Kawerau 6 hour

I've cried three times in adventure racing.

My accidental photo bomb……

1.  Broken Hills 24 hour when I couldn't even wheel my bike through that motocross track knee deep in sticky mud without the wheel getting so clogged up it wouldn't spin.  Tears of frustration.

2.  Whangamata when I was getting more and more nervous about the heights involved trying to work our way off the headland down to the beach, and then Rochelle climbed around that exposed point that looked totally unstable and I thought she might plummet to her death. Tears of fear.

3.  This year's Kawerau 6 hour...…. when my feet slipped forward in front of me on a steep bank, and I flew up in the air and then came down with all my weight on my left butt cheek.  On a tree root.  Tears of pain...…..


As I lay on the ground and tried not to vomit, with a buzzing sound in my ear, I realised that Rochelle was really worried I'd badly injured myself.  While the pain was immense, it was all impact, no twist or tear or joints involved.  I think I managed to gasp out that I was ok, I just landed hard on my ass.

"Would it help if I rubbed it?"

That's a true friend and teammate.

The night before

This was the hardest ever race planning I've done.  We talked up and down and around in circles.  The key issue being, the latter stages of the race had the most points, we certainly didn't want to run out of time to collect all of them, but missing cps and run the risk of finishing early, while slower teams who banked points on early stages clock past you in points.

Eventually we decided to cut the first MTB short.  I'm not sure how I let Rochelle, the talented runner, talk me out of biking every race!  But, there were a couple of in and out cps with some climbing, and we know we like to be out the front, so we skipped these and went for it.  Unfortunately we went for it right past a cp in the first 15 mins...……… where I wasn't strong on my map, and Rochelle had mistook a twink mapping mistake for a clearing...………..    Not our strongest start but I was too stubborn and embarrassed to ride back down the hill.

Spot us in the middle?

Our first trek leg we had also decided to skip most of the advanced loop, but did have some fun running into the back end, in an unexpected direction to pick up some quick points.

The trek legs were untracked, but taped to ensure everyone found their way.  Advantages were in being able to move confidently, and fast, to the cp site, and we did pretty well with this.  We were in some awesome wilderness, with some stunning rock features and streams.  You can always count on Kawerau to take us somewhere we've never been before.  Somewhere where you think not many people have ever been before.

 'Duh' moment of the day was cycling into Start/Transition, where they had moved some of the tape, vehicles, tents etc, and getting my head completely upside down and not being able to find our gear drop!  I did manage to transfer my hockey skills to the Lacrosse mystery challenge, after lining it up like a hockey shot and freaking out the marshall, I did manage a proper overarm throw straight on to the target.  I did also manage to push in front of other teams who were waiting in my excitement.  Sorry!

Lacrosse targets

Heading out from there, I called out to Neil "We'll be staying out till 6 hours 30 - I reckon the penalty points will be worth it!"

We pushed hard on the final trek - having decided we couldn't afford to waste time and get disorientated by off-track CPs, we started monstering to the summit.  I changed that plan nearly immediately, when I could see the ridgeline that an offtrack CP was on as we approached it, just 75m or so off our track.  Rochelle waited while I popped down to collect it, I hadn't realised that she was having difficulty and she later said she was extremely unwell with some body anomaly that's never happened before.  I was oblivious...…..  sorry!

Emoji Challenge

A quick bike ride to our final mystery challenge - identifying emojis.  That was never going to be my strong point, but I managed to work out Stars in your Eyes and, ROFL, while Rochelle was a bit better with hers.  One last surge on the bike to finish both feeling pretty strong, 6:15, and so rapt that one of the organisers had moved our car to the finish line for us so we didn't have to take a bus trip back through the forest.  VIP in Kawerau!

Pretty rapt with first place for us - but even better, we enjoyed a strong race and a great adventure.  Nice short legs with lots of change kept things interesting, various options to miss checkpoints kept lots of variety in the teams around us, and it was impossible to have any idea how we were doing compared to others.

Xterra Duathlon

Chugging up the steps at the back of Blue Lake, I decide that at the top I'll have to stop to rest.  Because, really, why suffer so much?

Thighs burning, chest heaving, face sweating, I stagger out of the forest at the top of the steps and pretty much fall on the Aid Table.

"Great stuff, you're the first female though!"

"Wait, what???"

"You're the first female duathlete, you need to keep going!"

Oh shit.  &&%$##$.  Arrrrgghhhhhh.  Not a position I've been in much, certainly not at an Xterra event, but I guess I've found the small pond in the new Duathlon event.  Because, why suffer through that swim really?  Why suffer running around this lake now?  Well, I guess because first sounds pretty good doesn't it - and we all know my running speed is really not going to be doing me any favours right now...…….

So I head off, sort of run/waddling down the road, with 1.5 laps of Blue Lake to go.

A couple of hours earlier, I sat on my bike at the Start Line, looking around at the other Duathletes and pure MTB event competitors milling around.  I was pretty pleased that a season of Summer Series has me pretty confident that I can rock it with the big kids on the start line.  And I've learned the hard way, that every 20 seconds you give up at the start by being behind another rider, stretches out to 4-5 mins at the end of the first single track, and that's bloody hard to make up.  So, I'm right near the front, avoid the start line crash, and hit Tangaroamihi single track in a good group.   I get the whole way through this trail, only needing to pass 3-4 people, and being passed by about 2-3 behind.  

Out on the width of Tikitapu Road, the shit is sorted from the shovel, and solid trickle of 15-20 riders overtakes me.  Although being passed sucks, mostly I'm just pleased knowing that most have them have been caught behind slower riders through the single track, and have had to work harder than me just to catch up.  

I really enjoy the Xterra ride - I could do with more single track, and maybe more downhill, but generally I know I do pretty well.  I spend a great half an hour trying to stay on the tail of a lady, a little older than me, who is pretty much shredding.  As we start hauling in and overtaking riders ahead, some look back and see us but seem certain they'll be able to go faster, despite the fact we have obviously caught them.  A couple of times I call out "She's nailing it, make room!" and we fly past with a smile.  

