Peak To Peak Winter Adventure Race

What it was all about!

Several months ago myself, Gemma and Rachael was sat in our house one night looking for running events we could all participate in over the winter months. On searching the net we found a Multi Sport Adventure Race 'Peak To Peak' The race consisted of a 2km downhill ski onto a 16km downhill mountain bike, jump in a kayak for 7km across Lake Wakatipu before running 9km out of Queenstown, finishing with a 9km uphill bike ride to Cornet Peak Ski Resort. We instantly all took a shine to the event as something to do as a house (Little did Chris know he was going to be apart of all this, as he was working late that evening) after a little discussion on how we would sort each persons relay leg we left it at that.

The Night Before..

A couple of months later it was the week before the event and in a last minute dash to get all the equipment together we entered our team 'The Hungry Hippos' Kind of fitting as we all exercise to ultimately eat! Any one looking from the outside looking at us would just laugh at how we was going about the event. Pretty much everything we had to get for the event we didn't have as we were all travelling. The ski's, MTN bike and road bike were all rented and not used untill the day. Our Kayak we had from a friend.. so basically the only leg we had covered was the running section! The night before the event we popped down into town to collect our race bib and information from registration. First thing we noticed as people pulled up in cars etc.. that everyone had the best gear on the market! Some of these athletes were in it to win it, ultimately multi sport racing was there number one sport. And here's us renting and borrowing everything. 

Rachael heading to the start! 

Race morning come and after a brilliant home made pancake team breakfast from Rachael we were off! Rachael and Chris left to drive up the mountain as Rachael was racing our Ski section followed by Chris taking on the downhill MTN section. I was up for the 7km Kayak and passing on the bib to Gem for the 9km run with myself finishing off on the uphill bike to the Ski Resort of Cornet Peak. Me and Gem went down to Frankton beach to sort the kayak out and get ready to collect the bib from Chris on his bike. As soon as we got to the beach I instantly realised that me in my little casual weekend kayak was going to struggle big time! Every other team had a nice slim racing sea kayak.. Nothing like going against the odds. Our kayak choice soon was the talking point of the beach with people coming up to us saying that we wouldn't make it in our 'joke' kayak and we may well not start. A little demoralising but people who know me knows that I will just find that extra 10% effort some where just to prove everyone wrong and yes I was going to finish wether it took me 40 minutes or 3 hours, I like a good challenge! 

Chris ready to take on the downhill.

12:00 came and the race was off, Rachael set us going with a good downhill ski to finish her leg within the middle of the pack. Chris then took over the bib to ride it down from the Ski Resort to the Frankton beach where I was waiting to Kayak. Chris also had a storming ride and kept our overall place high by passing a few more competitors along the way. Next up was me on the Kayak, now kayaking 7km alone is an effort! Kayaking 7km in a small weekend toy against seasoned kayakers in racing kayaks just seamed impossible.. after 400 meters away from the beach I instantly knew it was going to be a big effort to finish this leg of the relay but I certainly wasn't going to give up and let the team down. Looking around I taking 5 strokes to everyone else's 1 and I still wasn't getting any where to be honest.. 

Just splashing around..

Minute by minute I lost more ground on all the other competitors and was quickly loosing everything what Rachael and Chris had given us so far. Just over the hour mark I finally came into the final stretch into Queenstown beach, unfortunately at this time I was one from last!! That leg of our relay just killed any chance we had of doing well but not to give up Gem took the bib off me and shot up the road like a dog after a rabbit to see what we could actually claw back from this race. 

Have a guess what Kayak I had?!

Gem storming the run leg! 

After locking our kayak up to a tree myself,Chris and Rachael headed to the car to drive up to the final transition area to wait for Gem to arrive and pass on the bib back to me to take us up to the finish line. As we drove the run course to get to the finish we passed Gem half way into her run flying! She had already taken 4 runners and was easily going to catch a few more up the road as they had nothing on the climbs where Gem was making some serious ground on them. On crossing the finish line we found that she had over taken 9 runners along the way. The team was in good spirit and the thought of coming last was slowly going away from our minds.. With Rachael, Chris and now Gem all having awesome legs I was out for revenge on the bike after my disappointing kayak leg. 

