was also the most scenic. Struggling through the Thredbo River (Jean and Ron were there to help with the guide rope) was a bonus. But, by the end of that run I had a meltdown. A good lunch, encouragement from the GGGirls and our indispensable supporters Ron & Paul, got me through for the final leg.

It was a pleasure to do the last run on the edge of Lake Jindabyne at dusk and be greeted by everyone, not least the gracious Sri Chinmoy organisers, it was a truly transcendent experience!

RIDER - Peggy

“By The Time I Got There…..”: (3rd of 3 rides)

By the time I got to the marshal halfway up to Burrangabuggie:

Those really fast (young) blokes were finishing. The marshal, as it turned out, was delighted to have something to do. He must have been on duty for 4 or 5 hours and not seen anyone for a while. “I’m not last”, I puffed, “but you will be able to go home soon”. (Thank you, to all marshals, on all the legs, for being there and offering cheerful encouragement).

By the time I got to Botherum Plain:

The headwind was roaring, the herd of brumbies were moving off to shelter out of the stinging, spitting not-quite-rain. Just enough to dampen, but not drench me. It was a long slog over to the forest, hoping for a bit of protection from the assembling squall and (yippee!) downhill.

By the time I got to Horseshoe Bay

The first solo, Klayten Smith, was just finishing.

Back at Horseshoe, the cold rain squall was seconds away and NPWS boat broken. A huddle of cold bikers shivered on the beach along with anxious team swimmers. Helen, our swimmer and Jean our paddler, ploughed off into the growing chop. Joy of joys, my brilliant team had left me a warm jacket and raincoat.

We (the back end of the field) caught one of the last shuttles after a long cold wait. (Thank you to the skipper and her crew.)

By the time Sue brought the team home with a nifty last run we were well within cut-off – 10 years plus an hour and 5 minutes slower than our last record.

Excellent event. Made possible by Sri Chinmoy Marathon team, land holders, NPWS and other teams, those astonishing solo athletes, our helpers/photographers, Simmo and Paul, and us - brilliant (and still sparkling) team.

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"Las Triple Triathlon"

So our brave and gallant team of three boys had a cracking day of racing at the Sri Chinmoy Triple Tri in Canberra.

What the hell is the Triple Tri? It is a 9-leg beast of a race that demands the utmost respect!

It is three off-road triathlons back to back, in various distance (think about it as a big relay). It makes a loop around Canberra, hitting every lake, every mountain and nearly every bike path. We start in the pond-like Lake Ginnindera and end up at Yarrumlumla at the Sailing Club. It adds up to around 6km of swimming, 100km of mountain bike riding and 45km of running.

It is a beautiful, brutal race.

You can have 9 people doing it, with one taking each leg, or you can do it solo or anywhere in between. We decided to do it as a team of three. A triathlon relay. Team HMAS Friendship.

The line-up was as follows:

Tommy Brazier: The gun runner, Tom has honed his skills doing 100km races and was worried that this one would be too short. We gave him the first two runs to destroy himself, so he could relax and let poor old Murray do the last one.

Ed Hall: Big E was an unknown quantity because he had made the smart decision to ditch mountain biking for the world of road cycling, but we had faith that he would get the job done. He would do all the bike legs, a very solid day out.

And of course, there was me. I had hesitantly volunteered to do all of the swimming legs, as well as the last run! My cycling crash three weeks before had left me with a less then ideal preparation but I thought I could gut through the swims without letting anyone down.

We spent the night before the race gorging on pesto pasta and sweet potato, talking smack and working out logistics for the big day on Sunday.

We knew that there was another team of 3 who would give us some serious competition throughout the day. They were seasoned veterans of the race and were very strong athletes. I was more worried about them then Tom and Ed, because I knew their swimmer was better then me. We would soon see by how much.

I was staying away from the boys in the house of Tom's mum, who had kindly given me a bed. The day began at 5am, as I prepared for the first 1.5km swim that would start us off.

