3 July 2016
Distance: 21.1km
Time: 2:48.56

Beautiful Mt Ruapehu.

Icy roads causing accidents and a holdup on the way.

Mr Ngaurahue.

And away we go, just in time to catch the last participants crossing the narrow start chute.

The wide open area of the paddock helped to quickly spread out the field.

Up and up we went.

Until we came across this little congested bottleneck.

A beautiful sunny morning and crisp air.

This is one of the worst bits.

A nice and easy stretch on the edge of the forest.

The first water point with freezingly cold water.

Cold, cold, cold in the forest.

Finally a bit of sun again.

The start of the out-and-back stretch up a shingle/gravel road.

Gerry at the turning point and second water station.

Frosty conditions and very cold temperatures kept us going to try and keep warm.

What does this even mean?

It almost felt like we were running in a freezer.

The final, very chirpy waterpoint.

Frozen soil.

The long walk up a 1.5km hill, 3km before the finish.

Finally the finish area came into sight.

Back on the cattle tracks.

A long queue of participants waiting for a sausage sizzle and a beer.

Glad we did!

After four days on the road travelling to Auckland, back down to Wellington and back to Palmy the night before the Tauhara, I was a little reluctant to get up at 4am to travel to Taupo for this event. It was just all becoming a little too much. But, we were entered, and events usually cheer me up, so despite no running (and a lot of sitting!) for four days, we took to the road once again to see what this event was all about. Continue reading →