Well, we went back to GODZone like the gluttons we are.
We had bright eyed and bushy tailed Jackson to complete our team this year and after our concerns that he was going to wreck himself by running 250km around New Zealand before we got there faded (how he does what he does and doesn’t drink coffee is beyond me). We settled in for a couple days of peace and action movie watching before the race (Die Hard 4 2007, All is Lost 2013, Hannibal 2001, Interstellar 2014, Black Hawk Down 2001, … ). We are equally intense with our movie watching as we are with our endurance sports.
Sunday leg 1: multisport prologue ft. coasteering
The race was a little different this year, well, a LOT different, but day one was the Prologue race, which wasn’t really my cup of tea (not long and suffery enough) but still lots of fun. We set off coasteering around the Akaroa headland with a few swims, then a short sufferfest mountain biking up and over a big hill where Tom bribed me with lollies by literally dangling them in front of me to make me go up the hill faster (it worked). Then there was a packraft across the lake to the final leg at the Christchurch Adventure Park where we ran into Craig, a fellow Canberran out for a Rogaine. Small world! We got to the end and had a 30 minute mandatory wait for our maps so we set up the tent, changed into warm things and went to suss food options.
Monday leg 2: packraft/trek/caving
After a less than ideal sleep because of excitement, our alarm went off at 1am to pack up and at 1:40am we hopped on the bus to take us 2 hours away to the start of Leg 2 – the 73 km Trek/Packraft and Caving. As with a lot of the teams around us, the first CP was pretty difficult to hit with 1:50,000 maps and a bit of complacency but after bush bashing for a little while and then reconnecting with the surrounding teams, we finally hit the CP and headed off to Binser Saddle, a roughly 700 metre vertical elevation gain and the first and only climb in this leg. It was at this point we got “stuck” behind a few slower teams (which I didn’t mind at all) as the trail was quite narrow. After some teams stopped for rests and poo’s we managed to get ahead of the slower guys and descend towards the river.
I was going to say that there wasn’t much to report after that but actually after paddling for an hour or so I noticed two safety guys on the other side of the river and saw we were approaching the first (and only) rapid. It was all looking fine until Paul and I hit a rock right at the top and I went flying out of the packraft – headfirst. The current was pretty strong and after knocking my knees on a few rocks I was finally able to orientate myself so my feet were going down the river first (thank you swift water rescue training!). It was at this stage I realised I had dropped my paddle and saw it floating just ahead of me, so after grabbing it I swam into an eddy, gave the “I’m okay” signal to the safety guys. (Although I was a bit shaky I have to say!) It was at this point I realised that I had only grabbed half my paddle and it wasn’t until Paul pulled up with the packraft and the other half that I realised it had snapped. Shit. We pulled up on the other side of the river where Tom and Jackson were waiting and thought about our options. Of course we hadn’t packed a spare paddle either. We ended up making a mini paddle with the one good bit of shaft and wondered if maybe we could borrow a spare paddle from one of the other teams at transition. Paul ended up using the mini paddle which hilariously made him look like more of a giant.
After that it was smooth sailing until Tom and Jackson hit an eddy line in their bathtub (aka waterlogged packraft) and tipped out. They got back in and all was well until Tom realised that he’d dropped the map… and that we hadn’t brought the spare. Cue our saviours, the super lovely and wonderful all girls team #39 – On The Rag. They’d passed us when we were discussing the broken paddle and as we caught up to them told Paul and I that we could borrow their spare paddle. Legends! Capitalising on their generosity, I then pushed my luck and told them that the boys had actually just lost our only map and if they had a spare we would be eternally grateful. They said they would have to speak to their teammates (the two Holly’s) and confirm and when we caught up to Tom and Jackson, map in hand, they had said that they would like payment in beer, which the boys were totally on board with.
As it got dark we reached the caving section and having flashbacks to last year, we weren’t super stoked. Until we got in there. Wow. Paul is claiming it is the best cave he’s ever been in. Instead of the slippery walls we were expecting, they were perfectly grippy. So all of us had fun trying to avoid the water to practice our climbing moves. After that it was a longer walk than expected to the TA where we got on our bikes and started Leg 3, the 160km mountain bike called Cookie Time for definitely no other reason other than to be very misleading as no delicious cookie times ever appeared (whoops we already ate them on leg 1, also there was a tin shed called Cookie’s Hut).
Tuesday leg 3: Cookie Time massive MTB
This was a pretty cool leg I have to say. We hadn’t slept since night one (if you can call it a sleep) so we after making it through the night with a team NoDoz break we rode through the mountains to a great piece of technical single track near a hut. From there we rode over rocky river beds (much to Jackson’s displeasure) to what we are calling Poor Man’s Percy’s Pass. Between this race and last, I’d managed to forget how to carry my bike on my back and so I watched the boys power up the scrambly bit of the hike-a-bike as I dragged, pulled and panted my way sloooowly up the climb. I may have had a hissy fit half way up and tried to send telepathic signals to any of the boys to come rescue me, but ultimately I knew that they were going to let me experience (aka suffer) it by myself. I knew that although I was suffering, I’d be disappointed if I had help (something I’m grateful my teammates understand). Besides, getting to the top felt amazing and I was only a little jealous that they had had time to take their shoes off and bask in the sunlight.
