Speights Coast to Coast – 2008
Thursday 7 February
It was good to have Waitangi Day to sort out my gear and make last minute purchases (like a new cycle computer!).
The excitement was starting to sap away, only to be replaced by a distinct lack of confidence. I wasn’t nervous, but simply doubted my ability to complete the event. I had a couple of meltdowns that day, where I broke down and became very emotional.
When I woke on Thursday, I didn’t feel any better. However we loaded up the car and were on the road by 8.30am.
First stop was Klondyke Corner to pitch the tent. While we didn’t need to have the campsite set up until the next day, the tent and associated gear took up a lot of precious room in the car, plus it weighed a tonne! We were back on the road by midday, heading for Hokitika. Registration back at Kumara Racecourse wasn’t until 3pm, so we whiled away an hour or so at our motel in Hokitika, making my nutritional concoctions. Unfortunately my meltdowns weren’t confined to the previous few days – I broke down several times on Thursday. By the time we got to Hokitika, I was pleading with Graham to take me back to Christchurch. I didn’t feel deserving of lining up on the start line the following morning. He simply told me I was doing the race, and that I needed to take control of myself.
We headed off down to registration in time for it open at 3pm. That seemed to do the trick. Experiencing the atmosphere at the race course was cathartic (although I was damn pleased we weren’t camping there like we did last year!). We purchased a couple of souvenir t-shirts, and caught up with Emma and Joe who had not long arrived. It was back to Hokitika for a quick shopping trip, before returning to the Kumara Hall for the pre-race banquet. We caught up with Megan and Brendan – Megan was staying in Greymouth until her race started on the Saturday morning. She seemed very composed, which put me in my place given I was only doing the two day! We also caught up with Jake Roberts, who was also doing the longest day.
Rather than hang around the hour and a half until race briefing, we decided to head back to Hokitika for a final tidy-up and an early night. The motel where we were staying was lovely – brand new, complete with plasma telly!
Unbeknown to us, Jake and Susannah were also staying there, and they turned up after the race briefing. It was good to have one final ‘good luck’ catch-up with him (and to learn that there was nothing I needed to know from the race briefing!). It was lovely being able to have a final hot shower and a good night’s sleep in very comfortable surroundings, with no queues for the toilet!!
Friday 8 February
We were up at 4.30am, to ensure we had time to drive (20 or so minutes) to the cycle transition to rack my bike.
The road between Kumara Junction and the turn-off to Lake Brunner closed at 6am, so Graham and the kids left me in the dark at the cycle transition and headed to Aickens Corner (cycle to run transition) and I walked down to the beach from there.
I met up with Julie Mason on the way down, so it was nice having someone to chat with while we killed time before the event start. I didn’t see Emma until we were lining up on the beach – she looked a little flustered and as it turned out, Joe had lent her his carbon wheels with tubeless tyres, and one of them had punctured on her way down to the cycle transition. She got to the race start only a minute or two before 7am – poor girl! She also faced the added pressure of ensuring she didn’t get another puncture!
The first run was rather mediocre. I hadn’t been concentrating on speedwork as much as I should have in the lead up. I set a new maximum on my HR monitor though! Having said that, my breathing was steady the whole way and I never went into oxygen debt (so maybe there were some overhead transmission lines that were playing silly buggers with my monitor!). When I was about to hop up the boulders at the start, a woman was about to take the same course as me – charitably I let her go first, only to find she struggled to climb up. I felt like giving her a push in the back as all she was doing was eating into my precious time!!
I thought I was being clever by racking my bike right behind one of the large orange 30kmph signs, so I got a little rattled when I couldn’t find my bike – only to discover that the officials had removed the speed sign and my bike was stuck in with a whole lot of others where I wasn’t expecting it! It only wasted several seconds, but that can still be enough when trying to catch a bunch.
The first cycle was pretty bad. I had memories of last year, where we had a bunch which while it wasn’t overly quick, it at least served its purpose. This year, there were around four little bunches of 3-4 riders each, and each bunch was around 20 metres apart. At no point did any of the bunches try to regroup to make for a more functional ride. I passed Emma near the start, and got her to sit on my back wheel as we tried to catch a bunch ahead. Unfortunately I lost her – I looked back at one point to check on her to find she was no longer there. I got to Aickens with legs that felt pretty tuckered out thanks to the dysfunctional bunch! The transition was quite slow, and it didn’t help that I set out on the run to find that I wasn’t wearing my bib and I had to stop to put it on!
The run started out feeling pretty tough, but easier than the bricks I’d done in training – I had reviewed my bike set-up in the days leading up to the race, and rotated the seatpost to change the geometry of my bike. I steadied my pace and counted my cadence to keep my focus and managed to run continuously. Emma had arrived in at the run transition just as I was getting ready to leave, so I was waiting for her to catch me on the first 2km flat stretch to the Deception footbridge. When she didn’t catch me there, I assumed she took a different track up the Deception and got around me that way.
Unfortunately I did what I said I wouldn’t do – stick behind someone who was running slower than I was capable of. First of all, it was an older man who was going a nice easy pace. I was reluctant to feel the pain of running hard, so his pace was nice!! We chatted away before he revealed to me that he had pulled a calf muscle in the days leading up to the race, and he promptly pulled over onto the side of the track to let me go past. Probably a blessing in hindsight!
As I got further up the Deception valley, I’d find myself in different little pockets of runners. It was quite good getting to know the people around me, but they did seem to come and go as their circumstances changed (ie stop for a toilet break, nutrition, or whatever). Navigation was a breeze and all the track choices were seamless.
Early on into the run, I felt my calf twinge with cramp. This progressed to the point where everytime I lifted a leg onto a rock, the grounded leg would go into spasm – whether it be hamstring, quad, calf, and on both legs. Fortunately I had Crampstop with me and I was continually using it.
Then my nutrition turned dog on me. I had four tubes of nutrition, two of which tasted of Weetbix overload! I don’t like Weetbix at the best of times, but we had included it in the mixture to help thicken it up and add extra carbs. As I ran along, I started retching, and my stomach was churning with nausea. If Graham had been driving up the valley in the car, I would have called it quits at that point! So from about halfway up the valley to Big Boulders, I couldn’t go any faster than a walk. I was worried about my nutrition, as I didn’t want to run on gels alone for six or so hours.
Continuing up the valley, cramp was still a serious problem. I lifted my leg up one particular boulder, only to find my calf went into SERIOUS cramp! my whole lower leg and foot went rock hard, and I couldn’t move my foot to try to release the cramp. I had never had cramp so bad. A team runner came up behind me, and bless her, wouldn’t leave me. I was crumpled against a bush in pain and she was trying to get the Crampstop out of my pocket for me. I downed what was almost the rest of my bottle in order to release the cramp, and fortunately it finally did the trick. But that was the bulk of my Crampstop gone, and I had a long way to go!
I started feeling a little bit better further up Big Boulders. That was where I made my next tactical mistake – I continued to stick with a group who was walking. I didn’t want to feel sick again, so it felt like a safe option. I could see Goat Pass in the distance, so I made a break for it and started running again. Getting up to the Hut was a huge mental breakthrough and I got my second wind. Coming over the top, I downed a caffeine tablet, and then I was on fire! I got to the hut in 3.33 hours, which I was thrilled with, as I knew worst case scenario, I could get down to the pylons in two hours, then I just had the last 3km to go from there. It was looking likely that I could come in under six hours. I had a figure of 6.17 hours in my head (don’t ask me where the 17 minutes came from!), so I was feeling confident.
I love the Mingha side, with all the technical running. Running in the bush was a relief too, out of the heat of what was a hot day. I passed lots of people, particularly team runners, but then I made another tactical error! I came up behind an older guy who asked me if I wanted to pass. He had just been running along a flat piece of track at a reasonable pace, so I declined his offer to move over. I thought it would be useful to pace off someone a bit quicker. Unfortunately he then slowed up considerably and he was so slow climbing up the hills and over the tree roots – and yet that is where my strength lay. I was too polite to ask him to move over, so I was stuck behind him for around 15 minutes. Fortunately I saw an opportunity to get past where the track split into two around a tree, so I made my move. I really kicked myself when I saw how quickly I got away from him – I could have taken another five or so minutes off my time if I hadn’t stayed behind him as long as I did!
I got to Dudleys Knob in just under an hour from Goat Pass. In training, this section normally takes an hour, so I was disappointed that I didn’t do it much quicker. I vowed not to be held up by other people again! The body continued to feel good (caffeine tablets are worth their weight in gold) and I was able to start eating again.
I got out onto the river bed in the final stages of the run section and felt amazing! I found some great sections of rocks to run on, and I never stopped running from the moment I got out of the bush, all the way down to Klondyke. However, the cramp was returning big time and every lift of a leg would affect me. I had found a partially used bottle of Crampstop on a piece of track up the Deception which I pocketed, but then I came across a guy suffering from cramp coming down the Mingha side, so I donated the lost property to him! Nearing Klondyke, I so wished I hadn’t been so charitable! It was a magic feeling coming into the mountain run finish, and the support from the crowd was awesome.
I had previously worried that I wouldn’t be back for the massage I had booked for 4pm, however I made it in just before 3pm so I had an hour to kill! I was rapt that I made it in 5.44 hours, and yet I could have gone faster had I been more assertive, and not had the cramp and issues with nausea. But lots of other people had injuries, so I counted my blessings and didn’t complain!
Unfortunately Emma said she struggled out on the run course and was behind me the whole way. I couldn’t believe it when I saw Joe still waiting at Klondyke, as I was sure she must have been ahead of me somewhere. It was lovely having wet sponges squeezed down my back by the officials at the finish line (in my deluded state, I even told Steve Gurney that he was better than my husband, as Graham wasn’t there squeezing water down my back!).
