Broken Hills 24 hour

24 hours of...................

Mud
Blackberries
Toil
Challenges
Adventure
Rivers
Caves
Impenetrable bush

Wow - it was definitely 24 hours of adventure.  And we didn't even go for the full 24 hours! 

Pre-race philosophy: Finish in one piece, still married, finish happy. 

Tom and I don't get to race together much at all - in my first 24 hour adventure race I was feeling pretty nervous.  Too nervous to feel responsible for taking my usual female teammates into wild bush, in the dark, and possibly getting them lost.  Tom was the safety net option. 

Leg 1:  MTB Broken Hills to State highway and SUP leg.  Managed to cling on to breakaway group on this, and grabbed ourselves a Stand Up Paddleboard.  Tom stood and paddled while I kneeled on the front and tried not to get too wet and cold.

Leg 2:  Trek up towards pinnacles to the Dam, then the course setters favourite trick of having us boulder hop down a stream bed for hours.  From the bottom of the stream bed we had to head bush up to the mouth of Collins Tunnel - knowing that if we headed East too early we'd go right over the tunnel with nothing to stop us till we got to the top of the hill in an extreme overshoot.  Guess what..... yes, we overshot!!  Hence a fairly stressful 40 minutes or so - unsure which direction to head in, until we heard some voices and managed to bust back down right at the tunnel mouth.  In hindsight our bush nav is not strong enough, we should have remained in the stream bed and continued climbing right to the trail, rather than gambling on navigating to the tunnel directly. 

Leg 3:  MTB:  Heading through transition we crossed paths with a number of friends on the 3 and 6 hour event - was heartening to get a few cheers as we headed out on bikes but this quickly faded into silence broken only by the sound of my own swearing.  Firstly we spent 45 minutes trying to find our way around the river without having to swim down it with our bikes.  SURELY the course setter didn't mean us to do that, there must be a better way.  It turns out..... no.... we did need to drag/float our bikes down the thigh high river.  This was the first of many non-cycling hurdles on the bike leg.  After a quick cliff jump, we headed off onto the knee-deep mud and dragged our bikes around for an hour or so.  Literally.  I couldn't even wheel my bike, let alone ride it.  Every 10 seconds or so, a rugby ball sized clump of mud collected in frame blocking the back wheel and I had to claw it out.  I was a very unhappy bunny!  Further challenges on this leg were having to bush bash through thick scrub and blackberry vs risk drowning trying to swim a river with our bikes...... Tom having to literally throw our bikes up big banks........ before we finally hit the farmland.  By this stage I was in survival mode and settled in to follow, as he took all the nav through the tricky farmland with very few features to work from.  It was a bit frustrating to constantly be passed by a team of men, all riding faster than me... only to catch them at the next checkpoint where they watched where Tom went then rode past to beat us there again.  ^%&%&%&**  We were rapt to push hard and get through all the CPs by dark, with only the simpler return trip to do under lights.  Teams after us really struggled to navigate to CPs without the benefit of daylight, so this was a bit of a key achievement really. 

Leg 4:  Trek:  Heading into a trek, at 10pm, after 15 hours of slog, in the dark and cold.... was quite exciting really!  It was a relief to be off the bike, which was more of a drag than a bike.  The night was calm and still - no one had lost their toys, their mind, or their bowels - quite a positive feeling pervailed really.  Of course an hour or two of absolutely dense bush bashing with no depth perception in the dark is a good way to re-introduce the adventure to the adventure race.  Tom was like Thomas the Tank Engine, forcing his way brutally through the bush, flattening it down to make an easier path for me..... and the two teams of school kids who knew they were on to a good thing and just sat in the carriages letting him do all the work.  Again, his nav was spot on, and near the top we quietly lost the others and popped out onto easy walking under powerlines and zoomed ahead.  We picked up the next few CPS before a distance misjudgement saw us in circles for nearly an hour under the stars.  Eventually we backtracked to our last known point, and finally I was able to contribute some worth and nav us to the next CP while Tom took a break.  At this stage, we decided to veto the final loop of 4 checkpoints across farmland, knowing we still had a decent hike back to the finish.  Our plan had always been to finish early, knowing that 24 hours was a big jump for us.  We spent what seemed like hours walking, climbing, clambering down a steep stream bed.  By this stage my body was on autopilot, early hours of the morning, trying not to fall asleep, so I wasn't exactly spritely.  Each step I had to crouch down, put my hands on the rocks and carefully lower myself down.  Tom told me the next day there were loads of eels in the ponds which he scared away and just didn't mention at the time!


