Nelius Murphy, is he a man or a machine…

As the only representative of the Fitta Bodies Crew, Nelius took on the tough bloke challenge.

5km’s of extreme trail running mixed in with obstacles like crawling through underground pipes filled with muddy water, a mud pit covered in barbed wire,  climbing over hundreds of old tyres, scaling over army nets etc etc etc

Not only did he take it on, he came 10th overall out of over 600 people in a time of 36 mins!!!!!

What a legend!

He said it was much tougher than he had expected and he had a blast although he was a no show at training today, something about sore legs or something soft like that…

From what he told me, it was the up and down hills in the bush that got him along with the extra 3 – 4 kg’s you are carrying when you come out of the mud pit to finish the run.

A very special thanks has to go to Darrin Penola who made the trip down there to be Nelius’s only support crew and to take with him some warm soup and bread for after the event. Darrin took loads of photos as well so you can all get a feel for the action. Thanks mate!

Here’s a few photos and all the rest are up here on our Facebook page. You don’t have to be a member of Facebook to view the photos.

Last Saturday was the Blackheart adventure race at Narrabeen and we had 4 Fitta Bodies teams ready and raring to go in a field of 102 teams.

The race started with a navigational run through the Garrigal national park. My team started off strong, but like most of the field, we lost a lot of time looking for a checkpoint that wasn’t there.

We hopped on our bikes for a few more checkpoints and got to the bike drop in 2nd place. After a brief but very, very cold swim across the river where we got overtaken by a couple of teams, we ran around the coastline to be 4th into the kayaks with Team 3 boarding the kayaks on 5th place. Yay!

The kayak was interesting as it was fairly shallow in parts and we had to get out and push the kayaks through the water.

We exited the water in 4th place and ran for the first bonus checkpoint we would attempt to collect, then it was onto the final few checkpoints. We decided on collecting one more bonus checkpoint before hitting the water for the long swim home. Thankfully, it wasn’t too deep, never deeper than shoulder height, so you could jog through the water for most of it. With team 3 hot on our tails, we sprinted from the water towards the finish line, coming in about 20 seconds before team 3.

We were actually the 4th and 5th teams across the line, but because of the bonus checkpoint system, we beat some of the teams that came in before us and some of the teams that came in after us, collected more bonuses than us, so they beat us.

Our final result was 3rd in the Male category and 4th overall. So we got our first podium finish and collected a prize.

But, the results have been posted on the Blackheart website and it says…

Team 1 was 4th in male category and 5th overall.

Team 3 was 5th in the male category and 6th overall.

Team 2 was 9th in the mixed category and 35th overall.

Team 1.5555 was 40th in the male category and 57th overall.

I think all of our teams did great, I am proud of everyone!

Bring on the next one in June!

Who’s in?

If you want to leave any comments or ask any questions about the races, post it onto the forum.

Teams 1 and 3 drying off

Teams 1, 2 and 3

After food and recovery

Collecting our prizes

Last Saturday saw the final event on the Aroc adventure racing calendar and what a race it was!

We had every type of terrain you could ask for and we had 4 awesome teams participating.

Fitta Bodies 1 – Myself, Matt, Jack

Fitta Bodies 1.555^ – Darrin, Adam, Nelius

Fitta Bodies – Scott, Pat, Sprat

Last Minute Fitta Bodies – Rachel, Jason, Danielle

We started off in the sand dunes at Stockton Beach finding checkpoints attached to flags waving in the distance before heading into the biking sections where we found ourselves riding along the sand at One Mile Beach. Such an awesome thing to do and I can’t think of another opportunity I will have to do it either. Part way along the beach we had to pick up our bikes for some coasteering along the rocks. The rest of the mountain biking trails were pretty sandy, so we found ourselves pushing the bikes almost as much as pedaling them!

We then did some more coasteering and even had a quick swim out to a check point in a rock pool just off shore before heading back to the bikes and making our way to the kayaks at Fingal Bay. We battled the huge swells to cross the bay, dragged the kayaks on shore and did a massive coasteering section. Pretty gnarly too if you ask me, right on the edge all the way.

