From the February 2013 issue of biv/mail.

Like characters in Bill Pearson’s 1963 novel Coal flat, we came to “the Moeraki River, spuming fierce and grey over boulders… at the other side of the bridge was a bluepainted hut with a sign ‘Blue Hotel’, named after the river locally known as the Blue.”

Just before the river had I picked up some mica – from a stream draining the Kinnaird Range. Kinnaird prospected alone in the 1870s, sometimes with his mate ‘Bob the baker’. An old timer, Kinnaird arrived stark naked at Bruce Bay once – the sole survivor of a party that tried to cross the Blue. Around 1880 he found gold and soon after Charlie ‘Mr Explorer’ Douglas found ‘glassey looking stuff’ on the range opposite – the Mataketake. We too are here for mica – or rather that’s the excuse. In the case of my brother and I it’s to use our precious 5-days-per-year leave passes from domestic bliss. In Kennedy and Grant’s case it’s just another trip – they run on longer leashes – and Kennedy’s son Jeremy is yet to be collared. Iron girders, remains of the old bridge removed in the 1960s, lie upstream from the new swing bridge which we crossed.

We had a snack and drink at the hut before crashing into the bush.

The plan was to head about one kilometre up river along the true left and then climb to where an opencast mine operated in the bush in the 1940s. From there we would ascend the Mataketake Range and follow this south before dropping to the cattle track. In light rain we scrambled through and over boulders covered in tree roots and supplejack tangles. The call of ‘legal advice’ was frequent as those on point came across bush lawyer. It took an hour before we broke onto better ground where two streams met the river. It was a flat in the sense that it was flattish – trees loomed above. It being late afternoon we decided to camp and piled sphagnum moss over lumpy ground before erecting the tents. Jeremy got a driftwood fire going down by the river.

Kennedy and Jeremy are aficionados and had obtained Shaun Barnett’s curry recipe – which they garnished with ‘fiddleheads’ (fern sprouts). I cooked a gungefest for brother Walrond (far from priestly), Grant and I. By the fire Jeremy impressively recalled Dylan’s ‘Last thoughts on Woody Guthrie’. Kennedy’s memory allowed a couple of verses of the ‘Rhyme of the ancient mariner’ which he increasingly resembles. Grant, Mark and I sat dumbfounded. I tried but failed to haul up Denis Glover’s ‘Arawata Bill’ and Banjo Paterson’s ‘Clancy of the overflow’.

Day two dawned and we could make out the tops through gaps in the canopy. We had a quick game of hacky sack then it was pretty much straight up, occasional mica in the creeks promised much. It was relatively easy, weak sun even broke through. Then the grade pinched. We skirted a waterfall. It got horrendous. I tried keeping to ridges but there weren’t really any and inevitably the higher ground petered out into boulder fields. Wending through these, covered in snow and rotten windfalls, was an art in not breaking one’s leg. We realised we had missed the mine – it could have been a few hundred metres right or left and we wouldn’t have known – it no doubt being overgrown after 65 years. I had worked out its rough position from old maps but had thought a GPS would have been useless as it would only have revealed where we were. (Later I found that the geologist Harold Wellman’s paper, which I had, actually gave grid coordinates for all the mica outcrops with bearings from landmarks.) Yah I’m a Luddite preferring to sniff my way through the land.

Eventually the grade eased yet the snow deepened. A sombre lunch was had in tussocks. In drizzle we donned storm gear, hats and gloves and pushed for the ridgeline. Visibility was down to around 100 metres. Stopping occasionally to inpect rock ribs our hearts weren’t in it. Were we fair weather prospectors? We couldn’t get lost as there is only one ridge westward which then doglegged south (that was the theory). Some hours of this saw us cold and fatigued – mainly by the climb. Dropping to some benches we searched for tent sites and found one in the lee of a tor and kicked away the drifts to squeeze three tents on the tussocks – our vestibules overlapping. Coffee, concrete biscuits, dry clothes and insertion into sleeping bags saw temperatues and spirits rise – yet the rain continued.

