The Turas race report

Our trip to the Turas started auspiciously when we arrived in Cork minus two bikes and one bag. We completed our transfer to Dingle by Bus and were greeted by a quaint little town surrounded by rugged hills on one side and the sea on the other.

We meet up with Gordon and Rob by evening and set about arranging things as best we could with no team gear and Elina and I minus our bikes

The race organisation immediately struck a good cord with all the athletes and the gear checks and briefing we the easiest I have ever experienced with them preferring to trust the skills and common sense of the athletes rather than brow beat them into submission on the technicalities of falling out of a boat among other things as most other races tend to do.

The Prologue

An early start in comparison to my usual leisurely starts say us head out on the MTB’s. We hit the front early and tried to string the pack out on the first of the day’s climbs. We broke free with a couple of other teams and were going well when bang, broke my chain. I have to say this was a massive surprise given I can’t remember ever having broken a chain before but luckily we had some quick links and within minutes we were underway again. Considering we’d been going only 15 minutes it was quite strange that we never even managed to see the back end of the field. We climbed strongly and caught a large number of the teams and headed in to the transition to the run in reasonable shape. The run was simply straight up and then straight down the other side one of Ireland tallest hills. We ran virtually the entire hill up to 950 metres and stretched it out on the downhill to finish the stage in 5th place. Here we were taken to a small pub to keep warm while we waited for the rest of the racers. Soon after we were transferred to another pub (in keeping with Irish tradition) where we started the final leg in the prologue, a 12 km kayak back in to Dingle. Orion Health had their Insomniac boats there and just paddled away from us and the rest of the field, we had high hopes having borrowed some boats which we’d been told were fantastic but unfortunately they proved to be of a similar speed to the plastic Amuruks we so often paddle and had the disadvantage of an extremely poor steering system and so little volume that the smallest ripple turned them into submarines. We paddled for all we were worth and settled for second. The rest of the day was spent on the bus transferring to the south of Ireland for where the main portion of the race would begin.

Part 1

The weather was looking remarkably like Scotland with plenty of wind and the forecast for rain over almost the entire race. We started in our kayaks and within a few hundred metres we were swamped in large wind chop rolling in through the channels between the islands. Originally we had been set to go out to an island near the famous Fastnet rock but due to the 70km hour winds we were sent on a tour around some of the more sheltered islands. This was by no means a cop out by the organisers though as I think most races I have been to would have canned the section completely. Given the boats we were paddling it was all the more exhilarating and a touch frustrating as our steering systems again let the boats down badly. We were able to stay within sight of 2nd and as we turned for a long grind into the wind we were able to match La Fuma and together we chased Orion in Vain as they again stretched away in the kayaks. A 3km portage separated us from another paddling portion and we were flying through it when our portage trolley broke after the plastic wheel retainer melted due to the speed. Luckily we weren’t too far from the water and entered with La Fuma again. Once across the other side of the bay it was onto the portage trolleys again and a somewhat slower pace as we tried to keep the loose wheel from falling off every few metres.

The next orienteering section flew by as Rob showed his orienteering skills and we set off on the longest ride of the race in sight of La Fuma in 2nd and Orion now some 15 minutes ahead. We battled our way into a massive head wind for the first 12 km to an incredible lighthouse and then flew back the way we had come doing almost 50kph on the flat such was the wind. We managed to keep a good pace and just after the next CP while we were debating a route choice we were surprised to see La Fuma come up behind us, we’d passed them without even knowing it. A short push and it was back onto good tracks and roads and later as we arrived at another town with some interesting navigation to avoid Out of Bounds roads we spotted Orion. We pulled away gradually from them and things were going smoothly until just before dark we were looking for an ancient stone tomb and had a lot of trouble locating it. After plenty of searching in vain along with Orion we finally located it and off we went to the transition. By now the rain was bucketing down and after a chat with Wayne from Orion and some rule clarifications we decided to sleep until sun up as the navigation looked like it’s be much easier in the day and hopefully the weather would be better too, along with the fact it seemed certain we would reach the dark zone with plenty of spare time and with the clock not stopping there seemed little advantage to by passing the opportunity to sleep.

The next morning the weather wasn’t much better and soon it was to be even worse. For  the next 12 hours we barely saw further than 100 metres in front of us and the wind drove the rain at us horizontally. Given last year’s cold I had plenty of clothes although I never imagined wearing as much as I was and still being cold. The weather finally abated and within minutes it seemed we were back in the Irish summer. We had been moving steadily but lost a bit of focus towards the end of the section and with sore feet and a large amount of trepidation we donned our wetsuits and kicked our way 2km across a bay to the camping site at the dark zone. It was a relief to find a pub with hot meals and some warm clothes to rest in. The day had already slipped by further than anticipated and it was a short sleep before awaking to the final couple of days racing.

