Tarawera 2014

Returning to Tarawera after last year's disappointment of stopping after 85km on the altered fire course was something I had been looking forward to for months, having been determined to put things right and run through to Kawerau again. However, mid January I broke down after a not particularly long run on fairly rough 4wd paths, with pain in my lower back and left buttock. Initially I thought little of it, and tried to continue running after a couple of days off. The pain got worse, I found myself unable to run at all, and soon realised that I had to drop out from the Kaweka Mountain Marathon, and potentially my chance of running at all in Tarawera was about to be dashed. Reluctantly I underwent a few sessions of physio, something a doctor is reluctant to do at the best of times, and made the hard decision to email race director Paul Charteris in the second week of February, dropping down from the 100km race to 60km. If I made the start line at all.

Slowly my injury improved, and I was able to run 5, 10, and then 2 weeks out from the race a slow 20km trail, gravel and sealed road without too much pain at all. It wasn't very intense training, I was too scared I would re-injure myself, but it was something. So the day before the race we headed up from Palmerston North towards Rotorua. It wasn't going to be fast, and it wasn't going to be pretty at all, but I was going to try and run the 60km course, and get to my favourite trails along the shores of Lakes Okataina and Tarawera, and past the majestic Tarawera Falls. But effectively loosing the last 8-10 weeks of training, when I had been planning to really ramp up the distance and get myself some proper endurance training, was really going to hurt.

But there of course was another spanner to be thrown in the works. All week prior to the race all the news bulletins had been leading with Tropical Cyclone Lusi, which had been tracking south from Vanuatu, and Was due to hit northern New Zealand with high winds and torrential rain on Saturday. All week the race organisers in conjunction with search and rescue services had held their nerve. But at seven o'clock on race eve the news everyone had been dreading was confirmed: the 100km and 85 km races would be reduced to 65km, with a turn around point at the Lake Okataina aid station. The 60km race wild also turn around here, being reduced to 55km, later increased to 59km with an added 4km out and back. But this would mean we would have to come back over the Western Okataina Walkway again, backwards. With a steep 400m climb at roughly kilometre 45. In short, the return route that had defeated me last year.

The 60km race, at least psychologically for me, had been made harder in response to a tropical cyclone.

So the day started for me at 430 am, when I heard my motel neighbour's alarm go off. Check my phone, turn over, back to 'sleep', hear my wife's alarm go off half an hour later. Try and get a bit more sleep, but give up and get up, ten minutes before my alarm finally goes off. A cup of coffee, a play with Mr 15month old Luke, an attempt for some breakfast hastily abandoned when it threatened to come straight back up, and we're off to the start. This year for the first time, I actually knew other people in the race. An old uni friend, Aubrey was competing in the race for the first time, like me initially entering 100km, but on the day opting for 60 under duress of a virus. And James, a few years behind me at uni, was aiming to finish 100km for the first time after a few speedy 60 and 70km races, and was bitterly disappointed to find the shortened race would rob him of this chance. I saw neither of them at the start, but wolfed down an espresso flavoured gel, and before I knew it was off slowly, steadily, following a stream of headlights into the forest. After about 1km, we reached the bottleneck at the start of the sinkage track. I would love to run this section in daylight at some point, as it seems it would be beautiful bush, narrow track, especially fun coming downhill, but instead I joined the conga line for the first kilometre of beautiful bush track. Emerging from the track we came to my favourite part of the first section, above the tree line looking down at the waking city of Rotorua as the lights slowly switch off. Through some mature pines and more native bush, and we came out at the first spectator point, the water tower, still feeling fresh, with no pain in the hip. Just past the tank, the choice of continuing on the 'short' course of 59km to the left, or opting for a longer day at 69 km to the right was offered. Not wanting to risk my back/buttock, whatever, I kept left and continued, through Whakawerawera forest park, around the beautiful blue lake, through ponga ferns, and up a short climb to aid station number one, with its breakfast theme. A quick change of a headlamp for a running cap followed (essential for keeping the promised torrents of rain off my glasses), and I was off down the steps, past the skeletons, past the professional photographers hired to record or pain and suffering, and off to aid station number two.

