“An experience does not need to be enjoyable. It just has to be memorable…”
KAIKOURA – a place where mountains meat the sea – teeming whales, seals, penguins, dolphins and 3 000m high snow capped mountains… What a playground!
I wondered where the adventure will take us this in 2014. Will it bring long distance kayaking on the ocean or bush-bashing in forests, wading through creeks and rivers? Rafting? We did not know until Saturday in early March just a few hours before the race started on the Kaikoura beach …
Stage
1 and 2 – Sea Kayak and Coasteering – about 2 ½ hours – “a warm-up”
Our team of 4 split into 2
couples – Jim with Petr and Lara with Milan. From the start gun we all ran on
soft sand beach to the boats. Jim and
Petr were kayaking first so we helped them into their boat and push them
through the surf. We were doing well – until we realized that Petr, allready 10
meters from the shore, does not have his paddle – he was focusing on putting
his spraydeck on. We had to act fast as waves kept on coming. So Milan found
the paddle just floating around in water, run into water until waste deep and
throw it like an javelin. It landed right next to Petr – that was lucky. While
they kayaked, keeping the pace with world champions we set off for a coastal
run. With life jackets on we ran around Kaikoura peninsula, avoiding curious seals, wading in water, jumping reefs and climbing over cliffs. Just
beautiful. We paced our self as we knew we have long 5 days ahead of us. After
coasteering we ran back to the boats, found our one and pierced the waves. I
remember that during the kayaking I
thougt a lot about my preparation for the race - it is a self-supported race so it's important that your equipment is in
perfect order. With GODZone, which has so many disciplines, careful preparation
is imperative. Failing to pack a spare bike part or taking a Gore-tex jacket
with a rip in its lining could bring about your withdrawal. Equally, if you’ve
underestimated your calorie count, going hungry is not a happy option. I trusted my carefull planing and rather
focused on landing the 6m long boat through the waves crashing on beach. We
maneged well. Transition. Jim and Petr were already there. Onto the bikes as 4th.
Stage
3 – Mountain Bike – around 53 km – 5:11 min
We started to draft as as
soon as we left transition – to save energy. I was pulling Lara and Jim
and Petr were taking turns up front. Then there was the first major navigational
choice which split all the teams – Jim our navigator made a very good call. We
were carrying bikes on our backs up this steep hill for a very long time. All
the way to the summit. Then a long downhill which left a smell of brake pads
behind us. Another river bed – big boulders, unrideable, few crossings, fill up
our drink bottles. Another hill to climb and yuppiii – transition. Our trek box
with clean cloth, dry shoes and food was waiting for us.
Stage 4 – Alpine Trek – Tapuae o Uenuku – 51 km,
22:07
It was getting dark. Lights
on. Compulsory gear check in this transition surprised us – we must have
missunderstood instructions and did not packed a strobe light. So instead of it
we had to carry extra 3 lights on every
stage from now on – untill we get the box with the strobe light in it. We left into
comlete darkness. Our plan was not to sleep that night. A huge trek up the
highest mountain on South Island outside the Southern Alps – 51 km, 4 500 ascent (and 4 500 descent)
was awaiting us …
Untracked tarrain, bolder hopping up George
stream with many cold crossings are
keeping us awake. The last climb up to a saddle is very steep and
involved bushbashing. The reward is sweet - an awesome scree slide down the
other side. We picked our way down the
Jam Stream navigating around waterfalls, the river opened up and we reached
Clearance River. The river was in flood – so GodZone crew set up a zipline and
we rafted acrossed. The biggest climb of the whole race just started. Our feet
need looking after them after all those river crosings – so we dried them, put
more antichafe cream on and changed into dry socks. As we were climbing up
towards the summit of Tapuae (2 885m) Lara was falling asleep - we put her
on a tag line not to loose her in complete darkness. The ascent is tough – big
scree slopes, snow fields, boulders, scorching sun. We spotted another team
behind us! We pass the checkpoint tent on top by first sunlight looking at
clouds from high above again. It feels good when we were told that we are 3rd
team through here. Bumm slide down on snow on and through a beautiful canyon
with endless river crossings. The water is freezing cold. So good to be here
during daylight. To the next checkpoint we are bashing through bush and on our
hands and knees this steep climb. Got it.
Another ridge and down to
the transition to get ready for a monstrous 151 km long mountain biking section.
Tiredness is setting in.