I was very relieved to find the Sportsmed Doctors’ tent was selling Crampstop and so I had a ready supply for the kayak leg – if I was going to get cramp anywhere, it would be in the kayak!
We went back to the finish area later in the evening to check the results. I was disappointed to find that while I was happy with my day one time (less than eight hours, which would have given me a top 20 finish last year), I was 31st in my category at that point. Paddling a barge in a low river wasn’t likely to improve that placing either!
It was lovely going back to the campsite and having a nice hot solar shower. Even being able to wash my hair was a luxury!
Saturday 9 February – home time!
We set our alarms for 4am and sure enough, there were cars moving around us in the darkness as we got up. Graham quickly popped the children in the car and they were gone by 4.15am, down to the Mt White kayak transition.
I sat outside in the deck chair, enjoying the stillness of the morning, and watching people moving about with their torches. I wasn’t sure where Emma and Joe were camped, so I thought better of wandering around in the dark, peering into people’s tents in order to find them!
Like last year, it was a lonely existence waiting on my own for the race to start. I packed up as much gear as I could, to help Graham out when he returned to the campsite later in the morning. It got a bit cold, so I lay in my sleeping bag, eating a whole bag of cold, stodgy hot cross buns for breakfast – I don’t think I’ll ever be able to eat another hot cross bun again! I also had a tube of nutrition left over from my run which I guzzled over at the cycle transition while I waited.
We lined up in our waves at the cycle transition (groups of ten at one minute intervals). Emma was in the wave before me so we were able to stand quite close together. She was very nervous about the paddle given that she had never been through the Gorge before, so we spent some quiet time together.
Dosed up with Neurofen Plus and Caffeine, the body felt good. There were only three women in our wave – the other seven were guys. I had changed my pedals and shoes over to MTB-mode and when our wave took off, I wasn’t able to clip my feet in as quickly as I had hoped. Bugger… the guys took off! I caught up with Helen Spring, so we worked together between Klondyke and the bridge, so that was a relief. We did the 17km in 30 minutes, which I was happy with under the circumstances.
The run down from the main road to the bridge felt harder than the first couple of kilometres of the mountain run section – it wasn’t that easy wheeling a bike on a shingle road while running!
The kayak section was generally pretty straightforward. The river level didn’t seem too low, although at the first section of the rock garden, the nose of my boat when straight into a boulder. The noise was sickening and I was waiting for the feeling of water against my legs – fortunately it didn’t happen! My boat seems to have a reasonably soft hull, which gives a little when faced with rocks. The boat certainly took a hammering on the river, and I was amazed to find it in one piece after the event! Congestion on the river wasn’t a problem and at times, it actually felt quite lonely. It was far busier last year, at the team end of the race.
Early into the Gorge I had a couple of scares – one where I went over the top of a large boulder sitting out of the river. There was a huge stopper hole on the downstream side of the boulder and I was convinced I was going to come out. A photographer caught the action…
There was no portage advisory sign at White Rock, so rather than portage, I ran it to save time. I saw a couple of other individual women portaging, so I wasn’t displeased that it was a couple of places that I could make up! I downed a caffeine tablet and some more Neurofen at this point – I figured it would give me a final boost on the water, and help with any muscular discomfort I might face on the bike.
I got to the Gorge Bridge feeling really fresh. Rightly or wrongly, I didn’t push myself at all during the paddle. This was probably to my detriment, but I didn’t want to get off the water feeling as wasted as I did after the Classic. That would have been one hell of a grovel home on the bike if that was the case.
The kayak to cycle transition was pretty long – it’s the nature of the beast when the cycle transition is up a hill from the river bank! Louis met me halfway up the road and took all my gear, while Graham dealt with my boat down at the river. Ella accompanied me up to the cycle and did a great job ensuring I had everything I needed. It was such a buzz to hop on the bike and feel a slight nor’wester brewing.
I hummed along on my own at around 35kph for the first few kilometres. I linked up with an individual guy and we took turns for a bit, until another individual guy joined us. Unfortunately I started to feel a little cooked and I told them to leave me and I’d catch another group. I soon caught up to an individual woman, Louise Delamere from Auckland, who was going along pretty sedately. I asked her if she wanted to take turns and go at our own pace so we didn’t cook ourselves before Sumner – she was already feeling pretty tired, but we took turns and while the pace fluctuated up and down around the 30kph mark, it was better than going it alone. Bunches came and went, but we stuck together and it was an amazing feeling. I didn’t give a damn about my cycle time at that point – it just felt so good to be able to do something for someone who was struggling. A few times I’d look back to find she had dropped back, so I waited for her to catch up. An old guy who was out for a recreational ride stuck with us and gave us lots of tips – bless him! He even rode up alongside me at one point and told me that I wasn’t drinking enough water! He also told us we were each taking too long a turn at the front, and we needed to rotate more. He rode with us almost all the way to Sumner!! He told us we were doing a good job and gave us his blessing before he disappeared.
Coming down the latter stages of the Old West Coast Road was awesome. The rural people who had come out to support the competitors were amazing. They didn’t know us, but here they were in their deckchairs cheering us on. I’m sure the girls get more support than the guys too! As we got further through Christchurch, the support was even greater.
I felt so proud to be at that point of the race, in fact I didn’t really want it to end! Louise was really fading towards the end, so we virtually crawled along the causeway and through Redcliffs. She told me she’d see me at the end, but I didn’t want to leave her. We ran through the finish chute together and gave each other a big hug as we crossed the finish line. Well, we thought it was the finish line, until we realised there were actually two transponder mats and we had only crossed the first
Mum, Dad, Melissa and Poppy were at the finish line and it was so neat to see them. Unfortunately Mum hadn’t recognised me and told me how lovely it was to see a couple of competitors hug as they came across the finish line – doh!
They left us to go back to our place, as Mum was cooking a meal for us. We spent a bit of time down at the beach before heading home for tea. I texted Megan’s phone to see if someone would update me as to her progress in the Longest Day. At that point, they reported that she was on the river, but the timing was tight. They said they’d keep me posted when they knew more.
I then got a text from Emma to say she’d finished! How did I react to that? Well, I cried of course!! I was so happy for her, because I had told her she’d be fine on the river, but it wasn’t until I was going through myself that I felt I had lured her into a situation that I only hoped she could handle. I was even crying on my way home from Sumner, because I was so worried about her! I had so wished I had hung around to see her finish, but it’s always difficult to know when competitors are due in.
It got to 7pm, the cut-off at Woodstock for the kayak stage. I texted Megan’s phone again to ask for an update – they came back soon after to say she’d been withdrawn. I was so very, very sad. A bit of time went by before they texted again to say she was still going to cycle the final stage, even though she was no longer a competitor in the event – I stopped crying and got very excited again at that point! Mum, Dad, Melissa and Poppy headed home and we got the kids in the car and shot out to the Old West Coast Road to support her. She was hurtling along when we found her! We stopped a couple of times to cheer her on, then headed to Sumner to wait for her to come in.
Without thinking, we lined up along the finish chute, until Graham said that she wouldn’t be allowed to cross the finish line. I felt really confused about that, because it didn’t seem right. But he pointed out that Juddy had previously got very pissy when Mike Ward did the same thing after being withdrawn from the race in 2004. I got a text from Megan’s support crew to say they were waiting outside the surf club toilets on the main road. By this time, it was around 10.15pm. She had a large group of family and friends waiting for her, and I chatted to Scott about how her day had gone up until that point. Everything had been going so well – she had got on the river by 2.45pm (the cut-off was 3pm), and had done the run in 5.42 hours. We were so excited to see her come in, but understandably, she was very upset when she got off the bike. I felt heartbroken to see her like that, after so much dedication and hard work. What made it even worse, was the noise coming from the finish line on the beach, where she wasn’t allowed to be. I suggested to one of her friends that possibly they would let her cross the line to give her some closure, and they thought it was worth a try. Ella and I ran off to the finish line and I found Steve Gurney. He was very aware of Juddy and his feelings towards withdrawn competitors, but said he would get someone to take a photo of her with him as a “spectator” rather than a competitor. It was so sweet of him and he certainly appreciated the pain she was feeling, but I can understand Megan’s reluctance when she didn’t want to follow through with Steve’s suggestion.
Summary
I’m sort of pleased with my efforts. I can see lots of areas where I made tactical errors which I hope I wouldn’t make again. And my transitions were a bit sluggish because I wanted to head into each stage feeling composed. I didn’t injure myself and felt fresh at virtually every point (thanks Neurofen!) apart from going up the Deception.
I would need to do far more speed work (running), and I’m constricted with my kayaking as long as I’m paddling a barge. Considering I’d done virtually no cycle training, I’m not complaining about my cycle times (although I know I’d need to put more time into cycling next time).
I’m not discounting doing it again next year. Graham has already said he will be a far more serious run coach next time around!
It’s been a very emotional week or so, and even since the race finished yesterday afternoon, I’ve been crying at the drop of a hat. I think it’s a mixture of exhaustion (although I had to take a caffeine tablet again this morning to get me through the brunch and prizegiving!!) and the highs and lows of other people’s races.
I didn’t go as hard as I could, but I figured I was at the blunt end of the competition scale, and I’m simply pleased I weighed the “race” up with the importance of being supportive to other participants along the course wherever I could. Finishing the race with Louise yesterday was a highlight, and I’m so pleased we did it the way we did. I reckon it’s what the race is about at our level.
