Nanga Challenge 2017

Inspired by Rich Bannister’s efforts in the UTMB, Dave decided he ought to get off his bottom and do the Nanga Challenge. Rhys was already entered so the Marshalls, Jameses and Smiths headed to Nanga Mill Friday afternoon in time to set up camp before the race on Saturday morning. For some reason Andy was not racing and was team mascot instead.

We camped at Nanga Mill in Dwellingup which is fast becoming a regular spot. There is a creek at the bottom (where the kids love to build dams and get as many clothes wet as possible), Turner Hill is not far for a 10km MTB loop and there is plenty of dirt for the babies to eat.

The race on Saturday morning consisted of a 15km river paddle (7.5 downstream then back up again), 30km MTB and a 12km run. From what the boys said it will probably not be redone as the courses were less than exciting, but at least the Murray has now been paddled.

We had a jaffle contest for dinner Saturday night. Rhys, as usual, went all out and produced a beef Wellington jaffle! It was excellent though I was very happy with my rather less labour intensive Camembert and bacon. Ellis of course went cheeseless and had beans and mushrooms.

There were dessert jaffles too with apples, cinnamon, raisin toast and rhubarb etc. the kids were happy toasting marshmallows over the 2 fires we had going.

Sunday morning Sara and I went for a bike at Turner Hill. Andy and Dave had bets going that we would not find it. What a fuss over nothing; we found it with no difficulty at all and there was only one comedy stack by Sara thanks to some pea gravel and a black boy!

JP and Helen arrived Saturday morning with Roman and Byron to add to the feral kid count. Only one (Paw Patrol) toy lost to the river and only one Freddy brick eaten by Alfie the dog!

Thanks everyone for a great weekend.

Bye Bye Will

Will is sadly leaving us to go back to Blighty for good. As a last bash he organised a mini race for all of us. He found a cool phone App call Loquiz where he set out an orienteering type course with a three hour time limit. Different check points were worth different amounts depending on their difficulty. We had a choice of how we got to them, Running, biking, paddling or however else you wanted.

teams of two, i was paired with Jo. Three hours and the rest you can see below. A very good fun afternoon – some racing competitively others not so much……

after the race we all retired to the pubs and then onto a gig where the night got messy.

: the man of the hour

: everyone trying to get the App to work which had the course on it

: the idiots

: I got drawn to be with Jo as a team mate. lucky we both had the same idea

: and they are off, this was the north side of the river

: Will had designed a swim into the course as well

: which was in the middle of the boating lane

: jo avoiding boats in the Swan river

: the idea we both had

: hard racing, those crisps were heavy!

: this is how Mark and Ackers did the race, inside someones car! they called it initiative, we call it cheating!

: Jo in the green beast checking out the cliff

: Balck Wall reach boat stashing

: Will climbing up the cliffs

: Me jo and Will

: Paddling back to try and make the cut off

: Will arriving Back

: Mak and I about to get stuck into a few post race beers

: at the end and happy

: all the wives and kids popped down and enjoyed post race drinks and BBQ

: The Smiths

Dunsborough for the X adventure

The bug has well and truly bitten. I had entered the Dunsborough X adventure race a few months ago. With Lara’s new found love of this multisport stupidity – she entered the mid length course as well. So the weekend turned into a family affair. The Prudens where our weekends camping companions with Amanda racing with Lara on the Saturday.

We spent a lovely weekend down in Dunsborough which is a stunning place. The beaches, coastline and national forest are all stunning and a place I want to explore more of!

Once again Lara shone, she finished fourth! This is after overcoming a pretty chopping open water swim, then a coastal run and a mtb ride. A stunning effort and she now wants to concentrate on getting her swimming better over the winter to start causing some real damage next season!

I am happy with my result, I came 23rd out of 160 odd and beat my target time by 20 minutes so happy there. Other than racing there was a lot of time with the children running around the campsite on their balance bikes and playing on beaches. a lovely weekend. See pictures below.