Tarawera Ultra Marathon 2015 : 100km Trail, Sat 7th Feb
20, 36, 50, 35, 73, 28, 80. No they are not tonight’s Power Ball numbers
but my kms covered in sequential order for the past 7 weeks leading up to the
Tarawera Ultra Marathon 100km Trail Race in New Zealand, from Rotorua to
Kawerau via Lake Tarawera and Tarawera Falls.
For those who need to fall asleep or want to substitute their valium, my
previous blog post can be read that explains the reasons for the short
preparation, but you get the gist that I was cramming or as I call it, ‘reverse
tapering’ for the event. I had no
choice.
Going away to travel far for a race with
fellow NRG runners and great friends is always enjoyable and last weekend was
no exception. A large group of us flew
out Thursday night from Sydney, landed around midnight (after allowing 2 hours
time difference) in Auckland before Tim drove almost 3 hours south east to
Rotorua, where we got to bed just before 4am on Friday morning. Race time was Saturday morning 6am with an
early rise required, so sleep was in order desperately.
Registration and race briefing was held after
lunch on Friday and after hitting the local Countdown (Woolies) for supplies, a
large pasta dinner was consumed by all of us staying in a big fun house known
as Rotovegas. Good place, shame about
the sulfur perfume that Rotorua is characterized by.
My usual 4 hour sleep the night before race
day continued and we fuelled up on breakfast around 4:30am and got all our
running packs and gear ready for the big assault ahead with the 100km. Lucinda
and Kristian were tackling their biggest ever individual run, the 60km from
Rotorua Forest to Tarawera Falls.
It was 5:20am when we arrived at the start
line, extremely dark in the forest, but many runners headlamps were on and the
usual line ups for the amenities buildings and porta-loos. An NRG group photo was taken (minus Samantha,
Gavin, Paul and Malcolm) and good lucks were handed around the clan before the
race began. Lucie, Lachie and Ian were
all starting up near the front of the crowded shute but the rest of us were
hanging back enjoying the atmosphere and trying to keep warm on a crisp morning
in the forest.
Light was not a huge problem with so many
runner’s headlamps on, but I used my penlight only on rare occasions as we
began the slow start on the narrow fire trail up the hill. There were so many walkers and slow trotters
at the beginning with minimal areas to pass so it got a little
frustrating. Tim, Rocco and I were
trying to move through the wall of people and I noticed Suzi, Aileen and Robyn
take off early so the frustrations grew, even though I said to myself don’t
worry its 100km, not 20km.
Eventually the fire trail ceased and it
switched to single track but that didn’t help with the slow tempo ahead. So many people walking the rather flat
sections single file. I passed people
where I could, but the room was simple not there to go flying past. I tried to stay relatively calm and had to
grin and ride with it. The girls were
well ahead now and I think I must have skipped a little ahead of Rocco and Tim
but expected them any second now to join me.
It took a good 4km-6km before the field
began to really spread where you could run at your own desired pace. At 4km, there was an area where spectators
were cheering and an area to hand in your headlamp. I saw Paul Gaske a few kms later and he
mentioned he was in the 60km and wished him the best. A further few kms on after some nice leafy
forest and trail I passed Samantha and did the same with the good wishes. By this stage the pace increased and I was
feeling good but sort of in catch up mode after the frustrating start, trying
to catch Robyn and Aileen. I figured
Suzi was already on her ‘Energizer Bunny’ runs and on her way to keep up with
Lachie, Ian and Lucie.
I passed the first aid station but did not
stop for water having begun the race with one litre of water / electrolytes in
the front of my Salomon Pack. I
continued to tick the kms over at a good click and eventually caught up with
Aileen and Robyn around 14km into the run on the lovely canopy covered single
track, semi technical area with many tree roots hidden amongst the soil and
leaves. You had to lift your feet that
was for sure. A quick bathroom stop
before a short distance to second major aid station meant that I took in some
food at the station and had the front water bladders filled (did not take a
back bladder for the pack) and my 600ml Nathan hand held bottle topped up.
There was a bit of road running and gravel
to get through before the next aid station which was around the 20km mark. Here most people stopped and re-fuelled as it
was a 17km stretch before the next aid or water. The food at these stations were superb let me
say and the volunteers simply were awesome, grabbing water bottles out of your
hand and re-filling them and giving them back to you promptly. I took some crisps and a honey sandwich for
some energy to start the next leg. I
‘faffed’ around a bit with my music and headphones before Robyn and Aileen
arrived at the aid station. Looks like I
haven’t learnt my lesson from TNF last year, I spend too long at the stops
!