At the sharp end of the race, we were so pleased to see that Jake came in 4th in the Longest Day, and Bruce was 11th, beaten out of top ten by Jeremy Pugh on the causeway! Now THAT would rip your knickers – particularly given that Jeremy’s his mate!
Coincidentally, I was just 30-odd seconds quicker than Megan’s time from last year, so we might have been jostling for her 19th place had we both been racing last year as individuals! I was just 40 minutes slower than the time Emma and I achieved last year as a team so I was quite chuffed about that.
Times (total overall – 16.40 hours
- First run and cycle: Net 2.09 hours (2.14 hours incl transition)
- Run: 5.44 hours
- Second cycle and run: 38 minutes (including transition to kayak)
- Kayak: 5.32 hours
- Final cycle: Net 2.18 hours (2.24 hours incl transition)
29th woman (out of 75 women across all individual categories), 152nd individual overall (out of 276).
Topsport Waimak Classic River Race
Sunday 2 December 2007
Three days on from the Classic race, I’m still feeling a bit up in the air about how it went for me.
My ambition was to get as close as possible to five hours. My reasoning for that was the river was pretty low (similar, I suspect to February, although I can’t remember the actual cumec rating from the C2C), I was going into it fresh (no cycle or run beforehand), and I have a faster boat than I did in February. I completed the 17km cycle, 1km run and 67km paddle in 5.53 hours at the Coast this year.
I came off the river after 5.27 hours. I don’t know whether I was being unrealistic in having a goal of five hour – but I don’t think so. I have another year’s paddling under my belt, and felt the distance isn’t the issue that it was last year.
Here’s my recap of the race.
Saturday evening was our Christmas work function. I had organised it, so hated to miss out on it. Besides, I’d booked a ten piece band for it, and wanted to hear what they were like (very ‘Commitments’ like – very cool!). I set myself a curfew of 10pm to head home, but I was having too good a time and didn’t get home until 11.45pm. While I had been drinking nothing but water all night, I had that throbbing feeling in my head from the music and yelling at people!!
I woke up on Sunday morning feeling pretty jaded. I felt healthy enough, just tired. I nodded off a couple of times heading up to Mt White Bridge, but not enough to recharge the batteries. Could that have been a reason for struggling with the distance? Not sure. I don’t like excuses anyway.
We arrived just in time to get my boat down to the river and hear the safety briefing. Poor Megan was running late as they’d had a flat battery, but she got there on time.
The elite men started first, followed by Open Women one minute later. The start was a bit of a mare as there was no eddy to sit in – we were all strung out up the river waiting for the start. At race start, I got tangled up in the boats of two men, who were waiting for their start. Their boats pushed me into the bank and I had to push my way through them both to get back out into the stream again. By that stage, all the women were heading off downstream, but there was a long way to go!
It’s funny how from one river-run to the next, you remember different things, or expect to see things that never eventuate! I was most nervous about the Rock Gardens, which are around half an hour into the paddle. I think I was nervous because you don’t have a lot of paddling time before confronted with that section, so I find my proprioceptors don’t feel really switched on fully. But for the first time, I almost enjoyed those rapids. What does worry me though, is the spray that hits you in the face – I always get worried that my eyes won’t clear in time to face the next hazard (particularly given that you can’t wipe your face with your hands!!). In short, the Rock Garden wasn’t as hard as I remembered.
Everything was straightforward from there on, until I reached a bluff around a quarter of the way through the Gorge. I think I get more nervous when I see safety boats, than I do about the hazard itself. I’m sure the presence of rescue guys makes me expect to fall in, and on this occasion, I did. The bluff created quite a substantial buffer wave, plus there was an eddy to the left of the bluff, so there was quite a bit going on. The fact I tipped out to my right serves to confirm that I didn’t rail enough to the left. I know what I did wrong. The safety guy was awesome. The water was fast flowing, so I struggled to hang onto my boat, but he whipped around the downstream side of me and tried to shepherd me towards the nearest beach. At one stage I got sucked back towards the bluff and I heard him mutter “Oh shit!”. I didn’t even want to know what he meant by that! My calves had cramped up immediately on entering the cold water – the pain I was feeling from that outweighed any concerns I had about my safety, and where I was ultimately going to be able to exit the water! Fortunately (not sure how!), the boat didn’t seem to take on much water, so it took no time to empty. Megan passed me just as I was emptying the boat, as did Mary, who bought my old faithful Arrow off me.
I felt reasonably resolute after that. Normally my confidence would be shattered, but it didn’t take long before I felt like I was in my stride again. A guy that tipped out at the same bluff as me, tipped out again less than 200 metres downstream. He wasn’t having a good day!
I was keeping an eye out for a large rock that sits in the middle of a rapid through the Gorge – this is where Megan swam on our last trip down. Strangely I never did see it!! Like I say, sometimes you look out for things that you never see again, or encounter hazards that you’ve never seen before (like that damn bluff!).
The rest of the paddle was straightforward. I pulled over to portage ‘The Rock’ to find Megan pulling in just ahead of me. We doubled up together and re-entered the water at the same time.
A few bends down from The Rock is a chicken route. I saw Helen Spring head down there in front of me, but as both Megan and I had swum on our last trip on that route, we had decided to take the long way. I didn’t realise Megan was virtually right behind me at that stage. Near the end of the long route, was a bloody nasty bluff. There was no-one around to follow, so I just treated it like I would any other bluff. I got through it okay, and glanced behind me. I saw someone coming, but I couldn’t see who it was (I don’t wear contacts when I’m kayaking, in case I lose one swimming, so my eyesight is never the best!). Just on from the bluff, was the confluence of a couple of braids – the one coming from my right went straight into another bluff. A girl ahead of me was sitting in the eddy by the braid, wondering how to tackle it. She gave me her theory, then went for it. She let out a “wahoo” when she got through, and after a slight hesitation, I gave it a shot and got through okay also. Again, I glanced behind, and there was no sign of the person that had been behind me at the bluff (it should have rung alarm bells).
My energy levels were flagging big time by this stage. I had food and gels to take (and I did), but my shoulders just didn’t want to play ball. Each time I thought I was around the corner from Woodstock, I would realise it was yet another ‘False Woodstock’ (there are a couple of sections of river bank that look very similar to the real Woodstock). It was great to finally see all the vehicles at Woodstock, but I was knackered! In February, I put on the power when I got to Woodstock for the final 10-15km, but today I had nothing left to give. Never before have I rested while kayaking, but on Sunday I had no option but to rest my paddle on my cockpit to relieve my shoulders. It got really lonely on the water. There were only a handful of boats ahead of me, and they were just far enough ahead that I struggled to pick which lines they were taking (lazy, I know, but I didn’t have the energy to pick the wrong braid and then end up having to portage or scrape my way through a grovelly section). A couple of guys then passed me, which meant I could follow them – phew!
I hoped like anything that I still had the energy to take on the bluff at the Gorge Bridge – fortunately I did, although Graham told me there had earlier been a swimmer there!
I was completely and utterly exhausted when I got to the Bridge. I knew my time was crap, and that there were a significant number of Open Women ahead of me. I was 15th in that category, out of 20-something. Not really happy about it, ten weeks out from the Coast. It wasn’t the time that concerns me, rather the fact I had no energy left. I could not have got on a bike and headed back to Christchurch after that paddle!
As for the person that had followed me into that bluff on the ‘long route’, unfortunately that was Megan. She had a really bad experience at the bluff which meant she swam and was in the water for a considerable length of time – obviously no-one was taking the long route that day, as no-one went past for her to call on for help. She eventually scrabbled her way up onto a rock ledge (after watching her boat and paddle head downstream), and was able to attract a jet boat in a nearby braid. She was so lucky, and I feel sorry that she wasn’t able to complete the race (she was taken by jetboat to Woodstock, reunited with her boat, then shuttled down to the Bridge by van). We had been so evenly matched in terms of time, I’m sure we would have crossed the finish line together otherwise!
In hindsight, I’m wondering whether my newish Marathon blade is right for me. Never before on a long paddle have I felt the fatigue in my shoulders. I know the larger the blade, the more tiring it is, and Brett Leask told me once that I should never have been sold such a large blade. I’m not sure I want to go and fork out another $500 for a new paddle, and would be lucky to find a new Wildwater anyway, but it’s food for thought.
Willows to Brooklands Kayak Race
Sunday 18 November 2007
This was a day of hangovers and silver helmets!!
Hangovers, because we were supposed to take Megan out to this race, but she texted me around 7.30am to say she had drunk too much wine last night, and her body wasn’t willing! Silver helmets, because for the entire race, I was trying to catch Julie Mason, who was up ahead with her silver helmet glinting in the sunlight. She eventually pipped me for second place, right on the finishing line!
So about the race. The Willows to Brooklands race is actually the Willows to Kaiapoi race, however the Kaiapoi Multisport Race was on today also, so to avoid clashing with competitors in that race, we continued past Kaiapoi and on to the Brooklands Lagoon. Normally the race is around 30km in length (so a kayak marathon). Today it would have been a couple of kilometres longer.
There seemed to be a good turnout for the race. The day was gorgeous – I paddled in a singlet, as it was so warm. I seeded myself in Grade 4 – my boat isn’t the quickest, so I didn’t see the point of trying to foot it with the faster boats in Grades 3 or higher. There were ten in our category (well, that’s what Graham counted when we started – I have yet to see the results). There were only 3-4 in the same Grade at the first race, so it was good to see a better turnout.
The frustrating thing about the river is that you never really have any idea whereabouts you are at any given moment, unless you recognise landmarks. So it was a great relief to see the pylons in the distance, to know that there was only about an hour’s paddling left before the highway bridge. At that point, I wasn’t sure how much paddling there was between the highway bridge and the Lagoon – I guess that was going to be a surprise!
