Xterra Trail Run Orongorongo’s

My first ever running race (as an adult) … knees knocking, feeling a little tired in the legs from a five hour hill ride the day before.

I drove up to the Rimutuka Forest Park over the back of Wainuiamata and parked up.  While registering I had a good look around and felt like a huge lad arse for all the skinny tall runners lurking around.  It was very disconcerting having everyone eye you up and down.

I later learnt the skinny runners eye up the multi sporters in the same way – those strong rugged multi sporters.  I laughed.

The differences are like night and day.  Multi sporters wear practical clothing including long socks so dirt and crap doesn’t go in your shoes, wear merino and other warm clothing and carry back packs whereas runners wear tights, tight tops, short socks and don’t carry anything and they are half the size, muscular wise.

Swoosh we were off and straight up a hill, single file, walking all the way as there were too many people to run.  The roots were fantastic to run and jump over – I loved it!

Majority of people were doing the short course so once I went past the first 10km’s I was pretty much on my own.

Learning’s from that race – probably started a little too fast, could have held back ,maybe?  Or more so do not bike five hours the day before!  Also that I needed more fuel than I first thought I would.  And potentially solid fuel. I had a chocolate fish after 90mins and it felt good but I now know I should only have simple sugars in the last 20-30minutes.

I drank more fluid than I thought I would and my throat was quite dry and hoarse (from puffing I guess), I sucked back a bit of juiced up water.  Was also verging on cramping up in the hamstrings.  May need to look at electrolyte tablets.

Anyway I ran downhill to the finish line and got told I looked too fresh – My legs didn’t feel it!  2:09hrs for 16km’s – not bad for my first race.

Then straight home to the bath with food and water, emerging two hours later.

More races coming up over the next three months.

Rangatikei River Kayak

With the Coast to Coast mid February I have had to put in a fair bit of training in a kayak.

I’ve recently joined Mana Kayak Club to up skill.  The coaches are brilliant and we get to wobble our way around the Porirua Harbour in TK1’s (training K1 boats).

Four of us went for a paddle down the Rangatikei River – a brilliant day out. It is supposed to be the North Islands equivalent to the Waimakareri.

I was very nervous when we started out as I thought it was going to be scary stuff.  My first two rapids I was as stiff as a board and very wobbly but I soon loosened up and realised this was going to be fun.

The boys took off and I had to paddle hard to keep up with them and soon realised I was going to have to pick my own lines.

In the end I won a few ‘line of the rapid’ runs which made me feel better.

I didn’t have any swims but I did get cast on a rock in the middle of a rapid due a bad call by the boys below.  But in itself that was a good thing to have happen as I am now aware of what to do and how it felt to be stranded shallow and having to get back in to the fast flow of a channel again.

The scenery itself was just magic!  It is an amazing piece of country in the middle of the North Island, beautiful gorge, clean water, no algae. (Apparently there is in summer when the water flow is less.)  The surrounding snow covered ranges made a picturesque backdrop.

Well worth the trip training wise and I cannot wait to get back up there again.

Ruamahunga River Kayaking

Had a little trial of the Eclipse kayak in the weekend down the Ruamahunga River.

Noting it is winter and we have had lots of rain. The river was so swollen that there were no rapids but there were lots of boils and floating debris.

A 33km stretch took five of us 2hours to paddle.  We put the boats in at one bridge and finished at the Featherston Bridge.

It was a great experience to test out the multisport boat on moving water after having completed my Grade Two certificate in a sea kayak.

I can definitely see a few swims coming up once the weather warms up and I brave real rapids.

Grade Two White Water Kayak Course

$25 per night accommodation, unheard of in New Zealand.  But for anyone on Canoe & Kayak courses in Taupo you can stay at Bradshaw’s Lodge for $25 including cereal for breakfast.  They also have some cool looking apartments at the back that they look after on behalf of another company.  These apartments are new and would be great for anyone over the age of 30 years who wants to avoid the noise from the younger crowd at the Lodge.

Canoe & Kayak in Taupo are a great outfit, they definitely put the brand back on the map as far as I am concerned after my dealings with the Wellington store.

The first day we spent the morning drowning ourselves in the hot pools upside down in white water boats.  Then we took these boats to the river from the control bridge down to Reid’s Farm to learn further paddling and rescue techniques.

The next day and weekend were also spent in this section of the river, practising techniques and drowning ourselves.

Then we got to head to the Mokaha for our first taste of white water and rapids – it was fun, but freezing!