Up the road into Pondy, I have a disaster when the rider in front of me, without clips, slips a pedal and goes down - with me following shortly after.  Bloody knee and sore elbow and hip, but mostly a bit embarrassed!

I ride through the back trails along Tarawera Road, slowly catching another female I can see in front.  We transition together, and I decide to stay on her tail for as long as I can.  We've only gone a few hundred metres when she slows down so much, it would be awkward to stay behind, so I overtake.  If you're going to overtake, you better do it well and not give them anything to hang on to, so as we duck back onto the lake trail, I push fairly hard, enjoying the technical footwork.  

Then the stairs, the decision to pull back a bit, and finding that the other women who finished the MTB in front of me mustn't have been duathletes!

So, what follows is 1.5 laps of Blue Lake toil, wishing I'd done more run training, getting lapped by Tom (hate that!!) but somehow, managing to stay in front of the chasing runners.   2nd Place came in only a couple of minutes after me, after running 10 minutes faster than me.  Good thing I had some legs on the bike!

Pretty stoked with an Xterra placing medal!  

Marokopa Munter 24 hour

"24 hours is a long time!"

If only I had a dollar for every time I heard that leading up to the Munter!!!  I can confirm that 24 hours feels much longer when you're trying to navigate, coordinate, decision make and force your legs to move forward, during the hours when your brain just wants to be sleeping.  Apologies for the long blog, but as this blog is really just so one day my kids read it and think "Mum really was crazy", I reserve the right to write it so I can remember it as I'm pretty sure my  memory is already going.

MM is big.  It's a big time.  The legs are big.  The navigation is big.  Distances are big.  Community Spirit is big.  But most of all, those hills are big.  Even with the baptism of fire that was the 2017 inaugural MM, I still can't look at those contour lines and get a mental 3d picture of the size and steepness of those hills.  Standing high at CP A, overlooking the Rogaine stage, my heart sank at the bigness of it all.

"So, those bush CPs, M and N, are..............."  (moment of quiet)
"Yep, way over there."  (everyone looks at the trees so far away they are in the haze of the late afternoon sun, protected by numerous BIG hills and BIG valleys.)

The Munter is big.  But a big challenge is exactly what we came for.  Journey Wild is the only Women's 4 team entered, just as we were last year.  (I have grand plans to be the only female team to have ever raced ALL Marokopa Munters - do you reckon we'll get a free entry in the 10th year celebrations?? Matt?  Nev?)  Last year's incredible adventure, we toiled out the back all day, jostling for last place with a couple of other teams, and got a truck ride home having run out of time with two stages still to complete.  We knew we'd done really well in a BIG race - but it's still a DNF aye? 

2018 is a new format allowing teams to collect those CPs which they choose, missing CPs and cutting legs short to finish as much of the course as they feel able to.  We'd discussed this beforehand, and our key team goal was to complete all legs, and to finish the course under our own steam.  We worked really hard on our timing and strategy beforehand, as the nature of the MTB legs linking the major treks and Finish line, meant we still needed to be careful to allow enough time for the distance travelled, regardless of whether we were collecting the CPs or not.  Tucked up in bed on Friday night checking over my maps, I found a key mistake and had to reconvene with the team in the morning and re-set our plans.  Luckily, I asked Taryn to check the timeline and support crew timings and she found a mistake in my maths shortly before leaving time which sent me into a spiral of panic and re-re-timelining!

Stage 1 - Kayak:
Kayaking is not going to be our (my) strength.  This is my first ever kayak in an AR.  We've decided to miss checkpoints 1-4, get ahead of the pack and then enjoy our own race.  It's a beautiful sunny morning on the Kawhia Harbour as we take the boats.

Kayak Stage 1

RACE CLOCK:  (all times are approximate, because really, it's just a blur!)

00:05  Paddling in circles, with a jammed rudder, looking like total wombles right in front of the organisers on the start line.  Cringe.  I'm surprised they didn't send a boat out to get us and tell us we obviously weren't safe to take on a BIG race.
00:15  Rudder sorted, making forward progess, watching the team in front of us struggling to paddle in shallow water on an outgoing tide, we make the decision that it'll be faster to run on the mud.
00:17  Liz is storming through the knee-high mud, making good progress but using plenty of energy while the rest of us waddle behind to stay within our allowed team distance, but using her strong legs to do the extra metres.
00:18  Liz is wading through thigh high mud.....
00:19  Liz is languishing in waist deep mud and we return in shame to the boats to paddle closer in.  It's hard not to be frustrated at the loss of time, but nothing ventured, nothing gained, and now we've learned not to take that mud lightly!
00:40 We've got some rhythm, picking up CPs solidly, with Lauren and Liz calling our lines around the mud and into the channels where possible.  The sun is shining, and being in a kayak feels a great adventure for me as a novice.  When we exit the boats for CP 7, the water is another 200m further away by the time we return from the mud dash to the CP, and we realise how much less water and more mud there is for the teams who went for CPs 1-4 first.
01:10  Taryn and I paddle merrily past Liz clinging precariously to the ladder under a bridge to clip CP8  while Lauren tries to hold the kayak steady underneath.  There's a reason why we put the two strongest paddlers in one boat, and that's it right there!
1:50  Owhiro Stream gets smaller and narrower and windier and has windfall.  Windfall on a kayak leg!!!!!  I would never have imagined that was a thing, as we hop out of the boats and lift them over and around trees in a setting that would be very picturesque if it wasn't for needing to carry the boats!
02:30  Transition 1.  I'm a real adventure racer who did the paddle leg!  KAYAKING IS THE BEST THING EVER!  Where do I buy one??  Woop woop!