I quickly settled into fourth place (overall) – there were three women ahead of me, but no men!! The first three were all in Eclipses (surprise, surprise!) and they seemed to be getting further and further away from me. But I stayed patient, knowing that 30km is a long way in a kayak race, and I knew I have pretty good staying power over the longer distances. Sure enough, their energy levels began to flag. I could see Julie’s silver helmet in first place, then she got passed by the woman in second. As we got closer to the highway bridge, I finally caught and passed the third place woman – yeehah! I was conscious of the fact that I didn’t know how close she was behind me, so I had to put on the power at that point, and pray that I didn’t blow!!
There were at least a dozen jetboats on the river today – I think all the drivers must have had frontal lobotomies, for the way they were driving around us. Talk about playing cat and mouse with the kayakers, but I do understand that the faster the boats go, and the closer they get to the kayakers, the less their wake will affect us. But when they’re zooming around so bloody close, it’s hard to think kindly towards them!
We got past the highway bridge, and the river became wide, with the water bank to bank (it was high tide). There was no moving water to speak of, so it was completely down to paddle power rather than letting the current do some of the work. This stretch of water went on, and on, and on! I got closer and closer to Julie, to the point where she was only a couple of boat lengths ahead of me. I still had no idea where the Brooklands Lagoon was (I’d never been there before, let alone paddled there!) – I could see the surf breaking on the beach at the end of the river- I figured it couldn’t be far away!
Julie and I rounded a point in the bank, which saw us head into the Lagoon. The Lagoon was full of idiots in jet boats, on jet skis, biscuits, water skis… you name it, they were there doing it. How no-one is killed taking part in those activities, I’ll never know, as they were all going hell for leather, with no thought to what anyone else was doing. At one stage, a jetski did a big spin right beside me – if I wasn’t so concerned about all the wake from the boats, I would have yelled obscenities at him! What made it worse was that the tide was beginning to go out, so it was like paddling in the estuary in low tide – my paddle kept hitting the bottom, so it was bloody hard work scooping my way through 20cm of water whilst tackling the rolling motion of the wake!
I could hear Julie muttering away about the conditions too, and as she sensed me coming alongside, we started comparing notes about the conditions, and where the hell the finish line was! The finish line was very low key, and we eventually stumbled across a group of people who looked like they were noting times and numbers. It was such a relief to get to the end, although I felt great throughout, coped with every aspect of the river with not one wobble, and placed 3rd. All three of us who placed in our category, even bet the 3rd placegetter in Grade 3, so we did okay! There was only a minute or so between me and the first placed woman in the end. I got a chocolate bar for my efforts, plus won a $50 Topsport voucher as a spot prize.
It makes me feel really good now for our Gorge trip on Tuesday – hopefully Megan doesn’t drink too much on Monday evening!
Meridian Energy Kayak Challenge
Labour Weekend 2007
We did what has become our annual pilgrimage down to Twizel for the Labour Weekend events. Graham did the Pyramid Run on Saturday, and I had the Kayak Challenge (a marathon/31km event) on the Sunday. Check out my blog after last year’s event to learn a little bit more about the event.
This year, Bloody Good Events took over the event from Bob Buchanan (Kayak Bob), although Bob was present this year in what appeared to be a Race Director type role.
Wind is always going to be a factor in Twizel in Spring, but we just hoped that the day would dawn calm. The day before was very blustery, as a front crossed over the South Island. The race briefing at 6pm on Saturday warned us that high winds were again forecast for race day. Thankfully, because the All Blacks didn’t make it through to the World Cup final, the race was shifted back to the original start time of 8am (it had been delayed to 11am to give the die hard rugby fans a chance to watch the game). 11am was never going to be an appropriate start time, as the wind was only going to get worse as the day wore on.
It didn’t omen well when we arrived at registration just before midday on Saturday – there were no signs directing us where to go, and given that the Kayak Sprints were taking place on Lake Ruataniwha (the registration venue) that day, there just seemed to be people and boats everywhere. But we found our way into a building, and we were soon on our way back to the motel after getting my gear disinfected for didymo.
On first appearances, race day appeared calm. I was excited about this year’s race. I was trying out the Sprinter for the first time in a race, and I had trained hard, so felt confident that I had the endurance and strength to do the race justice.
B Category boats and all the women started at 8.00am, followed by A Category at 8.10am, and the Doubles at 8.15am.
I felt really strong heading down the first leg on the canal. I was keeping pace with three other women, and gradually moved away from them. I was really pissed off, however, to find one of them decided to wash hang off me – she had previously been wash hanging off her friend’s boat, but as I didn’t know this person from a bar of soap, I thought it was the height of rudeness to basically cheat and make me do all the work. The wash hanging was an awful sensation – I felt like I was being sucked backwards in a way, and on the odd occasion, I felt her boat touch the back of mine. Nevertheless, I put in a couple of strong surges and she fell off the back. I passed a further couple of women in my category, before arriving at the first portage.
The first portage is still wicked! It is the hardest of the three portages, which is something considering you basically hit it feeling pretty fresh. If it was the last portage, then I daresay we’d be dragging ourselves over it! I doubled up with a guy who got out of the canal at the same time, and we took off together towards the top of the hill. He had his way of descending the hill, and I had mine, so we parted company at that point! Shall we just say that he was a tad more controlled than I was in getting his boat down the hill!!
Still feeling like a million bucks, I put back in at the head of Lake Ruataniwha. Graham told me I was looking good, and that I should simply continue with the steady pace I’d been maintaining up until then. I started paddling down the lake. Meridian Energy had issued an edict that because didymo had been discovered in the Ben Ohau River (which flowed into Lake Ruataniwha), paddlers must stick to the left hand side of the lake, until the 1,000 metre mark (it’s a rowing course), to prevent the didymo from spreading. Huh?? As it turns out, the lake and lower canals are infested with didymo anyway, so it made no sense. Besides, if the wind was going to be an issue, we’d cop it down the left hand side, and we’d end up battling our way into a side chop to get across to the lake outlet. The right hand side of the lake, as has been the course in previous years, would have been sheltered.
We were assured at the race briefing that there would be a “fast moving” safety barge in place on the lake. If the wind happened to come up, the barge would assist anyone who came to grief. Reassuring enough.
As I made my way down the rowing lanes on the left hand side, I noticed the wind had really picked up, even since putting in. I saw the barge on my right, sitting in a small sheltered bay area. I thought it odd at the time that it was where it was, as I imagined it would be better stationed in the middle of the lake somewhere (given that the lake is 5km long).
I approached the rowing buildings, and by this stage the chop that was coming from the back right hand side of my boat was really starting to throw me around. I had to put in a couple of brace strokes to keep from falling out.
I saw the 1,000 metre mark approaching, but also knew damn well that the chop was getting worse by the minute. I was very surprised to see Bianca Porteous and Craig Hickford were standing on the lake foreshore. Graham stopped beside them, so I took the opportunity of stopping also to see if everything was okay (by this stage, I was hugging the edge of the lake so I could self rescue okay if I fell out). As I did that, I suddenly noticed the white underside of a kayak – a guy had fallen out in the middle of the lake, and the safety barge was NOWHERE to be seen. We all scrambled to know what to do – there were no marshalls stationed along the lake keeping an eye on the lake, and we had no idea how we were going to attract the attention of the barge which was out of sight up the far end of the lake.
Graham took off down the road to try and get the barge, but returned with no success. In the meantime, the swimmer in the lake was getting pushed further and further towards the spillway gates, although he was making very slow progress towards the left hand shore.
I stood around for approximately 20 minutes while I tried to decide what to do. Bianca had already swum and was bloody cold, and Craig had pulled the pin – both were paddling K1s and weren’t prepared to give the lake another go. All the women who I had passed in the canals, paddled past and wobbled their way across the lake. I felt really shitty, but also very upset – this was going to be a great race, and it had gone out the window because the damn barge was not there as a safety measure for the kayakers. I was not prepared to risk my own safety, and that of other paddlers, by tackling the lake without that back-up.
Out of sheer frustration, I told Graham I was going to continue, but I wanted him to take me around to the lake outlet by car, and I’d put in at the start of the next canal section.
So I got to the lake outlet and got back in – a couple of the women who I had previously passed, but then they had passed me while I was on the shore, stared at me as though I was the world’s biggest cheat, but I knew I was going to disqualify myself at the end. I just couldn’t go home without getting to the finish line.
Psychologically, I was pretty much over the race by the time I rejoined it. But I battled on, and passed three of the women who had got past me on the lake, two of which were at the second portage – they had no idea how to portage, and by the time I got to the bottom of the hill, they were still stuffing around with their boats at the fence!!
The second to last section of the canal was longer than I remembered it, and I was shattered by the time I got to the final portage and the short home straight to Lake Benmore. The wind was pretty horrendous by this time, and it felt like the canal had almost developed a swell. Fortunately it was a tail wind, but it didn’t feel like I was able to go any quicker, like I can when there’s a tail wind on the Avon.
I was feeling pretty distraught by the time I got to the final portage. I’d given all that I had in order to try and peg back some places, even though I knew as a DSQ, it wouldn’t count for anything. Still, I had to give it my very best shot. The two remaining women who had past me on the lake, were only around 10 metres ahead of me at the final portage, and they doubled up to get down the hill. I was battling my boat on my own in the wind, knowing that I should have been in front of those two women who were walking effortlessly down the hill (and what REALLY pissed me off, was that one of them was the woman who had wash hung me on the first section, and here she was ahead of me!!).
