Trail running

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Woodville to Wharite Peak (and back)

Date: 1 September 2018
Distance: 28km (14km one way)
Time: 4:22 (approx)

At the start of the walk at the i-Site – just the two of us.
Not sure whether to wear a windproof jacket or a warm jacket, Gerry stopped to swop his top layers.
The sea of orange shirts up ahead.
Wharite Peak covered in a thick cloud.
Soon the orange snake were behind us, as well as ahead of us.
Young and old came out to support.
Early on the gravel road the gradient was still manageable.
Until we started to climb considerably.
The windfarm remains quite a sight from up here.
Up, up, up.
The snow-covered Mt Ruapehu in the hazy distance.
Almost there!
Finally at the trig.
Running downhill is so much easier.
Tracey in the middle, only a few hundred metres from the top.
Going down is fun, until afterwards when your quads are minced.
A narrow bridge we all had to cross on the way out of town, which was insanely busy.

We recently found out about a young Palmerston North woman by the name of Tracey, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis a couple of years ago. She received a grant from the Mastering Mountains charitable trust to walk the Inca trail to Machu Picchu, and is currently in training by Massey Sport and Exercise student Arbie Hong. In an attempt to raise money for the MS charity, as well as creating awareness about the illness, she organised the Woodville to Wharite Peak walk. Not only did she organise the walk, but also participated to see how she would manage and ended up walking the full 14km up to the peak in only 3.5 hours. With Woodville at about 92 metres above sea level and Wharite Peak at 920 metres, it is a tough uphill and no easy feat. Continue reading →

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Ring of Fire (ROF) Volcanic Ultra

Date: 7 April 2018
Distance: 72km (we measured 76km)
Time: 18:15

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Hundreds of headlamps snaking up the mountainside.

Forty-five hours after we finished the most gruelling event we’ve ever done, and I’m still at a loss for words. Not even a few glasses of the best kiwi wine could help get the creative juices flowing. So here I am, wondering what to make of it all and where to start.

When I first caught wind of this new event on the calendar, I was intrigued. Not just because circumnavigating the mountain in one go has been on our to-do list for the past seven years, but also because the acronym “rof” is actually a word in my home language that loosely translates to “rough”. I thought this was a very apt description for an event of this calibre, and it obviously sparked my interest. Continue reading →

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We’ve Gone Nuts – Tasmania’s 101km adventure run

Date: 3 March 2018
Distance: 101km
Time: 20:56.25

When a 100km event allows 28 hours (the norm being 20 hours), heed the warning sign. For some reason, I thought this event was flattish and not too technical. Not sure how I got that idea in my head, but that was what my head was willing to cope with. With a massively long cut-off time, you could potentially walk the whole way and still make it. It would be a great way to lure newbie ultra-runners (and allow walkers) into this sort of distance. The event terrain in a nutshell, as described by the organisers – “Tasmania’s Gone Nuts 101 Adventure Run will commence on one of Tasmania’s most recognised and visited icons, The Nut, at Stanley, in Tasmania’s North West corner. The race will hug coastline, climb through Rocky Cape National Park and traverse rugged coastal bush and calming temperate rainforest. You will be challenged by diverse landscapes, encounter native wildlife and birds, and witness some of the most spectacular coastlines imaginable. In this part of the world, rolling green farmland drops over cliffs into the pristine waters of Bass Strait. The beaches are also as diverse as they are unique, with sections of long white sandy beaches, small crescent shaped bays and rugged rocky bays formed by volcanic eruptions millions of years ago.” Sounds nice, eh? Unfortunately, I apparently chose to ignore words like “cliffs”, “rugged rocky”, “climb”, and “rugged coastal bush”. Continue reading →

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Paekakariki Escarpment Track

Date: 4 February 2018
Distance: 17km
Time: 3:04

A wonderful early morning outing.
A short section next to the highway at the start.
The early sections were in the shade, and quite cool to start off with.
Wonderful views all the way.
Dropping down to the railway line.
The distance markers indicate distances from station to station.
No shortage of stairs.
Kapiti island.
Fun times.
Not all track users were equally fast.
Benches at the highest point.
Good times.
A slip covering part of the track. Luckily there was a rope to hold on to.
Stairs, stairs and more stairs.
Kate striking a pose.
The swing bridges are quite runnable, as long as you get your rhythm right.
A muddy patch in the shade.
Heading down to another swing bridge.
This is what happens when you take too long taking a group selfie. 🙂
Easy running on the lower sections.
Passing right by the railway line.
A quick breather before Kate and Kel went on to catch the train, while Gary, Gerry and I ran back the same way we came.
It’s not just the views that take your breath away.

We finally got our butts down to Paekak (thanks Gary!) to see what all the fuss is about. With Gerry often working in Wellington for the past seven years, we were driving down a couple of times a month, and often more. And each time would be a reminder that we still want to go do it this walk which has been advertised far and wide. Everybody knows someone who has done it, if they haven’t done it themselves. But, getting over there would mean another trip, and quite frankly, I was getting sick of that road. At the end of last year, Gerry decided to let go of the ad hoc weekend job in Wellington, giving us a breather from a lot of the trips, and making it more bearable.