Kayak to Owhiro

Stage 2:  MTB
02:45  We comment on the deep ruts in the farm track, now dry and hard, and reminisce on the constant shin deep mud from 2017 MM and feel pretty lucky.  GOOD WEATHER IS THE BEST THING EVER!
02:55 We grind our bikes up a bloody steep hill in the beating sun and think maybe we're not so lucky......  "It's ok girls, once we hit CP 10 we'll be in the bush and get some shade"
03:15  So, maybe it's just head high scrub and still totally exposed to the sun.........oops.
04:00  After CP 11 we hit the farmland, and look across to CP 12. I wanted to check if there was a way through there, but it looks fairly rough farmland so we continue around the track.  At this point our friends and partners in team Disco Lemonade overtake us, the second team to come through from behind having collected all the CPs, but on looking at the tracking later on, did the winning team take the shortcut across the lake edge and pass us all here??

Giving some encouragement to Team Disco Lemonade.

05:00 Transition 2, ahead of schedule after a strong bike making use of Liz's legs on the front of the peleton.

Stage 3:  Rogaine Trek

Rogaine Stage 3

05:10   Mystery Activity Shooting - go girls, great score which means we carry only a little penalty sand for this leg.
08:00  It's taken us a while to find our Mojo in this leg.  The nav is challenging - I've got excited by being able to see the watertank of CP C and wandered off my bearing to a totally different water tank; and CP E we were short on our distance and went down the wrong ridgeline.  We pick up CP D with a return to confidence, we are tired and hungry but with the sun fading we continue to push on, trying to make the most of the light.  We decide to climb high toward F to get a good viewpoint with the last of the light, then pick a good route through the saddles to CP I at Puketarata Pa.
09:00 Team Naki Bits are sitting at the Pa having a break watching the sun set, and we wish we had a camera as it would make a great team photo of their silhouettes.  Without a lot of confidence in my night nav though, we continue pushing on till dark.  We are now REALLY tired and hungry and it feels like it's been hours that we've been trying to make use of the last hour of the daylight!
09:30  It's dark.  We're cold.  Someone is going to sprain an ankle trying to walk without lights.  We finally take a break, get changed, sort lights, take a deep breath and head into the darkness. My warm jacket feels like THE BEST THING EVER!
10:00  CP F.  CP F.  CP F.  I'm totally gutted we didn't find this one.  After initially overshooting without realising we were on the road which didn't look as much like a road in real life as it did on the map..... we found the right high point, checked by looking for the loop in the road, checked elevation of the vague high point, and scrambled around in the bush with a  number of other teams.  We took bearings, pace counted, grid searched; and even decided that the centre of the CP circle was actually due south of the highpoint rather than magnetic south, so grid searched in that direction too.  Gutted to find out later that it wasn't gone and some teams did find it, in a very dense scrub.
11:00 Heading back to TA, we'll just wander up the stream to pickup CP K on the way.  Yeah right!!  As per MM styles, this little stream was quite steep and gorgy in places, but we choose good routes and continue on a good ridgeline towards the TA.
11:30  Transition 2 for a good old kiwi sausage in bread and a hot milo which may have just been the BEST THING I'VE EVER TASTED.

Stage 4 MTB
14:00 TA 3.  Wow, we're here already!  Go us, nailed that MTB leg!  Our super amazing support crew made me a chicken cuppa soup which is THE BEST THING I'VE EVER TASTED.

Stage 5 Trek

Trek Stage 5

15:00  We are way ahead of schedule, so decided to adapt from our previous plan to just head straight through the check and only pick up those CPs on the track towards the next TA.  Intrepid adventurers that we are, we head off for CPs 15, 16, 17 and join a whole lot of other teams wandering around saying "Have you guys found 15?"  Changing the race plan is the WORST PLAN EVER!  This is the time when brains stop to function, 2-4am in the morning and not only were we struggling to navigate in a very challenging area, decision making was definitely impaired.  We just couldn't quite bring ourselves to give up and walk back to the TA along the southern farm track to be sure of our position and head out on the gorge track.  The longer you leave it, the harder this backwards decision gets.  And we went back and forwards in making this decision and then backing out of it.  Eventually we decided to take a  bearing north to hit the gorge track and just hope we didn't get bluffed in.  We headed that way and stumbled upon CP 15!!!  BEST FEELING EVER!!  More good luck than good management then saw us hit the gorge track and spot a marker, so we were back on our way.
18:00  Taryn had a terrible night's sleep on Friday night, and she has hit the wall.  She's pale, her eyes are puffy, she's pretty much lost the will to live, but somehow she is digging deep and putting one foot in front of another to move forward.  Everyone has got a little quieter, but Lauren has been here before in a 24 hour race, and steps in behind Taryn to keep an eye on her and talk her through while Liz and I continue to navigate.  The darkness before dawn is tough, but Lauren reassures us that we'll get a second wind when the sun comes up.  We head off the track in just the right place to nail CP 19, wet feet at this time of day is a bit mean!
21:00 TA 4.  I put on clean, dry socks which is THE BEST THING EVER!  Taryn has a coffee and is pretty much a new person.  Liz storms through transition, obviously aware that time is of the essence to get to the finish line in time.

Stage 6 MTB

MTB Stage 6

23:00  I'm super impressed with how well everyone is moving.  These chicks are tough, 23 hours non stop and they're still in the saddle, climbing well, not an inkling of a whinge amongst them.  As we turn off the road, Lauren and I have been through this section in last years MM, and have the unfair advantage of knowing that the farm track goes a LOT further than it shows on the map, so I'm confident that we'll be on track all the way back to the road.  There are some steep downhills with fist sized gravel rocks, balanced with some pinch climbs and pushes, so everyone is needing to stay focussed and dig deep.  It's quite a relief to hit the tarseal road, and we think we have JUST enough time to hit the finish line within 24 hours.
23:30  &%$# HEAD WIND.  WORST THING EVER.  That's just a cruel West Coast joke.  I can sit in behind Liz quite comfortably as she grinds away, but when she hears me freewheel and fades out to give me a turn it's like being hit with a brick and my legs are screaming at me.  We grind it out until we see the Marokopa Hall in the distance, but call it adrenaline or pig-headedness, instead of relaxing knowing we still have ten minutes, we keep pushing hard.  There's a stunned silence when I call out "CP 28 up the hill" so I follow it up quickly with a "Just Kidding"
23:52  Finish line.  Planning and timing spot on.  Ignore Nev and Matt's handshakes and launch into hugs instead.  That soup waiting for us on the finish line is the BEST THING I'VE EVER TASTED.

