[Event] Trailseeker - Wellington - race report

[DieselnDust]

Event Name: Advendurance Trailseeker #6 Wellington

DATE: 10 September 2022

Venue: Bosman Wine Cellars Wellington, Boland WC

Parking was plenty and well marshalled. Toilets clean and there was sufficient bog roll for the cheap skate knypers who take a dump at the venue rather than at home.

Distance: Advertised as 70km but actually 66km

Route Rating: 💪💪💪💪💪

Probably one of the hardest marathon race route out there. Nearly 1700m of vertical gain across proper mtb terrain. No free miles in this race. Water points were well stocked with the necessary and situated with easy access for riders.

Route marking and Marshalling rating: 👍👍👍👍👍

Impossible to get lost and the course was well marshalled. Large Red on Yellow backing route arrows showed the way clearly and well placed so visibility was superb. Route splits were also clearly marked by a large black boards with bright red script and arrows showing the route split direction which was then confirmed by another board stating clearly "you are now on the 70km Route". Danger areas were also well marked well in advance. Marshalls were excellent in that they waved their flags in the direction they wanted you to go and if you somehow got confused, one marshalled had to verbally intervene when a competitor nearly missed a turn because she was to busy looking at her gps.... "ha-ah ha-ah nie daaai kant toe nie....diiiiie kant toe mnr. "  I kid you not....

The Start and Finish area was superb.

 

Organisation rating: 👍👍👍👍👍

Excellent easy registration, start chute clearly marked. You roll up to a round table when a lady or bloke was waiting with a hand held device. You gave them your name, they confirmed your entry and route, and paced a appropriate for the route colour sticker on your number board. I needed a new SASEEDING board and this was easy and painless to buy right there @R60 (although a bit irritating to discover my old board was no longer applicable, especially when it was accepted during the entry process). They had the new zooty yoko FNB easy payment device handy too. Very easy to take your cash and get things sorted pronto. Even Babse who arrived late could still make the start thanks to the efficient registration process.

Seeding was sent out promptly by Wednesday and results were available within hours of the event finishing. Free Photos were available for download by Sunday afternoon.

 Event t-shirts were available for sale as well as sox socks, kranked, gear, PVM nutrition, wood-fired pizza oven was being warmed up and off course beer aplenty.

 

Overall Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

One of the best organised one day events I've participated in. I need to figure wtf s going on with my seeding but I suspect its all those stage races with challenges. I'd dearly love to have just one go right for the duration. The trailseeker series is national and we're quite fortunate to have two events in the Western Cape. Banhoek and Wellington. These events are tough, not for the feint hearted. I didn't expect much in the way of performance having just recovered from Tonsilitis (yes people still have tonsils.....) and requiring a fairly strong dose of anti-biotics to get it sorted. the route was enjoyable non the less. Through in a mechanical (crank fell off at 38km) followed by cramps (were the legs fell off), it was certainly a day that earned the wood fired pizza.

It appears I have unfinished business and the quality of the event makes it an easy decision for 2023

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 12, 2022 by DieselnDust
added some meat

[StokedAboutSpokes]

Thoroughly enjoyed it! Top class event! 

[Jbr]

I hope @babse will write a race report like that about Tour de Worcester 🤣 Keen to see the organiser's rating 🤣

[milky4130]

@DieselnDustyou dont want that old board anyway when everyone else have the marginal gains of a match size board. I mean did you see what @babse's board look like, a flippen garage door in comparison. 

[DieselnDust]

34 minutes ago, milky4130 said:

@DieselnDustyou dont want that old board anyway when everyone else have the marginal gains of a match size board. I mean did you see what @babse's board look like, a flippen garage door in comparison. 

the young lady gave me the option of keeping the old board and I politely declined. Said it will cost too many watts to take it back to the car

[babse]

My take on this race is similar.

 

I've done a few over the year. Pretty much all is advertised as 70km and never really get to that distance. They vary from 60-70km. I have no issue with that. I generally fuel for the max distance anyway.  

 

The course was proper. No free miles. Fortunately, I know the trail well and knew what lied ahead. Done the last few Imbuko's and Epic21. Wellington trails are tough but rewarding. Conditions on the day was probably as close to perfect as you could ask for.

 

As OP noted, I arrived 2mins late for A start (car issue on the morning) so had to settle for next start group. Pre race registration was seamless. My old "garage door number board" was still valid and obviously this was the difference between me and @milky4130 on the day. Cant comment on the waterpoints but they were there.

 

My finish time was whatsapp'd to me immediately after the finish. I queried my start time and within 10mins it was resolved on live online. Respect!

Kudos for free event pics as well.

 

[babse]

19 hours ago, Jbr said:

I hope @babse will write a race report like that about Tour de Worcester 🤣 Keen to see the organiser's rating 🤣

hahaha nah I'm over it... 

 

 

[Hilton.]

No Event posted for this year's Wellington Trailseeker 2023?

Same date as the Fedhealth MTB, around the corner:  Sat 9 September 🙈