Transition, Run - Bike

I took the bib off Gem, popped it over my head and set off all calm and relaxed with the idea off hit the bottom of the climb hard but still at a sustainable speed to carry on with it to the summit. First mistake I nearly missed the left turn to go up to Cornet Peak, breaks went on and I turned the bike around to take the left turn. By this time I was now on a mission to get up this hill at the quickest possible speed I could. I soon missed my carbon road bike from back home as I started to climb the hill with this old aluminium bike we had managed to get for the event. The support from Chris,Rach and Gem was awesome! They kept driving up a little, stopping and getting out to show their support what always helps you when everything is hurting. 

On the up..! 

Reaching snow line.

Half way up the climb I had managed to catch 7 riders and still was feeling ok, at the 5km mark I decided to try and push on and up the pace once again. As they say everything comes in 3's so I still had one thing what could go wrong and just as the team had passed me for the final time before the summit my chain jammed and come off.. I quickly jumped off to try and sort not wanting to loose too much time in the process. I continued to push on and climb to the summit and managed to catch a few more riders in the final km's taking the tally to 16 riders caught. 100 meters from the finish line Chris took my bike whilst I ran up the stairs and along the snow to cross the line. Where Gem and Rachael was waiting and cheering for me. A fellow work college Katelyn was up the ski resort skiing at the time too and had gone to get the team some drinks and chocolate for the finish line! What went down a treat.. Just what I needed after turning myself inside out to get up the climb. Thanks Katelyn! I owe you :-) 

Every last bit of energy to the finish line.

Overall I think I can talk for everyone in the team here, we all loved it and something none of us had done in the past and all really enjoyed it. I would defiantly recommend to people just to give something out side your comfort zone a go and you might actually surprise your self. I'm defiantly not saying I'll take up Kayaking as a sport any time soon but was good to test myself physically and mentally for sure. The day was finished off with a good feast out in the American Diner in town and a laugh at some of the videos and pictures we got along the way. 

Finish Line picture! Team Hungry Hippos.

Thanks again to everyone who follows and take the time to read my posts! Also a thanks to Chris and Rachael for capturing the event on camera on the way round.. 

Chris has also put a little video together, showing some of the best parts of the event! http://youtu.be/8DXPXRBuldo

Also check out Rachael and Chris's take/blog on the days event here. Some more cool pictures to check out too!  http://sweetasmckinney.com/2014/07/30/peak-to-peak/

Paul x 

3rd Time Lucky!

I have been quieter on my blog over the last 2-3 weeks, this is down to just been enjoying some good miles. Not worrying about pace or speed just going out and enjoying the trails around Queenstown here in New Zealand. With the winter snow finally here on the tops of the mountains I have enjoyed getting up high and seeing what the area has to offer whilst coated in a blanket of snow! One of my favorite routes has to be from home into to Queenstown followed by the Tiki Trail behind the Skyline Gondola then round the back and over Ben Lomond Saddle before taking a hard left and climbing to the summit of Ben Lomond at 5735ft with 360 degree views from the peak. With less and less people taking this route in the winter it was great fun having to make my own tracks through the knee deep snow to the summit. 27km return route from home makes this a great one to tackle on my days off..   

Ben Lomond Summit

Being just outside the main town also offers me many of lower trails to play with around the Lake of Wakatipu where I have spend many hours over this last few months trying to find some winter fitness. I do actually feel a little stronger as the month has gone with finding climbing the inclines becoming a little easier on the legs! 

View over Lake Wakatipu from the trails.. 

Saturday the 19th of July saw me take on third race in the monthly series over in Jackspoint. The first time I ran the 5km being a week after my 100km ultra but since then I have raced the full 10km multi-terrain distance and again was set for the 10km this month. I was interested to see how this month would go as I hadn't done much speed over the last month but worked more on becoming a stronger runner and spending time in the mountains. The course actually is made up of 3 climbs and 3 descents in total so in theory it was a course to be racing for the type of training I was doing. 

10:00 am came by and we were off! A solo runner went off into the lead and I played chase with another runner from the start line. As we took on the first of 3 climbs I decided to push the pace a little as I was feeling good and see what happened with the other 2 runners. I caught up to the lead runner and pushed on into first, at the top of the climb I took a quick glance over my shoulder to see a fellow runner who I had ran with the first part of the race had come with me. We hit the first descent side by side and both keeping a good pace, on the second climb we ran up together before coming to the little out and back part of the course before heading out to the furthest part of the course and the final climb. 

