When I saw the announcement a year ago that the organisers of The Goat and Tussock Traverse were going to hold a new race on the slopes of the magnificent Mount Ruapehu, and it was going to be a relay, I was a guaranteed starter. I have to think seriously about how often I am doing ultramarathons, but it’s not too disruptive to squeeze races under 3 hours long into my training. I spoke to long term training partners Matt Ogden and Cameron Tier, and we were entered! The 3 of us run for North West Orienteering Club (NWOC) and have trained together for many years. Matt has also done a number of trail races with me, including taking out The Goat in 2016 narrowly ahead of me. And so NWOC Pain Train was locked and loaded.
Neither of us did any specific preparation for this race as we are mostly focused on races later in the year and as a result Cameron and I were not as well trained as we often are, but still very fit, although Matt has recently proved to be on fantastic form and would bring a lot of strength to the first leg. He started off in the dark with my Mila lighting up the track, and here is what he had to say about this race.
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After a minimised sleep, I arrived at the start line on a cool, calm evening outside of the glorious Chateau Tongariro Hotel. We had very briefly scoped the field and deemed only one team to be a real threat which comprised of Sjors Corporaal, his son Kaya, and another top multi-sporter from Whakatane. I wasn’t too sure of my shape, nor of Kaya’s, who was also running the first 24 km leg – a variant of the Goat which I have run twice before. I had some positive feedback from NZ Orienteering Champs a week ago despite a sub-optimal training period over the past month. I was still nervous given the significant length and climb of the leg.
What I was confident of though, was the secondary sun (Mila headlamp) that I was carrying which Gene provided. This would light the way through the technical course that is probably one of my favourite NZ trails to run. Off the start line, there was three of us who quickly took to the front. The ultra-runners probably taking a slightly more conservative approach. Kaya slowed a little, then there was just two of us, which quickly became one as I found a smooth rhythm through the rocky terrain. The feelings of running night relays back in Scandinavia resurfaced as I worked hard to put as much time into the field as possible. In the end I tagged Gene with a 20 minute buffer and with that, a sense that we were going to do well. Overall, an absolutely awesome experience with two guys I have trained and raced with countless times over many years.
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As Matt tagged me I was conscious that second place might not be far behind and I definitely felt the pressure to perform. I tried to withhold the enthusiasm on the road, as killing my quads on this high impact descent would be the best way to lose against the course. So the race really started for me once I hit the beech forest trail. I gave my body a nudge up the first short climb, expecting my heart rate to go up above 180 BPM, and over time I would pull my average close to 175 BPM. I got close to 180 BPM no problem, but it didn’t take me long to realise that holding intensity was no longer on the agenda. This intensity is based off a number of similar races, including The Hillary 34km 2017 (175 BPM), Tussock Traverse 2016 (175 BPM), Tussock Traverse 2017 (176 BPM), and The Goat 2016 (176 BPM) and I think it represents a physiological threshold, possibly largely attributed to my lactate threshold. I listened to my body very carefully over the next 10 minutes and decided I was feeling a little flat, so accepted the rhythm I had fallen into was going to be it for me.
By this stage I was running through many of the 50km competitors and would best the describe the trail, especially the boardwalks, as single lane. But everyone was great and did their best to allow me to pass. Doubly so at the single person swing bridges, where queues had built up, but the other competitors allowed me to skip the queue.
I was really enjoying the trail surface with its mix of dirt and boardwalks and left the alpine views under appreciated. I was happy though, eating up the trail, sipping water, checking my heart rate occasionally and generally doing what I like to do. The course gradually got stonier, and before long took me out of the beech forest and into boulder fields reminiscent of many parts of The Goat. There was pretty intense sun strike here and I had to look down for a good half hour, running off course a number times.
The course got stonier and stonier and before long I was just looking for marker polls and taking advantage of any trail-like lines that would suddenly appear and disappear just as rapidly. This was very similar to The Goat, but with less traffic this remote trail is much less distinct on the ground and I found myself repeatedly veering off course. There were 2 tricky descents here, the first with scree where I ended up on my butt twice, and the second over much larger boulders into the monumental gorge of the Wahianoa River.
I expected the course to get faster from here, but it really didn’t. Endless boulder fields tested my mental toughness as I battled alone, thinking of the team and refusing to let them down. The final few kilometres were more varied, with some faster dirt sections and some incredibly interesting rock formations which I would have loved to explore more, but I had a job to do and I got that job done in 2 hours 49 minutes. I handed over to Cameron to take the pain train home, here’s what he had to say.
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After an inspiring run from Matt in the first leg and still being wired on coffee from the early wake up, I was jumping around and eager to bring the team home. My legs felt fresh, the sun was was out and I could see myself striding out into what would be fun time trial holding the lead. Gene arrived and I was on my way down the first hill and into the valley. Despite feeling great during my warm up, my legs had other plans after some tough racing last weekend. Rather than taking the aggressive plan I initially had, the race quickly turned into a survival run as I fought the solitude of my mind to keeping pushing when I felt smashed after only 10 minutes. I was set on holding my form and counting down the minutes till my next gel. After passing the Waihohonu Hut, I expected a tail wind to push me through the Tongariro planes but was surprised be hit by a head wind. The next 10km are what I could describe as not being too dissimilar to my fight with depression over the last 6 months. Fighting the thoughts to not give up, staring down the narrow eyed tunnel of exhaustion and riding an emotional roller coaster till I got a glimpse of the Tongariro Chateau. By this stage, I felt the worst was over and drew on the enthusiasm from passing trampers to stride out to the finish. Running into the last 500m was an amazing mix adrenaline and excitement. Maybe a little too much as I tripped just 50m from the finish line. Passing through that finishing tape was a truly liberating experience, bringing together my teammates efforts to conclude with an outstanding win!!!
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We finished in a time of 7 hours and 21 minutes and to win the first ever Ring of Fire relay was as exciting as any other victory. I expect that as this event’s reputation grows it will become a very tough race to win and a place where we can celebrate trail running, which is often a lonesome struggle, as a team sport. Count me in for next year!