We decided to make an early start, so left Palmy shortly after 6am. Kate and Kel managed to come along at short notice so we all met bright and early at Summerhill Shopping Centre.

The track is just about in Gary’s backyard, so he often uses it for training. He invited us along previously, but something came up and we couldn’t make. This time we were not going to miss out again.

We started off at the Paekak end at about 7:30am. Crossing underneath SH1, we went straight onto the track and slowly started making our way up the hill. The first bit was mostly runable and not too steep, but once we reached the millions of stairs, I was reduced to a slow walk. The path is fairly narrow, and to be quite honest, I would not like to be up there on a windy or gusty day. You are quite exposed against the side of a very steep hill.

Luckily, it was the most glorious day, weather wise, and we were treated to beautiful views over Kapiti Island and the South Island. Since we were on the western side of the mountain, the sun was still low enough for us to be in the shade for the most part. Just as well, as things got quite hot later on without much of a wind.

We reached the highest point after about 3.9km, where a couple of wooded benches have been installed. The five of us were by ourselves when we got there, but on the way back it was packed with people making a day of it. The track also got much busier on the way back and we had to squeeze past lots of people on the narrow track.

After some photos of the scenery and selfies, we started going down on steps that were clinging to the side of the mountain, interspersed with the narrow track. I’m really not comfortable with heights, but this was somehow okay-ish. I’ve sidled around much hairier ridges in the past and this did not make my nerves stand on edge all the time.

At about 5.5km we reached a slip where a guide rope was put in place for safety. It did not fill me with confidence, and I’m quite surprised, given the terrain, that there aren’t lots more slips. Not long after we got to the first of two swing bridges. They are wide and sturdy, easy to run across if you don’t create a rhythm causing you to bounce out if sync.

The last couple of kilometres were easy, downhill and nice to run, and we reached the other end of the track at Pukerua Bay (after 7.5km) in about two hours. After a quick breather, and leaving Kate and Kel who took the train back, Gerry, Gary and I turned around to run back. There were already a fair amount more walkers and runners on the track, but soon it became really busy. Passing walkers going in the same direction, as well as passing heaps coming from the front, including quite a few other runners, made me glad that we started when we did.

This seems to be a hugely popular track, even if just to walk to the highest point for a picnic and lovely views, and back again. It is well worth doing, but I would recommend going early. The earlier the better.

Do it, if you haven’t yet.

 

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Chasing the cut-off – Jumbo-Holdsworth Trail Race

Date: 27 January 2018
Distance: 24km
Time: 4:42.08

Race briefing.
And away we go!
Very early on, runners were queueing at a foot bridge, but since we started off so slow, we only had a wait a short while.
The first seven or so kilometres were all runnable. After the bridge we were by ourselves the whole time until we reached the massive uphill.
A one-person swing bridge where I was reduced to a walk.
When the imposing uphill started, we finally caught up with some other runners.
Gerry was feeding us every 20 minutes or so.
Up and up and up we went.
Finally above the treeline, but then into the fog.
Tall grass and scrub made the going difficult. Not that it seemed to bother most other runners.
Scary bits on the ridgeline.
I thanked my lucky stars that it was foggy, as I’m sure the drop-offs on either side would be very scary!
i decided to rather walk all the edgy bits.
Sidling around the ridge.
Another drop-off to the right. I was secretly shitting myself.
On the edge.
Nice to see a volunteer up on the ridge.
This is more what I thought it would look like at the top.
Into the mystic …
Another ridge to sidle along.
One is quite exposed on the mountain (nevermind the runner in front of me that exposed himself!).
Gerry seems happy that we reached this point.
Having some solid ground on either side of the path is much more comforting.
Foggy path.
One of the more runnable bits at the top.
Sweaty and tired, but happy to be heading downhill for a bit.
Finally we reached the volunteer at Mt Holdsworth.
Mt Holdsworth trig and a friendly volunteer.
Back on the ridge, and finally going down.
Don’t slip!
You couldn’t see too far ahead – possibly a blessing in disguise.
Happy days.
Starting a tricky descent.
A steep descent brought us to the Holdsworth Hut.
Lots of steps on the first stretch down the mountain from the hut.
And of course back into the forest.
The Gentle Annie Track is quite runnable.
Mt Holdsworth in the back.
My quads stopped working at some stage.
We still had a long way down to the start/finish.
Whoohoo! Not far now.
Happy to be so close to our first Jumbo-Holdsworth finish.
“Flying” for the last bit.
Clearly we didn’t go fast enough. Too much energy still.
A fantastic finish to a great race.
Grub on the house! Loved the veges!
Is there a prize for the dirtiest finisher?
Prize-giving in a beautiful spot on a lovely sunny day.

For the past seven years, this event has been on our to do list. But every year there’s something preventing us from entering; too much traveling and sitting over Christmas, too much eating and not enough training, injury, it is always this, that or the other. Finally, this year we took the plunge, very last minute I might add. We only entered five days out from the event (my apologies to the organisers). Continue reading →