Summary:
This slightly boring recap can't really reflect the race.  The 24 hour race largely happened away from the bulk of the other events, so no photos of us, and I'm writing this 6 months later.  We signed up for a challenge and we bloody well got one.  It was a reality check for me, wanting to move into longer events, that I'm not physically strong enough.  I would have had to start digging holes under fences, if Tom hadn't have been there to lift my bike over it.  I would have panicked to have had responsibility for losing our way in tough thick bush navigation.  I would have not trusted to push on even when the terrain seemed ridiculous.  A huge challenge.   Probably the best thing of all, was the success of racing with Tom.  The reminder of what a good team we are.  Who would have thought that all the challenges of parenting together through sleep deprivation and adverse challenges, without enough time to cook a proper meal, would be such specific training to an actual event???   There were times when we were tired, tense and frustrated.  But not with each other.  I was reminded what a rock he is for me when the going gets tough, and I was in awe of (and dependant on) his physical strength. 

Two Halves - 2nd in the adult mixed duathlon.  We were well off the times of the gun teams in the mixed kayaking division, but still pretty pleased!  

Vegas Vindaloo

Vegas Vindaloo, MTB orienteering weekend.

We've ditched the kids with Nana, and both Tom and I are racing this weekend!  Basically the whole plan is to see how close I can get to my mentor/idol/arch nemesis Christine over the weekend.  :)

Race 1 - Street Sprint at Government Gardens:  15 checkpoints. 

I've not done a sprint race before so I'm feeling a bit nervy as I line up in the race chute to get my map with 2 minutes until my allotted start time.  Tom chooses this moment to come and have a chat and wish me luck, and later on I have to growl him for interrupting this precious planning time.  The first three CPS are nice and spread, giving me a good chance to practise reading into the map and planning 4, 5, and 6, which I hit cleanly.  I make a call to cut through a hotel courtyard from 6 to 7, and pass another rider here.  Everything is dandy, a little nav wobble through the buildings around CP11, but nail the next couple only to kick myself when I realise CP14 is also CP 5 and I should have paid more attention to where it was!  I can't remember it at all in the blur of the last few minutes but nav it ok anyway... except for the kerb which I hit quite hard.  A few hundred metres and the bike is cornering awkwardly, a few more and I hear a strange noise, then I'm on my rims with my first flat tyre in 15 years.  In a race.  In a Bl&^^%y sprint race where every second counts.  I lose my focus and go completely wrong to the last CP, the wrong way around the building, then have to run the last couple of hundred metres home in a huff.  23:48; 5th and three minutes slower than Christine - so she probably would have beaten me even without the flat, but I'm pleased to be within 'striking range'.  ;)  A highlight was Tom arriving soon after to find me with my bike upside down - after a debrief of my &*^%*&%*^ flat and my time, he looks down at his speedo and says "23 minutes, how did you do it that fast?".  His own time was 28 minutes. 

For the initiated, my husband is quite wonderful and I would say a talented cyclist.  He has quads the size of tree trunks and spends a lot of time on his bike.  So to beat him in a BIKE race??  YIPPEE!  And it's also a reminder to me, that I have learned some things, and I'm actually navving ok.  (From here I explained to him some basics of navving ahead rather than stopping after each checkpoint etc.)

Race 2 - Classic, 27km, Redwoods.

It's game on for the afternoon session with Christine starting 6 minutes behind me.  I take off in a cloud of dust, certain this is my chance, and completely stuff it up before I even get to a checkpoint.   1 and 2 are within a few minutes of the start line, it's all too quick, I don't have my bearings and I goose it completely.  Christine catches me at CP 3!!!  (I later learned that she'd changed her start time and only started 2 minutes behind me, but at this stage I thought I'd lost 6 minutes in the first 5 and was toast!)  I managed to hit the single trail up into the forest ahead of her and the rest of the session was catching glimpses of her at the turn-arounds, always chasing me, always on my tail.  CP 5 was a tricky one on a really windy trail, with clear land showing you could cut through - but mis-judge where you cut and you have to ride right out on the one way track!  I owned it, and as I clicked in saw Christine standing on the forest edge contemplating.  Bike on shoulder, I tiptoed in the opposite direction until out of site before taking off.  We talked later, and she had found the CP tricky, so my stealth mode was succesful!  Thinking that I needed a 6 minute gap to beat her, I pushed with everything I had.  I used all the tricks she'd taught me a few weeks earlier at the Great Forest Rogaine, I rode the roads rather than the trails, I took the yellow and white clearing short cuts, I rode up the roads and down the trails.  I remembered not to bother with the supposed shortcut on Be Rude not 2 - and the rider I was with at this stage was surprised when I popped up ahead of him at the next CP having raced around the roads.  I knew I had a bit of legs on her at hill climbing, so there was no rest for the wicked.  My only memorable stuff up was catching up with a friend's dad, on his first race at the very final checkpoint.  From there I headed into a blackberry dead end and had to turn back and repass him on his much better route!  2:05 finish which nabbed me second female!  14 mins ahead of Tom and 20 ahead of Christine, woohoo!  :) 

(Note:  Overnight the Hambrook garage was echoing with the sounds of the mad inventor, and hey presto!  Tom emerged in the morning with a rotating map board.  I had to race competitively with a static map board for 3 years to 'earn' my spinning mapboard on my last birthday, he's done two races and says it's impossible to compete without one)

Race 3 - 2 hour Rogaine, Green Lake

Sour grapes - I didn't do that well in this race so I'm not going to play by play it.  6th female and Tom beat me!  Learning points - look at the blimmen contour lines you egg!!!!  If it's uphill it's going to be slow and may not be worth it!