Past the Okareka road turnoff, where crowds gather between the aid stations, is my second favourite part of the run, a short recently created track section which passes through an impressive stand of natives. I was expecting to be caught at this point by the leaders of the long course, but i impressed myself by holding out for another kilometre, until just before the Okareka Aid station, doubling for the second year in a row as the finish. Unfortunately I just missed out on the chance for a photo of me leading Sage, Vajin et al into the station, but as it turned out Rachel had her hands too full of toddler to have the camera ready to go. Probably this is a very god time to thank Rachel for doing such an amazing job combining the roles of support crew, Mum to a snotty nosed, tempermental ball of 15 month old energy, and keep a smile on her face for the several hours I was out on the course.

Out of Okareka, and it was off up Miller Road, past the Bedrock Cafe aid station, and on to the afore mentioned Western Okataina track. Rumours that I hate this track with a vengeance are probably overstated. It's actually quite beautiful, and it turns out in the rain, the beauty came out even more. It starts with a gentle climb up to a summit, from where the path undulates through several clay based stream valleys, through native bush, alongside a short section of farmland, and up to the race high point at about 750m. This year, due to the worsening weather, at 4 or 5 spots along the track search and rescue had set themselves up in little bivouacs, in their fluorescent yellow waterproofs, rowdy to provide assistance when it was needed. I kept along at what I thought was a reasonable pace, walking most of the uphill sand jogging the downhills, until reaching the steep drop down to lake Okataina and the Okataina aid station. All the way along this section, I was expecting to see the leaders in the race charging back towards me, and finally, just before I started to drop down the steep steep hill, Sage Cannaday, defending champion and eventual winne, came running surprisingly easily back past me. Needless to say, I was aprehensive at having to come back up the hill I had been having nightmares about for the previous year, and this wasn't at all helped by seeing the likes of Vajijn Armstrong and Michael Aish slogging their ways back last me.

Into Okataina, and a change of socks, a few cups of Mountain Dew, and I was informed of an additional 2km out and back along the Easten Okataina walkway that I had heard rumours ab filtering through on the way down the hill. This was a narrow track, and the volume of runners going both ways made it very hard to get any sort of rhythm going, in fact in places I almost fell off the track! 33min for 4km isn't a split I'd normally be very happy with, but in the circumstances, it represented another 4km I was closer to home. 

I didn't spend long at Okataina aid station the second time, just enough to change my shirt and fill my water bladder. I felt it important to get out of there, get Rachel out of there, and have no option to drop out of huge race with the big climb in front of me. And bleeding oath it was hard. I think it probably took abut an hour to go the next 3.8km back to the high point of the course, but after that I knew there were only a few short, not too steep up hills, and several jog able downhills. By this point it was raining constantly and quite heavily, and the track was getting muddy and slippery. My right calf had been cramping up all the way up the hill, despite putting on compression socks in a vain attempt to avoid this. But I actually quite enjoyed slogging through the last 15km or so. It was slow (7km/hour), but despite the constant rain, I put my head down and kept it going. All that mattered at this point was to get through. I struck up a few conversations with other runners, most of whom we're overtaking me at a slow but slightly faster than me pace, and a very select few of whom I overtook. Finally I broke out of the woods at the Millar Road/Bedrock Cafe aid station, and the last 2.7km down the road and turning into the finish chute, I could see that I would actually finish, despite my atrocious buildup. Paul Charteris was waiting at the finish line in full waterproofs, but the smile from his face as he shook every finisher's hand was enough to brighten up the shittiest of weather. My legs were close to collapse, and it was disappointing to have been robbed by the weather of running along lake Tarawera's shore, but I had really enjoyed almost every step of the run this year.