Hugs

Finish Line

Reflections:  The change of format this year has made the MM a much more achievable option for teams wanting to challenge themselves navigationally and physically, while still maintaining difficulty and distance for those Godzone level teams.  Our results show that we were racing in the big pond with some quite big fish, yet being able to miss some CPs enabled us to remain in touch with the race and enjoy the momentum of the whole event rather than sitting out the back.  The terrain is BIG, leading to BIG views and rugged West Coast scenery that is super impressive to race through.  The course setting and clever placement of CPs kept us engaged in every leg, with minimal sections of that monotonous, soul destroying plod that can happen in long races.  The marshalls and team involved are the icing on the cake, while I'm sure the event will continue to grow with so many happy competitors, I hope it never loses the personal touch which they have totally nailed.


Learning:
Be Decisive.  Consider the options, make a decision and go for it.  (Post script - I failed on this one already at Otorohanga McDonalds - so  many options on the menu...………..)
Distance.  OMG how many times is this going to be on my learning list!!!!!
Continue being awesome at choosing teammates.  Nailed it with this crew.
Carry first aid kit, phone and survival blanket even on a Kayak leg where compulsory gear isn't compulsory.  The story of the bloke who tangled with an oyster shell and spent the day with the Waikato DHB wasn't friendly.
Inject some support crew Karma into the world - Jo our support crew was an absolute storm trooper and took everything in her stride, with Neil also adopting us while waiting for his team and offering all sorts of good help and advice.  Good sorts.

Kawerau Adventure Race

Nerves were a little high for this race.  I've finally quit the job that was driving me mad and killing my training with overtime, but I'm reflecting on nearly a year of reduced exercise.  Top that off with abdominal surgery in April and..... excuses, excuses but I'm pretty worried Rochelle is going to kick my butt!!! 

Kawerau is cold, cold, cold!  The race start is a half hour walk from transition base, we shed our warm layers with some reluctance and grin and bear the -1 degrees.  As we approach the start line we are given an egg - keep it safe till the end for 100  bonus points; I tuck Egg-bert into the front pouch of my UD vest, making a little nest of my merino hat, and wedging in a couple of muesli bars to make little walls.  Sleep well little guy, I don't like your chances.......

The start line is chaos - they always are!  We push hard (well I do, Rochelle can run about 2 mins a km faster than me, I'm practically sprinting!) as we want to be near the front and not caught up in the congestion.  The first mystery activity is an open forest space with multiple bird pictures nailed to trees; find 5 forest birds and move on for maximum points.  Great plan #1 - it's a long skinny area marked on the map, alongside the road which we are going to continue down.  Rather than splitting up and meeting back at the entry point, Chelle and I take one side each, run the whole length of the area while remaining in calling distance, and meet up at the end.  We've seen a Kiwi, Fantail, Kokako, Pukeko, and a bird which I thought was a Kaka, but the guy running nearby called a Kea....... as we run off we catch a glimpse of a Kereru, so quickly swap that one in.  Fairly rapt to be in the first bunch heading out from the area, which gives us a clear run through the falls and into the climb without getting stuck behind anyone. 

I've told Rochelle beforehand, that one of my goals is that when it's too technical, or I'm too tired to run; I want to maintain forward momentum, to not switch to an amble.  As a result, she's often saying "Fast walking" or "Run this bit".  This strategy totally worked as we came off the trek well ahead of teams who would have had potential to move faster than us.  I was possibly also a little more knackered than I would otherwise have been!!  It's definitely a strategy to put a teammate in charge of. 

The Tarawera Falls are so impressive, and it's lovely to run along the turquoise river which Rochelle had never seen before and was very admiring of.  The trek leg in general was awesome, great variety of climbing, bush, a shingly wash, regular CPs to keep us busy - one of my favourite treks I think.  The path is totally marked with pink tape, as the RD was concerned about someone falling off the huge bluffs to our East, but this is balanced with some of the CPs being out of sight, on the backs of trees, and quite hard to find.  You really had to be on the map and know when to look, and we did really well through this section, although the Dead Tree which hardly looked dead, I just happened to fluke looking back at the right time. 

We leap frogged a little with another ladies pair, who were moving faster but overrunning some CPs.  They missed the access into the wash, and Rochelle and I put some quick yards in to make the most of our adventage.... and proceeded to overrun the CP!  Arrrggghhh!!!  We decided to leave it and continue on rather than go back.

We came off the trek leg well ahead of our envisaged time..... so as a result, decided to head out on the extra loop rather than be faster than expected on the bike as well and run out of points to collect.  Turns out we should have stuck to our plan, as that's what the ladies who won did!!!  Friends from Orienteering Bay of Plenty took out the win, by a considerable margin, but both are very strong cyclists. 

Running the long loop was fairly torturous for me - pushing beyond my current run legs as it was open road and speed was vital.  I seem to be comparatively faster trekking!  I also got a bit behind in my nutrition, and heading out on the bikes was decidedly legless and thought I might be done!   Rochelle has joined a MTB group, and a windtrainer competition against Mr Bib Shorts Man; her legs were in way better shape than mine initially.  Luckily I got a second wind, and was able to finish a little stronger, managing to get just far enough ahead of Rochelle to return her earlier reminders to speed up with a "Fast pedalling" jibe!  (I'm pretty sure she just let me get in front for my prides sake!)

We had a great time on the small rogaines, getting all CPs although with a bit of mucking around on one CP which cost us a bit of time.  The second rogaine was compass bearings and distances, which I quickly ran through while Rochelle cleaned her shoes.  (Yes, she cleaned her shoes!).  This was a highlight as I'd take my bearing and say "300 degrees, 45 metres - somewhere there by the leaning tree" and I'd run to the leaning tree and it was right there!!!  Managed to repeat this for all so was rapt to pick up these 500 points really fast, as we were running late and getting penalty points in a gamble to be earning more than we were losing.