I woke and the light was flat – still clagged in. I snoozed but had been in the bag for sixteen hours. Lifting the flap it was clearing. To the east were ranges where I had expected to see the Tasman. Looking at the map we had turned 90 degrees onto a spur. The river below was the Thomas – back on the other side of the main ridge was the sea. Kennedy got the coffee pot on and we decamped. Back on the ridgeline we found a telecom installation with microwave dishes – but it wasn’t for cell phones there being no coverage from Lake Hawea to Fox Glacier. In a light souwester, scraps of cloud and occasional sun we headed for Lake Dime – the world had turned. I even found a cast deer antler.

So why was mica mined? War. A lone prospector named Sweeney had scratched around the deposits in the 1930s and in the spring of 1940 government geologists Wellman and Willet visited. The Mines Department contributed to the construction of a zigzagging track up a spur from the cattle track to the tops where Sweeney was blasting. Tent camps were established on the tops and at Whakapohia Saddle on the cattle track. Due to snow the outcrops could only be worked from spring to autumn. Visiting in 1944 Wellman found a better deposit at around 500 metres altitude about 1.5 kilometres to the northeast (this was the mine we missed). Then in April 1944 overseas supplies failed and the Radio Corporation of New Zealand urgently needed mica for making electrical condensers. By January 1945 the corporation had six men working on the open cast mine or the track to it. By August 1945 around 1.5 tons of rough mica had been produced – all of it being made into radio condensers in Wellington. When the war ended so did the demand.

On the high point overlooking a frozen Lake Dime I consulted an old map of Harold Wellman’s – the last chance was a ridge leading ‘12 chains’ east. Kennedy knew what a chain was so we plugged down the snow and found a pegmatite sill bristling with mica books (the crystals occur like so many pages in a book – individually they look like cellophane). The largest found by mica miners was 60 centimetres by 25 cm and 12 cm thick, the average being around 5 by 7 cm and we found up to this size. A few leaves produced enough for my glass frames and I shaped them with scissors. We climbed back up to Grant who had stayed on the ridge to protect our drying gear from kea.

With norwest cloud building we plunged off the tops through snowy bush and windfalls. I tried to keep to the ridge but it was indistinct and soon I could hear a creek on either side. They were pinching together and of course there was a bluff. “We have to climb back”. But Jeremy spied a lead into one creek and we scrambled over ugly watercourses (Bastard Creek) and shield fern until we hit the cattle track. I guessed which way and turning was garrotted by a lawyer. The Misanthropes Tramping Club was overjoyed at the lack of smoke coming from Maori Saddle Hut. That evening I tipped out Mark’s cup. “Try some water from Bastard Creek”. It was grapefruit-infused Finlandia (the first they knew I had been carrying it). Soon there were ‘feats of strength’ – arm wrestling and table climbing and then snoring.

In 1873 Charlie Douglas and two others had hacked out a 1.5 metre wide track from Bruce Bay through to Haast – some 80 kilometres. Part of this came to be known as the Haast-Paringa cattle track. It followed a route used by Maori keen to avoid coastal cliffs. Slippery Face was a notorious section of the track south of the hut subject to slips and washouts. This is where the Alpine Fault crosses the track (it runs roughly parallel with it). Mark disturbed us with references to “it rupturing with many metres of horizontal and vertical displacement” which made us think of the Maori Saddle Lockwood hut (built in 1981) being torn asunder.

The track was the only overland link with the outside world. South Westland cockeys droved mobs of up to 200 cattle headed for the Whataroa saleyards. The hardest day was Copper Creek Hut to the Blue River Hut. A roadman at Blue River fed the hungry drovers and they’d be hungover in the morning. In the 1940s around 700 catttle were driven along the track annually and between 1875 and 1961 (the last cattle drive), the track saw the hooves of 50,000 beasts.

Once the road went over Haast Pass in 1959 cattle were trucked to Otago and in December 1962 the Ministry of Works ceased maintenance on the track. It got overgrown, slips and wash outs took their toll – by the 1970s hunter Les Sutherland noted ‘there are two old huts on the south bank which can only offer rough shelter’.