Next year though, it will be good to finally be able to return to Kawerau. After two years away, the town still remains fully supportive of there race, and many of those who were meant to be manning aid stations through the tarawera forest actually came around to help at the finish. Baring another weathe disaste, it's going to be a very emotional year next year at Tarawera.

And what will I do next year differently? Firstly, not get injured ten weeks out. But also I need to start with longer runs further out, so that even if I do end up having to take a few weeks off, hopefully, I will still have the base to go 60, 70, 100km. I think compared to last year I got my fluids and fuelling a lot better managed, actually drinking between Blue Lake and Okataina probably helped. But most of all, I need to go out without any expectations and just have fun again next year, I think that was the biggest thing that got me through the 60km on minimal preparation on Saturday.

Down and kind of out

Not a long post, but by means of explaining my inactivity lately... I've unfortunately sustained what seems to be a lower back injury. This saw me drop out of the Kaweka mountain marathon last weekend, and I've made the difficult decision to drop from 100km to 60km at Tarawera in 5 weeks. Given I haven't trained in two and a half weeks, and still have some pain, I may end up having to drop out completely.

Anyway, I'm now undergoing physio, and hope to come back even stronger (well, a bit stronger) later in the year

New Years resolutions

It's been a while since my last post, but this time that doesn't mean I've been a bit slack. The week after the Big Kid/Goat race I was the runner in a team for the Rotorua Half Ironman, which involved a predominantly off road half marathon on tracks and gravel roads around Blue and Green Lakes in Rotorua. The day was warm, at times ridiculously so, and one 10km section in particular, as well as several other sections were in direct blazing sunlight, but in all it was a really fun run, with lots of support.

Since then  my training has continued. Most of my running has been near home, with a few runs a bit further afield up the Kahutarewa Valley and Mountainbike  Park, and one 21km run pushing Luke in his Mountain Buggy around the Round Palmerston North walkway.

And so on to resolutions for 2014. I'm going to try and not make an time based resolutions: as I found last year they are subject to conditions on the day often beyond my control. So:

1. I would like to complete Tarawera 100km race

2. I would like to complete one other 100km race. At the moment it is looking as though this may be the North Face 100 in Katoomba, in mid May

3. I will pass my end of year General Practice Exams

4. I would like to lose 10kg that seems to have crept on over the past few years.

My next planned race is the Kaweka Challenge mid distance race on February 1. This promises to be real mission, but hopefully an enjoyable one. The weekend after I may try and run around Mt Taranaki, depending on how the legs feel. In the meantime I'm trying to get as many hills into my training as possible.

The Big Kid, or A Sudden Realisation as to How much Fitness I have Lost

Saturday was the Goat Race. As previously mentioned, the Goat is a race from Whakapapa Skifield to Turoa Skifield on Mt Ruapehu, 21 km of Alpine terrain, undulating but with several steep climbs towards the end, which takes place on the first Saturday of December each year. This year being the 10th anniversary, the race managed to sell out in a day, meaning the organizers in an effort to please as many as possible put on an alternative race, from Horopito, at around 800m altitude, straight up to the Turoa ski field, a distance of around 16.5km, with a vertical ascent of over 1000m. And with very little downhill. Unfortunately for me, this is what I ended up entering.

I had some idea that I had lost a lot of fitness in the past year, due to work commitments, family commitments, and general lack of motivation after a few injuries after Tarawera. I had stubbornly however entered the Big Kid race, foolishly promising myself i'd try to get a bit more training in. Unfortunately, i had also neglected to remember that i had enrolled in some extramural post graduate papers, with exams not too far before the race itself, which led to a study binge and several weeks of very little running, and what running I was doing tended to be flat. So I wasn't too hopeful when 8 o clock on Saturday morning rolled around, and I found myself in the 'fast' group of runners setting off across a steady bu gradual incline towards the Horopito track.