Jackspoint Trails!

As we approached the final climb I decided to push up hard and put a little gap between myself and second overall. I had gained a little but not as much as I would of liked as I knew that the fellow runner I was racing was a very good strong runner and it would be touch and go to the finish if I didn't manage to make the break away now.... I kicked again on the descent and as we hit the flat before finally pulling away with 1.5km left of the race. I knew from the 9km mark it was all flat running or down hill and I used this to my advantage to hold on till the end to finish the day off with a win on my 3rd attempt of coming to this monthly series of races. And clocking the quickest time I have run over the course by over 70 seconds. Overall a good morning of racing followed by a great afternoon on the trails as me and Gem decided to run home after the race clocking another 17km over some breath taking trails with postcard views all around! 

Winter in the Southern Alps of NZ..

Back to some winter training now, even tho it hasn't felt like winter on some days! Still managing to get the shorts and vest out on some training runs. This weekend will see participate in a team relay over the 'Peak to Peak Adventure Race' with my house mates! Not haven done anything like this before I'm excited to see how it plays out, we all have our disciplines to race over. From Downhill Skiing - Downhill MTN Biking - Kayaking - Running - Uphill Road Biking. :-) 

Keeping hydrated by my Nathan Sports Race Pack!

Next month I'll have a go at a new race for 2014, a 13km up hill time trail race from the car park on the road side to the ski resort at the top or the Remarkables Mountain Range. Looking forward to this event as I have trained over this route before and it's a lung/leg buster within minutes..... 

Thanks again to everyone who follows me and supports me along the way! Much appreciated..

Paul x 

June - The month of racing!

Race Kit at the ready!

Since leaving the UK, racing for me has been very hit or miss! Therefore the month of June has actually been really nice for me getting to race a marathon, my first one mile race and this last weekend I finished off with a multi-terrain 10km over in Jacks Point here in Queenstown.

The Jacks Point races is a monthly series of 5km and 10km races what Active QT put on. Last month I did the 5km as it was the week in between my 100km in Australia and my Marathon in Christchurch, but this time I decided I would race the 10km course and see how I went. Around Jacks Point it's actually quite hilly and undulating the whole way round but for me I was looking forward to having a good tough race. We set of 10:10am from the start line and instantly there was a group of 3 of us hit the front and was pushing up the first major climb with the aim to break away from the rest of the field. The first couple of KM's went by and the pace was good, myself and another runner pulled away a little on 3rd place by this time I was enjoying a little of the down hill running apart from each stride out on my left leg caused my calf head to pull and get tight but Gem had strapped it up for me in the morning what helped a great deal. As we approached the 4km mark I started to feel a little tired and decided to  ease back off the pace to try an maintain a more consistent pace for the final 5km rather than just fade km by km.. At this time the 3rd place runner was really moving well, his plan from the start was to obvious work his way into the race and finish strong what worked very well for him.

Race Start Location

As we approached the 8km mark I had faded slightly and have gone into 3rd overall but was still moving at a happy pace for myself seeing that I don't particularly do any 10km specific training. After a few more ups and down in the course and some headwinds on our return 2km I crossed the line in 3rd over, exactly 60 seconds down on the race winner.

After race picture with Gem and Rachael..

Overall I was pleased with how the race went, time wasn't the quickest but good enough to climb a podium place. My calf has been a little stiff since but am slowly working the stiffness and soreness away with massages and some rock tape. Hopefully after a few days rest I can get into some good winter training over the month of July. As of this minute I don't have any races planned for the month of July what should give me some good time to actually just rack up some miles and find some fitness for some good racing in August!

Thanks again to Nathan Sports NZ who continue to sponsor/support me with all the latest hydrations bottles/packs/belt. For anyone who would like to check out some of their range : http://www.nathansports.com and to everyone who takes time to follow my blog posts and leaves supporting messages before and after my races on my FB and Twitter accounts. Much appreciated!

This week I also did a Radio Interview this week on 'Endurance Running' and how I have got into the longer distances over the years, if any one would like to listen please click the link here: https://onedrive.live.com/?cid=7589a39719d5832c&id=7589A39719D5832C%21200

Paul x