I've got me a pacer's job!!

Runners who have entered the 100km at Tarawera Ultra Marathon are allowed to have a pacer.  Basically, the pacer's job is to make sure that the runner doesn't get too tired and do crazy things.  There is other stuff too, but that's the gist of it.

I'm taking my pacer's role very seriously, and it's rejuvenated my running which is an added bonus.  The drive to add interesting runs to my elite athlete's training programme to keep her motivated is keeping me motivated.  Last year i had a "Summer of fun runs for TUM" and this year I'm having it again.  For Free!!!!  That's right - it will cost me exactly $0 to run about 40km, feast at the aid stations, enjoy the atmosphere, run the trails.

Just checking I can still run!

Running laps is not my favourite thing - especially when they are 16kms each on a stinking hot day.  Lots of steps but we got there!!  

Out practising running with a headtorch. We are nothing if not thorough in our preparation!

Hitting those crazy days of running more than a marathon in training.  Wet today - but we knocked the bugger off!

Solo running - I was due to hit 22km at this stage.  But 'someone' told me they ran the whole thing.  So of course, I had to run the whole thing.  It was probably 8km too far..............

The day I showed Jade around the Redwoods, Tui style.  And, although the kms were feeling long, I stuck to the plan and took the long way back to the car to hit the kms.  Unfortunately, a group of social walkers we had seen a little earlier made it back to the car before we did, and my runner knew I'd taken her the long way! 

Great Forest Rogaine

The Great Forest Rogaine is an orienteering race on bikes, held in the Redwoods.  It's different from standard orienteering in that you don't have to collect checkpoints in any particular order, so deciding on the most 'valuable' route to collect maximum points in minimum effort and time adds a lovely balance of brains to the brawn.

I have another new partner for this one (just call me an event-slapper) in Christine...... who I'm a little bit in awe of as she became an NZ MTB orienteering champion while riding what's generally accepted as being a rhinocerous of a bike, then went to Hungary and competed in the WORLD champs.  So - I've begged her to race with me so I can soak up some Navigation skills by Osmosis.  I also admit to her that my current goal is to get good enough to beat her - there goes my over-honesty again........

In a 6 hour event, it's a really big map and so hard to decide where to start.  And I'm trying to write this blog five months later so I can't really remember!  I know we rode 55kms, extending around Green Lake and right through to the internal Whakarewarewa MTB tracks.  I was pleased that I could nearly match Christine in nav using the roads and key features, and it was really good to hear her using the contours of the surrounding land to support her nav.  That's what I need to work on now.

Nav tips picked up:

*Get a magnet for my mapboard so I can see where I am!
*Think of intersections as Y, X, or T, as on the map it sometimes looks like a left turn, but actually it's a straight ahead and ignore the right turn.
*Go up the roads and down the single tracks
*When selecting routes use the contours to compare climbing  (it'll help when I can work out what's up and what's down!!)

Those ladies that beat us are all names I recognise, talented athletes, an extremely talented navigator amongst them, I see their top results in lots of events.  I guess they didn't beat us by heaps - but it's probably a good 30 riding time for us to catch up - I'm in awe, and I want to BE them. 

Manawahe Adventure Race Reunion - Mad Hatters (Take 2)

Early morning Saturday 27 June, at a small country hall in rural Bay of Plenty, sees us take the start line with a couple of hundred other racers.  Actually it doesn't.  We were running a tad late, Clare had been appointed team captain by some reverse military coup, so she had raced straight across to the race briefing.  The rest of us wandered across mere minutes before the start hooter went and realised Clare's race gear was now all locked in the truck in the car park.  Over there. ------------------------------->

So we stood on the race line and watched everyone else race off into the distance.

We are not in this start line photo.....

Never mind, we have great fortitude and resilience and a few minutes later set ourselves to the challenge of minimising the damage.  We make it about a hundred and fifty metres before we realise that that 'sound' is the contents of Sally's pack emptying as she runs down the road, and we have to back track collecting glasses case and various food items. 

For me, this race is a holiday.  An experienced team and the chance to not have to be captain.  The others know I'm actually a bit OCD and love to be captain even thought I get tired, so they enjoy winding me up about it.  The night before, when all the important work is done on the navigation and course choices....