The run started off easily enough, but having learned little from shorter races earlier in the year, I probably set off to fast. about 5km along wide 4wd tracks passed before we came across anything approaching technical running, and this was all on a slight uphill gradient. After 4-5km of this, my legs were starting to protest at too much fast running. We then crossed a stream, and on to the track proper, initially a grunt through shin deep mud, with a few face plants and one instance of coming close to losing my glasses. This part i found much less taxing, perhaps because there was intact very little tome to be lost by walking parts, such was the difficulty of keeping a steady pace going anyway.

After about 7km the run came out onto subalpine meadows of moss and low shrubs. THe mud continued here, but with the start of some significant climbs, particularly towards 9-10kmthe gradient became steeper, and the lack of hill running began to tell as my legs started to protest. After this things became a  bit more runnable, with some nice single track along a beech covered ridge line, but by 11km, i was starting to regret the decision to enter and hoping for the end to come soon.

After 12km, we reached Mangaturuturu hut, and the last 4.5km of the original Goat course. This was more familiar territory for me, but this didn't provide much comfort as it also meant the steepest, most draining part of the course. This was also where the weather started to pack in. At 3km to go, the Goat course climbs up a lava flow alongside some spectacular waterfalls. This is a stunning, beautiful part of the course, and on a nice day i imagine would be a delight to slog up. unfortunately, this was not a nice day: driving winds, sleet and tired legs were order of the day as heads went down and short strides were made forwards. Prior knowledge didn't seem to count for much either, as the climb seemed to go on much further than I could remember, and the weather got worse and worse. At 2.5km to go, i stopped to put on more layers of clothing, something I can't remember having done previously in a race for some time, but necessary to ward off encroaching hypothermia.

The final kilometer of the Goat course is the infamous Mamma's Mile, a steep section of asphalt road, killer on the legs having come across several kilometers of rough mountainous terrain. On Saturday this was compounded even further by head on gale force winds, and driving sleet. This must have taken most runners twice as long as it normally would, and it was a relief to see the finish line, almost deserted as it was, as we rounded the final corner into the ski field carpark. Fortunately, a cup of hot curry and a sandwich awaited all competitors, just what was needed after what was possibly the most treacherous conditions i've ever run an organized race in.

All in all, i was disappointed by my time, which saw me well down the field. I am aware I've many outside circumstances which have affected my fitness, but if I am going to be able to put in anywhere  near a respectable effort into Tarawera, a lot of work needs to be done in the meantime. As for the Big Kid route, for a training run it was nice enough, and on a nice day I imagine would be a lovely run, but I don't think I'd enter a race straight up it again.

Back again

It's been a while since I last posted and I guess the honest reason got that is my running hasn't been to flash hot recently. A one year old baby and a full time job have unfortunately conspired to keep me down a bit, and after a niggling groin injury surfaced at the t42 off-road marathon in May, keeping me out if training for a couple of weeks, I never really got going again. But summer and longer nights, as well as a new job which a) has fewer hours, b) has a shower and c) is at the end of quite a nice running route from home mean I'm keen to get right back in. 

Tarawera has also been entered for next year. After this years disappointment I'm determined to finish the 100km course next year, and hopefully this time course changes won't conspire to make things trickier again. I'm not going to make extensive time aims this year, but hopefully under 16 hours (western states qualifying time) would be nice!

In the mean time I have a few other shorter events coming up: this weekend I'm running the shorter companion race to The Hoat, the Big Kid, possibly not the best first race of the season as it includes a vertical kilometer of climb. The week after I have been co-opted into running the half marathon leg of a half ironman, which includes a bit of the Tarawera course, so promises to be scenic at least. And in late January/early February I plan to run the holdsworth race again, followed by the medium Kaweka Challenge course, 35km of mountainous grunt.  Hopefully with a programme like this I'll arrive in great condition for the stry of tarawera... Miracles can happen!