In places culverts cross the track – roadmen used flat rocks so cattle hooves wouldn’t catch. One roadman lived at Copper Creek the other at the Blue. Their pride in their section of track was expressed with pick, shovel and wheelbarrow. One of the roadmen was Jack Mattson who was probably not baptised Jack for he was a Finn. His companions were Paul (horse) and Froggie (massive cat). Jack cut squares in the hut doors for Froggie who also rode with him on Paul from hut to hut. When tramper Aubrey Sandford and friend Marjorie met him in at Copper Creek Hut in May 1945 he hadn’t seen anyone in three months. It’s a long day from there to the Blue – Aubrey and Marjorie got to the mica mine camp near Whakapohia Saddle at sunset. “Here five lads, looking like old sea-rovers with their tanned faces and pointed beards, fed us on tea, toast and black treacle, and we dried out a little”. By fading torchlight and a candle in a tin can they stumbled the last 6 kilometres to the Blue River to more miners, a returned serviceman stalking deer, a cook and his son, fire, spare bunks, electricity and radio.

Grant took me aside the next morning as we headed down to the Blue “I’ve got that song ‘I’m happy I’m a Kennedy’ stuck in my head”. I corrected him recalling the appropriate line “a fool without remedy”. Occasionally we passed old totara poles, insulators and number eight wire. The Haast-Hokitika phone line, begun in 1905, completed in 1908, followed the cattle track. The rain got heavy and by the time we reached the hut the track was awash.

English traveller Maud Moreland and her brother endured a horrific night in the Blue River Hut around 1910. Settler’s had warned that the mosquitoes “could lift ye and carry ye away”. Burning sugar and Himrod’s powder they ate in smoke with buzzing above. They swathed their heads in veils, newspapers and pack covers. In the morning Maud could hardly see for her face was so puffed up. Her brother’s face was spared: “Transome smoked many pipes I believe….How I wished I could have smoked all night”.

A century on we enjoyed a plug on the porch of Blowfly Hut watching the rain. Wearing mica glasses, blowing smoke rings, moustache bristling I poked Kennedy in the chest with my pipe stem to make a point. Ridiculous, yes, but it was our homage to those who went before.

This article and accompanying photos may not be reproduced in any way without permission.

Top

With less than 7 days till the start of the 12^th and final running of the Rollos 24hr adventure race I had no one to race with but had heard a rumour that Richard Ussher was in a similar position. After a quick phone call the wheels were in motion for the two of us teaming up. Being given the opportunity to race with a previous world adventure racing champion and Coast 2 Coast master I was very excited/nervous. It wasn’t until a few days before the race that Richard then asked if I would like to join up with two world class athletes, Nathan Fa’ave and Sophie Hart from team Seagate (current World AR Champions).

 

Knowing that there is still so much in this sport that I am yet to learn, I had to quickly expel any doubts about my abilities and jumped at the opportunity to race with these guys.

 

Putting the finishing touches on our gear the night before and a going over of the maps we were ready to rock and/or roll. I was glad to find that on the car ride over to the start line the team atmosphere was relaxed, which fitted well with the approach that I like to take before a big race. A quick check of the boats and the usual race briefing and next thing we were on the start line ready to go.

THE START

A short 1km jog to the boats and a quick transition into the kayaks we quickly found ourselves with a break on the field. Settling into a good rhythm we made our way around to Mistletoe Bay for a portage over the hill.  Jumping out of the boat and to my surprise I see Sophie walking up the hill with a couple of paddles and Nathans bag.  Meanwhile, Nathan was hot on her heels with the double kayak over his shoulders as if it was a javelin – incredible.   A solid pace over the hill and done the other side saw us extend our gap that we had established and settled back into our steady rhythm till the finish of the 2.5 hour paddle.

TRANSITIONS

Anyone who has raced with me in the past will tell you that transitions are not my strongest point in an adventure race, so I had to make a conscious effort to move through this transition onto the bike as quickly as I could. They were very stress free and flowed nicely which seemed to be the key.

THE BIKE

Feeling good we jumped on the bike and headed around the bays and up a gentle climb to the bottom of the climb. The pace till that point was solid and consistent, only slowing up for a threatening flat tire, we reached the first major climb of the race and I feared I might have to walk if it got any steeper. Feeling good and doing just enough to keep up with Richard and Sophie, it wasn’t until they told me that around the next corner was when the climbing started that my stomach dropped… Sticking it in the granny gear we managed to grind our way to the top of the hill and enjoyed our descent down into the Maitai Dam.