So, I had no maps, clues, map bags or information about what's happening.  I was determined to not be a bossy britches and take over, so I had left my map board at home.  This mostly worked pretty well for me, although I was at times sent off to pick up a checkpoint and meet the others in the far corner of the field.  (I did make an exception for a lovely tricky checkpoint "175 degrees, 45metres"  which I added the magnetic north variance to and completely owned.  I know it's not nice to blow your own trumpet, but using a compass is a bit of an achievement for me, so I just did.)

I really can't remember much of the race!  We had a hideous road climb on the bikes, then a lot of farm riding, which is really not my favourite use of a mountain bike.  I sucked at beach golf but strokes weren't counted so I ran it like a hockey player.  I discovered that a motocross track is quite tricky on a bike without a motor.  We did end up descending a cliff face and I thought I was going to die, but my lasting impression is of a group of young girls in a team, with poor bike set up, in tears, who practically fell on some food I shared with them.  I looked around my experienced, resilient team, and wouldn't have swapped them that day for the world.  xx

Manawahe Adventure Race with the Mad Hatters

Five years ago, it all started here:

Manu (left) was the undisputed adventure racing queen and the one who knew which way up a map and a bike went.  Sal (right) had been a sponsored athlete in the Spring Challenge Adventure race, and had the hi-vis PakNSave jacket to prove it.  Clare had just got the trainer wheels off her mountain bike, and it's pretty clear that I bought the MAD into the Mad Hatters, which is our team name.

Clare still has post-traumatic stress disorder and nightmares about the huge hill in the Rawhiti MTB park.  Manu's partner has never offered to crew for us again after we were dead last out of the second leg.  I missed the archery target by so much they never found the arrow again.  Someone, (who was that?) got stuck waist deep in the estuary mud and we had to go back and haul them out.  We were late to registration so the only shirts left were size XL so we had to adapt them to actually make them suitable for exercise.  Except Clare who still wears hers for PJs.  I chopped mine in half and still had enough left for that mask I'm wearing.  Thinking back, I think this was the most fun and laughs I've ever had racing.  Especially when Manu fell off her bike on the flat grass.

 

I've got completely sidetracked from the point of this post, which is the 2016 Mad Hatters reunion for the Manawahe Adventure Race.  But I don't want it to cloud these fond memories so I'll start a new post for that one.  :)

Hockey and my Silver Fern

While trying to get in my run training for TUM, I've also been regularly making the two hour drive to Hamilton to train with the Waikato 35s Masters Team for National Tournament.  This group of ladies has some serious talent, and play the best hockey I've ever been part of.  Long story short - we came home with a silver medal, and I got a call up to the NZ 35s team to play against Australia in the Trans Tasman Challenge.

This was all really a bit crazy.  I've not come through representative or age grade hockey - I didn't even get to play on an artificial turf until I was at university - I'm a good player but not a great one.  At the National Tournament, I added my name to the list available for selection for the NZ team, thinking that I should at least get my name out there, and nastily hope that over the next few years lots of better players succumb to age and poor knees.  Considering my advanced age, my body is in pretty good knick, with remarkably few injury issues - I figured that as long as I could hold it together longer than others, eventually I'd have a better chance of making a national team.  Added to this, the Waikato ladies play a lovely structure of hockey and a fast paced passing game and I look good just by association with them. 

Anyway, after deciding that getting a Silver Fern has been my dream since a child and was therefore worth paying for the trip on the mortgage - I headed off to Melbourne.

It was a crazy week for me.  Excited, nervous, emotional.  Living, training, competing = we had some down time but the focus was definitely on producing the hockey required to win.  My fitness was high, and I had worked really hard on my skills in the months prior.  I'm proud to have been in the best hockey form of my life, but these ladies were largely in a different realm of hockey talent to me and I was pushing hard constantly just to feel able to take the field as part of the team. 

Distinct moments

Being presented with our playing shirts by the team captain, an ex-NZ international, and given a rousing speech from the coach about the importance of representing our country.

Taking the field, facing the NZ flag and getting ready to cry for the National Anthem, as a defining moment in my life.  Then the bl****y Aussies played the worst 1970s screechy skipping record rendition of God Defend New Zealand that I have EVER heard.

 Gold.  I can tell you, that being one of the few Kiwis wearing a gold medal at the prizegiving dinner was as close as I've come to feeling famous.  I wasn't one of the starting, or core players, but I ran my arse off and gave it everything when I was on the field.  It was probably only when Tauranga friends playing in other age grade teams came to give their congratulations and comment on the games they'd seen, that I realised the achievement of even being there. 

Anyway - I made it through the week.  Learned a lot - in awe of playing the hockey that I see others are capable of.  Unsure if hockey will take up more of my focus or other racing is my thing..............