While I was going to St Ives

Mel and I had tried, the week earlier, to prepare for the likelihood of mental challenges. I’d found some logic problems online and we tested ourselves on the way to and from the mini-rogaine. Our efforts had been pretty pathetic though, even with the ‘very easy’ category, so we weren’t sure what to expect from the challenges in Teva. Happily, they weren’t so tough and Kerry was always quick to take up the challenge.

Some of the challenges involved testing memory and recall of films and television shows from audio grabs, solving a Rubix cube in four minutes and recognising logos of race sponsors.

Others were physical, like manoeuvring a Segway around an obstacle course (these are amazing machines-they make less impact on the environment than an individual walking), racing against a too-energetic kid and constructing a shelter that could keep the three of us dry in rain and high winds.

Candice’s leaf blower

The shelter challenge was one of the major ones in the race and it was the challenge that had Candice powering-up. At the beginning of the race, we had been given a cryptic puzzle about a predicted storm from the east. It had me baffled throughout the race as well as a little concerned that my poor lateral thinking skills would hamper our efforts. But, all became clear as we came back HQ for the final legs of the race.

An orienteering challenge required us to plan a route that would allow us to collect enough points to buy equipment to build our shelter. We decided that a large tarp, polls, tent pegs and a mallet would build us a good shelter, along with the string we had brought along with us (the joining instructions had directed us to bring something we could use to build something with).

We set to building our shelter, which needed to be strong enough to withstand wind and rain from the east, and big enough to keep the three of us dry. Once we were in the shelter we had to keep a candle burning while Candice powered-up the leaf blower and another volunteer turned the hose on us, together assailing our shelter with the predicted storm.

It goes without saying that we stayed dry and kept the candle alight – so intrepid of us!

The finishing line

After the challenge sequence back at HQ, we had one final mountain bike leg to complete. Kerry had been keeping pace all day, but at this point she hit a wall. Mel and I were pleased that she spoke up and chose to sit out the last leg.

Mel and I took off toward the last few controls, on a buzz from the whole experience and how close we were to finishing. We crossed the line after about five and a half hours of racing and both felt the biggest sense of achievement.

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