The Big O 2012...or should that be The Big Lollipop!

I have run in and enjoyed immensely the Big O - well the little O in my case. I ran it in 2009 and finshed 2nd in my age group out of 9 runners and 37th overall out of 127.

In 2010 I improved my time from 2:15 to 2:06... but still finished 2nd in class - out of 4 this time. I finished 5th that year... although only out of 63 finishers. I think the event clashed as entries were way down.

I was upset to miss 2011 as I was entered in the full winter Xterra Series in Auckland and didn't want to miss any.... so I was quick to get my entry in for this year to see where I had come in my running speed and fitness.

Steve Neary

(photo by Shaun Collins)

I was totally gutted then to learn a couple of weeks before the event that the course had undergone an enforced change. A local landowner had dug his toes in and refused access to the farm the race runs through at the Okareka end. Shaun from Lactic Turkey worked his butt off to try to change his mind, but no go.

So the new race map was released... the Big O became a Big X with several out and back components for the 35km runners. The Little O became the Big Lollipop... a loop with a big out and back in the middle.


Out and backs meant runners going both ways on at times very narrow trails - this didn't bring me on at all and I seriosly contemplated pulling out. But my mates Keith Crook and Steve Neary (left) were coming to stay to run the event and it would have been rude not to run as well!

Raceday dawned nice and cool, not the outright freezing we had earlier in the week... just a pleasant 'running cool'.

Chris Morrissey on his way to winning the 35km event

(photo by Shaun Collins)

I caught up with a few faces at the start, Johanna Ottosson, local Osteopath and winner of the Rotorua Marathon in 2011 was there for a rare start on trails. Chris Morrissey was there to blitz the trails again and I caught up with the lovely Lesley Wilson from the Hawkes Bay who was there to start her preparation for next years Tarawera Ultra... pays to start early!

The 35km runners headed off to climb to the trig... trigs tend to be rather high and this one certainly is...  about a 10km out and back, the first runners were going through as we received our race briefing less than an hour later.

We got off with a quick loop of the Education Centre grounds and then onto the course proper. Absolutely stunning trails greeted us. After about 400m we headed onto the Tarawhai Track which looped us around through mainly level and fast flowing trails and emerged about 200m up the side road to the Education Centre. A quick scamper down that road, over Okataina Rd and onto Ngahopua Track which again was great running.

We passed 2 crater lakes Rotongata and Rotoatua, which evidently were formed about 3,500 years ago. I didn't stop to look (the photos I cheated on at a different time).... we had a steady climb through the early part of this trail and consequently a steady downhill on the second part. I ran most of this loop on my own, having lost those behind me on the uphill and those in front at the same time.

After plenty of winding through the bush and a couple of glades we burst out onto Okataina Rd again and over the road to another wide open fast trail... about 500m down this trail we veered left into some more familiar trail to me. This section was part of the Tarawera Ultra and I knew it pretty well having run a few practice runs in the past. I also knew it lead to the big downhill with multiple switchbacks.

I couldn't see anyone in front, but could hear them at this stage and - as I tend to - I flew down the hill making 200-300 metres up on the guys in front to catch and pass a couple of them as we reached Okataina Road for the 3rd time.

(photo by Shaun Collins)

Onto the Eastern Okataina Trail... a piece of trail I have run about 10 times now and love it. Tough little uphills, tight narrow bits, tree roots and rocks all add up to some lovely technical trail... taken to another level by the 2 way traffic. I guess I was lucky that I was having a good run as I only started to hit multiple returning runners in the last 700-800m before the turnaround. Unfortunately in this section my tender archilles gave up on me. I could still run ok, but no 'up on toes' for the uphills that has been gaining me a lot of time.

The only race incident I had was caused by me.. I went to move left to let a fast moving lead runner past, my left hip hit a tree root on the bank and propelled me back right again... bumping into the speeding runner.... I turned to see him frantically trying to keep his balance and speed on the edge of the trail... which fortunately he did.

On the way back the very thing that Shaun had foreseen actually happened... it got quite social... while some runners kept their heads down, didn't give way and ignored any hellos. Most of them moved left to give you room, said hello and even gave encouragement... something I tried to do as much as possible to them as well.

