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It was a beautiful morning in Pomona where a group of nearly 100 women, of all ages, gathered for a day out together - for a women's only adventure race.

Registration saw us score a bag of goodies from race sponsors and then it was down to map handout and route planning.



On looking over the maps I realised we were in a bit of luck.  The cycle and paddle legs were in an area I sort of know.  I've been camping several times at the scout camp at Lake MacDonald, the paddle location. Also I have cycled from there to Pomona a few times which happened to be the cycle legs of the race. My race partner, Sue, therefore designated me navigator of the cycle legs and as she is herself an impressive navigator she would take on the 2 foot legs of the event.

The start brief came around all too quickly and then we were off.
 

The first foot leg in the bush was straight forward with Sue's navigating spot-on, hitting all checkpoints easily.
 
 

It was then back to the park in Pomona for a few transition area challenges - a three legged run and climb over a picnic table, shooting a basketball through a hoop and answering some questions about the history of Pomona. This 3rd challenge involved running to the other end of the park and reading a historical information sign in order to find the answers and then run back to answer the questions. In our haste Sue and I got one question wrong and had to run back and forth again!!

Next up we were out on the bikes to Lake MacDonald.  It was a straight forward cycle with us collecting the bonus time checkpoint on the way. This is a fantastic area for cycling - love it!
 



On arriving at the paddle leg we completed another quick transition area challenge before heading out in the canoe.

Well, the wind had decided to add its own little challenge to the race and it was a solid paddle to collect the 3 compulsory checkpoints.  The waves were washing up over the front of the canoe and giving me a nice shower.  This wasn't too bad as I was covered in mud from tripping out of the canoe at one checkpoint and falling face first into the mud!!  Sue & I decided with the strong wind it wouldn't be worth collecting the bonus time checkpoints here - not for us anyway.

Back onto the bikes and we made our way back towards Pomona collecting the bonus time checkpoints on the bike leg hoping this would leave us enough time for the foot leg.


 
 
Luckily this panned out for us and we had ample time to collect all the bonus time foot checkpoints. The navigation of this leg was probably the hardest yet, but Sue handled it easily.
 

A few scratches and bruises later (we were obviously tiring and not watching our steps) we were back on the bikes for the short cycle to the finish line where we couldn't hide our smiles.

Here a much appreciated sausage sizzle awaited us before relaxing on the grass for the prize giving ceremony. There were also a heap of 'lucky giveaway' prizes.

Well to wrap it up, this was one fantastic girls' day out and as the MC mentioned (once or twice!) it had been a day of smiles, smiles and more smiles.

Thanks to all who made this such a great event, especially Jan and Kim from triadventure.com.au.

Thanks also to James Pitman from Photo Events and Michael Page from Two Cats Photography for some of these fabulous photos.

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