Local dentist and experienced athlete Sean McEvoy is always up for a challenge. Last November, he may have found the ultimate one.
McEvoy completed the gruelling nine-and-one-half day 2011 World Championship Adventure Race XPD Tasmania in Tasmania, Australia.
The event, dubbed “Australia’s own expedition-length adventure race,” took place in rugged terrain along Tasmania’s west coast. About 90 teams, with four members each, raced around the clock over 700 kilometres by trekking, kayaking and mountain biking.
“It was probably one of the hardest things I’ve done,” admitted McEvoy, who has competed in more than a dozen Ironman competitions. “I’ve climbed mountains all over the world, including Everest. There’s definitely a lot of suffering involved,” he chuckled.
McEvoy was part of Team Wildrose, consisting of three other experienced athletes from B.C. and Alberta. When a team member had another commitment during the World Championship Adventure Race, the team invited McEvoy to join them in Tasmania.
McEvoy, who is “always training for things associated with Ironman,” spent some extra time with his teammates “navigating, paddling and bushwhacking.”
“My job was to keep up with them and not get into trouble,” he joked. While the team had been in adventure endurance races like this before, this was McEvoy’s first.
Much of the preparation went into logistics and technical issues.
“The less time you spend lost in the dark, the better,” he laughed.
“Everyone was in really good shape, so it wasn’t a matter of getting fit. The race is broken up into different stages, with checkpoints that you need to locate with map and compass. Many of them aren’t in very nice places.”
Team members get by on as little as an hour or two of sleep every 24 hours, sometimes falling asleep and even hallucinating while biking or walking.
“The race goes on continually,” pointed out McEvoy, who credits his teammates as being very supportive, “very strong and all very experienced.”
Having a skilled navigator was a big help to the team, who is responsible for arranging locations where cooler-size boxes full of gear and food are dropped. These areas are transition areas, or “TAs,” where the team would change their mode of transportation, such as from trekking to paddling.
“You have to ensure that your gear and food are organized properly so the right gear and food show up in the transition areas. You might not see another transition zone for 24 or 36 hours.”
Like sleep, meals were scant, consisting mainly of energy bars or pre-packaged “food in a bag.”
The team hiked over snowy mountainous areas, bushwhacked through dense rainforest and raced along sandy beaches in blistering heat.
“You spend most of the time soaking wet,” described McEvoy. “You freeze and you cook and you just put up with it. There’s lots of mud. You’re carrying your bike through it and swimming rivers…”
When asked if he would compete in the race again, McEvoy laughed.
“When the race is done, everyone says they won’t do it again.”
Though they hoped for a top 15 spot, Team Wild Rose placed a respectable 19th overall.
After the race, McEvoy and his spouse spent time enjoying the wine country north of Sydney, Australia.
This year, he plans to compete in a five-day trans-Alps road bike race, beginning in Germany and finishing in Italy. In November, he will also take part in the Arizona Ironman.
McEvoy, who trains from 12 to 18 hours a week, enjoys constantly challenging himself.
“There’s always a challenge. You can push yourself and test yourself.”
One of his Wild Rose teammates, Veronica Jarlehag, kept a detailed blog at teamwildrose.blogspot.com.
Jarlehag credits McEvoy with being a “trooper,” who showed “huge strength, both mentally and physically… You wouldn’t know by looking at him that this was his first adventure race.”