Team Bivouac Outdoor Colts: JJ Wilson (far right)

THE TREK

We quickly settled into our work on the longest leg, the trek. With some steep climbs we picked up the first check point easily enough. The steeper sections took their toll on Nathan, who was quick to ask for some help, which was given to him even quicker by Richard in the form of a tow and a bag carry.

 

There was a small amount of relief on my behalf not being the first to get a tow, but my time would come soon enough.

 

A long step climb of some 1000 vertical meters at a solid pace started to hurt me. Luckily by this time Nathan had come back to his usual self leaving Richard free to offer to carry my bag as I was starting to cramp!  A stint without my bag on a conscious effort sucking on my high5 drink saw me come out of that bad patch. With a small section of bush bashing in the dark we completed the trek in 5 and half hours!

CAKE & COKE

Breezing through transition we quickly got some coke on board and started a nice flowing section of single track. Typical to how the race had gone thus far the pace was not out of control but there was certainly no stopping or letting up of the pace. A quick break for a broken chain provided some relief but we got back into the swing of things. To end the mountain bike we dropped down the old national downhill mountain bike track.  Not having the faith in my light weight cross country bike, there were a few sections walked (to say the least).

Disaster struck as I managed to rip apart the side wall of my tire on the way down and this put a halt to our progress. Quickly, I jumped onto the top tube of Nathan’s bike and we rode the remaining 500m quickly.

THE FINISH IN SIGHT

A quick 1h20m orienteering section in-and-around Nelson saw team Seagate-Subway finish the race in just over 14hrs, almost 2 hours faster then the estimated winning time!

 

For me this was a great learning opportunity being able to see the worlds best in action first hand.

 

Some of the key points that I took out of this which I hope may help some other adventure races are:

1 - The speed was not out of control but it was simply relentless. No stops, no time riding    slowly it was just about being constant, smooth and efficient but always working hard over the entire race.
2 - Ask for help before it is too late. Nathan showed me that A quick stint early on before getting in to any real trouble can save you later on in the race
3 - Keep everything relaxed, at no point during the race was anything a problem. Even during our race we encountered problems but were easily overcome due to the ability to remain calm.

A huge thank you to Richard, Sophie and Nathan for putting me through my paces and making me feel so welcome in the team. I am really excited for my next race and putting all my experiences from this race into practice.

There were plenty of nervous faces (including the organisers) as heavy rain set in on Friday and continued for much of the night….

The inaugural Whangamatā 6hr Adventure Race took place on Saturday the 20 th of April. 43 teams had travelled from around the Waikato, Auckland and Bay of Plenty regions to compete, and were joined by 7 local Whangamatā teams. Teams received their maps at registration and set about planning their routes. The race was points based with Teams receiving 1000pts for completing a compulsory route and extra points for completing mystery activities or visiting optional checkpoints.

Teams running through the streets

There were plenty of nervous faces on Friday night (including the organizers) as heavy rain set in and continued for much of the night. However, the rain eased up just in time for the start on Saturday morning. The first challenge for competitors was an 800m relay around the Whangamatā Area School running track, followed by a Sudoku puzzle.Teams had to complete the puzzle before they could begin the course. Stage one was a scenic run along the beach to Otahu estuary and an epic trip through the surf to collect checkpoints on Hauturu Island.

Unfortunately the wind and swell picked up and over half the field were unable to reach Hauturu due to safety concerns. They were credited those checkpoints and carried on racing hard. Stage one also included a golf putting mystery activity and stand up paddle boarding for the school teams. At the end of stage one, Orienteering Bay of Plenty were setting the pace, chased hard by a group of 2-person teams and Team Little Brown Kiwi who were captained by local hero James Lovegrove. In the schools’ grade the Thames High Hillary Challenge Team were in the lead.

The MTB Park Section

Stage two saw teams ride into the mountain bike park in the steep forests behind Whangamatā. This stage included 3 mystery activities and lots of optional checkpoints, so strategy was very important. With many route choices, the field split, and it was impossible to tell who was leading. In the end it came down to good navigation, with many teams losing valuable time by over-running checkpoints.

A highlight of stage two was the mountain bike seesaw mystery activity. Following stage two the open teams had a short run down the Otahu estuary, a paddle boarding mystery activity, and then a sprint to the finish line at Whangamatā Area School. Stage two was the final stage for the school teams, so they collected as many checkpoints as they could in the forest before making their way to the finish.