There were a few major climbs to get out after that but the views were just so stunning, it didn’t matter that I couldn’t put enough oxygen into my lungs. And soon enough we were descending into the flatlands where we time trialed on the backstreets and road until we got to a cafe! What a delectable sight! We smashed both a giant thick shake and coffee which was good timing as after we got back onto our bikes, it was a longer ride than expected to the next TA. 5 Kilometres feels like forever when your feet are absolutely aching.
Tues/Weds/Thurs leg 4: 85 km Trek lakes + mountains.
In the words of the organisers –
“This stage is BIG! At 85 km it is the longest single stage trek ever at a GODZone Chapter.”
The second half sure felt like it but the first half was going to be a challenge too. Luckily we started off with a bit of daylight still on our side. Once again the tricksy 1:50,000 maps left the boys a bit confused as the contour lines were saying one thing, but the hills were saying another. We managed to bag CP 15 with limited problems as the sun set over the mountain range and made our way up to Mystic Lake to get a few hours sleep before the pre-dawn trail trudge over to the hut for CP16.
From here, there were a lot of route choices to get to CP 17 and none of them looked great. We decided the best route was to climb up a 2000 metre mountain. The climb up was definitely one of my highlights. Just as you thought you were at the top, another ridge would appear and eventually we got to the top of the ridgeline where we were weaving along pretty precarious rocks. We had to put our poles away at this stage to utilise all climbing limbs. We could and possibly should have continued on the ridgeline but decided to descend early as Paul thought it might be a bit dangerous, and if Paul thinks something is dangerous, it probably is.
The views were incredible and the promise of scree running to get down made us all pretty excited (especially Jackson). The problem with scree covered mountains though is what looks like scree at lake level was actually bigger slightly loose rocks that we had to navigate without twisting an ankle. The descent started off pretty fun but soon felt longer and longer as my knees started to protest.
After following steep fence line put up by some insane farmer we eventually (after some butt sliding) got down to the CP17 and were relieved when we realised there was a track all the way from the CP to the road. A road which kept going for what seemed like forever. I’m going to be honest, this part sucked and I was in a pretty dark space knowing we weren’t even really half way. Tom had said at the beginning to think of the leg like 3 big challenges and we were only at the end of the first.
We finally got to the campground where we were told that we might have a course change due to the weather. Basically, the fastest teams were doing the second half of the trek in 17 hours which meant that even if we had gone the same speed as them (highly unlikely), we would miss the cut off for the packraft and that would suck. So we set up camp and waited for the race director to come back with some news. Meanwhile, a lovely lady (Fizz) came out of her campervan and offered us drinks, fresh pineapple and an assortment of snacks (that were actually for the team she was waiting for) AND hot water for our back countries. It was luxurious.
News finally came that they were printing maps for us to do a lower traverse, missing CP 18 and 19, that would cut out the possibility of being stuck on top of a mountain in bad weather. There was a 2 hour wait, so we scoffed more food and had a nap. Team Tiger had also come in and were waiting. After handing our maps over Warren dangled a delicious butter chicken in front of us and placed it ever so carefully down between us and Tiger claiming that he was no longer in need of food. We looked at Tiger and down at the curry and back up at Tiger. They hadn’t moved. This was our moment. Tom, Jackson, Paul and I pulled out our spoons simultaneously and pounced on the free delicious (and still warm) curry. Spooning larger than needed portions into our mouths like the heathens we are, we stopped mid-mouthful to ask Tiger if they would like any. The look of disgust on the Frenchies faces said it all. We had claimed it. It was ours. All ours.
After that, we started our march around the lake towards the traverse. We ran into Team 1 coming back from getting CP18 and gave them the news of the new course change. They looked at the map in defeat and told us that it would take forever to finish. The full of food optimists we were at that point told him that it wasn’t going too bad.
How wrong we were.
It started out innocently enough until we found ourselves crawling on hands and knees through matagouri, the spikiest and shittiest plant known to man. (Also used by Maoris as tattooing needles). The worst part was finding a spot to semi stand up and then looking across and realising we were in a sea of it with no way out. The possibility of pulling out our bivvys and dying camping seemed more appealing than pushing through. It was at this point Paul thought if we died here they’d never find our bodies.
We somehow made it through the matagouri but found ourselves cliffed out when the map had no mention of cliffs at all. Our timing was blowing out fast and we decided to make one final push to hit the river and continue to the TA via the fire road which was out of bounds. Turns out Tiger had also gotten stuck and decided that this was the far better option too, so we walked into the dawn with them down the never-ending fire road and stupid cows to TA4.
It was here that our race nearly ended. After 42 hours on the trek leg we were all hurting and thought that because of our route choice we would be disqualified. We decided that although we did want to do the packraft, we would pull out after that and so put a couple of our backpacks in crates we wouldn’t see till after the bike leg (if we got there). I had most certainly checked out of racing and was starting to think of getting back home for a shower.