I stopped my watch at Benmore at 3.49 hours despite a lengthy stoppage on the lake foreshore – the same time as the woman who got 3rd. If I hadn’t stopped on the lake, who knows how things might have ended up. Graham said the woman who came in in second place (3.29 hours) was starting to struggle even on the first canal section, and I was gaining on her even at that point. Shit happens.
As it turned out, there were six of us who were DNFs (that’s the other annoyance – I finished the damn race, and yet was DNF’d rather than DSQ’d). Ten percent of the field failed to finish because of the lake conditions, and the majority of those were experienced paddlers.
The prizegiving was appalling – it was a poorly catered for meal at the Twizel Events Centre rather than back at the old venue, the MacKenzie Country Inn. For $25 a head, we were fed sausages, tough old pieces of fatty steak, potato salad, and bread and butter. I wouldn’t have fed it to my dog!!
So the Kayak Challenge thread on Sportzhub has been working overtime, and so it should. Bloody Good Events put on a bloody poor event, and let’s hope this iconic race doesn’t suffer because of poor management on the part of the race organisers.
Brass Monkey Kayak Race – Race 5
Sunday 19 August 2007
Well, what a memorable day!!
Final race of the Brass Monkey Series today, and what a gorgeous day it was – it was almost warm out! The river was flowing at 77 cumecs and it was quite a straight course after the recent “flood” (not too many windy bits).
I have to admit to being disappointed that I missed breaking the 50 minute mark by 30 seconds. I checked my watch when I was close to the finishing straight, and I was up to 47 minutes. I tried SO hard to finish under 50, but it wasn’t to be!
I was rather perplexed at the prizegiving though, as I was apparently beaten by Bridget Murdoch by almost a minute. However, I passed Bridget even earlier than normal in this race, after only about five minutes (plus she started 30 seconds before me), so they had mucked up that result somehow. Nevermind, the second place today still gave me first place for the series, so that was really cool.
What started as a bonus by winning a Macpac t shirt as a spot prize, was to only get better. At the end of the series, they have (in this year’s case) four major spot prizes – a Specialized mountainbike valued at $3,200, two VOK Corsieres (or a VOK kayak to an equivalent value) valued at $2,450, and a Legend Paddle. I couldn’t believe it when I was called out as the first winner! I got to choose out of the four prizes. Graham and I had just been discussing that he will need to upgrade his MTB if we are to do Goldrush, so I selected the MTB. Unfortunately he also wants me to upgrade the Arrow, so he was disappointed that I didn’t pick the kayak! He just can’t get his head around riding a MTB worth $3,200, when they get such a hammering!
I’m still smiling about today – I’m soooo rapt!
A brilliant way to end the weekend and a fantastic series.
Brass Monkey Kayak Race – Race 4
Sunday 5 August 2007
It’s days like this that makes it magic to be alive!
The river was flowing at 53 cumecs today. Megan and I did a reccie yesterday and it was only 40-odd. It poured with rain last night and this obviously contributed to an increased flow this morning. It was a gorgeous day in Canterbury – a cold breeze was coming off the mountains, but it was at our backs and the sun was in our faces.
It was very cool to have Richard and Elina Ussher in the race (although I didn’t even know they were competing until I saw them at the prizegiving!). I did have to feel sorry for our local kayak stars Ian Huntsman and Paul Massie though – they normally battle it out between themselves each week, but today, Richard turned up as a one-off to take the win!
I was a few seconds late for my start this morning, which was annoying – every second helps! I was aiming to catch up to Bridget Murdoch earlier than I did during the last race (which was in the finishing straight), but today I caught her very early on, probably in the first 10-15 minutes. Maybe she had experienced a bad start.
Kees de Glanville and Ariana Summers passed me at the same point as they normally do, but I decided to work a bit harder to try and stick with Ariana as long as I could. It worked for a wee while, until her narrower boat got the better of me. I kept her in my sights though, and she was getting out of her boat at the finish line just as I was pulling in. I was happy with that!
There seemed to be a stack more Category C boats in the race today, as one-off entries. I seemed to make my way through quite a few, which felt good!
Still no spot prizes for the Rachmeister, but I got my chocolate fish for 1st place in the C Category. I just need to get through the final race in a fortnight to hang on for the series win. Then next year I must gather up the courage to paddle the Arrow in the B Category!
Brass Monkey Kayak Race – Race 3
Sunday 22 July 2007
While it was nice to wake up to a far milder morning today than has been the case for the previous two races, the wind chill at the starting area certainly took the temperature down a notch!
I was feeling mighty tired after staying up to watch the netball last night (I don’t think it was the late night that did it, rather all the jumping up and down I was doing!), and I was tempted to flag the race, but decided that was a piss poor attitude and I needed to pull finger!
Megan and I did the pylon run as a reccie yesterday – that depressed me no end, as Megan motored along quite casually and I simply couldn’t keep up despite giving it my all!! My guess is that my body was trying to tell me something, as I had completed my longest run ever on the Friday (three hours on the Port Hills) and I think my system just felt sluggish. I decided not to do my scheduled two hour mag trainer session, as it wouldn’t have done me any favours for today’s race.
Anyway, back to today. There didn’t seem to be as many entrants at the start – maybe the netball and rugby culled a few! I was on the starting line bang on time again – it can be quite an art to pace yourself so you don’t cross either prematurely, or too late which wastes valuable seconds!
The river was flowing at 40 cumecs – just lovely. There were a few visible grovelly patches, but I only heard my rudder a couple of times. Approaching the highway bridge, I could see a fat boat ahead of me, which indicated the person was in the same category. I made it my mission to catch and pass them (I don’t know why!) before the finish line, and that was good motivation to dig deep. As it turned out, it was Bridget Murdoch, who was second in our category last race, and was second again today. She started around 90 seconds ahead of me, so it’s become a goal for next time – I need to hunt her down before or roughly at the same point at the next race to try and build on the buffer!! All is fair in love and war. 
Toddled off to prize giving. No spot prizes were to be had, but I got a choccie fish for winning the C category.
Overall, I’m pleased I got my lazy butt out of bed this morning – I can always catch up on the sleep tonight (after a run that is!).
Brass Monkey Kayak Race – Race 2
Sunday 8 July 2007
A far better race today! I have to admit to feeling pretty nervous beforehand – one bad race tends to linger with me!
It was -6 degrees in Christchurch overnight, so it was hard to get my head around getting out of my warm bed to face paddling down a icy South Island river this morning. The river was flowing at 86 cumecs – a much nicer flow than the 20 cumecs last time. Megan and I did a reccy yesterday so we had a good feel for what the braids were doing.
The put-in was at the same spot as last fortnight – a couple of hundred metres downstream from the old entry point. The extra space in the riverbed means it’s far more conducive to a race venue that the old spot.
Entry numbers appeared to be down on Race 1, and it didn’t seem to take so long before my number was called up. I judged the start well and hit the line pretty much bang on time.
My race was textbook – no faultering, some really good lines, and I hunted down the fast water well despite the sun being still quite glarey and low in the sky. The new paddle behaved itself too and remained attached to my arms throughout!!
I was pleased to get to the finish line only having been passed by four boats that were narrower and had come from behind. I managed to pass quite a few too, and they weren’t just sea kayaks either!
I ended up placing first in the C Grade. Until the results come out, I’m not sure of my time, but I think it was 52-odd minutes.
Brass Monkey Kayak Race – Race 1
Sunday 24 June 2007
I was probably better prepared for the first race this year, than I was at the same time last year. I had done several pylon runs as part of the build up with Nadia and/or Megan. Each weekend, the river dropped further and further, to the point that come race day, it was only flowing at 20 cumecs. Unbelievable! Despite this, there seemed to be a reasonable channel flowing.
Rather than starting at the usual put-in spot, the organisers had us entering the river a couple of hundred metres downstream. All the earthmoving that has been taking place in the riverbed meant that there was a really good access road, and actually more space for parking, registration and scrutineering than the usual location.
I was race number 18, so didn’t have to wait too long before starting. It was a little tricky at the start, as there was no eddy to sit in while waiting to be called up.
I was late getting to the start line when I heard my number called (we’re given 30 seconds to paddle down to the start line after being called up) – I probably wasted a good 10-20 seconds getting down there.
There was an Eliminator just ahead of me that I knew was going to get in my way. Megan and I had paddled down the day before, and I knew how congested it was going to get, so I needed to make my move! I spied a small channel which would see me take an outside line to get me around the Eliminator. It worked perfectly, but I had a lapse in concentration, and this, coupled with my dogged determination to get past the Eliminator, saw me paddle straight into a line of two converging currents. Rather than rail, I panicked, which resulted in the water whipping my paddle out of my hand. I looked back to see the paddle recirculating in the current but it was too late – I was drifting downstream whereas my paddle was staying put!
I called out to the woman in the Eliminator who was approaching my paddle, but she just had a “Don’t ask me, I’m out of my depth!” look on her face!!
So it was both hands in the water as I doggy paddled myself towards the far bank. I jumped out of the boat but by the time I stood up, the paddle was nowhere to be seen. A guy stopped and kindly helped me search – to the point where he offered me his paddle on several occasions, just so that I could continue. Unfortunately I wasn’t on the river just to complete – I wanted to go hard and I’d already wasted enough time, so I sent him on his way, and I struggled my way back upstream to the start line.
Fortunately Bruce Clulow was helping out Jeremy Pugh, whose rudder had broken before his race had even started. Bruce threw my boat on his truck and took me down to the finish line where I eventually met up with Graham (once he had decided to conclude his search for me!). Thanks Bruce!