Finishers Cross the Line

Teams crossed the finish line plastered in mud, exhausted, but with smiles on their faces. Most teams found the course challenging but enjoyable. There was a nervous wait for prize-giving as the winners would not be known until the results were calculated. The premier category was the 4-person mixed teams and the winners in each age group received impressive native timber carved trophies.

Those teams were:

Open: Orienteering Bay of Plenty
Senior School: Go Ape
Junior School: CHS Mixed

Thanks to all the competitors, marshals and sponsors for helping make our first event a success. We really enjoyed organising the event and learnt lots of valuable lessons. We look forward to bringing you some bigger and better events in the future.

Photos and full results will be available soon on www.whangamata6hr.co.nz

Thanks to our generous sponsors:
Bivouac Outdoor
Surf Sup Whangamata 
Whangamata Pedal and Paddle
Whangamata New World
Kool FM
Whangamata Area School
Runna Nutrition

Ryan Thompson and Bex Law, Race Organisers, are both members of the Bivouac Outdoor Colts Adventure Racing Team.

Camelbak

By not buying bottled water at your local shop, dairy, supermarket of petrol station you help the environment in so many ways…  Firstly, the bottles don’t end in landfill, secondly; it saves you a lot of money and thirdly, if you use a re-usable bottle on your desk at work, studies have proven that you drink 24% more water than those who don’t!

So why not head over to the Camelbak Facebook Page and Take the Pledge.

Ditch the Disposable - with Camelbak

The Bivouac Colts; Dayne, Bex, JJ and Ryan. Photo: Godzone Adventure

For us the period building up to the race is far harder and physical and mentally more taxing than the race itself. With 3 weeks till the race and very little organised we sprung into action. Working our way through the gear list was priority number 1. This is where Bivouac really stepped up for us as a team. With no-one in the team having a great understanding of climbing and mountaineering we didn’t know what we needed and what were the best items for us to get the job done. Handing the guys in the shop our gear list and having them tell us exactly what we needed was a massive luxury and help us in the most stressful time.

The Bivouac Boxes at the Final Checkpoint

With time flying by in the final weeks leading into the race it was with much relief that we all piled into the van and headed to Queenstown. After learning some valuable lessons from last year we made a point of being as efficient as possible in our organisation of our gear.

Trying to figure out what item of gear would have to go into what box before the race was a nightmare, a giant and potentially race ending Sudoku!

The only thing harder than trying to crack that Sudoku was trying to figure out our food requirements. Too much food and we are carrying extra weight, not enough food and we run out of energy. Eating is exceptionally hard during an adventure race and making sure you have something that you want to eat for us is more important the nutritional content.

Some of the food that we tested pre-race and the ones that passed the test were:

• - Back Country Cuisine Meals

• - Gels and sports drink from High5

• - Peanut butter and jam sandwiches

• - Canterbury Biltong

Just one of the flavours on offer...

By Friday night the boxing were packed and on Saturday morning we said farewell to them, knowing that the next time we would see them would be during the race.

We boarded the buses in Queenstown and headed off with our destination still unknown. On the bus we took the opportunity to bank any last minute sleep and stuff our faces with much needed calories.

Excitement filled the bus as we found out or starting location, we were heading for Mt Cook. It was at this point that the cocktail of emotions started to kick in, the mixture of excitement of the opportunities head mixed with the fear and uncertainty of the challenges that lay before us. Trying our best not to get overwhelmed by the enormity of the challenges ahead we set to the maps and started to figure out how to tackle the race.

With route many different route choices out on the course we spent hours carefully planning our path. Confident that we had planned a course that would suit our team’s strengths we headed off to bed but not to sleep.

To be continued………

The coastline just south of the Coromandel is an amazing outdoor playground. The course will utilize the ocean (mystery water activities!), the coastline and the bush surrounding Whangamatā. It promises to a stunning and exciting course – ideal for everyone from beginners to hardened adventure racers.

The course will be designed so that faster teams can get extra checkpoints to gain more points.  Spot prizes will be available from Bivouac Outdoor on race day – a great reason to be involved!