Race report: High spirits at the Moonshine Half Marathon

As often happens post race, I felt a little down after finishing the Tarawera Ultramarathon three weeks ago. I'd just finished (kind of anyway) a very long event I had been training for months for (again, kind of), and wasn't quite sure where to go from there. A few long runs later (a big loop including the Manawatu Gorge track and North Range Road on a beautiful Saturday morning, and an adventure up the Oroua River in the Ruahine Forrest Park as you're asking), and I felt ready to go again, so on a whim I entered the Moonshine Half Marathon, three weeks to the day after I had finished Tarawera.

Moonshine is an offroad half marathon in Upper Hutt. As it started at 10am, and daylight savings had finished the night prior to the event, I drove down from Palmerston North on the morning of the run, arriving with around 45 minutes to spare. As I got out of the car, I realised this had perhaps een a mistake: I had played my first 90 minutes of football in six months the day before hand, and the two hour drive had given my muscles adequate time to stiffen nicely, just in time for the start. I grabbed my race pack (a magazine and three small pieces of cheese, the first time a race official has ever apologised to me about the race pack!), and after a quick warm up to loosen my legs, took my place on the start line.

The first 9km or so of the race are along the Hutt River Trail, largely a long strip of four wheel drive track along the Hutt River. Having spent most of the past few months running mainly on single track, technical trails (and my previous long run being half down a rocky river bed!) I wasn't quite prepared for this, but in the small field, set off determined to try and stay in touch with the top ten for as long as I could, in the hope that on getting to the technical, hilly section, some would tire and let me past. As such, I was probably pushing at a speed and effort I wasn't quite accustomed to.

After heading upstream, and then across the river at Harcourt Park, the race headed along a few bush tracks, over a small swing bridge, then up a small stream valley to the Birchville Dam on the Cannon Point Walkway. Passing the dam, a steep uphill for around 10-15 minute followed. Despite the good quality of the track, and the amount of hill running I had been doing, I found the gradient tough going: fortunately, as I ground to walking pace, I noted those in front of me had as well, and noone was catching me so I figured those close behind me weren't catching up much time either. At the top of the climb, a few kilometres of undulating 4WD track, some sharp climbs followed by sweet downhills, and I found myself trading places with the top woman at the time continually, before she managed to get away from me at the water stop at Cannon Point trig. 

Following the trig was my personal favourite stretch, the Cannon Point zig-zag, 1.69km of switchbacks down all the elevation gain: I flew down here, passing several other runners on the way, and would estimate I was about 10th with about 6km to go. Unfortunately the last 6km were back along the flat river trail, and this is where I realised my legs had very little left: whether it was insufficient time to recover properly post-Tarawera, the 90 minutes of football the day before, or something else, all I could do was jog in the last stretch as six or seven people went past. In the end I finished 22mins back in an hour 53, 17th place, given the shortness of the race compared to what I've been training for a result I'm reasonably happy with.

Of course, the fun and games didn't stop at the finish line though: as I finished I became aware of a man lying on the ground, with defibrillator pads attached: an 81 year old walker had had a cardiac arrest. Fortunately, given my condition, the paramedics and other competitors had administered CPR and one shock via difbrillator, shocking him back into a more regular rhythm, and he was carted off to hospital soon after.

My next event is in a month, another trail event mostly on 4WD tracks, this time the 42 traverse marathon. I don't really have any firm goals, though I'm aware it will likely be much slower than my best marathon time. My training in the meantime will most likely be relatively low intensity, though with some long runs mixed in at the weekends. Of course with work and family mixed in, nothing is going to be straight forwards in terms of training, but I'll see how things go. 

Tarawera Ultramarathon race report: Thwarted this time

Saturday was Tarawera Ultramarathon, the race I had been building up to since last year. In my first post I had described some quite lofty goals: to finish 100km, and to do so in under 12 hours. Since then, it had become apparent to me that training, working a full time job, and spending the first three months of my son's life actively involved in his upbringing was going to be a massive task, and as the race came closer and closer the 12 hour time looked less and less likely, though still achievable if I had a good day.