Stage 5 – Mountain Bike – Molesworth – 151 km -
15:16
Transition crew gave us hot
lasagna and soup. Our bikes needs cleaning after that last ride. Jim is
organising maps. Everyone is sharing the chores – filling up drink bottles, assembling
bikes, pumping up tires … It will be dark soon so we mount headlamps onto
helmets . We left with the last traces of daylight but quite a bit less
organized then on the previous bike. This section starts with a few massive and
very, very long up hills. Milan is pulling. The night falls in and we switch on
the big lights. It is getting colder and colder. Misty. We are stopping
freqeuntly to put more warm gear on. Everyone is cold. We are tired and really
slow. Jim falls and brakes a rib. Within couple of minutes he is back on bike
and wants to carry on. Around 4 am we take 2 ½ hour nap under a willow tree. We
should have slept next to each other to stay warmer, but brains are not fully working . Beautiful
morning riding up Jollie Pass to Hanmer Sprigs. We stop to get water and local
farmar pulls over in his truck and have a chat with us – how he is following
our progress online, where other teams are and motivate us to keep going. Next
transition is about an hour away. With start of a new day and some sleep we
feel good.
Stage
6 – Mountain Trek – Glynn Wye Range – 38km - 20:27
We took about 3 liters of
water per person and head up for the ridges. The plan is to stay high up
covering many miles over the tops of the mountains. The ridge is offten narrow,
steep and exposed so we are helping Lara and each other. We know that we are
getting dyhydrated – but there is just no water around. Late afternoon we made
a key (and wrong) decision to stay longer on the ridges instead of heading down
to the forests and rivers. It will cost us later quite few hours – a few hours
of precious sleep. We think it is still ok as we will get full night sleep next
day on the long river section.
Finaly we stop climbing. Sliding
down massive scree slope is sooo fast and sooo much fun. End up in beach forest
and roll down as stones as fast as we can to the river bad. We want to get
there before it gets dark. It is partly walking, partly sliding and partly
falling. Hard to keep up with Jim, even though he broke his rib on a bike last
night. End up in the creek which is very cold and very, very slippery. We are
expecting to find a trek there and move fast into the transition. The trek is
not there! Frustrating, hours lasting bushbash through dents vegetation is
ahead of us. The progress is slow. In the middle of night we find a cosy hut
and sleep there for 1 ½hrs. Jim does not want to get up and hope that this race
is just a dream. We want to be in the
transition by 6 in order to get changed, inflate the boats and be at 7:00 on
the river.
Stage 7 -
River Canoe – Harunui River – 101km – 14:07
And this is exactly what
happens. It is a busy one hour to get everything organised – wetsuits, inflate
boats, drybags, pack up overnight camping gear, food, safety meeting with the
officials… At 07:01 we are allowed on water along with 3 other teams. The race
is now clearly split. Seagate at the front racing just against themselves, then
another group of 5 top teams racing each other with a few hours. Then another
gap and the rest. The Hurunui is a long,
beautiful river paddle that takes on almost the entire length of the river all
the way to the ocean. The river in it’s upper reaches is surrounded by gorges,
steep mountains and native bush. The rapids come thick and fast with near
constant grade 2+ rapids until Maori Gully where the difficulty increases to
grade 3. Jim is really sore and
paddles in various picturesque positions. Some of these are really
creative. In one of the rapids Peter
finds out that he is the only person in the boat. Jim is waving him of the
shore. Petr picks Jim a few hundred meters down the river.
We paddle non-stop. If in
need for a toilet we hop into the river. Two gorges. Lots of rapids. Lots of
willow trees. The river is expected to take about 23 hours which would force us
to spend a night on the river. We are all looking forward to getting 7 or 8
hours of solid sleep. Well things turned out differently. In the early
afternoon after we do the math we realize we might be able to do the whole
lengths of the river – all the way to the ocean – in just one day – instead of
two. Instead of paddling steadily we spend the rest of the afternoon and
evening paddling very, very hard. 30 minutes before the “dark zone” time (8:30
p.m.) we get off the river to the next transition. We are excited.
Stage 8 – Mountain Bike – Gore Bay – 25 km – 2:50
I am cold, Lara is very,
very cold. Petr makes her a cappuccino. Jim is sorting out maps so we help him
with his bike. Our bike boxes are becoming a big mess. I feel exhilarated to be
there. In transition we are with 3 other teams. Next bike leg is short and easy
but already in the dark. We pass another team.
Stage 9 – Coastal Trek – Kaikoura Coast – 25km –
14:29
The night is very dark, the
mist is thick, the moon is not up yet and the mountains are covered in clouds.
Petr has a sleepmonster - he is seeing boats, microwaves and letterboxes
everywhere. His eyes are closing while walking. Navigation is difficult and we are
not making much progress. We put on our Goretex top and bottom to protect
bodies from prickels during endless bushbashing. We all need to sleep. There is
a white-baiters hut on the map which we should reach in the next 30 min. We get
there 3 hours later. It’s an old, small hut and there is already another team
sleeping on the floor in dust, amongs dingi, nets, paddles... We fall on the
ground and sleep from 5:30 to 6:30. Peter is feeling not good, is vomiting and
has no energy.