Thursday leg 5: Rakaia packrafting
We arrived at TA 4 around 11 am, which meant we had until the 2pm cut off to faff around and gather our thoughts. It was decided that we’d just do a few hours on the river, set up camp early, have a good rest and then continue on the next day and pull out of the race. Except that when we got on the Rakaia river it was only 6 hours to the kayak. And 6 hours compared to 42 is nothing. So naturally we did the whole packraft. At this point I was still pretty checked out of the race, was still okay to do the kayak (it was only another 6 hours so why not?) but not really keen on the bike ride after that, plus we had gotten rid of our packs, the race was basically over. But there was a mandatory dark zone before the kayak so we set up camp again, had a few back countries and went to sleep.
Friday leg 6+7: Rakaia kayak + MTB commute
It is amazing what some sleep and food can do. The next morning I woke up to a coffee a la Jetboil, news that we weren’t actually disqualified and an inkling that we were probably going to keep racing. We carried our kayaks the what seemed like a hugely long way to the put in. I was pretty nervous for this bit because there were a few rapids and we were in double Kayaks, but Tom was great at stabilising the couple of near tips we had. We passed Team Tiger, who had managed to smash one of their Kayaks against the rocks and were waiting for a new one and once we got out of the gorge, everything calmed down and we got into a rhythm of picking left or right on the braids of the river. We only got stuck on rocks a couple of times and one of those times was probably karma for me calling Jackson and Paul the fat boat.
After salami sausages for lunch (the height of delicious race food) we were back in race mode, much less racey than we were before the trek, but we had the finish line in our sights.
To our surprise, Sandra and Gab were there to meet us at the TA. It was lovely to have our own spectators and was a great mood booster (along with the huge bag of biscuits).
So we set off at a relatively steady pace, until one of the Kiwi teams came charging past and we all hopped on for the ride. It was nice to work with another team while Paul and their strongest rider took turns at the front. Eventually, we picked up a third team and we hauled ass all the way to the bottom of the climb.
Through a look of bewilderment, one of the kiwi’s said he’d never ridden that fast before and that we were very good mountain bikers. I have to say, we may be good mountain bikers but the Kiwis are killer trekkers. My theory is that all Kiwi adventure racers had mothers who climbed to the top of mountains, gave birth and left them there to find their way home. That’s why they’re so good. We’ve all got our strengths though. Speaking of, I had asked if Paul could bring the leash for this bike leg and as we approached the climb, I grabbed it with glee and hung on for dear life as Paul went into beast mode and hauled us up the 750 metre elevation gain to the top of the mountain. Drenched in sweat, we waited for the boys at the top and put our Supersonic Jackets on to descend into the night and last TA for the race!
Saturday leg 8: harbour packraft home
We were welcomed with pies and sleep as there was another mandatory dark zone, and there were so many teams the atmosphere was buzzing. In the morning we were told our start wave and after a minute silence for the absolutely terrible tragedy in Christchurch we set off for the 17 km paddle to the finish.
It was all looking so promising until the wind picked up and our victory lap cruise turned into fighting a heinous headwind for the last 10kms. But we got there and crossed the line in about 20th, finishing the full course in 6 days with no foot infections, blister-free feet, still talking to each other with no talk of retirement. I think that’s a team win!
Thanks to Mont for Sponsoring us again this year and providing the perfect (and matchy matchy) green Supersonic Jackets and Long Sleeve Running tops for the race. They all looked brand new even after 6 days of racing! Some of our gear highlights:
Mont Moondog jacket – primaloft mid layer, perfect for sleeping and stays warm when damp
Mont Moondance EX 2-3 person tent – ideal for 4 smelly adventure racers
Mont Contour/Sentinel 35/45L packs – tough for bush bashing and expandable from small compulsory loads to larger packrafting loads
Mont Supersonic jackets – bombproof hardshell with adjustable zips for multiple storage/ventilation options
Mont Run Power Dry L/S Zip Tee – we may or may not have worn a single shirt each for the entire race – functional AND compulsory, ticks all the boxes
Mont Prolite sleeping bags – lightweight and optimised with one-sided down to maximise the warmth:weight ratio
Mont Adventure Light hiking pants – there was some debate about shorts vs pants before the race but in hindsight… always go pants when matagouri is around! Solid coverage even if you forget your gaiters.
La Sportiva Helios was the paddle shoe of choice for rock hopping and lightning fast drainage.
Jetboil – churning out the back countries and coffee sachets
Enormous bikepacking style saddle bags on the bike legs – various brands – this was a good race for hardtails and ditching backpacks where possible.
Antihistamine tablets – when you forget prevention for sandfly bites… treat the symptom not the cause!
Sharkskins – comfier and less restrictive than wetsuits (but still warm) for the paddling
Underwear underneath your bike knicks… TBC boys!!! (Only Paul does this.)
GODZone Chapter 8 – Akaroa Well, we went back to GODZone like the gluttons we are. We had bright eyed and bushy tailed Jackson to complete our team this year and after our concerns that he was going to wreck himself by running 250km around New Zealand before we got there faded (how he does what he does and doesn't drink coffee is beyond me).