So on Monday, it was off to TopSport for a new paddle. Caleb talked me into trying a Legend Marathon – a longer, narrower blade. I took it out onto the Avon, and loved it! A nice grunty wee beast. $475 later, I just have to wait for my new paddle to be converted into split shaft. I can’t wait to get back out there.
And if anyone sees a lone Legend Wildwater between the pylons and the sea, could you let me know?!
Speights Coast to Coast 2007
Team Ibuprofen’s Big Weekend Out!
We had a leisurely drive over to Kumara, and arrived around 1pm. Fortunately the racecourse was pretty empty at that time, and we had a good selection of camping spots – Ian had warned me to steer clear of the road and the toilet block if we wanted to sleep well! We’d only just pitched our tent, when Emma and Greg arrived, so they became our neighbours for the night. I won’t make any comment about their air bed, fitted sheet and matching duvet cover and pillows, or the fact they attempted to put up their fly before erecting the tent.
Registration opened at 3pm, so we counted down the minutes before we could get hold of our precious race pack. Graham and I then took a drive down to Kumara beach, where the start banner sat looking rather surreal – such a desolate horizon and wild beach, with the Speights Start sign in the middle of nowhere. Emma and Greg found a dead seal on the beach when they went down – that didn’t omen well! The cycle transition had already been set up for the morning and I noted that it was very long, with the individuals (having lower race numbers than the teams), racking their bikes closer to the beach. Being in the 700 series, it was going to be a few hundred metres further that I was going to have to run. But I guess I wasn’t going to be on my legs for quite as long as the individuals!
At around 6.30pm, we wandered the 3km down to Kumara township for our 7pm banquet sitting, which was to be followed by the race briefing. The locals did a wicked job of feeding everyone – food for Africa, and seeing as it was such a gorgeous evening, everyone just chilled on the grass out the back of the Town Hall. After the race briefing, we walked back to the racecourse. It was getting dark by the time we got back, so it was a bit of an effort getting everything organised for the following day by torch light. I had a bad night’s sleep and was awake from around 3am with the anticipation.
Friday 9 February 2007 – Day 1
We all had to leave the racecourse by 6am – Graham, Emma and Greg left for Aickens Corner, and I headed to the cycle transition, then the Beach. The road was closed as we rode our bikes the few kilometres down to the cycle transition in the dark. Once racked, we all walked the 3km down to the Beach. The sun was just starting to come up, and mostly everyone walked along in silence – a very weird atmosphere. The many Portaloos they had stationed along the way got a hammering from the competitors! Down at the Beach, there was no-one really warming up – it was difficult on the sand. I was simply concerned about stretching out my dicky hamstring.
We had around 30 minutes to wait, which was difficult with such apprehension. Standing on the beach, I looked up towards the shore and all I could see was a solid line of people in fluorescent bibs – media. Never before had I been anywhere where there was such interest from the media. As I dipped my toes in the Tasman Sea, I heard what was to become a very familiar sound – a helicopter – Judkins had arrived!
We lined up in our race number order as he counted the time down. It was almost a sense of relief to hear the sound of the hooter. We all scrambled up the boulders and headed down the dirt road which lead up the hill and onto the main Hokitika-Kumara Junction road. There was so much congestion, that until the field started spreading out, it was difficult to actually run. Once onto the tarseal we continued up hill to the Junction, which was hard work given that I hadn’t warmed up. I had to use the first part of the run to warm up and get my breathing in order and once I felt comfortable, I started making my way though the other runners. Many of them were heaving away, and I decided that they should have put in way more training!
The cycle transition was as long as I remembered it! But soon enough I found my bike and it was a quick transition from running to cycling shoes, before I took off. Considering I left alone, it wasn’t long before a bunch formed and we motored along, picking up lone cyclists as we went – talk about a snowball effect! In hindsight, I wish my run had been quicker so I could have got out with a faster bunch – I had to keep taking turns at the front to push them along, particularly on the downhills as it was here that they tended to cruise down rather than pedal, and this stopped us from gaining any sort of momentum for the next uphill. Still, there were a few good aggressive men in the bunch, who helped to keep the pace ticking over.
A few kilometres from Aickens Corner, the road took an odd angle across a level railway crossing. It was raining, and as we approached the crossing, an Official came running at us, yelling at us to slow down and to take the track at right angles – apparently 30 or so riders in the leading bunches had fallen on the wet steel of the tracks – there was certainly a pile of drink bottles lying on the side of the road!
It was so exciting to finally see the transition at Aickens and while it wasn’t nearly as chaotic as what the lead cyclists would have encountered, it was buzzing nonetheless! As I ran down through the chute, Graham was able to catch my attention, so there was no stopping to look for anyone. Emma and I had a very slick transition, which was good considering that the time in transition, including when Emma crossed the transponder mat at the start of the mountain run section, gets added to the cycle time! My actual time (run plus cycle, without the transition) was 2.08 hours, with recorded time being 2.11 hours. So that was my day over, and it was only 9.10am!
It was raining very hard as we drove to Klondyke, but it did fine up so we could pitch the tent and head across the road to the mountain run finish line. It was a great set up, so we chilled out there for the afternoon, watching the runners come in. Emma was very close to her anticipated time, so team tactics were working well! After tea, we wandered back across to the run finish area, and found a list of provisional results – we were sitting in fifth place in our category. Fourth place was only nine minutes ahead, and third only twenty. However, the third place team had Liz Blazey as their kayaker, and as a top paddler, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to improve our standings in that regard! (Liz went on to record the fastest women’s kayak time of the day.)
We had all evening to get things organised for day two, which was good as it was more of a mission! I had to have all my compulsory kayak gear together, as well as nutrition, and after-paddle clothing, drink etc. It was up to Graham to have all the gear scrutinised down at Mt White bridge the following morning, so it was important to get it right. I also had to have all my cycling gear organised for the 15km cycle from Klondyke to the river.
Saturday 10 February 2007 – Day 2 (my day of reckoning!)
The carpark at Mt White bridge was to open from 4.30am, however we awoke to cars moving around us at 4am – they had obviously done the race before and knew the importance of getting out and on the road to get a good spot at the kayak transition! I pushed Graham out of bed and he quickly got organised and left me. My cycle start wasn’t until around 8.15am, so it was a very lonely wait! I didn’t have a torch with me, so I dressed in the darkness of the tent, and groped my way around for breakfast and anything else I needed. Graham was going to come back and pack up the campsite as soon as the last cyclist arrived at the kayak transition (C2C rule number 168!), so I tidied things up, then went across the road to the cycle start which had been set up at the mountain run finish. Other cyclists who had also been deserted by their support crews were sitting in a marquee with a gas heater (in the dark of course!). Again, it was a weird atmosphere.
From 6.30am, we got checked off by an Official, to ensure we were all there. At 7.30am, in race number order, we set off in waves of ten cyclists at one minute intervals (which is why I didn’t start until around 8.15am). It was like a time trial – the pace was frenetic and you could see by all the lone cyclists along the way, that many had been dumped by the groups they had started with. There was only two women in our group of ten, so I knew it was going to be a tough ride, and we were eventually whittled down to just me and two other men, but that was fine given that the kayak transition was close.
The run from the main highway, down the shingle road to the river, seemed much longer than 800 metres! I wore running shoes on the cycle stage so there was no time lost going from cycle shoes to running. Graham, Emma and Greg provided a fantastically slick transition to the kayak – it was like having three mothers fussing over me!
I was determined not to stop at all down the river (bar swimming of course!), so I was amazed to see how many people were relieving themselves, swimming, fussing over the boats etc on the way down – such time wasting! My nutrition plan was to have a gel every thirty minutes without fail, so it was a continual clock-checking exercise. I knew I would burn quite a bit of energy during the cycle before even starting the paddle, so constant refuelling was upmost in my mind. I took no solid food with me, but the gels worked perfectly.
In the early part of the Gorge, I came across a woman out of her boat, struggling to get to shore with her paddle. Her boat was quickly moving downstream so she didn’t have any hope of saving it on her own. I slowed up as much as I could and told her to give me her paddle and grab the back of my boat and I’d tow her to shore. Unfortunately paddling with two paddles was easier said than done, but a guy came past at that point and took the woman’s paddle off me. By holding onto the back of my boat, she stopped my rudder from working so I rather uncharitably told her she’d have to get off and swim! Oh well, it is a race afterall!
I decided I would portage at Carnage Corner – it had been talked up so much on Sportzhub, and sure enough, when I arrived there, a number of kayakers were carrying their boats past this particular section. I doubled up with an older man to carry our boats downstream, but unfortunately he struggled a little on all the rocks, so I couldn’t move as quickly as I wanted to. That, combined with the woman swimmer further upstream, would have cost me several minutes, but as I didn’t suffer a swim or have any technical difficulties, I was happy with that.
An earlier fright (where I almost tipped out and had to brace suddenly) meant that one hamstring had become very sore. It threatened to cramp up as soon as I got out to portage and I was disappointed to find that my bottle of Crampstop had dropped out of my PFD. I was afraid the rest of the paddle was going to be very painful, so I had to be very careful that I didn’t move my leg in a way that could send it into spasm.
I became quite emotional the closer I got to Woodstock (and in fact burst into tears when I did pass through there!). Officials record kayakers’ race numbers at Woodstock, and radio them through to the Gorge bridge where they transcribe them onto a board – the support crews then know that their paddlers are only around an hour away from finishing. I decided that as I felt so good, I would use that last hour as a time trial. Ian would have been proud of me as I powered my way down the final braided section. I could see the pylons that hang over the finish line in the distance, so that was great motivation to me. It was an awesome sight to see people lining the bridge high over the river, not to mention the masses of people who lined the river bank at the transition. When I was about three minutes upstream, a further call was made that I was approaching the bridge, so Graham could be at the ready – incredible organisation on the part of Judkins and his team!