We cross a chest deep Waiu river. The next few hills are steep and
Peter is getting slowerWith Jim we pull him up the hill to move faster. Finaly
we leave bush and endup on beach. The coast is beautiful and endless. Pulling
Petr and soft beach sand and stones is a hard work. Petr is spaced out.
Stage 10 – Mountain Bike – Spy Glass Point – 38
km - 5:51
Peter goes through the
transition sitting on the ground. He is feeling sick, too tired to stand. When
he gets up he has to hold the bike not to fall down. The fever starts to set
in. But once on the bike he can keep on moving. After a few hours he is getting
better. Jim is helping Petr on every steep and technical sections to push his
bike. Final descent towards the kayaks makes everyone quite happy. Not really
racing at this stage as we know nobody is close behind and nobody is within an
hour of us …
Stage 11 – Sea Kayak – South Bay – 26 km - 4:30
We launched by sun set, the
moon was there early on as well as the coast guard boat to help us navigate
around many reefs. It is quite an eerie feeling to paddle on massive waves
hitting the kayak from all sides and a large boat looming close in the middle
of a night. I feel tired and every now and than fall a sleep while paddling
towards the distant lights. We have curious dolphins and small shark for
company. The safety boat marchal sent us to the wrong place on the beach. We
leave the boats on beach, garther all our gear and walk on deserted main street
to the official finish line. We get to the finish before midnight. Warren,
Adam, Anna and other organizers are all there to shake our hands, offering a
pie and a beer.
Final thoughts
For me Godzone became
highlight of the year. The event is well organised and during every stage of the race I knew that
organisers have put lots of thoughts into designing the course. The team
dynamic was great, we enjoyed each other company and had an awesome time
together. We covered 550km with 12500m of ascent and seen some
spectacular parts of New Zealand.
5 am is pretty early but we all quitly appriciated all
the luxury we had tonight - sleeping on beds with mattrasses, dry clothes, warm
dinner and full night sleep. During the 5 days of racing our plan is to go
without sleep for the first night and then have maximum of 2hrs of sleep each night.
Nobody was complaining today about an early start - we still had big day ahead
of us. Still in dark, with headlamps on we left the hut and our main navigator
- Jim - lead us up through tall grass and motagouri away. Our plan was to find
our way up a Growler stream, climb a ridge, over a saddle and down another
creek and back to bikes. Around 6 hrs trip, with 900m of climbing.
It was
was a cloudy, misty morning as we were finding our way up in dark. Continuesly
crossing the creek back and forth and
helping each other at tricky sections. At one stage we found our self climbing
on nearly vertical wall high above the creek - the only way to get past
a waterfall. We helped each other with packs and one past one managed through
this section. After an hour of walking in freezing cold waters we were happy to
leave the creek and started to climb up a ridge. It wasn't the warmest morning
and we hoped that the cloud will soon burn off. It didn't - instead we found
ourself above the cloud and were greeted by the warming sun. We were rewarded
with breathtaking views of snow covered peaks poking through the cloud bellow. 
With kayak, 12” and 29” bikes, lots of gear and my support crew (partner Lucie and our 2 year old son Lance) loaded into the car we travelled to the race start on Friday afternoon. In Hanmer Springs, the last town we passed through, we filled up the tank with diesel, our tummies with tuna fish and rice and left the big smoke behind. One of the reasons why I have chosen this event is the location – right in the heart of New Zealand – in the middle of nowhere. Even the travel to the event location is a memorable experience – with 2 hours to the closest civilisation, snow capped mountains, crystal clear rivers and azure lakes, it was good to be there. Due to the start location being so far away from nearest town most competitors were camping out – always a good opportunity to catch up with your friends and eye up the competition. While I was preparing my gear for the next day our Lance was ripping around the campsite on his 12” bike and biking through every puddle and mud patch he could find and telling everyone – “I am like daddy”.
On a course like this one it was very easy to forget that I am actually in a race, slow down and just enjoy the scenery. I have to come back, I was telling myself. I was pushing hard – running through the rivers with bike on my back, sticking to my nutrition plan and hoping to catch the race leader. But there was no sign of him at all. 3,5 hours later seen me drop my bike at the St James Home stead - so good to get off that bike seat and out of carbon soled MTB shoes into my soft running shoes. When I ran past the timing tent I did envy the shade race organizers were sitting in - it was getting pretty hot. The legs were tired and I knew then that I am not going to break any running records today. My plan on the run was to survive it and make it to the finishline. I settled into a 6 min/km pace (Slow Jog) on all flats and walked most of the hills. I used every river crossing to cool off as much as I could and was keeping a good track of my electrolyte intake to prevent cramping. It was so good to see Lucie waving at me from the finish. 
I crossed the finished line exhausted after almost 6hrs of racing. This was the last individual race for me and from now on all focus is on our Chimpanzee Bar team preparing for GodZone Adventure Race.