When we got back to the kayaks, the tide was so low that everybody was carrying their kayaks to the next checkpoint rather than paddling them, so we took a handle each and jogged it the 500m or so. Those babies aren’t light either!

It was onto our final beach run of about 1.5km’s and then we pedaled our bikes to the finish line.

Woo Hoo, we came in 3 hours and 28 mins in 29th place out of 178 teams. Not bad, but we were on track to make it much better than that before our silly mistakes…I’ll explain below.

So where did we go wrong?

We rode straight past CP16, when we got to CP17, we realised and had to ride back. There’s 5 mins atleast.

On the way to CP20, Jack got a massive calf cramp. I have never seen a man scream like this before, his calf pulled up into a ball. So Matt was holding his leg up, I was trying to massage it when a guy came along and quote unquote said “stand back, I’m a massage therapist” As funny as the quote is, he did an awesome job and it was so nice of him to stop and help out. Let’s say another 10 mins lost there.

We completely missed CP25, so we had to go back for that one as well. There’s another 5 mins.

So we know that at CP16 we were in about 12th place and guess what, if we took 20 mins off our time, we would have come in at 12th place…

But, we had a ball!

Well done to team 2 for coming in 3 hours and 33 mins in 38th place! Awesome, must have been that 3 hour, 35km training session we did last weekend!

Awesome result for Team 1.555^ coming in  4 hours and 6 mins in 89th place. They had a goal to come within 1 hour of my team and smashed that by coming in 38 mins after us, well done!

Last minute Fitta Bodies is so named because they only entered 2 days before the event, after entries had closed, but thankfully Alina allowed us 1 more entry into the race. They had a some navigational problems around CP’s 24 and 25 which set them right back and they ended up coming in 4 hours 48 mins in 145th place. They were tracking really well prior to that CP stuff up too!

Other memorable moments of the race…

Matt copping his bike in the jaw whilst carrying it over the rocks

Jack’s turet type outburst when he was cramping up

Of course the quote of the day “Stand back I’m a massage therapist”

Adam, Darrin and Nelius capsizing their kayak in the huge swells

The heavy downpour of rain soon after we all finished the race which saw about 50 people huddle under the Red Bull tent and then the flooded ground to get back to the car

And after it is all said and done, there is always enough energy to overhead squat something at a random location…

So who’s joining us for the next adventure race? It’s time to do something with your new fitness levels!

In Canberra last weekend on the 28th Nov was the 2nd out of 4 events in the adventure racing season for AROC sport.

I competed with my regular team of Matt and Frank. My mate Jack competed with my client Scott and their friend Patrick, but didn’t race under the Fitta Bodies name. We also had 3 new adventurers try it out for the first time.

Darrin, Adam and Jason formed the second Fitta Bodies team and decided to give it a try after many months of me convincing them they would enjoy it.

I always say that once you do one, you will be hooked, it is just making that commitment to giving it a try and realising it is not as competitive and scary as you think.

So, with quite a few of you giving it some interest, I have decided to write an in depth description of what this last race entailed. Bear in mind, this was quite a tough race, one of the hardest ones I have done and all 3 of the guys are hanging to do the next race, so that tells you something. 

The race can be as competitive as you like, some people are there for fun, others are there to win it, others are there for the achievement of finishing it. Either way, you’ll have a blast!

There were 127 team in the classic race. My team finished in 44th place in 5hrs 20 mins and Darrin’s team finished in 104th place in 6hrs and 7 mins. I think the organisers underestimated the distances so the kayaking leg was cut short for a lot of people and even eliminated entirely for the tail end of the group. We did the entire kayaking leg, but Darrin’s team missed out on the kayak leg altogether, which was a shame because that was the leg they were looking forward to. That leg took us just over an hour, so you can see why it was taken out for the late finishers.

So, here is how the race went from start to finish. Bear with me, I could waffle on for a while, but it was a long race and I want to go into detail so you know exactly what to expect when you do your first race…

Each team consists of 3 people and you must stay within 100m of each other for the whole race.

