The organisers for this one claim to give a “money back guarantee if you do not enjoy the views”. The scenery around Arrowsmith station in south Canterbury is amazing, last year it was clear blue skies and stunning views, this year due to the mist it looked like the organisers claim could be put to the test. A 5am start from Christchurch to drive down wasn’t the best, the 17k of unsealed road in the mist to get to the Woolshed for registration was a fairly intense drive. The cooler conditions were however great for running and as I’d already seen the views I was happy to take that. I was even happier that only a small field had gathered for this event with none of the really speedy folk around (unlike at the Tarawera, more on that later). We set off at an okay pace, around 4k of flat before the big climb of ~700 m over 8km. The climb was a mix of run with some walking, about 100m short of the highest point we popped out of the clouds for a great view over the Alps which we kept for around 4k along the ridge before dropping back in to the mists. There were five of us in the leading group at that point (told you none of the fast folk were there) with the other four leaving me for dead on the decent, pulling out 1-2 mins. I decided to stick to a steady pace from then as I was treating this as part of my WHW training and wanted to be able to go for a longish run the next day, tempting though it was to chase the folk ahead. Well that’s the story that I’m sticking to as it’s either that or I’m lazy. Or slow. Yep, I’ll keep with the training story. Anyway, for the rest of the the run over trail, scree, water crossings etc. I did actually keep a pretty constant pace. My pace was so constant that another two folk who made an affort eased past me over the last 10k! The final 5k of this course look like they should be really easy as it is over flattish paddocks for a simple finish; as with last year I found this the worst part of the route though I was still moving at my constant trundle.
The race was won by Jono Dobbs in 3:43, I managed to squeak home a few seconds under the four hour mark, somehow getting the third old git placing. For that I got some chocolate, the big result was winning a bottle of wine and a drybag in the sport prizes! A great low-key event (at the briefing “no stations and you get get water from the streams, I’m pretty sure I mentioned this on the website…”) and a good target to beat next year as I won’t have the WHW training excuse then. The results can be found here:
Andy Millard