trailrunning

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Hacket Track, Whispering falls, and Chromite Mine loop

Date: 24 February
Distance: 11.6km
Time: 2:22

A few weeks back Wouna found a notice about an upcoming textile art exhibition and competition (the Changing Threads National Contemporary Textile Fibre Art Awards) that was open for entries, so she decided to give it a go and entered a couple of her large patchwork-style fabric portraits. Initial digital entries were submitted, from which one of her pieces made it through to the shortlist for the exhibition. This required couriering the artwork down to Nelson’s Refinery ArtSpace, where the exhibition was held. And then came the nail biting wait to hear if she made the finals.

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Triple Peaks Challenge

Date: 9 March 2019
Distance: 55km
Time: 9:33

Registration on a rainy Friday night.
But a beautiful morning for the event.
Jason Larkin sporting a North Range Trio headband! Cheers bro!
Mt Erin in the distance.
The day could have been a lot different if it was really wet.
Mt Erin, we’re coming for you.
So close.
Mt Erin aid station.
Mt Kahuranaki in the distance.
Amusing signage convention to show steep downhills.
The rough section (part of the river bed) prior to the river crossing.
Tukituki River crossing.
Chillyyyy!
Transition point entertainment.
Second aid station before the climb up Mt Kahuranaki begins.
Local hero, Nick Johnston, already on his way to defend his Triple Peaks title.
Andrew Thompson finished in third place.
A lonely marshal three-quarters up the mountain.
So so steep.
Trying to go backwards to ease the pain.
Roger Jones at the aid station on top of Mt Kahuranaki.
Trig bagging.
Spotting Te Mata Peak in the distance.
Still cold, but still smiling.
Interesting sign on gate.
Te Mata Peak just visible.
Mt Erin.
Very very steep terrain.
Looking back on how far we’ve come.
Te Mata Peak where a friendly supporter/spectator offered to take our photo.
A ridiculously steep section on mountain bike tracks.
Very challenging MTB tracks on tired and sore legs.
Back in civilisation.
When you think you should have reached the finish line two kilometres ago, only to see this sign!
Just a glimpse of the finish banner by the time we got to the finish.
Prize-giving.

Covering the final few metres of this tough, gruelling run unsure of where the actual finish was, we were stopped next to a gazebo and congratulated by the organiser who was checking that we looked compos mentos. And with a sadistic grin he asked “Did I break you?”, while telling us proudly that he did break some of us. And while he is no Laz and this is not the Barkley, the course sure is tough. It seems to have become a “thing” to try to break participants and more and more events aim to do just that. Turns out, out of the 138 runners and walkers, 21 DNF which is about 7%. 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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Kohitere trig track

Date: 25 March 2018
Distance: 15.5km
Time: 2:10

A glorious early morning start.
Mist in the valleys and tree tops.
The map of the course. We went all the way to Gladstone Road and back.
The only mud on the track.
Zigzagging up the cycle path.
At last a bit of down hill.
Gerry having a ball on the downhill.
Gerry and Nina heading uphill.
Some good viewpoints: Lake Horowhenua and Levin down below.
The track is mostly in the forest, protected from wind, rain and sun.
Shortly before we reached Gladstone Road, we crossed this scenic stream.
The final bit of downhill on the 4WD track.
We started seeing more runners and walkers on the way back.

Is it not funny how one always neglects your backyard? And I’m not talking about the weeds that are now thriving where once there was a productive and prolific vege garden behind our house. I’m talking about running trails and tracks that are so close that you always save them for another day. Continue reading →