The third and final weekend was spent doing our assessment in the Mohaka for our swimming techniques and then in the Tongariro for some faster fuller rapids.  Now that was a fun day!

Needless to say the three of us passed – Phew!

Tongariro Alpine Crossing

Yes!  I have been dying to do the Tongariro Crossing walk for years but never been able to convince anyone to do it with me.

The whanau from Brisbane emailed saying that it was on the agenda for them when they visited New Zealand in February and did anyone want to come along.  I was in!

A quick four hour drive up to Howard’s Lodge at Whakapapa Village to meet the others and I was ready to go.

We had dinner at the newly painted Speights Bar – quiet place during the week, big meals, perfect for before and after a days hike.

Weather forecast was looking good the night before but when I woke up and saw the clouds and felt the rain I was a little disappointed.

This, however, did little to deter the hoards of other walkers who set off up the mountain for the day.  There were bus loads of people.

We started out at a very fast walk to get in front of a few slow pokes then as we hit the staircase our pace dropped off just a fraction.

I was horrified at how unprepared some of the walkers were, no warm clothing wearing street shoes thinking it was a friendly tarmac walk.

The view was nonexistent for majority of the morning all the way up to the saddle.

We decided to venture up Tongariro as it was only an extra 1.5 hours.  It was good to do but we could not see five metres in front of us.  The cloud was very thick and heavy.

We snapped off a few photos of us at the top with no view as a back drop and ducked back down the hill a little for shelter while we ate our lunch at 9:30am – breakfast seemed like hours ago.

As we cleared the top of the saddle again we felt the strong winds which I might add were helping blow the clouds away. Finally, we had a view of the mountain valley below us and stunning views of the three sulphur Emerald lakes in the crater.

For such a baron environment it was actually quite pretty.  Lots of colours and striking rock formations.

There was one lone rock to the side of track that had toilet written on it as when Jacqui and went for a pee behind it there was toilet paper and all sorts behind there – yucky!

We then found out later on once we had continued further up the track that everyone from both ends of the track would have seen our bare butts behind the rock.

One last scan of the scenery behind us then it was downhill to the car park where we were greeted by our pick up amongst a good hundred more other walkers waiting for their buses.

Back to the lodge for a quick shower and hot spa before the bus loads arrived back.

Another pub meal and bed after a nice long days walk.

Definitely need to get up there again soon to catch the views from atop of Mt. Tongariro and Mt. Ngauruhoe.  Maybe running as part of my training for the Coast to Coast race 2010.

Phoenix Vs. Queensland Jets

Phew!  Gary and I enjoyed another Phoenix game in the box last night, which we had to ourselves this week.  It was a windless balmy evening in the Capital for the 5,500 strong crowd.  It looked like the Yellow Fever fans had increased in numbers with the pale yellow Ricky shirts starting to spread around the stadium. I counted six Jets fans who happened to be situated under our box. 

We won in the last few minutes, scoring two goals to nil, and it was a lucky win at that.  If it wasn’t for the two red cards on the Jets side I would hate to have guessed the out come.

It took a long time for the Phoenix to take hold of the two man up advantage.

The Jets goalie was having a great game.  And I must say so was our goalie Paston saving a penalty kick and numerous other attempts at goal from the Jets.

It was a nice result after a frustrating game.  Watching the Phoenix struggling to play forward was winding me up.  The Jets played very well under the circumstances.

Thanks Gary.

Advanced Sea Survival Course

Off to do the Sydney to Hobart yacht race this Boxing Day and a prerequisite was to do a Sea Survival Course.  More on the Sydney to Hobart later…

Wow!  What fun?!  Sloshing around in a wave pool fully clothed pretending to be able to survive at sea for days on end.

It was a long day, we packed as much theory in as we could in the morning and spent the afternoon swimming around in the pool, up righting a life raft and generally getting a feel for what it could be like if you had to try and survive at sea for days or months on end.  We could hardly last 10 minutes without feeling sea sick.

Went to the RYCNZ afterwards to meet a few of the members and listen to the war stories from the ‘table of knowledge’ ex commodores etc – very entertaining.

So what is the key message I learnt from the day?  Do not abandon your boat unnecessarily!  Most people died either leaving the boat getting to the life raft or in the life raft to later find the boat was still intact and safe.  Only leave the boat if you have to step UP to the life raft or the boat is on fire and cannot be put out.

Also the importance of a good life jacket with leg harnesses. We compared it to what most boats ahve on board – scary stuff.  Pays not to rely on other peoples equipment.