At the Mystery Activity centre, hatchet throwing Rochelle's gentle nature was possibly a disadvantage as it kept bouncing out, maybe my East coast upbringing helped me there - but I pretty much watched and chatted to the race organisers while she finished our wordfind!   Egg-bert was gingerly withdrawn intact from his nest for our bonus 100 points; and we finished with puddles still frozen around our feet!

I hoped for a top 5, felt disappointed to not be called for 5, 4, 3; and then fairly rapt to be called for 2nd.  As it turned out, there were only 50 points between us and 3rd - 5th.  If we had been 3 minutes slower we would have been pushed out. I wonder what 50 points other teams are lamenting in hindsight! 

ARC long course - Raging Rivers and the Muddiest Bogfest on Earth

ARC Excalibur - the day dawned like something out of the middle ages - drizzly rain, mist, and the torches moving erratically around in the car park at hahei in preparation for battle.  And a battle it would be!

Taryn - our first race together this season - that's the problem when you recruit youngsters from your hockey team!
Tilly - always reliable, back from a huge showing at Red Bull Defiance
Coralie - a new import, super strong cyclist and keen for 12 hours of biking and trekking

The race started in Hahei, with a MTB out to Cathedral Cove and around farmland through to Coroglen, then a big trek up the Rangihau River and through the Pinnacles and Hihi and down into Broken Hills, before biking through a forestry block rogaine where the abseiling and shooting activities took place en route to Pauanui. 

I was  nervous going into this race - work has been overwhelming lately and I knew I'd be off the pace of my teammates.  Sure enough, a sprint straight up the sealed road and I was struggling and lagging and looking longingly at the tow rope we'd put on Tilly's bike, although we'd said it was for the later stages of the race only.  Well, I definitely need to do some work.  (AND buy a nice new lightweight bike like Taryn's!!!!)

First leg was a bit shitty really, running with bike shoes to Cathedral Cove.  As the weakest team member :(  When we got there I stayed with the bikes as we were allowed to split them team, with the others running down to beach level to hunt out the CP.

After this our race prep paid off well, as we had the notes available which clearly said we could ride our bikes from the turn off.  We passed some teams walking and exchanged some 'banter' about the race rules, which we checked again and kept on riding.  Our nav in this section went pretty well too, with a couple of hiccups.  We picked up early that we were heading too far North, and a couple of teams heading back towards us confirmed that!  There was quite a scramble, and a bit of looking at rough tracks, until Taryn said "Remember, it should be easier than this" so we re-traced our steps a little bit further and found a whole blimmen track that we'd missed on the way up!!!

Second mistake was my fault for doubting Taryn.  My maps were set to be lead early, but as we moved towards the end of the leg, hers was set, so I handed over Nav to her.  A team just ahead went straight down the road, and Taryn turned us into a gravel driveway - which I then queried as I was expecting another road.  I was concerned that just because it was on our map as the next right, didn't mean that any driveway was a right!  My doubt threw Taryn, we rode further down the road, spied 3-4 other navigable features  to confirm and turned right back around to go down her gravel driveway.

Support Crew.  Wow.  Support Crew.  I've done very few races with support crew.  Being a middle aged Mum, I really don't know many people who have a weekend to give up following crazies around the countryside handling their wet shitty socks and offering a variety of food choices.  Most of my friends have already parented toddlers thanks, and don't need to spend a weekend reminding themselves of how awful it was.  But for this race, Kate and Tilly's Mum had superkindly volunteered.... or been volunteered by Tilly.  You couldn't have asked for  better, with a super transition area set up in a DRY space, all our gear ready and the most solicitous queries, encouragement and helpfulness.  I very nearly offered to stay with them for the rest of the day, but they did their job well and "shoo-ed" us back out into the rain on our bikes.

We were back again 15 minutes later, as we'd forgotten to check out of transition.  Bwahahahah!  Better than Richie McCaw's team, who made it 20 minutes up the valley to the gear check before realising they'd forgotten some essential and had to go back to transition for it.

Gear check - all good.  (Kudos to the race organisers for actually doing a gear check - and for their nazi like Kauri Die Back measures actually, with no exceptions to cleaning bikes and footwear to protect our native forests).

And so the big trek began.  We knew this was a big trek, but maybe didn't appreciate just quite how big it would be.  34km.  Tilly can probably run 34km in a couple of hours.  Unfortunately, this was a road race, or even a trail race, more like an extremely long obstacle mud run type event. You know, those ones that are usually about 45 minutes of good dirty, cardio hard fun?  Maybe 5km?  Well make that 33kms, add in a whole lot of rain, torrential rivers, knee deep mud, and nightfall.   Get the drift?

 

The first obstacle was fording the Rangihau River above.  A very gentlemanly men's team waited a few minutes for us and offered to add some height and weight to our groups crossing the river.  I've been reading about river crossings, having had some difficulties in a flooded Tararua tramp recently, so was keen to put my newfound knowledge to practise.

 

Challenge #2.  The next river crossing.  Oh boy.  I can confirm that it was higher and faster when we arrived that in the photo above. We watched our friendly mens team attempt a crossing 2-3 times and keep returning.  We spent an hour ranging up and down the river trying to find a safe crossing point with other teams catching up and trying also.  At times as we clung to trees on the bank someone would lose their footing and have to be grabbed by the others.  I've never experienced a current so strong.

Eventually, we returned to a spot we'd looked at earlier for it's good exit options and lack of white water and rocks.  The difficulty here was, our only option was to swim, it was WAY deep.  A few teams had joined up here and started swimming across one by one.  We could see from our side how difficult it was to drag the teammates out of the water - but I saw a guy I knew on the far side, and asked him to please stay and catch me when I swam.  A team of two ladies were sitting on the rock ledge ready to go next, obviously very apprehensive, so I offered to go ahead of them.

