Training Log Archive: Mounty

Event: World Rogaine Championships
 

World Rogaining Champs in Cheviot near Christchurch with Dennis de Monchy.

Starting with the stats...Points: 3115, Place: 13th, Km: ~110 according to my rolly thing, # fences crossed: 162,543.

Map handout at 9am on a sunny Saturday morning was followed by the usual 'which bits do we leave out'. The map (1:40,000) looked like a macro gully-spur orienteering map with a lot of open area dotted with the occasional pine plantation and native bush gully. All the open bits had people thinking of big km, and as usual I suspect most people drew up a route bigger than their legs could swallow (so to speak), once you factored in the hills and ruggedness.

We aimed for a loop thru' the hilly bit to the north east first while the legs were still fresh, loop back thru' the start to the southern coast bit overnight, and then farms and the flat bit for tired legs at the end. Plenty of bailout options if things were taking too long, but it did occur to me that the common route planning theme of "do the hard bit first, and cut bits out of an optimistic route at the end as time runs short" means that you don't cut out enough of the hard bits.

Anyway, race started with a dash out of town and confirmation that most people seemed to be heading in roughly the same direction. Conversation with Damon about the residual value of Multivans was rudely interrupted by the first checkpoint, and then it was off up the first steep pinch of the day - and a nice reminder that the reasonably incongruous looking hill on the map was in fact pretty bloody steep. Slight complication when the group came face to face with a farmer herding a large group of bovine in the opposite direction down the same track. Problem quickly resolved by an impressive display of sheep doggery. Can't think off the top of my head of a creature that looks like they enjoy their job more than a sheep dog.


Up and down some more hills with Phil Whitten & Joel Mackay, and on to amusing incident #1 for the day. Was running down a hill when confronted by a patch of matagouri thorns, that had a nice flat lichen covered slab of granite behind it. With fresh legs, took advantage of the flat landing area and lept over the prickles. At this point, the observant among you would note that NZ doesn't have flat granite slabs. Unfortunately, I wasn't tuned in to NZ mode yet and had in fact launched in to a nice deep lichen covered pond. Doh.

Tolerated the giggles of my colleagues for a bit and then down a steep descent to a checkpoint on the coast near "Shag Rock" (that's what it says on the map). The next checkpoint was 1,5km north along the coast. The race instructions had said that travel along the coast was "impossible", which meant the only way round was a 200m climb up and down again.

Perhaps from doing too many Jacoby races, we looked north and decided the 'impossible' thing was unduly pessimistic, and couldn't resist the thought of avoiding a 200m climb. Dennis mentioned there might be a coupel of seals, then off we went. Sure enough there turned out to be a couple of hundred seals lazing between ocean and steep hill. Once again my aussie definition of seal (the cute little black things you see swimming off Narrabeen) didn't quite match the NZ reality (big, smelly, hairy things where the males were about twice my size). Got around working on the theory of staying on the land side of seals - a gesture they seemed to appreciate, but made things a bit slower going.

To be continued...

Got to checkpoint #56, and chopped off the first 'optional' loop for the day - the closeness of the contours and generally rugged hills hinted at slow going. Bailed back up the hill just in time for the weather to close in - a chully mist putting an end to any advantage of visibility across the open hills. Next lesson for the day was that the fences and green areas on the map in some places were 'based on a true story' rather than there for literal interpretation. Had to be a bit careful.

Meandered on a loop across the highway, and made our way back thru' the finish at about 8pm. Lucky timing 'cause the Linebreak shorts were starting to chafe, and memories of Ezy in Gosford had me very glad I could switch back to the old faithful shorts just in time. Didn't go to the Hash House - just changed socks, put on lights & helly, grabbed some supplies and trotted out down the road eating cold chili con carne in a ziplock. Yum.

In to the night, and out to the coast still moving pretty well until a couple of screw ups in a row put paid to what had been a decent run until now. Missed a good route choice around the green gully in to #77 (10min), overshot #86 in the dark and took a while to relocate (30min - the 'big' mistake of the day), and then drifted in to a wrong gully to miss #35 (10min & 30points - wasnt worth going back). ie almost an hour and 30 points down the tube all in about 3k. Grrr.

On the plus side, didn't lose rythm and headed back across the Highway for some more hills and dawn. Worthy of mention in the wee hours was the river crossing near #24. Weighing up quite a nice shortcut v.s uncertainty as to river depth, shone the light on the river to see that it was a) shallow but b) rich with eels. Kim would have been proud as I headed in to the water (Bull of Africa reference).

Dawn in the hills, and I was starting to get tired but Dennis did a good job of keeping us moving. Stopped for 5 minutes to get some food in, which in hindsight was a good investment for me as the tank was a bit low.

Rest of the morning was a big constant time-on-distance calculation as we tried to link up the hugher scoring flags on the flatlands. A classic battle between eeking out remaining points vs. "cbf'd" on tired legs. Gave ourselves a bit of work with a no turning back final loop thru 100 & 87, making it home with 15min up our sleeve. On the downside, we forgot to dip the dipper at the road crossing, which cost 15 points and 2 places I think. Grr.

Finished - straight across to the Milk Bar for a triple ice-cream and milkshake, then went to sleep for a couple of hours mindful that the real world with kids & work lay waiting juts round the corner.

Good fun. Thanks Dennis - good to run with someone that makes you work. Be nice to do one of these things once with a bit more preparation reading maps and stuff beforehand, but the kids are far more impressed by seal stories than a few extra points so Ill call it even.

C • Well done 7

New variation. Short jog from Flat Rock to North Sydney in the mornning (just transport really), then a longer loop back to the car in the evening through Balls Head.

Was most suprised to run in to the middle of a Summer Series event. Stopped for a chat with Trace and Stix who were walking around a course with a buttload of kids.

Finished with half a dozen 1min efforts.

C • It is.. 1

Easy spin to shake out some adductor stiffness.

Zippier ride home, then a pint of Bernard's Czech dark beer for dinner. A crackingly good drop. Unfortunately turns out there was only 1 bottle of the dark in the case Katrin won, so I think I just used a brownie point.