Kokoda Challenge Report

Well it was about time I finally got around to writing this report but you'll be pleased to know I've narrowed this down to a few paragraphs rather than the 22.20hrs it took our team to finish.
Kokoda was a 98km cross country / mountain / mud challenge which I started with my team of 4 and finished much (much) later still intact (well almost) with the same team of 4 and a much greater appreciation for mateship and teamwork. We had 36 hours to finish it but our goal was 23.

We arrived at 5am on the Saturday morning ready for the 7am start and the rain arrived at the same time. We had been warned all week of the impending rain forecast for the entire weekend, yeah right it hadn't rained solidly in months... until then! Cold, dark and wet we joined 96 other teams from all over the country, checked in and got nervous. The rain was constant as we threw on our back packs, gave last minute instructions to our support crew, listened to the ode and the Last Post, and then the gun went off.

Everybody took off and headed right. We looked at each other and took off to the left. Laughing we found ourselves in the lead (not for long mind you) and heard the confusion as the teams all realised they were heading in the wrong direction. Imagine having to navigate 98km and going the wrong way in the first 50 metres. Pretty funny really!!! It didn't take them long to catch us and the challenge started.

We wanted to hit the first mountain near the front end of the field as we knew it would be difficult to get around teams on the long (40min +) climbs so we worked hard the first 5km to hit the mountains in around 7th place. Still it was early day. Up and over the first few and we were feeling good and making good time. Our strategy was to walk up the hills (and down depending on the terrain) and run the flats. All was good until about 3hours in and the wheels started to fall.

Dave (one of my team) "blew" a calf which made walking painful. Not long after this he started to develop strong pains in his gut. As he would hit the hills his heart rate would max out causing him to stop every 5- 10mins and violently dry retch. This would settle briefly and he would restart the climb and repeat this until he made the top. On the downs and flats he felt average (apart from the calf) so would push as hard as he could, but the hills were his enemy and there were an awful lot of them! We would get to hills and Pete and I would try to lighten his load and help push him up until he got to the top and then we would keep moving. Dave would almost be fainting with pain and nausea on the climbs, but he pushed on showing amazing tenacity and incredible toughness.

For the next 6 hours it rained intermittently, the wind blew and the hills were relentless. Dave just kept going! We met our support crew every 4 hours and they fed us, attempted to warm us up, we restocked our back packs and kept going. We were still sitting in about 10th place and making pretty good time but it was getting colder and wetter!!! Around 4pm the rain came and stayed for the next 11 hours varying between solid and heavy. It was dark, the wind was howling, the rain was cold... very cold, we were wet and Dave continued, unable to run but keeping up a good pace walking. Each support station was similar. We would arrive and try and warm up (almost impossible), feed ourselves with hot food and soup (very difficult to cook under a tarp), restock and take off again trying not to waste too much time. It was impossible to put dry clothes on under a tarp and you were wet by the time you started again. We were starting to lose our sense of humour, but still enjoying the challenge nevertheless. Dave was tough! We would take off into the dark, cold and wet, Merryl leading the way making sure we followed the trail, and Pete and I making sure we still had Dave. The hills were tough. The rain had turned them into a big slide and it was incredibly difficult to climb up or down without sliding or falling. We felt for the teams following us as it would have been much tougher for them!

By 1am Pete was having trouble seeing on the downhills as the mist continually fogged his much needed glasses and he found his head lamp not nearly bright enough. He slid and damaged his knee on a downhill and showed incredible toughness to continue. We would get to a hill and help Dave up the hill then turn and give Pete as much light as I could to help him get down in one piece. The last 20km was incredibly long but the boys were tougher! They could have given up any time but our goal from the start was to get our team across the line together and thats what we were going to do. At 5.20am (just before sunrise) we walked into the finish, exhausted, cold, wet but very proud of what we had done. We finished in 12th place, second mixed team but more importantly, a team of 4!

We could never have done it without our support crew who had it tougher than us. They had to find the checkpoints before us, set up a makeshift tarp and kitchen in the rain and wind, and somehow have things ready for when we arrived, whenever that was. Then they would have to pack up and beat us to the next checkpoint. They deserve a medal for that.

Thanks to Dave, Pete and Merryl for an incredible experience. You are an incredibly tough team and we learned a lot about ourselves and what it takes to get through a course like that. You were all awesome! Would I do it again? Absolutely! I'll be back next year with some newbies in toe. If you want a life experience then try it.

Mary