The Bivouac Colts - Adventure Racing at Godzone

With entry prices starting from just $20, this event should be in any budding multisporter’s calendar and all proceeds go towards two causes: Mission Vanuatu and Bivouac Colts AR.

Entry Prices

Adult
Early (before 8th April) $50 pp
Late (after 8th April) $70pp

Student
Early (before 8th April) $20pp
Late (after 8th April) $30pp

Download the Entry Form and email the form to rebecca.law@fmg.co.nz or post to Ryan Thompson, PO Box 8, Whangamata 3620.

Then follow up by sending payment to the following account:
Team Colts  01 0311 0180395 00. Put your team name as a reference.

**For more information please visit the Whangamata 6hr Adventure Race website.

This weekend in the depths of Canterbury’s wilderness, the National Orienteering Championships will be taking place this Easter weekend.

Bivouac Outdoor are a key sponsor of this year’s competition and will be supplying prizes including Osprey, Black Diamond and Camelbak to the competition winners throughout the event.

The weekend consists of 4 different disciplines with varying skills of orienteering, navigation, terrain running and speed.  Come and watch if you’re out and about, or enter on the day to try your luck against New Zealand’s best orienteers!

THE EVENT FORMAT

Friday 29th March - The NZ Sprint Distance Championships

Ferrymead Heritage Park - http://www.ferrymead.org.nz/

Ferrymead Heritage Park; Christchurch.

Fast and furious racing over grass, tarmac; racing through sculptures across train tracks and heritage buildings.

Saturday 30th March - The NZ Middle Distance Championships

Sand Dunes at Woodend

Tuhaitara Coastal Reserve; Woodend.

Sand dunes, complex contour features and differing undergrowth makes this terrain navigationally very tricky.

Sunday 31st March - The NZ Long Distance Championships

Dalethorpe Map - 1:15,000

Dalethorpe, Canterbury foothills.

Mature pine forest on rolling to steep spurs with runnability being super fast within the wooded areas.

Monday 1st April - The NZ Team Relay Championships

Kura Tawhiti Conservation Area, Castle Hill Station.

A brand-new map of the ancient limestone rock formations. Huge smooth rock pillars and cliffs soar more than 40m into the air with a labyrinth of twisting tunnels and passages at ground level.

See more information about the event at: http://nzonationals2013.org.nz

Bivouac also supports the Bivouac Southerly Storm Team (South Island) throughout the racing season.

Bivouac Colts on Lake Pukaki - Photo: Green Pixel

The team made up of Ryan Thompson, Bex Law, Dayne McKnight and JJ Wilson were to top colt (youngest team) to finish in the race.  The average age of entrants this year was pushing the 35 mark, so the Bivouac Colts had a 10 year age advantage over their peers but this doesn’t count a lot when you’re racing for over 3 days in the wilderness of New Zealand’s high country.

The team is now recovering well and on their way back north.  A more detailed report from the team will appear soon along with their thoughts on the Bivouac gear and their epic mission to reach the top 10.

For more info on the colts you can read the Blog, the Godzone page or their Facebook.

Who are the B-A-B Team?

Backyard and Beyond was a year-long project in 2012 to seek and promote home-grown exploration and adventure. By bringing together a group of like-minded, adventurous individuals, we aim to highlight the positive nature of risk. While coming from varied backgrounds, all of the team members have a strong personal ethic in low impact adventure, and recognise the need to continue to strive for this ideal. We also believe that more needs to be done in illustrating the pathways from an urbanising society back into the outdoors.

You can read more about the team here.

Join the event on Facebook.

OK, so what does it cost??

Simple. It’s a $2 charge (Yes, only $2!!) Tickets can be purchased from the Bivouac Tower Junction Store, and there will also be door sales on the night.

What’s time and where?

Doors open 6.30pm for drinks and nibbles, 7.15 small talk by BAB team members and film screening immediately afterwards.

Tower Junction, Christchurch

Bivouac Outdoor
Unit 3, 81 Clarence Street
Tower Junction
Christchurch 8023

View in Google Maps for more detail

Ph: (03) 341-8062
Fax: not at present
Email: tower@bivouac.co.nz

Opening Hours
Mon – 9am to 6pm
Tue – 9am to 6pm
Wed – 9am to 6pm
Thu – 9am to 6pm
Fri – 9am to 6pm
Sat – 9am to 5pm
Sun – 10am to 5pm

Our Tower Junction store has the LARGEST selection of Icebreaker Merino in New Zealand.