So it was that I found myself in the scummy Lake Ginnindera at 6am, watching duck poo drifting past me and trying not to think ahead to the 3.5km swim that awaited me later in the day.

I did my usual, excitable sprint at the start and found myself leading the field, not the smartest beginning to a 9hour plus day of racing.

I dropped into a pack of 4 swimmers and while I slowly slid off the back of them, I was within 40 seconds of the leader, giving Ed a good crack at our rivals.

When not competing or eating, the day is taken up by driving to the next checkpoint to hand over for the next leg. So Tom and I made our way up to Antill St, below Mt Majura, where Tom would begin his first and longest run at just under 20km.

Ed came screaming into the transition, just behind our rivals, having taken a wrong turn on the course (it happens).

Tom then proceeded to annihilate the entire field on the Ainslie/Majura run and posted the fastest split of the day (a hugely impressive effort considering that the majority of racers were only doing one leg, or one run).

This gave me a couple of minutes lead over our competition for the start of the 3.5km monster swim in Lake Burley G.

We started behind King's Bridge and swam down the middle of the lake, under Comm Bridge and into Acton Ferry Terminal.

It is a long, hard slog of a swim. As soon as your arm enters the water you lose sight of it in the murky, dirty depths. Visibility was at a range of about 5 to 10cm.

Luckily we had a little bit of a tailwind, so I cruised down the lake. When I occasionally flipped over to do some backstroke I could see the orange cap of our competition, slowly but surely gaining on me (he would take 2 and a half minutes off me in this swim). I could also see my kayaking escort, who I would say hello to every time I did backstroke. He said nothing back. It was a long swim.

With about 400m to go I was over-run by my rival but, tactical genius that I am, I cut across and sat on his feet for as long as I could.

So halfway through the race we were neck and neck and we knew it would be very tight. (there were two teams of 9 in front of us, with some pro-triathletes and Martin Dent, enough said).

Big E gave us a little lead for his second ride and then Tom, being the backbone of the team, proceeded to put another 3 minutes into them, running up and over Mt Taylor into Tuggeranong.

I was looking forward to finishing my swimming with the last leg looming but that was short lived because it was now in a 25m pool (due to the water quality of Lake Tuggers). It would be a lot of tumble turns with a run in the middle as you had to get out and run to the end of the pool to start again (3 x 400m loops of the pool, ducking in and out of each lane).

Luckily, I am nearly 2m tall, so because I could push off the wall each time so I only swam about 15m a lap. Perfect.

The pool temp was about 30degrees, so I was feeling pretty drained at the end, but we had our 2 and a half minute lead still intact and only 2 legs to go.

And so this is where things got tactical. I was feeling fresh (relatively fresh, after 6km of swimming) so I would do the final, 13km run over Red Hill. Tom had smashed himself knowing he only had to do 2 runs, so we put our plan into action.

So it would come down to the final leg. Did I feel better after 6km of swimming than their runner who had done nearly 30km of tough trails?

Ed came in with that crucial 2 and a half minute gap and I took off, up and over Red Hill!

I felt amazing, and my splits started at 5:00 per km as I climbed over Red Hill and got down to around 3:40 in the first couple of flat km's, but that's when the day caught up to me and I started to fall to pieces.

I began to cramp in both arms. Arms! WTF, who cramps in their arms when they are running. And my toes.

I had to rein it back a little, otherwise I would have been in real trouble. This wasn't helped when our rival teams swimmer and cyclist started waiting for both of us at certain points along the course and providing splits and updates.

Finally, after 9 hours and 8 minutes of racing (something like that), we finished.

The tactic had worked, as I put over 6 minutes into their poor, tired runner.

We won our division, and come third overall. Beating teams with up to 9 members in them.

It really is a fantastic race. It is lonely too, because we were out in front the whole day, we rarely saw any other teams because the field gets strung out by hours.