The three of us took off heading for the
next long section. I think Robyn and I
decided to push the pace a bit and Robyn joked (well turns out she wasn’t) that
I should be pacing her. The trail became empty now with fewer runners to be
found with the runners extremely spread out.
The section here leading up to 37km was very good, partially open trails
but still considered single track. I
think I was pacing Robyn here for a good while and Aileen would have been a
minute or two behind. The trail now
included some hill climbs lasting a few kms and I thought I was putting a gap
on Robyn as I could no longer hear or see her behind me. I passed a few more runners heading up and
was feeling great. There was a short
fast downhill before another uphill. Almost
at the top of the last climb of this long 17km section between aid stations, I
hear the pitter patter of Robyn’s shoes and before I knew it she had caught up
again and I thought to myself, gee I thought the hills might give me some
breathing space over her, but nope it was going to be Robyn’s day here as she
is a stayer over the 100km.
The downhill section began for the last
2.5km into the aid station and its rather steep single track but fast and
runnable. Downhills are not my strength,
but I have improved over the last year so the pace was on again. All of a sudden my adductors in the upper
legs had seized and I was forced to a walk as those cramps (a long term enemy
of mine) had surfaced. Robyn flew by and
then Aileen a minute or two later. I was so frustrated at this time, having
worked hard to get to that position, energy levels were great but the legs just
decided to give in and muscles contracting.
I watched all the people I had past in the last hour go flying past on
my right. I began walking gingerly
backwards down the steep hills. That is not easy and it’s painful but not as
painful as doing it forwards. Some
people asked if I needed help and one kind runner asked for my race bib number
and said he would tell the next aid station some 2km away. I took 2 more salt tablets and soon came
across another runner with the same problem.
I gave him some tablets too and it seemed to work for him as he dashed
off some minutes later !
At about 36km, I heard Rocco and Tim in the
background and they caught up with me and nursed me through to the aid
station. I was contemplating pulling out
when I got to the aid station as I knew these cramps wouldn’t be going away
anytime soon, especially as I started thinking that I simply have not done the
training here for this race and I am pushing my already smashed legs through
hell. Then Rocco and Tim got into my
head space and I thought to myself at least I can try to get to 60km and get a
medal for finishing. They were saying
“no”, you will be doing the 100km and can walk it need be finishing late at
night before cut offs at 70kms. At that
stage, my thoughts of going onto 100km was the last on my list.
We got to the aid station, refuelled and
headed off on more single track with many twists and turns and technical
sections and undulations. Throw in some
fallen trees across the trail and there many unders and overs to
counteract. Not what I wanted when
having legs that were cramping on and off by this stage. Rocco and Tim forged ahead after a couple of
kms and I didn’t yell out anything when I stopped once again for cramps as I
didn’t want them to wait for me as I knew it would be a struggle to simply get
to each aid station which were about 8km apart for the next few technical sections. I really thought I would see the last of them
after this point and next I will be seeing the other NRG runners passing me as
I continued on at my snails pace via my shuffle and walking in between
adductors tightening up. Paul Gaske past
me and many other runners did the same.
My aim now was simply to get to the next aid station, refuel, eat, sit
and rest, re-assess and decide if I was ready to move forward to the next aid
station.
At least the food and drinks were giving me
energy. The hot cross buns with butter
on offer were great and coupled with coke and even pizza (yes, pizza was delivered
via boat across the Lake to some checkpoints) helped my energy levels. I find it hard to eat suitable foods on these
mammoth runs, so having these three things helped as the Hammer Gels were
getting rather ordinary on the taste buds.
The trail continued past lovely clear water
lakes with undulations through technical sections and small rocky steps. I took it aid station by aid station and
somehow managed to make it up to 55km and with only 5km to Tarawera Falls and
the 60km finish. At least there I could
sit down at 60km and re-assess or cross the alternative finish line and call it
a day.
On the way to the 60km, I remember seeing a
random guy standing next to the trail.
He had a beard, sunnies, and a high-vis vest and said he was a medic. It
was weird to see him on that section of the trail but he did have his backpack
full of medic gear and I said I was suffering greatly from cramps as he watched
me approach him slowly along the trail.
He gave him a handful of small dissolving magnesium tablets and said to
place under my tongue everytime I felt a cramp coming on. I did so and I must admit it did improve
things but not totally as they would come back every km or two when I wanted to
shuffle a touch faster.