See the Trailers

I had a quiet day on Friday, staying out of the sun and watching the two day athletes battle it out to help get the mind into race mode.  A big feed of lasagne and chips from the hoki fish and chips shop and early to bed I got a surprisingly good night sleep. Up at 3:50am I quickly ate my usual pre-race meal of a bowl of Skippies and honey on toast and it was off to the start line.

Nerves starting to creep in as I made the dark lonely walk down to the start line and I new I was ready to go. With everyone going thought their last minute race prep I quickly dashed from the toilet as we were being called to the start. The gun went off and the pace was on for the first 3 and a bit km run to the bikes. Settling in with the front pack a group of 11 us got to the bikes and quickly headed up the road. The bunch worked well together we managed to open up a decisive 10 minute lead and set a record time for the first bike leg.

JJ Crossing the Deception, Photo: Speights C2C

A speedy and well executed transition I was out onto the run in 3^rd place. Struggling to settle into my rhythm I was quickly passed by Braden and Trevor. As we came to the first river crossing I was still in eye sight of the lead pack of 5 but far from feeling good. As I made my way over the first crossing I new the legs were not going to play the game and I was in for a long day.

Cramp locked up both my quads, slowing my pace.

Trying to settle into a rhythm again and fuelling up I tried to shack it. After 20min of not pushing the pace and letting my competition get up the river it was clear that the cramp was settling in for the day and with no other choice I had to push the pace and see what would happen. Fighting every step of the way I forged on up the mountain making it to goat pass hut only 6min slower then I had hoped and I was still feeling like I could selvage something from this race, the legs however did not agree.

Running down the mountain, something I had worked on a lot over the summer, the legs fell apart as the cramp became more excruciatingly painful. Holding my place till the river bed my legs and pace began to suffer. Loosing time and places I struggled my way into Klondyke Corner where I was thankful to get off my feet and settle into some work on the bike.

Desperate to get back into the race I pushed the pace on the bike and made up time on the guys ahead of me. Getting into the boat I settled into a comfortable pace and got to work and I begun to pick up a couple of places as people were emptying their boats after a swim. Getting to gorge, having moved up the field I went in search of a few more. Pushing the pace I made my way through the gorge and found myself in 11^th place and feeling good.

With temperatures soaring over 30 degrees in the gorge and a desperate pace to get back into the race I started to have some trouble holding my food and fluid.

Slowing up somewhat to help fight the urge to vomit that was now settling in I had to regroup again.

Over the Saddle. Photo: Speights C2C

About 20min before the end of the kayak I passed Flavio, a friend and training partner from Brazil, I had a brief chat and settled back into a good pace. Leaving the boat the legs had not recovered from the run and still fighting the urge to vomit I mustered the energy to get up the hill and mount my bike. With the next place only 6min up the road and Flavio breathing down my neck I got to work on the bike. A good pace saw me pull out to 90sec lead over the Brazilian and I started to make inroads into  9^th . As the ride went on the body started to feel the desperate pace that I had to push in the boat earlier. With back and abdominals cramping I had to sit up to just manage to make half a breath and hold my food and fluids.

My pace slowed and I could feel the life being sucked out of me with still 30km to go.

Coming into Yaldhurst Flavio finally caught me and quickly past me. As he did the fire within overtook the pain and suffering I was in and I hit straight back and started to pull away. Coming through town Rob a vet from Christchurch moved past with ease and I desperately trying to stay with him but couldn’t muster another surge. Red lining still with 10km to go, I started to blow. Looking over my shoulder I new I was in trouble with Flavio breathing down my neck. Again a surge of energy from nowhere saw me make one final push which would make or brake my race and I managed to drop the Brazilian once and for all. I crossed the line in 10^th place in open men and the biggest cheer from the crowd.

This was the toughest race to date fighting every step of the way. I was proud of the way I raced and managed to keep pushing when things weren’t going my way. I have learnt a lot and look forward to my next crack at the race.

JJ Wilson is a member of the Bivouac Colts Adventure Racing Team currently training for Godzone Adventure race in March 2013.