The kayak stage (including the 15km cycle and 800 metre run) took 5.53 hours – fifth in our category, and I was pleased to get under six hours given that I was paddling a stable boat. It was neat to see that Mum and Dad were also waiting for me at the bridge, and they had brought the children down to watch. Graham eased me out of my kayak and with my sore leg and general stiffness, I found the run up through the chute very awkward. It was great to be able to hand over the bib and transponder one last time to Emma. Once the car was packed up, we headed off into Sumner to watch Emma finish. It was a bit sad that the finishing chute was so small, and with many locals crowding around, this stopped support crews and team members from actually getting a good look at their competitors coming through. It was so exciting to see her arrive though, knowing that our hard efforts had finally paid off.We made our way down to the water’s edge where we got to dip our toes into the Pacific Ocean, medals and Speights in hand! We made it into fourth place out of 16 women’s teams – we were stoked.
Epilogue
On reflection, it has been very beneficial doing it as a team before attempting it as individuals. Many of the individuals looked totally out of their depth in terms of preparation, and we wondered if they really knew what the race was going to involve (there were a lot of very shattered looking individuals at the close of day one!). There should be no romantic notion of doing the Coast to Coast – you need to go into with your eyes wide open and a strong commitment to training hard and effectively, to do the event justice. Graham and I are going to race in 2008 as a Mixed Team – it will be competitive, as Graham insists on it! That gives me another 12 months to really hone my kayaking and cycling fitness, not to mention get much quicker running shorter distances! Only then will I consider tackling it as an individual. As for Em, bloody trooper that she is, at least I’ll get a new paddling partner, as she prepares to take on 2008 as an individual! Cheers girlfriend – I had a marvellous time!
Clutha Classic Kayak Race
Friday 29 December 2006
After spending a day with family in Dunedin after Christmas, we headed up Central for the Clutha Classic. We had intended on camping in Cromwell, however on seeing the state of the holiday park (congested with boats and people), we managed to secure the last motel unit (apparently) in Cromwell.
On the Thursday night, I convinced Graham to check out the get out point on the Clutha – the race was to finish at Lindis Crossing, but neither of us were familiar with where exactly this was. We were none the wiser when we scouted around either, so ended up driving to Wanaka instead, to check out as much of the river (and its Grade 2 aspects) as possible.
We stopped at the Red Bridge, at which point Ella told me I wasn’t allowed to do the race – she was a little daunted by the sheer volume of water (she wasn’t alone!). Lake Wanaka was really choppy, and it was the lake foreshore where the race was to start. The course was to then head around the lake to the lake outlet (start of the Clutha).
There was nothing better than to at least visualise the course, although that didn’t settle the butterflies in my stomach that night!
My friend Jill, who was holidaying in Wanaka, was supposed to be doing the race as well. Unfortunately she texted me on Thursday to let me know that she had mislaid her Grade 2 certificate. As a result, the race organiser wouldn’t allow her to participate. We had been through our Grade 2 course together, and we were looking forward to using this as a training paddle before the Coast to Coast.
On Friday morning, I felt positively ill with nerves. While I could have so easily pulled out, I knew I’d be so annoyed with myself if I didn’t give it a go. So we hopped in the car and headed back to Wanaka. As I registered, the race organiser advised me that the lake paddle had been canned, as it was too rough. While all the guys in their ultra tippy boats would have swum going around the point, I probably would have been fine in the Eliminator (but I wasn’t complaining about the decision!). The race would instead start at the lake outlet, and it would be a handicapped start based on boat model.
At the race briefing, we were warned about three particular curly parts of the river:
- Pioneer Rapids – just above the Red Bridge (approx 3/4 of an hour into the paddle);
- Devil’s Elbow – a hairpin bend just below the Red Bridge. We were advised to sneak around the inside corner, through an eddy;
- Shitters Ditch – around halfway, the beginning of this section was flagged by a orange cone on the left hand bank, and a vineyard on the hill above the river. We were (strongly!) advised to stick as far right as possible.
There were only two of us opting for the security/stability of Eliminators, so we got to start first (not good for the pride!). The other woman told me she hadn’t done much paddling, so I pretty quickly left her behind (it was a race, afterall!).
Several times I thought I’d encountered Pioneer Rapids, but found they were just wicked wave trains/standing waves – and there were lots more of those to come! It was like paddling through a surf beach, and many times the waves hit me in the face, if not over my head! It was so much fun, to the point where I started hunting them out, rather than taking quieter sections.
Graham, Ella and Louis were waiting at the Red Bridge, and at that point, I was really surprised to find I was still leading (around 10-15km into it). A couple of corners down from the bridge, I suddenly came upon the Devil’s Elbow. It was the first bluff I had seen, so knew it signalled “that” corner! I went into panic mode, trying to remember what we’d been told to do at the safety briefing. I spotted the calm eddy on the left, so reduced my speed and tried to negotiate my way around. Lo and behold, Bill the race organiser was on the bank beside the eddy (with a guy hanging on to a video camera – bugger!). As Bill shouted directions at me, I rode the bow of my boat up onto the bank by mistake – fortunately he pulled me back out into the calm of the eddy again, still yelling at me to paddle hard to get back out into the flow – oh boy, did I paddle hard!!
It was a few kilometres down stream where the first guy passed me. He asked me if I was in first place – I said “No, you are now!”. Rats, I’d lost my stronghold on the race! He told me Sally (Fahey) was around 500m behind me, so I just waited to be reeled in by a woman. It was at that time that I wished I was paddling the Arrow!
When Sally passed me, she told me I was doing really well (yeah, it had taken her long enough to pass me!!). I was pretty chuffed with her kind words, as she’s a legend.
A few more guys passed me, then suddenly I noticed an orange cone on the left hand bank – oh hell, it was Shitters Ditch!! The vineyard was on the hill above us, so I quickly negotiated my way to the right hand bank – okay, I was sorted now! I paddled my way past the rescue boats and felt pretty smug that I’d done everything by the book. Once past, I paddled my way out into the middle again, and at that point, I got the shock of my life! There were more rescue boats down stream a little way – I hadn’t even got into the worst of Shitters Ditch when I had moved out to the middle. I was being sucked towards massive hydraulics – I paddled as hard as I possibly could back towards the right hand bank. It was a case of two steps forward, one step back as the pull of the river was so strong. I noticed the rescue boats starting to edge their way out into the stream – they obviously thought a rescue was iminent! Just in the nick of time, I got back into the relative calm of the right hand stream – phew!
The rest of the river was reasonably easy – a guy fell out not far ahead of me at one point, and Jill and Colin (who were standing on the bank closeby) told me it had taken him around 15 minutes to get himself back to the bank and into his boat again. I was pleased it wasn’t me, as the water was very cold, and it had started to rain!
I managed to take advantage of calm spots on the river to down Leppins and take in fluid – hopefully it’ll be that easy in February!
My energy levels had really started to flag by this stage, and I had to be mindful of the various boils on the river – one wrong paddle stroke could have seen me tip in. But it wasn’t too much longer before I saw Bill seated in his deckchair on the left hand bank and the race was all over!
I was disappointed to find at the prize giving that I wasn’t third woman overall (I was aware of only two women passing me), but on returning home to Christchurch, there was a message from Bill that there had been an error with the results, and I did in fact get third.
A fantastic race, in a beautiful part of New Zealand.
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Teva Big Day at the Office Race
Saturday 9 December 2006
Stage One: 40km cycle (they lied – 44km)
Stage Two: 24km sub-alpine run
Stage Three: 30km cycle
Stage Four: 9km kayak
Stage Five: 3.5km runIt seemed like such a good idea too!
Emma and I teamed up for the Teva on Saturday 9 December. Graham and I farmed out the children and headed to Methven on the Friday evening. Graham was support crewing Emma and I, just to keep him out of mischief.
During the Friday night, it poured down. I kept waking during the night to the sound of the rain on the roof, and decided that there was no way the race was going to be held. Bugger, it was.
We headed down to registration at the Trotting Club first thing Saturday morning. Registration was held outdoors – not good considering the wind and rain hadn’t stopped. By this time, I was looking around the other competitors, noticing that they very sensibly, were wearing jackets and leggings for the first cycle stage (my stage!). Drat – here I was in cycle shorts, cycle shirt and arm warmers. Slightly underprepared.
The race start was delayed because the organisers were concerned about conditions over the Mount Somers’ run stage. I guess snow and rising river levels will do that to an organiser’s stress levels.
So here we were, sheltering under trees from the wind and rain, awaiting the start. The support crews (and Emma) were sent off to the first transition, so they could be off the road when the first stage started. The start was pretty frenetic and it wasn’t long before we were up to 40-odd kph, even though there was a strong southerly wind. The speed was shortlived (well for me anyway) – I was spat out the back of the leading bunch a couple of kilometres out of Methven. How demoralising. As I groveled my way along on my own, I was aware of a vehicle pulling up beside me on the wrong side of the road. “Just get past” I thought to myself. Bugger, hanging out the passenger window was a TV camera, poised on me. I felt like yelling “Yep, I’m in the lead, the chasing bunch are behind me!”. If only. It was so not cool cycling on my own.