I approached Tarawera Falls and they looked
amazing as it was warming up a little and the water was crystal clear, so
inviting for a swim which you could have done but there was another 40km + to
run (well shuffle at the time). Just as
I was feeling marginally better with the legs, more cramps occurred on the
descent into the checkpoint area at 60km.
It was now after 2pm (so I had been out there for 8 and a bit hours) and
the aid station was very hot. Crowds
were there as the 60km finishers were on the left and the 85km and 100km
runners were directed off to the right for the aid station. I refuelled and asked about the drop bag area
as I had packed some running shoes for this aid station stop. I sat down to change from my Innov8 Trail
Rocs to the Brooks Runners when I saw Paul again. He had his 60km finishers medal on and I
congratulated him. He asked if I had
decided to forge ahead with the 100km and I sort of said without thinking, “yeah
why not, I can at least walk it and get home to 100km beating the cut offs.”
So there it was, a decision made and a few
more minutes rest on a chair meant my legs could take a breather and perhaps
approve of my new cushioned road shoes.
As I headed out of the checkpoint, I began running again, slowly but
moving a bit quicker than the last 23km.
Then the trail turned right and there was a sharp climb up a hill on
very soft sinking straw like trail. I
thought great, wrong shoes idiot ! I
cramped again and then briefly thought about maybe heading back, but my mind
then said, nope get to the next station at 70km and re-assess, so it was now
programmed into my head, treat this last 40km, one section at a time. Wow, how simple is that !
Perhaps the perseverance gave me good
fortune, as after that climbs the trail turned into a wider fire trail. I though this isn’t so bad. Sure there was gentle uphills to contend
with, but at least I didn’t have to worry about technical single track where I
had to lift the legs high and thus create more cramping opportunities. So my confidence grew as I continued on the
fire trail. I begin running again,
feeling good, taking in food and water and electrolytes with Hammer Fizz. I started to pass a few runners, the many
runners that had passed me in the past 10km on the single trail. I guess I can say I felt re-born again and
enjoying the day. It was getting hot
though so the hand held bottle was filled with water and I regularly squeezed
water on my head and neck to keep the body temperature down which certainly
helped I think.
The uphills were done and I was on the
flats and slight downhills of the fire trail and I noticed my pace was picking
up. I managed to get some sub 5 minute
kms in here and still felt the energy levels were great but that was probably
because of all that stopping and starting and walking on the previous few aid
station sections. I could see the 70km
aid station ahead some 500m away and I then began to run up to it faster
feeling good. My plan was now to perhaps
only have a quick stop to re-stock and head off immediately whilst I had good
momentum. On the approach to the
station, I thought I saw two orange and white singlets and was hoping it could
perhaps be Rocco and Tim but then I thought they would have been at least
another few kms ahead as a minimum. As I
was drinking and eating here at the stop I was just about to head out when I
saw Tim and Rocco on the left sitting down.
I was a bit shocked. Tim was a
bit sore though with ITB and glute issues so they were having a rest. I stayed with them whilst they re-stocked and
changed certain gear. I had just
overheard that Ruby Muir had just one the women’s race for the 100km. I had a beer wager on that with these two NRG
characters as they were Nuria Picas followers.
So that certainly gave me a boost!
Tim headed off first as he said he would walk to start with and we would
catch him soon enough while I waited for Rocco to refill his drinks and get
other supplies.
Tim must have started running because he
was a good 200m up the road when we left the aid station and went over the
timing mat. I thought my splits for that
last 8km would have been good to see, but after knowing the timing mat was
after the checkpoint and not before entering the station, it sort of becomes irrelevant. As I was feeling fresh I took off and thought
Rocco would join me but he was happy to keep going at his pace. I soon caught up with Tim and he said the pain
was there on the ITB and leg and said if I feel good, I should go ahead and
keep running. So I did and began the
next 3-5km with longer strides, more energy and sort of in disbelief that after
what I had experienced between 34km and 60km was somehow replaced with a new
pair of legs. It turns out the road shoe
change at 60km was the best decision I could have made. My km splits were getting quicker and even
some low 4min/kms were clocked. 100km trail running causes some strange things
I thought.
Eventually I passed Samantha again at
around 75km. She was running so well and looking comfortable but she was a bit
over the fire trail. I mentioned Rocco and Tim were only 10 mins behind so I
think that perked her up and she went faster after that. I wished her well and kept running the
uphills of the firetrail until I reached the next aid station at 77.7km. Here the “loop of despair” began as the
locals call it. You head out on a open
fire trail in the heat then suddenly get onto a single track with a steepish
climb up to the top of a ridge then cross the ridge via a fire trail again
before coming back down the hill via another fire trail. It’s only 5km this loop, but it got hot and I
felt a bit sick and bloated, but I continued on and made sure I stopped at the
aid station on the return of the loop and sat there for a few minutes with ice
to cool me down.