That swim was probably one of the scariest things I've done in adventure racing.  I believe it was our safest option for crossing the river........ but our safest option would have been to turn back.  hmmmmm.

Half was across, I was underwater and partially submerged as it bubbled around me, trying to get forward motion in running shoes and with a pack on.  I could see Tim with his hand out, but knew I was going to be swept past him downstream without making enough distance - he took a big step out, with another teammate holding his other side in shallower water - grabbed my hand and towed me into the shallows.  Despite being in knee deep water, I couldn't gain my feet, and thrashed in the shallows like a hooked fish for a bit before standing.  Super relieved, I looked across at the rest of my team on the other side of the river. 

Now, as the ladies told me later, my relief  must have shown on my face.  Apparently they read me like a book - terrified, relieved, and then visibly working to master my emotions and look encouraging.  (this is all the while I'm thinking F***, do I encourage them over or tell them to turn back???)  Anyway, everyone did make it across, Taryn showing some improved swim form compared to previous races.  (We have to tease her about her swimming!) Coralie had said early, she wasn't a swimmer - it's ok there's no swimming in AR!!!  Tilly cruised across with a ginormous pack on and made it look easy!

From here, we had a big climb up to the Pinnacles Hut.  We enjoyed the company of some other teams, chatted away, worked well, navved well and enjoyed a rest at the hut.  I'll complain to DOC that the BBQ wasn't going so I couldn't heat up my cheeseburger.

With time getting on and MANY kms to go, we skipped the out and back checkpoint at Pinnacles heights, and headed around to the Hihi.

Nav wise, the next few hours were easy to find your way on marked tracks, but difficult to stay focussed and stay tight on the map to know when to expect the CPs.  I was pleased to nav through the camp and find CPs even when clues weren't quite exact.

Energy wise - the next few hours were a mudfest.  Oh gosh.  Quite literally 7 hours of wading through mud.  Sometimes it was ankle deep, sometimes it was knee deep, sometimes it was thigh deep, but you never quite knew until it was too late and you were toppling over.  There was no other option but to forge ahead in a bit of a daze really.

Somewhere about hour 5...... of the mud.... this is about hour........13 in total......... I returned to my contemplations of long course AR.  I don't mind challenges, or tired, or wet, or muddy.  I know I'm signing up to be pushed and be exhausted and have to keep moving forward.  But I think I get really bored of the SAME agony for hours on end.  The Monotony of "lift foot, learn forward, put foot down, sink up to knee in mud" Rinse and repeat for 7 hours.   And I had an epiphany.

Maybe 6 hour races are more my thing - suit my ADHD better by changing it up a bit?

Anyway - the only good thing was, once we hit the downhill I was totally familiar with the area, having raced, camped and trained at Broken Hills a number of times so we wasted no time on nav at all.  The trail is really technical, and I enjoyed the challenge of trail finding when sometimes the trail was actually a gushing stream, with only the orange markers confirming it was actually where we were supposed to walk.  I guess at this stage I was relieved to be able to make up for some of my earlier weakness and lack of speed, as I'm quite comfortable on technical trail and was able to move fairly quickly while leading out.

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Broken Hills.  12.5 hours for that trek.  (We entered a 12 hour race which has so far taken us over 15 hours)

Oh, our poor support crew.  The only thing worse than wading through mud all day is spending all day wondering if your team is dead in the hills and you're wasting your time waiting in the cold, dark, damp campground in case they do emerge alive.  And our wonderful crew once again had everything out and ready.  I'm going to support crew for someone one day to repay this wonderful Karma that I have received.

Anyway - the rifle shooting is long since packed up.  Tom and Hannah snapped the rope at abseiling so that's not an option, and we know we have no energy to contemplate heading into the forestry block on a bike rogaine.  Given that the race is already in excess of what we'd thought, and that poor Coralie's TWELVE hour time frame was blown out of the water, in the end Tilly and Coralie stay at transition to help pack up and get a head start on hot food and showers, and Taryn and I are pigheaded and end up back on the bikes.  I think this was the still stinging hurt of 'losing' the Whangamata race after getting a ride back to HQ, when we felt we'd actually completed more of the course, and the tougher part of the course, than the other ladies teams who turned back early.  We were making it to the finish line under our own steam - the little engines that could. 

It was a slightly eerie, lonely MTB.  Surprisingly, our legs were good and we moved pretty well, definitely getting some pace along the slightly downhill and flat final sections.  Although I must ask Taryn how she was feeling, she was right on my back tyre, in the draft, sounding cheerful when I checked she was ok - but didn't pass to take the lead at all!  Was she tired and needing to draft?  Or full of energy and not wanting to embarrass me by making me go at the back?

Our final challenge was a swim across the canal.  The only good thing about being this late back, they had given up on making teams take their bikes across the river, so no salt water expensive bike shop visits for us.  That said, Taryn and I totally played the feeble female card, whinging, moaning, squealing, asking advice and enjoying the attention of the marshalls at the crossing.  Obviously we'd had enough of being tough chicks.

We finished at Midnightish?  I don't even know!  About 16 hours.  

Learning:
*Don't make it hard on yourself - look for an obvious track first.
*But a lightweight bike if you're planning to race with people who are machines, with light bikes, and either 10 years of youth or 10 hours a week of training on you, and sometimes both!  Or I could do more riding!
*Map setup with scale and mag north continuing to make things easy
*Topo maps are inaccurate - keep working on distance measurement and track this closely.  Once you're off the map it's tough to get back on.
*When wading up a river bank, best to make sure all items in backpacks are zipped away, or that jacket washing down the river might be yours that you've stuffed in a mesh strech pocked!  (It was rescued)
*River crossings.  River Crossings.  Hmmmmm.  Learn a bit more.  Do a proper Federated Mountain Club course.  Turn back?  I don't know.  We all lived?
*Put up or shut up.  If you're back up Nav, don't doubt the lead nav.  Instead, if off the map I think I should ask the lead nav - what are your nav points - to be checking they are working from triangulation and be helping to spot the features.
*Support Crew.  There are such good people in the world. 
*Move back to 6 hour races??


