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'Avin a Go at the Avon Again
by Peter Fitzgerald
This year's Avon Descent started with a crisp snap, not the snap of fingers, rather the sickening snap of a broken paddle. Not a good omen, I thought.
After a hasty retreat back through the massed paddlers at the
start line to my support crew to exchange paddles, I restarted
the race 22 grids down. So the race began, Tim Mace had caught
me by the first checkpoint, Katrine Bridge, and although my pit
stop was shorter than Tim's, he soon caught up with me at Extract's
Weir where he got the drop on me by being able to portage his
boat
quicker than me. He was off again in front of me and I had to
work very hard to keep in touch with him, sounds easy, but when
you consider that Tim is on a surf ski, and I paddle a sea kayak,
we are not even in the same class. I suppose because he had once
been my boss I considered it a challenge to make him work as hard
as he had make me work. Anyway, back to the race!
We both arrived at Toodyay townsite bridge neck and neck, where
we both stopped for water and a banana. Again, Tim got the drop
on me and soon he was 100 metres in front of me. It was make or
break for me. I had to catch him now or he would make too much
of a lead on me. I pulled out all stops and the true value of
knowing the river and picking the better channels and a little
brute strength just enabled me to gain the ascendancy by West
Toodyay Bridge, but it was a close thing. (It almost broke me).
Then Tim stopped to see his support crew, I continued on and by
the time I got to the ti-trees I had made a good lead better.
The run through the trees was a good one for me, and I was over
the first day finish line with a time of 5 hours 58 mins and 48
seconds for 57 kms.
The second day started from Cobbler Pool at 0741. The second day is the most challanging of the Avon Descent. It consists of 40 kms of rapids and ti-tree sections, with some of the rapids up to grade 3.5. and 33 kms of flat water to the finish line.
The first major hazard is the 3 km section of ti-trees just after the start line. This is often where you can lose a lot of time because of so many craft logjammed in tight channels. After you get out of the trees you get to Posselt's Ford, just an easy chute, but about 400 m past is probably the most feared rapid on the whole river, Super Chute. It is a hard left roller coast ride and a very nasty right hand turn. It claims a good number of novices and veterans alike. You come around the corner to be confronted by boats upside down and desperate swimmers, but I never have had a swim on this one. After Super Chute, the race settles down to some small easy rapids.
Emu Falls was the next big one. I was in the last pool in the
approach, where I had gathered a small nervous group of novices,
who had obviously decided it was good survival tactics to follow
an old boy like me. It is a very narrow fast ride around the scorpion's
tail at the top of Emus. This brings you to the top of the Shredder,
which is aptly name because by the time I had reached the pool
above the Washing Machine my little group of novices had been
reduced to one wide-eyed survivor and the rest were swimming for
their lives. But this was no time to be sentimental as the Washing
Machine was next: you take the right hand drop into a big stopper,
but this time as I recovered from the stopper my spraydeck popped
and my boat filled with water. It felt like I was destined to
have a swim but I threw a desperate support stroke and just held
it. The crowd loved it. My boat was as sluggish as a constipated
dolphin. (That was close I almost lost it there). From then on
the race consist of rapids and ti-trees all the way to the top
of Lookoput rapids, and apart from a swim when a kamakzi surf
ski took me out and nearly losing my race again I continued on.
Lookout is the start of a series of major rapids, finishing
with Bell's. The first is Championships, followed by Syd's and
then on to Bell's. These again command respect, for they all can
end anybody's race there and then if one does not know what one
is doing.
At the bottom of Bell's starts the flat water sections. 33
kms of arm numbing, soul sucking flat water that tests the strength
of all paddlers that have suvived the run down the valley. It
is here where you must have the will to push on if you want to
finish the race.
Tim Mace was in front of me again; he had passed me when I
was having that protracted altercation with that dammed double
surf ski, but by the time I got through Bell's, I caught him with
his support crew on the river bank. I was in front again, but
just before Upper Swan Bridge my concentration lapsed on a corner
and a gum tree that was swimming across the river tipped me over.
I was draining my boat on the bank, when Tim caught up again.
It was on again, the real race, labour against management. I eventually
caught him up at Middle Swan Bridge and from there to Tonkin Highway
bridge we were neck and neck again.
As we rounded the last corner before the finish line, the full
effect of the southwesterly headwind hit full on. I stretched
out my pace, I was going to beat Tim to the finish line or bust.
This is where in any race the hard work and value of all year's
training for such an event as this comes to the front. I was able
to take line honours on Tim, but on corrected time he beat me
by 59 seconds.
It has been said to me that I trained him too well ÖÖÖÖ (There is always next year).