83km gone and I was told mostly fire trail
to go so I was glad to hear that but my leg speed had slowed now and I think
the last 20km of hard running had taken its toll. Glutes were hurting, my leg
stride was very short now and the pace slowed right down. No cramps though so I was happy about
that. I kept the ‘next aid station’
mantra and suddenly I was at 90km, then 95km.
Only 5km to go, with sunlight splitting through the beautiful peaceful forest
it was just after 6pm and I was making sure my fluids were kept up. There was
no need for my head lamp that I placed at the 90km aid station stop in a drop
bag. I forgot to move the bag to the
used pile and have since not been able to find it so it has become a donation
to someone in NZ. Lucky for me it was
only a cheaper type of headlamp and not my Petzel Nao.
I got to 97km and crossed a small bridge
before a short steep dirt hill greeted me.
Great, who put that there I thought as I tried to hold onto something as
I climbed the hill without slipping or cramping. Mission accomplished and now it was more
about trying to beat the clock home for a sub 13 hour finish as I working out I
needed sub 7 minute kms for the last 3kms.
My goal at the start was to beat 14 hours (as TNF was 15:02 last year and
I was told to take 2 hours off that – with this course, but I was in no form of
race fitness for a 100km here). The last
3 kms seemed to take forever as you moved from gravel trail to winding single
track, a few stairs to go up and down and run through local parks and fields
and beside a golf course. When doing all
this, I could hear the PA system at the finish line so I knew it was
close. I kept monitoring my elapsed time
but knew I had some time to spare now. I
saw Robyn and Lu at the finish shute on the right and kept running for home. I crossed in 12 hours 55 mins and 27 seconds, so
I was absolutely thrilled to beat 13 hours.
I congratulated all the NRGers that had
already crossed the line with Lucie, Lachie, Ian, Suzi, Robyn, Aileen in the
100km with Lu and Kristian in the 60km.
Sally had decided to finish her day at 60km and that was an awesome
achievement and now a proud Tarawera Medal owner !
We all watched Samantha, Rocco, Tim, Gavin
and Gillian cross the 100km finish line.
Fantastic times and great efforts, particularly for the people either
suffering injury or doing their first 100km race. Never again was mentioned many times
(exception was of course Gillian who said in her Scottish tongue that it was
‘glrreat !).
Lucie had to be sent off to hospital later
on after apparently having too much caffeine during the run causing some
dehydration but is now thankfully all OK.
Amazing run though coming in 9th female overall in an Ultra
World Tour Event jam packed full of professional endurance and trail
runners. Suzi finished 11th
and Robyn 15th, so having 3 NRG women in the Top 15 of a UTWT event
is simply amazing. They are
superstars. Great performance from
Lachie in his first 100km to run a blistering time. Ian got lost a little again on course costing
him some valuable minutes but still put in a great race. Aileen was awesome given her foot injuries.
So a much faster, flatter course than
TNF100, but certainly not easy. I can vouch for that. Just don’t ask me to even think about Mont
Blanc – that’s not happening, hang on a minute……how many more qualifying points
do I need for that again ?
Times are below for NRG runners that I am
aware of (apologies for any person whom I have missed):
100km
Lachie Clark 10hrs 34mins 05 seconds
Lucie Barney 10hrs 34mins 05 seconds
Ian Lochrin 10hrs
51mins 14 seconds
Suzi Heaton 11hrs
04mins 22 seconds
Robyn Bruins 11hrs 27mins 46 seconds
Aileen Waldron 12hrs 51mins 23 seconds
Doug Richardson 12hrs 55mins 27 seconds
Samantha Isbell 13hrs 11mins 00 seconds
Rocco Smit 13hrs
21mins 55 seconds
Tim Lyndon 13hrs
40mins 11 seconds
Gavin Evans 14hrs
10mins 23 seconds
Gillian Russell 14hrs 24mins 18 seconds
60km
Paul Garske 7hrs
51mins 36 seconds
Malcom Hyslop 8hrs 27mins 29 seconds
Kristian Wynn 9hrs 25mins 26 seconds
Lucinda Rigby 9hrs 42mins 09 seconds
Sally McIlwaine 11hrs 23mins 05 seconds
Photos:
Some courtesy of Sally and official photographers and randoms !
(Blog uploading of photos didn't want to work, so had to use flickr link instead....sorry !
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