 

Whangamata 12 Hour AR - November

Whangamata 12 hour

Walking down a stream, for hour after hour...........hours after we thought we'd be finished the race. 

That's pretty much all I remember of this race, trying to write the blog a few months later. 

Wow.  Boy, were we in a tough place.  Short of food, short on energy, stumbling down a steep gorgy creek with numerous falls, pools, technical difficulties.  2am, 3am, 4am, and we thought we'd be finished around 8pm.  Where did this all go wrong?

This race had a Godzone level trek - a full on off track, hours bush bash in impenetrable forest. 

We got to this trek stage in good spirits, albeit a number of hours later than the leaders.  Bang - we hit the first CP like a brick wall.  A tricky off track bush bash from a high point, down and up to hit a ridge and out to another high point.  Except we ended up back where we started, doing a complete 360 back along a ridge.  Ouch.  Loads of teams struggled, and most turned back, opting to finish the bike leg back to the coast.

Not us.  No, no, not us.  We sat down for a good 40 minutes, looked over our maps, even rang the race director.  And decided to go on, because:
A) We had live tracking beacons enabling us to communicate with base - when do you get the chance to test navigation with this level of safety?
B) It was a point to point race, miss a CP and become unranked instantaneously.
C) This IS the next level of nav that we need to work on, we'll never be able to do it, if we don't give it a go.
D) We had an escape route - at any time, if we turned and headed East, we would be funnelled into the river system which would return us to the end of the trek.  An excellent (foolproof?) catching feature. 

So, we backed ourselves and went for it.  Looking over the maps the night before, I was struck with the difficulty of the section between the next two CPs.  I couldn't find a handrail, nav feature, catching point - it was just a long stretch through thick bush, relyling on a compass bearing which can so easily go wrong.  Talking to other teams the following day, I learned that some experienced navigators actually took a general bearing, put their maps away, and simply said- we have to go that way for a couple of hours, and put away their maps.  They planned on the height climb toward the end to put them right - and they had the benefit of daylight, so as they got closer, they could SEE the high point they were aiming for.

Despite pushing hard, and even climbing trees - we didn't manage to spot the high point before the sun went down.  In the dark, we knew our chances were slim, so turned to Plan B, and headed out through the river. 

Hours later, stressed, tired, over it, we had to face reality.  It was taking SO long to get down the river to the next CP, something must be wrong.  The only alternative I could see, was that we had headed south PAST the previous CP, and instead of being in the river which would track us north back to transition, we were in the river which would keep going West and take us to Thames.  It's a long walk back from Thames.  We dug out the yellow tracker.  "Please confirm position".  And we trudged on.

About 40 mins later a reply came, confirming that Plan B was in fact successful, it was just very slow, and we were tracking as planned towards the next CP. 

Wow.  Boy, were we in a tough place.  Short of food, short on energy, stumbling down a steep gorgy creek with numerous falls, pools, technical difficulties.  2am, 3am, 4am, and we thought we'd be finished around 8pm.  Where did this all go wrong?

Learning:
We've discussed this so much.  The following day, the following week, months later.  We still back the decision to go for it, even though it resulted in hours of torment.  We're proud we had the guts to give it a go.  You don't learn to swim without getting in the water............
Altimeter - I need a good accurate one as we could have used it to help us know when we were off the table lands to a sufficient height.
Get all the way to a high point before taking a bearing - being just 50 m off top will run the risk of heading back up to the same high point!
Even when you've given up and decided just to go home, keep eating, drinking, talking, planning, as it might be HOURS until you make it home.  We stopped eating, drinking, and lost the will to live, and this made our exit even longer and slower.
If you get an emergency evac in a vehicle at 4am, you'll struggle to find the driveway into the forest where you hid your bikes.

And, you know you've had a long day, when your alarm to get up that morning for the race, goes off just as you get into bed after the race..............

Marokopa Munter

Marokopa Munter Munted Me.

A 24 hour is a big undertaking - finding a crew at late notice is difficult.  So, race day brings a whole new dawn of teammates.  This totally awesome group of women, have signed up to be the only women's team in a tough 24 hour event, and they are pretty much novices to AR.   Lauren has done ONE 12 hour event.  Lyndy and Tracey have done a handful of 6 hours.  That said, I've done my research, these ladies have a pedigree of long distance events, in triathlon and running; and word on the street is that they have the most important X factor.  Attitude.  I've basically convinced them, assured them, sales pitched them to get them to agree to do this.  As a result, I'm taking the start line feeling very nervous and very responsible.  Responsible for their enjoyment.  Responsible for their safety.   Responsible for the navigation.  Whew!!

 

Anyway - we look good!

Lyndy proving very capable helping with the route planning

The race starts with a bang and a fast foot race through the (3) streets of Marokopa to the beach.  In true form to being the only women's team, I run all of 300 metres and am rapt to be able to stop at the public toilets.  As a result we are back packers when we hit the  thigh deep river crossing which is WAY deeper than our thighs.  Also, my sealy bags of snacks aren't sealed properly so I now have manky salty frooze balls and scroggin.  Blearrchh!  

We are stunned by the views as we climb high above the wild west coast.  Climbing is a theme for the day, but at least there are views!!  I'm way too conservative in the nav on this leg, so desperate to not get the team wrong early.  I can see the intended route would be to follow the ridge and pop out at the farmland, but I'm really nervous about not hitting the correct ridgeline, and I know from experience how easy it is to be drawn sideways off a ridge when heading downhill.  So we opt for the safe option around the outside which has way too much climbing.  Worse news, apparently the middle route had a fire break that teams just jogged down that wasn't mapped.  Good news (well, not for them) a couple of teams that were well ahead of us, still haven't arrived at the farm, showing that the nav mistakes I was afraid of were a distinct threat!