I soon got picked up by a chasing bunch and they swept me along. A girl in the group welcomed me in. That was all well and good until we started heading up the Mount Somers road. I was caught napping and once again was spat out the back. I was getting mildy sick of the whole event, and one puncture would have tempted me to call it quits (but then I had to think of Emma waiting patiently at the run transition). I could see the bunch up ahead and every time I put in a sprint to try and gain on them, they changed leader and off they surged again. At the 40km mark, I was starting to panic – I couldn’t possibly cruise into transition on my own – for my own pride, I had to be part of a bunch! I made one last grovelling effort and caught them. At that stage I got a second wind and I surged to the front, taking their speed from less than 30kph to almost 40kph. At least I cruised into transition ahead of that bunch!
Emma took over at that point as she headed up to the snowy mountains! I didn’t envy her at all – my knees were shattered from the ride, and cramp in one quad had left quite a bit of residual pain. Emma’s prediction for the run was around 3.30 hours, so we had a bit of time to fill in before needing to have her bike at the Staveley run-bike transition. We headed back to Methven for lunch.
At Stavely, we watched the leading competitors come through. Considering how cold the conditions were, most came through with just t shirts on (at best!). A guy we know came through with only a tri singlet on – we thought he was mad, considering how cold the cycle was going to make them. Emma came through and I have to admit being surprised that she wanted to continue – a cycle in the rain and hail straight after a tough run wasn’t my idea of fun. Her cycle prediction was around an hour, so we headed straight to the kayak transition at the Rangitata Diversion Race (RDR).
I think conditions at the RDR had deteriorated even further. Cyclists were coming into transition in considerable pain with the cold. I had almost talked myself out of continuing, as I was so miserable. It had been almost five hours since my cycle stage, and my motivation wasn’t high.
But tough-Emma came in, and Graham bundled me into the boat. The RDR was gorgeous – quite steep sides, and a blue-green colour similar to the hydro canals. What wasn’t so gorgeous however, was the sleet, rain and driving head wind that threatened to rip the paddle out of my hands a couple of times. When we were standing at transition, I commented to Graham that amongst the boats still to head out, were a U2 and an Evo. I thought it really strange that at that stage of the race, two very technical boats were still to leave. I thought it incredibly funny therefore, when less than a couple of hundred metres up the RDR, I found the paddler belonging to the Evo – clinging for dear life to the grass on the banks – he was no match for the evil Evo!!
It was a wicked paddle – I passed nine kayaks on the way up – seven of which were guys (alright!!), and one was a woman in a K1. I’ve never passed a K1 before! What then started going through my mind was the fact that I’m a crap runner, and I had to try and stay ahead of these nine paddlers on the final run. Anyway, I still had to get to the end of the paddle stage.
2.5km from the end, there was a fantastic portage – we had to scramble up cargo nets with our boats (no mean feat!), cross a small grassy area and a bridge, and back down the other side. The marshalls who helped us get back into our boats after the portage deserved a medal – they’d been out there most of the day in all weathers, helping people up and down steep banks with their boats.
It was a welcome relief to see Graham at the kayak-run transition. Emma wasn’t to be seen, so I’d hoped she’d taken herself off for a hot shower! The last run was great – my sort of running – undulating tracks with tree roots etc. I kept ahead of all the paddlers I’d passed and when I came off the track and into the main street of Methven, there was Emma waiting for me. We ran the last several hundred metres together and crossed the finish line together. Just a mere eight or so hours after we started!
At the pub, we caught up with Bruce, the guy we know who had headed out on the cycle in just his tri singlet – his support crew had to pull him out of the race at the kayak transition – he had welts all up his arms from the hail storm, and he was incoherent. To put him in the boat in that state, would have been dire. And to think he was in third place at that point, plus he’s a bloody good paddler too!
So it was a bitter sweet sort of an event. It would have been great if it was a little warmer, but we came out with a second place for our category (two women team) (and at least were weren’t a DNF!). This gave us an $80 voucher for Mountain Designs and a silver medal each. Cool bananas!
Meridian Energy Kayak Challenge
Labour Weekend 2006
The 31km Kayak Challenge forms part of the Hard Labour Weekend, which involves the Twizel Pyramid Run on the Saturday, the Challenge on the Sunday, and the Gut Buster Mountainbike Race on the Monday.
We headed down to Twizel on the Friday and tiki toured around Mt Cook that afternoon. I had intended to cycle out of Mt Cook back to Twizel, however the “severe wind warning” signs were out on the Mt Cook road so I thought better of it!
Graham competed in the Pyramid Run on the Saturday and placed 3rd. Emma and Greg also took part so it was good to catch up with them.
That evening, as normal, I insisted on a drive around the paddle course. The Kayak Challenge takes place on the Ohau hydro canals, which are not normally open to the public, let alone kayakers! Meridian Energy have a sealed road which runs parallel with the canals – great for spectators. The portages were the most daunting aspect – there were three in total and involved exiting at each dam/power station, and re-entering down a steep bank in the next section of the canal.
As per usual, I felt really nervous on race day. I had doubts that I could last the distance, as I had never paddled that far before. Then there was the added complication of those portages!
It was a pretty cold start to the day, but the canals were like glass. The race had a handicapped start, with the faster, more advanced boats starting around 15 minutes after us. A double kayak started with our group and they shot off to become the eventual winners.
The first portage was a killer! This section was a couple of kilometres in length and was extremely steep – I had no option but to simply slide down the grassy slope of the dam. It was made even more frustrating by the strict rule that support crews are not able to assist in any way. Graham had difficulty walking alongside me while I was struggled under the weight of my boat.
On re-entering the canal, it soon fed into Lake Ruataniwha, the main venue for South Island rowing regattas. Fortunately the wind stayed away so instability wasn’t an issue! The course exited the Lake under the state highway bridge by way of the next section of canal, which headed to our second portage. It was amazing watching salmon leaping out of the canal around me – but as long as they stayed in the canal and I stayed in my boat, I was happy!
The second and third portages weren’t nearly as bad as the first in terms of distance and gradient of the dams, but by this stage, my shoulders and legs were starting to ache. The third portage was particularly gnarly, as we had to walk down a long sealed road to re-enter the canal – by this stage my back was also very sore, and I resorted to dragging my boat down the grassy/shingly verge – I certainly lost a bit of gel coat by using this technique!
After the third portage, there was only several hundred metres to go before we rounded the bend into Lake Benmore and the finishing line. It was sheer bliss reaching the end, and a mighty rewarding feeling!
Unfortunately there was a downturn on previous years in terms of entries, so instead of being able to justify splitting the women into categories according to boat model, we were all lumped in together. I was 5th woman overall and while there were only eight women, I was pleased considering the women ahead of me were paddling faster boats. My time was 3.41 hours (fastest woman 3.02 hours, slowest 4.19 hours).
The prizegiving was the best I’ve ever attended – the entry fee included a buffet meal at the local motor lodge, and every entrant received a spot prize. It was a really neat event, and one that I liken to childbirth – bloody hard work at the time, but I’ll probably go back for more!
AMP City of Christchurch Multisport Race
Saturday 3 November 2006
- 17km run
- 30km cycle
- 6km kayak
This was a team effort – Jill suggested it one day when we were out for a paddle on the Harbour. She and her daughter Charlotte were keen to do it as a team, but Jill preferred to do the cycle rather than the kayak. So our team of three was born!
As time went on, Charlotte opted out of the full run and seconded her partner Nick, to do the initial flat run to the bottom of Rapaki Track, at which point Charlotte would take over. However, in the weeks leading up the race, Nick succumbed to the rigours of mountain biking, and cut his leg badly.
Graham volunteered his services for the hill section of the run (his favourite!), so the team was once again renamed, this time to “Three Vets and a Baby”.
On race morning, we dropped my kayak and gear off at Kerrs Reach before heading in to Victoria Square to meet up with the others. After seeing Charlotte off at Victoria Square, we drove to the bottom of Rapaki for Graham to wait at the transition. We watched the leading guys come through, with Graham secretly wishing he was doing the whole run to see how he would have faired in comparison! Charlotte did well, handing over to Graham who had a great time passing lots of people with his fresh legs and pent up energy! Despite having a “mixed” run (man/woman), we finished the run section well up towards the leaders.
Following Graham’s departure, I headed off to Kerrs Reach to await Jill’s arrival on the cycle. It was great fun eyeing up the different boats (like a kid in a lolly shop!). Charlotte and Nick turned up to wait also, and while we were waiting, we got a call from Graham to give us a progress report on Jill’s estimated arrival time. The day was heating up and it was quite relaxing lounging around the kayak transition!
As time went on, my stomach began churning! I knew I had to get through the section of river near the fire station, which was notoriously shallow – even more so that day, as the tide was out. There was a slightly deeper channel that could be negotiated, however it was relatively fast moving and I’d previously struggled to paddle upstream at that point.
Jill got through the cycle well, and Colin and Graham helped me into the boat. I was very mindful of anyone with a teams bib on – I had to hunt them down and pass them! I had no fluid on me, and my mouth was really dry – I should never underestimate how dehydrated you can become, even in a short race!
Near the fire station, Graham appeared in the middle of the river to drag me through the shallows. Fortunately it wasn’t too congested, so there was plenty of room to manouevre. Jill and Colin also appeared near the fire station, so I had support for the remainder of the paddle to the Town Hall – it was fantastic!
Once again, Graham appeared at the get-out point at the Town Hall to help me out, and the finish line was a short run to the base of the steps of the Crowne Plaza.
We all came back for the prize giving in the afternoon, having no idea how we had done. Unfortunately no placing was to be had, but we were 9th out of the 27 mixed teams (and we were really chuffed with this considering we had three women and one man, whereas many of the other teams were stacked with men!).
I’ll definitely be back for more of this event! |
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