Unfortunately, a bit over a week out from race day, the killer blow was delivered. The whole of the North Island of New Zealand has seen very little rain so far this year, and has now been declared a drought zone. With this came an increasing number of bush fires (mostly unfortunately deliberately lit), and increasing fire risk in commercial forests  Because of this, the Kawerau Forest n which the last forty kilometres of the race were due to take place were closed to organisers. The last 40km of the race, instead of being on wide, even forestry roads, would return over the windy, undulating, rooted single track they had just come out on. And significantly, the race climb increased from 2,600m over the 100km, to an estimated 4,500m. 

The race was also notable for the international quality field it had attracted, amongst others US 100km champion Sage Canaday, current Western States champion and course record holder Timothy Olson, last year's chamoion Mick Donges, runner up last year Vajin Armstrong, and several other top Americans, Australians, Europeans and Kiwis. The advantage of the out and back course was being able to see some of these top guys, especially Sage and Tim up close, and it was great that a lot of them had words of encouragement for us as we slogged past them going the other way. It was crazy to see Sage bounding his way past through 75km whilst I had barely got to 45! It was a pity more mainstream media coverage wasn't forthcoming despite some of these superstars of ultratrail making their way to New Zealand: an analogy would be if the US Open Champion and the Wimbledon Champion came out to complete in the Heineken Tennis Open. 

Anyway, coverage of the elite race can be found at iRunFar, with links to interviews with the race winners, and ultra168.com. What follows is my take on the race!

My day started at 5am with the early alarm, after an all-too-brief sleep. Up, cup of coffee, toast, and it was off to the start with my support crew of Rachel, her Mum, and of course Luke, wearing his newly purchased Dad's Number 1 Fan shirt. Starting in the dark at the Rotorua Redwood Forest, the race started gently uphill over well established tracks, before encountering the first bottleneck at some steps up one of the bushwalks at the centre. The rest of the first 13km or so until the first aid station was mostly alond wide forest tracks until we reached Blue Lake, then around some more well established, gently undulating bush tracks. At this time I was feeling pretty good, pacing myself well, enjoying the company of fellow runners: one guy doing the 60km distance told me in the four months leading in to the race he had completed four marathons, a half ironman and the Keppler Challenge, making me feel even more underprepared! My strategy in these races is right from the start to walk any even slightly strenuous uphill, and I was glad to see many of thise around me had the same idea, making me feel less of a lemon. 

Through the first aid station, the course continued to follow the banks of Blue Lake. This was where it first became apparent what a different race this was going to be from last year: places where we had to wade through knee deep water were replaced with hard dry mud! Up a short road section, and through a few majestic stands of native bush, and we were at the second aid station at Lake Okareka, still feeling good on my legs.

From here the course headed up (once again at walking pace) to the start of the fearful Western Okataina Walkway, through the Miller Road aid station. This walkway would form the last 18km of the out and back section of the 100km course, and I remembered it from last year to be gently undulating, with a steep downhill at either end. Here came my first doubts as to whether I could complete the 100km race, as the track turned out to have a LOT more downhill (translation uphill after 90km of running) than I could remember. The running continued to be gentle on the legs, but as I rolled into the Lake Okataina aid station at 37km, I knew it was going to be a huge ask to get back over the hill, with about 500-600m of vertical ascent, on legs that had already travelled 85km. And although Rachel had offered to pace me for this section, I had serious concerns as to how she would take it after a full day of coping with a potentially fractious  3 month old! I headed into the aid station, a change of socks, half a bottle of Gatorade, and my fifth Hammergel of the day to the sounds of Gangnam Style, and let Rachel know my thoughts... her words were more or less 'You're getting back over that hill no matter what you say!'