We also enjoyed hospitality aboard a lovely old 60ft vessel, Ta’aroa, that still holds the record racing Auckland to Fiji. 12 years in a row I think it was.

If you want to do any sailing or sea survival courses then Alan Gwyer is one of the better people out there to teach you and show you how to survive if need be.

Wellington Phoenix Draw

A quick 30minute rest after driving back from Taupo Day Night Thriller and it was straight into the Stadium and a corporate box, thanks Gary, to watch the Phoenix play.

Phoenix versus Central Coast Mariners, nil all.  A game played by the goalies, they both played well with Moss having his best game of the season so far.  I do think I enjoyed my pie more though.

Check out Yellow Fever for more banter on the game, team and much more…

A Great Day Skiing

A cruisier start to the day a 5:40am pick up and we wereoff heading towards a magical day on Turoa.

A bit icy to start with but by lunch time we were skiing on spring snow – it was fun!  As there is a 4.6m base at Turoa you can ski anywhere, limited rocks to get in the way.

We stopped at the Chocolate Eclair bakery on the way home for the best home made food.

I like day trips, you get back in time to crash in front of TV for an hour before bed.

N-Duro Highlander 80km MTB Marathon Event 2008

It’s Saturday 23rd August 8:45am, briefing time for the 80km marathon MTB event in Rotorua’s RedWood Forest.  Hmm… am I ready?  Do I have enough food?  Enough gear?  Do I know where I am going?  How long is this going to take?  Will the course people still be out in force when I come through in the late afternoon?  Boy, these people look like pro’s… hmm.  “Is that a light on your helmet?” I ask a pro – he was very put out that I thought he was planning on being out there in the dark.  It was a video recorder.

Please do not let it rain!

Sunday, driving home, in the rain…

I survived!  And the weather was perfect! And… I’m not walking to badly today … the back hurts more than the legs.

I came second in my category and only 20Min’s behind a bunch of blokes, so not too bad.  6:58:34hrs for 80km’s over pretty tough terrain.  The first guy was three hours faster than me <gulp> Cabin Leishman - the legend.

What a brilliant ride up hill including various tracks, soak hole, frontal lobotomy (must need one of those to do this) through the forest up the ridge line to the start of the New Zealand down hill track Billy T.  I have my first feed and chat with the marshals.

I am now heading towards one of my favourite tracks, Split Ends, it flows downhill nicely.

Oh look they have thrown in a piece where I need to walk, that is nice… little did I know what was coming later :)

Wow, another rider – oh no he’s got the wrong colour number plate, shit have I gone the wrong way, panic, panic, brain thinking back visualising the signs miles back while I am still surging forward.

Wow, how stunning does the Green Lake look? I feel like a swim.  Water truck 100m – a human being, it is exciting!  And, no, it wasn’t me that went the wrong way, the other guy missed his turn off for the 40km race that started later in the day.

Now the real race begins, off up to the look out (shit did I remember to look out at all) and down deep into the outback through an amazing overgrown part of the forest.  Carrying my bike up and down stairs, over fallen logs bigger than Ben Hur, through mud, past rusty old cars.

OMG another water stop, this means a human being – yeah! What, you say I have 30km’s to go, that means about 3hrs… oh boy

But charge on I did with much gusto and 1 1/2hrs later I made my way back to the Waipa Mill car park over more familiar tracks.

Lucky Chinese menu tracks were not my favourite, they are only Grade Two but they are a head ache for much of the time, all over the place, no flow – Grr!  By this stage I was talking to myself quite a bit as it had been a lonely day riding all by myself with very limited people contact.  I did two bad gear changes and berated myself and said sorry bike my bad out loud.  If I burped after sucking on the water I laughed out loud.

As I am dropping into another track a marshal said I have 5km’s to go – yippee!  I can do this, no sweat.  That was the longest 5km’s I have ever come across… a dogie call that one.  I popped out on to the 4WD track just as the van was going past with the DNF riders in it.  This was exciting the car park was right there.  Oh… what was that out of the corner of my right eye, another sign pointing back into the bush.  Bottom said Pooh as I turn around to face a Grade 4 track, and to top it off I had to cross a river to finish – I walked a log while my bike had a swim.

But I made it in to time to see everyone start packing up.

My legs were okay pain wise, it was my back and neck that were killing me.  I needed a bath.

The guy running the event was friendly enough but the grumpy old tart running the computer system could have done with a happy pill or two.

Looking forward to going back and riding the Green Lake and outback again with a camera and some friends.