Part 2

Only 8 teams reached the start of the rowing in time to leave at the first start time of 5am and with our Cox’s urging us on we covered the distance to the next TA in surprisingly quick time. Each team started 5 min apart to stop any damage to the boats and our team managed to get into a good rhythm early and pulled in our 5 minute team before half way. We gave up some of our advantage in the final portion where we were rowing against a running tide and our Cox kept us in the middle of the river instead of sheltering us by the sides as many other teams did. We still arrived in good time and once out on the bike quickly passed Crested Butte and while they held on for a while we finally got a small jump and set off after Orion, La Fuma and Helly Hansen. We got a good glimpse of them at one Castle check point and with the time on the road down to 10 minutes we were the actual leaders on the road once our 25 minute row stagger was removed. Onto a short run and we again made good time although we were getting killed at transition time by especially Orion. By the time we finished the run we could see Orion had taken the lead and now we had to chase hard to get onto the other two teams. It was a very short paddle with a good tide to help us and at the next transition La Fuma was just leaving as we arrived. Our transitions were being seriously compromised by lack of large boxes and having to strap everything together and when we hurried out of transition on our bikes. The last bike section for the race and we were riding at a good pace. We picked off the first CP and then reached a decision point – up to the ridge on a road unmarked, or up the valley and onto the ridge – also unmarked on the map. We chose the valley and it was looking like a good decision until the road deteriorated and we were reduced to a push far sooner than we would have hoped. Still a long way from the saddle the only option was to hike the bikes straight up 200-300 metres vertical on our backs. In a surprisingly short time we arrived at the top and then enjoyed plenty of downhill into another valley. We keep encountering super steep pinches even on the sealed roads but we were chewing through the ride when we missed a turn and had to turn back. Just then Helly Hansen came flying down the hill towards us, great, they’d made the same mistake and now we were in 3rd. We pushed hard and went straight by them, held them off over a small hike a bike pass and sped on to the TA. Spirits were high as we arrived but were shattered moments later when we discovered there had been CP with Zip line added to the leg which we’d missed and now had to collect. At the previous transition I’d been given some co ordinates for the Zip line which had been on the trek. For some reason which is getting harder to fathom each day is I had presumed it was just an updated position for the Zip line on the trek, not a complete change to the Zip line being on the MTB now. So now it was an out and back to complete the Zip line, 14km each way which turned out to be close to 20km. Things went reasonably smoothly to start although motivation had really taken a knock within the team. We passed La Fuma near the Zip line, who had also made the same mistake as us.  The activity complete we made good time back until Rob broke his rear derailleur and twisted his chain up pretty bad. It is amazing how 40 minutes slipped by and by the time we were back at the TA 4 hours had passed. 

Everyone was pretty sleepy and with the next stage a canoe we decided on a sleep before tackling the final two stages. Another issue was Elina’s chest which had been mildly sore for the past two days had now become much more painful and was causing her a lot of concern as to whether she should continue. We found a good place to sleep and things went from bad to worse when we slept through the alarm by 90 minutes. Now we were starting to get out of contention and the mood within the team was rather sombre. The Canoe section was stunning and in the early morning light we made our way fairly well through to the end where we had a short archery challenge before moving onto the final TA. Arriving at the TA Elina was not feeling well and with chest pains we consulted the medical staff who promptly withdrew her from the race, a huge disappointment for her and the team. Rob Gordon and I decided to head out for the final trek and shortly after we started we saw Orion heading for the finish and a very well deserved victory. We made our way around a stunning course in good time getting home just before dark and in time to get charged 18 Euro per Pizza from the local pizza shop.

So our gamble of going to race with no financial sponsors back fired big time and has left us all in a bit of strife, but that’s what happens in Sport sometimes unfortunately. I definitely think the lack of budget lead us to cut many small corners and probably increased the stress to a level it shouldn’t have been at for racing at our best. But the fact remains if I been a bit more careful when I’d been given the change for the Zip line we would have still been in the hunt. Elina’s illness also returned at a bad time so it is debatable we would have been able to finish anyway. She is now concentrating on getting better with the hope she’ll get an opportunity to race later in the year.

The race organisation and course were some of the best I’ve encountered who really tried to put a race on for the athletes. The Irish were a super friendly bunch and we all enjoyed our time there.