From Lake Okataina came the part of the course I was most worried about mentally. Scenically, I think the 25km from this aid station are the most spectacular of the course, mostly along the shores of Lakes Okataina and Tarawera on single tracks, through beautiful forest. There are three aid stations in this stretch, Humphry's Bay on Lake Tarawera, normally only accessible to boat, and Tarawera Outlet and Tarawera Falls carpark, accessible normally by runners' crews and supporters. Unfortuantely, due to the risk of fire, these were all now closed to anyone without a boat, and the Outlet and Humphrey's Bay stations were having to cope with the full field of runners twice. This was going to be a long section of the race where I wasn't going to see Rachel, Rosie or Luke, and given how I had coped over 15km without personal moral support last year, I was worried. I had prepared drop bags for the two stations I would be passing through twice, with extra Gatorade and Endurolyte Fizz, extra gels, and chocolate coated coffee beans (an absolute God-send at this point in the race!), as well as a change of socks and clean shirts. Thankfully, what I hadn't counted on was the number of runners coming back towards me... from the elite guys down, they were never short of a word of encouragement. Special thanks to Timmy Olson for the wide grin he gave me (or he could have just really been enjoying himself on some sweet single track downhill from the saddle between the lakes), and to the Aussie runners Brendan Davies and Shona Stephenson for the motivation they gave me... they were all racing hard in a tough race (to the point of ending up in hospital in Shona's case) but still had a few words for a guy who was obviously struggling a little more than them! 

In the end, my legs started to cramp up pretty severely at around the 60km mark, where a flight of steps up over a bluff near the Tarawera Falls proved to be the last straw in my hopes of getting to 100km. From there it was more a matter of surviving... slogging up the hills, jogging the downs and the flats where possible, trying to keep down electrolyte capsules, fruit and fluid as often as I could. With a bit of distance, and the major hills behind me, my legs started to feel a bit freer back along the eastern shore of Lake Okataina, and I was able to  jog a little bit more. At this point, it had obviously become apparent to the organisers and Race Director how much tougher the alternate course actually was, and the decision was made to move the cut-off time back at Lake Okataina for those wanting to complete the full 100km distance forward by an hour. Over the last 5km, a large number of pacers passed me in the opposite direction, out looking for runners who were taking a lot longer than expected: and with 2.5km to go I was delighted to see my beautiful wife, who had obviously begun to wonder where I was! I made the Lake Okataina aid station with 11 minutes to spare before the cutoff, but realistically was never in a condition to carry on back over the Western Okataina Walkway, and was more than happy to finish under the 85km finish banner.

Looking back, there is a little bit of disappointment as to what could have been, having to finish at 85km, 18 km short of my goal (the full distance actually being 102.9km). However, results show that such was the increased difficulty of the race, of the 222 entrants in the 100km race, only 96 made it to the finish at Lake Okareka, ranging in time from an obscenely quick 8 hours 53 (Sage Canaday), up to 17 and a half hours to the last finisher. Mick Donges, who finished fifth this year, was an hour slower than his winning time on the original course in 2012. 85km under these coniditions I feel is still something to be proud of, and I'll no doubt be back, stronger and fitter next year, when hopefully the race returns to its original course! Thanks of course must go to race director Paul Charteris, not least for the kind words of encouragement he gave me on two occassions, and the volunteers along the course, most especially at the Humphry's Bay and Tarawera Outlet aid stations, you guys were life savers! To my fellow runners, especially Kelly from Colorado (who wasn't going to let me drop from the 100km race, but then was too fast for me to keep up with so didn't have the chance to stop me, and ended up third in the women's 100km), and Mead from California and the guy in the white shirt with mud up the back, who I ran a lot of the out-and-back with, thanks for the companionship out there! 

And most especially, thanks to my brilliant support crew: Rachel, Rosie, and of course Luke, who had no idea what I was doing, and gave me several glares as if to say that. I'll be back next year for another go!