100 km

Last weekend was the Oxfam Trailwalker - a challenge to walk 100 km in under 36 hours.

Here's us at the start line at 6 am on Saturday morning.

We had two goals: first, to get all four members over the finish line, 100 km later. Second, to do it in a quicker time than the two members who finished last year.

This was no mean feat (no pun intended), and it definitely helped having an awesome support crew. As some of you will know, I was on the support crew last year and watching Christina and Marama cross the finish line was what drove me to have a go this year.

The first leg was the most crowded, which stands to reason since 600 people passing the start line within a minute or so of each other is going to result in a big bunch-up. It was foggy but not too cold, as we made our way up the bank of the Waikato River, across the bridge at Huka Falls, and through Craters of the Moon to checkpoint 1. Leg 2 was along some back roads through the scoria quarry and through pine forest to the Girl Guide camp. Leg 3 through native bush along the W2K track to Kinloch, at which point my right knee was starting to complain. We began leg 4, the longest at 19 km, about an hour before sunset and once it was dark we found ourselves very much on our own. Following the trail in the dark was not too difficult at first, but as the track moved from bush into farmland the markers got further and further apart and we had to spread out a bit to find them again. Legs 5, 6 and 7 were all in the dark, crossing the river and more farmland. Sometime during the night my left knee decided it had had enough too. But that's what strapping tape is for. We began the final 13 km leg just as dawn was breaking. Following the new Taupo bypass road and then cutting under State Highway 1, then the final push along the lakefront back into town to the finish line.


As you can see we achieved both our goals: all four members made it to the finish line, and in 27:51 - beating last year's time of 29:30.

It was an experience; I'm not sure yet if I'm 'glad' I did it - I guess it's just one of those things you challenge yourself with. And one that for me, is certainly 'been there, done that' (i.e. not doing it again).