Firstly we dropped our bikes off at a remote location and then drove about 20 mins to the race headquarters which is also the finish line. We register and are given our race pack which includes our maps and control cards. A timing stick is strapped to our wrist which must be checked in at each transition area throughout the race. We spent about an hour preparing our maps with highlighters marking out the trails that we are going to take to get to the checkpoints. Maps are placed in a waterproof map case, control cards are placed on lanyards around our necks, any other paperwork is covered in clear contact. We put on our race bibs and listen to the race briefing incase there are any changes to plans.

We all board buses and are taken back to the suburb where our bikes are, but not right where the bikes are.

The race starts and everyone runs up and over a huge hill. Maybe you could call it a mountain. 

Over the other side of the mountain are people with maps. Each team collects a map. The map is of the area we are now in and you need to collect 100 points. Checkpoints are marked on the map with point values beside them, so we establish where we are based on landmarks and head off for our check points. Each checkpoint is punched onto the control card around your neck. 1 control card per team. We collect our 100 points and then establish where we are on our map that we marked out before the race and head to transition area 1. We hand in our 100 point control card, punch the timing stick and get on our bikes.

We ride via the first 4 checkpoints (all marked on your map) to Mount Stromlo where we ride to the top. Collect checkpoint 5 and ride the marked single tracks to Transition area 2 via checkpoint 6. Mt Stromlo has some of the best mountain biking single tracks in Australia, so this was a blast!!! You don’t need your map here as the track is marked with pink tape, so you can just enjoy the ride!

We punch in at TA2, leave our bikes and start running. We are now using a smaller map that is zoomed in for just the immediate area we are in. It leads us to checkpoint 7. At CP7, it shows the location of CP8, mark it on your map and off you go. Here you find the location of CP9 and so on with each CP showing the location of the next CP. All CP’s are also punched on the control card around your neck.

Head back to TA3 which is in the same location as TA2, so you are right back where your bikes are. Punch your timing stick and we’re away on the bikes again. We now need to find the location of CP15, but it is not marked on the map. It has co-ordinates for a single track location, but we don’t know how to use co-ordinates, so we find the only single track on the map in the direction we should be heading and go for it. We start to get nervous as we near the end of the single track with no CP, but it was right at the end, so we are filled with relief. We now know where we are and there are no more surprises, so we can follow our prepared maps to CP16 and CP17.

After CP16, we hit the open roads. Good bye dirt tracks, we’re in the streets of Canberra and riding their awesome urban bike tracks. We get to the edge of Lake Burley Griffin and punch in at TA4. We leave our bikes and get told that the swimming leg after the kayak has been called off. Thankfully because the wind was howling and the water was super choppy. 

We board our kayaks and paddle to CP18 and CP19. We then paddle to a peninsular where there is the Canberra museum. We leave our kayak and use a google earth map to navigate around the area to collect CP’s 20, 21, 22 and 23. They are not punches, but they are answers to the questions located in various places in the area. We get back on the kayak and paddle via CP24 which was supposed to be where we leave the kayak and swim back to the mainland, but as mentioned, the swim was called off, so we paddle back to our bikes. 

As time progressed, the kayak leg was shortened for other people to be only a substitue for the swimming leg and then as time progressed further, the kayak leg was called off altogether.

We punched in at TA5 and cycled to the finish line via CP25, which again was a qestion to answer about a landmark.

The finish line was in a park in the city, so the race finished by cycling briefly through the city streets.

What an awesome race. One of the more technical races, but so much fun. It was a really hot day, so we went through a lot of water, but there was a fill up station at Mt Stromlo. A lot of the races are not as technical as this one ie. you will usually be able to mark out your entire course on your map prior to the race start. But, it is awesome to have these surprises to keep you on your toes!

So, who’s in for the next one?

We had an awesome race last weekend up on the Central Coast for the start of the adventure racing season, even if we did make a major mistake at the start line.

The race started out tough with a long beach run from Shelley Beach to the Entrance. We made the mistake of heading to the streets to avoid the first section of sand. This unfortunately put us behind the pack and we ended up at the first transition area in 106th place out of 153 teams. Oh well, that is what it is all about, making the correct navigational decisions.

