Date: 22 April
Distance: 20.7km
Time: 2:17

For years, when this event was still 18km in distance, we have wanted to do it. Not sure why we never did, but then along came COVID-19, no event for a couple of years, a change of hands, and now it is a (nearly) 21km event, as well as a 5km. Also part of the event offering are 25km and 50km cycling events.

But man oh man, did we pick the wrong year. The weather just did not play along. We pre-entered, Nina was coming with us, plus two of her kids, and another of Nina’s friends and her son were also driving up with all the kids bikes, so no chance of waking up and bailing before even getting there.

The weather forecast was for rain and strong wind. It was raining at our place the previous couple of days, but it got progressively worse as the event drew nearer. The night before our two and a half hour drive to Raetihi, it was raining. Our cat would go galavant in the middle of the night, come back inside soaking wet, plonk himself on the bed under my arm for a cuddle, only to go out again after a while and repeat. I wasn’t having the best night’s sleep, and listening to the rain, all I wanted to do was crawl deeper under the covers and sleep the day away.

And as if getting up at sparrow’s fart is not bad enough, we made a miscalculation and got up an hour too early. Eager beavers that we are. Luckily Nina was also up and busy getting ready, and could leave earlier, so we met in Bulls (about 45 minutes drive from us) at 6:50am.

All the way to Raetihi it was raining; not super hard, but persistent. From a distance it almost looked like it was clearing up in the direction of Raetihi. But no. Nope. Not a chance. From around Waiouru the wind also picked up, and I was increasingly less motivated to do the run.

When we arrived in the small town of Raetihi, it looked like a big event. Roads were closed off and a huge #myraetihi sign was placed across the road.

It was a few hundred metres walk in the rain from the car to where all the action was. Food stalls and other vendors were getting ready. Registration was in the fire station, sheltered from the rain. Each participant received a bag of root veges (carrots, parsnips, beetroot and potatoes. Some also had swedes.) – the best goody bag yet. I am a great supporter of practical, useful gifts. We walked back to the car to leave our bags of veges, and get our gear. I was uncertain about the rain jacket, but decided to take it because of the predicted wind. Being wet and in the wind is never a good combination. I knew I would be wet anyway, if not from the rain, definitely from sweat, but at least a ‘rain jacket’ will help against the wind.

The bike events were set off earlier, and then it was our turn (followed by the 5km runners and walkers). I counted 24 runners lining up for the half marathon. We were right at the back again when everyone shot off. The only other participant with a rain jacket was also at the back.

We started with a short flat section (700 metres) followed by a 5.4km mainly downhill stretch, apart from some minor undulations. As it was an out-and-back I knew that we would have to do all of this going uphill when coming back. I was going at a comfortable pace on the downhill, as I wasn’t sure exactly what the course looked like. And running downhill at speed is the quickest way to bust one’s quads.

After the initial downhill, we reached the big hill we had to go up (for 3.2km), over and down (for 1.2km), only to turn around at the other side, and go back up and over.

At the halfway turnaround, we chatted with the volunteers for a couple of minutes while having water, and left when our watch showed we had been going for 1:11. Two and a half hours seemed doable at that point, so after the initial uphill where I had to walk some, we got to the nice 3.2km downhill section. I felt good and could go at a reasonable clip, trying to make up some time for the dreaded 6km uphill back home, not worrying about quads anymore.

A water point with jelly sweets was placed at about 6.5km. We were told it was at 5km, so I was a bit worried that the course might be long when we passed 5km with no water point in sight. After we got back to the aid station on the way back, we knew it was basically six kilometres uphill to the finish.

The rain persisted and rounding certain corners, the wind would be very chilly. In the second half, the temperature must have dropped, as well as the wind picking up. I was getting colder as we went, despite going quicker and uphill. From being almost a bit hot in the first five kilometres, I was quite cold in the final five.

As it turns out, the uphill back is quite runable. Not that I could go very fast, but I could keep going at a reasonable pace. With three kilometres to go, we caught up and overtook another runner, so we had two others behind us at that point, and in the final kilometre we overtook another, nearly catching three more.

I was soaking wet. My hands started to look like prunes and we couldn’t really take photos of the scenery. Not that there was a lot to see. Everything was grey and covered in mist and rain.

Some parts of the course reminded me a bit of the backside of the Wairarapa Country half marathon, except this was hillier, but nonetheless some lovely country roads.

Relieved to get to the finish, I surprised myself by having run a negative split! We did the first half in 1:11 and the second half in 1:06.

This event should be called the Buttbuster, as it kicked my butt. Although I ran a reasonable time (quicker than Footprints in the Sand), it remains a challenging course.

Afterwards we got into dry clothes as soon as possible, and went around the food stalls for some sustenance. Being allergic to certain things meant I couldn’t have anything, but Gerry and Nina bought some sandwiches.

It is a great community event with wonderful support from local businesses. I was surprised that there wasn’t a 10km event, as I’m sure that would draw even more people. All up the event saw about 150 participants across all the events.

While waiting for prize-giving, we were hiding in the fire station from the rain. Afterwards, we poured some coffee and started making our way back to Palmy. This year’s event happened on my mum’s birthday, and next year’s will be on my brother’s birthday. Perhaps we should make another trip that way and see if I could improve on my time.

A big thanks for Cathy and the team for putting together a lovely event.