 

Mystery Activity - Shooting.  Nailed it.  One of the best scores.  Woop woop.

As we run down the road we contemplate that we've been racing for 5 hours, and we are now comfortable enough to squat in a little row and wee right beside each other.  No point delaying the inevitable, there is going to be no room for any preciousness.  

 We manage to totally goof off when we see the photographer pulling off our only run of the day.....

The remainder of the trek is on farmland. Bloody hard to navigate on farmland, the only handrail features are fences, half of them are wrong and they other half aren't on the map.  Lyndy is obsessed with bees and wants to go past all of the hives, and trying to constantly go around all the fields of dangerous looking Bulls is trying my patience and nav skills.  After skirting 3-4 paddocks, we come to a gate with a big looking bull within 20 m of the gate, glaring at us.  The ladies say no, and I'm ashamed to say that I just opened the gate for them and made them walk through the paddock with the bull.  After reassuring them the night before, that they could tell me any time they felt unsafe, I basically herded them into the paddock, no doubt with a grouchy look on my face.  I did walk closest to the bull on my left, while they all scurried through on my right.  This is probably the worst captaincy I've ever shown, sorry ladies!

We move solidly through the rest of the trek, and our nav keeps us up with a couple of other teams who are moving faster, but sometimes in the wrong direction.  It's always a good feeling!   We have a hairy river crossing which we underestimated slightly, and are pleased to be hopping on to our mountain bikes while the kayakers will paddle the same route in the river which the road is following.

Totally gutted to get to the next CP, clearly marked on a bridge, to find that the bridge is broken and the CP is on the far side. Obviously no problem for the kayakers, but nearly a 10km round trip for the MTBers to go back for it.  I'm totally not biking back!  No way!  I'll swim.  And then Lauren, who is a competitive surf life saver feels obliged to offer to swim as obviously the strongest swimmer amongst us.  I really wasn't hinting Lauren, but gosh you swim well!

We hit the transition after the long trek and short MTB, right on dark.  That's a long day so far and a lot still to be done.  Back on the bikes and there is a clear route choice to head around the beach and cut off a BIG, LONG UPHILL bike ride to Kiritehere Beach.  We decide to give it a punt.  I can confirm there is nothing quite as scary as trying to walk through thigh deep water, on a rocky reef, carrying a bike, while wearing bike shoes, IN THE DARK.  We made it around the first point and chose to skirt up through the farm for the next.  Overall, we caught up with other teams so it was a good option, but it felt pretty dodgy. 

A shot of the reefs we were trying to walk over in the dark at nearly high tide - with bikes!

The big boring bike ride up kilometres of gravel road took a big toll out of us. Tracey had been fighting a bad virus all week, and was really digging deep here.  I was working hard to stay close on the map and rapt to be hitting all the CPs spot on, even when other teams were riding back down the hill looking for those they had missed. 

Transition in the dark and walk off into the unknown.  This night leg had a tricky off track bush bash - I got tight on a bearing and took my team up hill and down dale, scrambling down banks and into creeks - my favourite way to move through the bush.  Basically I got this completely wrong and emerged way west of the track marked on the map, just luckily the track extended further than drawn and we found a faint trail which we followed to the CP.  Relief!!

3am.  I'm tired and cold.  It's drizzling, hails on us for a while, and I realise that I'm paying for my lightweight gear choices.  I don't want to stop and have to strip and stand in the cold to add extra layers, so I push on but I'm starting to get a bit incoherent.  Tracey, bless her, is feeling so unwell, when I stop to navigate she just sinks into a weary crouch and stays there motionless until we start moving again.  However, in her own pain she is still able to recognise mine and eventually makes us stop and while I strip and wait, they each hold a layer ready for me to get back into as quickly as possible.  Nothing like having your newbie team take care of you to humble you back into a good place!

We've kept up with a few teams here, and for a while all of us are milling around and going back and forward unsure of the next step.  It's late, dark, wet again, we're cold, and I contemplate pitching the tent and waiting for dawn.  Is that what the team needs now?  Morale is pretty low.  Lyndy is still thinking clearly and suggests we walk up the hill again to look for the airstrip as an attack feature, she sells the idea in that walking up the hill at least we will stay warm!  She's totally right, and once we get there, it quickly falls into place and we head off quickly in the right direction.

8am Sunday morning, we wander into transition to be met with hot pies and milos.  Mate, we could have kissed that bloke who kept the food hot for us even after allotted time.  Best food I've ever eaten, and a good representation of the hospitality of the event, where even the prizegiving came with a delicious meal just right for sensitive stomachs after 24 hours of abuse.  We get a truck drive home, out of time to do the bike ride to transition or final rogaine.  Technically this is a DNF, but it really doesn't feel like a failure.

 This crew.  Wow.  Ladies, that was tough.  Really tough.  So tough, there were long periods where I really wasn't enjoying it.  But you had awesome attitudes, dug deep, and I'm super proud that we were brave enough to put ourselves out there.  Thanks so much for answering my calls!

It's hard to sum up a race in a ten minute read. 24 hours of sometimes repetitive nastiness.  Sometimes boring,  sometimes scary.  Sometimes exhilarating, sometimes hilarious.  I'm not sure I can express how our bodies were feeling, or how taxing it was trying to positively lead when I felt so responsible.  This was not fun.  Mostly.  But we managed to have some really fun times, and some awesome adventure.  Those are the bits I'll remember.

Learning:
Appreciate the bravery of people prepared to take on a 24 hour race.
Back myself navigationally - take the shorter option, just take it carefully.
More straight line deep bush compass work required - still not sure how I got the night bush bash wrong, still relieved it turned out ok!
Captaincy - this was probably both my best and worst race.  I'm not sure now what I'd do in hindsight about the bull.  Did I need to explain better how hard it was for me to continually navigate around them?  Follow through on my word that I wouldn't let anyone feel unsafe.  Reassure them?  Dunno.  I'll keep thinking on this.
River crossings - always link up, even if it looks easy.