We then had to swim across the channel at the entrance, which was short and intense with an extreme current running through the mouth of the river.

The next leg was a kayak from The Entrance to Wyong. Kayaking is always our least favourite leg and this was an extremely long kayak, seeing us completing this leg in 1hr flat.

After a quick swim across the Wyong river in the freezing cold water, pushing aside the masses of jelly fish that floated in our paths, we emerged dripping wet and with a mild case of hypothermia. (well it felt like it for 10 mins anyway)

We got onto our bikes and headed to Ourimbah State Forest. Sweet! I love those trails. Unfortunately, we were stuck behind so many poeple and it’s all single track, so hard to make a break for it. The upside is that I saw some scenery I have never seen there before as I have never been along the tracks so slowly before.

The next leg was running and navigation. We had a great run, no mistakes on the navigation and managed to make up some ground on this leg.

Back to the bikes and the dash for the finish. When I say dash, I mean 1hr 5mins intense uphill and single track mountian biking. Awesome fun! For those of you who know Ourimbah, we had to get back to the top of the Roller Coaster before heading back to Wyong.

Then it happened… I got a flat tyre! Luckily we are somewhat fast at changing flats, so we were done in around 7 mins. Unfortunately, this put us back about 8 places.

We finished up the race in 52nd position. not our best result, but we thoroughly enjoyed the race! (other than the kayak)

Our direct competition was Jack Peacock’s team – “The Calamari Brothers”. Jack was my team mate in April at Lake MacQuarie. We beat his team by 6mins and 10 places.

Our other competition was Mark Smith’s team – “Giant Gonzalez”. Mark was my team mate in last October’s Cattai National Park race. We beat them by 41mins and 51 places.

The next race is on the 28th November, let’s get a few teams together and have some fun!

Fitta Bodies entered 2 teams in the latest AROC adventure race on Saturday 18th April at Lake Macquarie.

What a race it was, orienteering around beautiful Lake Macquarie, running, mountain biking, kayaking and swimming. Taking in beach, lake, rocky ocean outcrops, dense bushland and suburbia, we covered it all.

My team – Fitta Bodies 1 came in in 34th position out of 199 entrants in 4 hours 14 minutes. We are happy with that result, putting us at 17% from the top of the field.

Team Fitta Bodies 2 came in in 141st place in a time of 5 hours and 28 minutes. Well done to Gwen, Rachel and Tom, they did really well.

Our goal of beating Jeff from Addventure Training didn’t come to fruition on this occassion with his team coming in in 19th place in a time of 3 hours and 52 minutes.

The race started with a dip into Lake Macquarie to bring back items from 3 buoys. Once we handed in our collections, we were given a map of the nearby development with 22 checkpoints to find. When we handed in our completed checkcard, we were on our bikes and the race officially began.

The mountain biking was tough on this leg with very steep rutted trails which everybody had to walk their bikes down. We had 3 checkmarks to collect on our way.

The next leg was coasteering. Running along the rocky coastline, jumping in and out of the ocean as required in order to collect 5 checkmarks and then it was back up to the bikes.

We rode to Caves Beach to crawl into a very small cave to retreive a checkmark, then into suburbia to park up our bikes and run approximately 1.5km along soft sand to the next checkmark.

We ran through the suburbs collecting 2 checkmarks on our way to the kayaks and paddled our way along the lake to 2 more checkmarks. 

The paddle back was not so pleasant as the rain and howling winds picked up. It also didn’t help the run back to the bikes as we collected 1 more check mark on the way.

Back on the bikes, it was the dash to the finish. We had 3 more checkmarks to collect and we went for it. I had 2 crashes on my bikes, but no injuries. We completed this leg 16th fastest out of the whole field. We passed 5 teams on the 2km single track from the final checkmark to the finish line. Not an easy feat when it is single track!

This was one of my favourite races so far. What an adventure, I can’t wait for the next one!

Yours in Fitness

Troy Shipsey

Your Group Training Specialist Come see me in Centennial Park