I had an interesting battle with a lovely young lady in pink who bounded by me before the turnaround, I passed her on one of the uphills coming back. She cruised by me on one of the last long downhills on the Eastern O Trail and started to get away from me.

After leaving the E O T we had to head back up the switchback climb. The first year I ran this event I cramped up quite badly climbing this. The second year I didn't, but had to walk the whole way. This year I ran nearly a half of it ... so I must be doing something right.

On a couple of the longer straight trails above the switchback I could see, about 300m ahead, the 'lady in pink' passing two male runners... I noted that one of them had a lot of grey hair and thought "he's probably a super-vet like me". So I dug deep and started to reel them in. I pass the first just before the left turn to head back to the Education Centre and the second just before the start of the clearing pictured at right. I had a tempo going now and just kept pushing and made the final pass of the lady in pink on this same stretch... turned out they were both Super-Vets and I had improved from 5th to 3rd.

My motivation for the last km was not to let her pass me again... so I gave it everything... I had also hoped to break 2 hours, but alas that wasn't to be.

In the end I finished 3rd in the Super-Vets with 2 hours and 1 minute (out of 18), one place down from my first 2 efforts although there were quite a few extra S-V's this year and I finished 17th out of 158 starters. Probably more importantly it 'felt' like a really good run. I had something left for a final push and nothing left at the line... just how it should be!
The Mens 35km event was mastered by Chris Morrissey and Johanna Ottosson had a comfortable win in the Ladies 35km.

Keith Crook imbibing!

(photo by Shaun Collins)

My mates Steve and Keith both enjoyed the course. Both are returning from injury and after a bit of a break the both struggled to keep their normal pace and conserved their energy for future events.

Great family atmosphere as always at the end of the Big O, barbeque with Jason & Peta cooking sausages. Excellent coffee from the cart and a peanut slab to boot. Prizegiving was fun with each straggler who crossed the line during the ceremony cheered and clapped (and they nearly all won spot prizes - funny that).

So, after I have finished, how do I feel about the course?

I am glad the problem is Shaun's not mine. The new course is fantastic... if Shaun ran an event over that course next year called the Big X.. I would enter in an instant.

Should it replace the old course? No... not in my opinion, the original Big O course is unique (as is the Little O). The deer farm trails are great to run, the bush bash is awesome and the trails from there are great. So I guess for the meantime it will be wait and see... but overall a fantastic day and a great event!

Latham's Hill Track

I frequently travel to and from Whakatane for my business, almost always early morning meetings giving me time on the way home to stop for a run...

I have driven by the sign for Latham's Hill Track many times, thinking "I must check that out"... but never seemed to get around to it. Then I read Andrew Shelley's write-up on it in Andrew's Walking (& Running). Still it has been several months before finally today I made the time to stop and run the trail. 

A big thanks to Andrew's write-up was that I knew that I should park the car at Awakeri Hot Pools and run down the road (about 1.5km) to the entrance. It is easily spotted as it is next to a B&B with two big flags up.

Climb the fence and follow the visible trail across the paddock, through the cattle race an on up the hill. Watch out for those tape gates, they will give you a buzz if you are not careful.

 At first you think "I hope it's not going to be all farmland"... but in no time you are up to the tree line and some excellent single trail.

The beauty of entering the trail from the Whakatane end is that the trail is largely runnable as you climb the hill. The trails are pretty well marked and while there are a few roots to watch out for, you can generally cruise at a reasonable speed - until you run out of steam.

 

As you work your way up, you find yourself cursing that there are no decent views through the trees, you can see that you have climbed quite a way, but the trees keep blocking the good views over the coast.... until you get to the trig! Then it becomes apparent that they have been teasing you! 180 degrees of views (see pic at top of blog, click to enlarge).

Cool, now you are at the trig it must be downhill time... well yes it is - for a little, then back up and a series of humps and hollows as you make your way along the crest. 


Unfortunately a side track off the main trail has been closed, that used to take you down into the valley, over a stream and then back up. I found this out when I bumped into two lovely ladies in their mid-sixties navigating their way down one of the steep descents. 

We had a great chat and they had put me to shame by starting - as I did - at the hot pools, but instead of heading down the road and then up and over, they had gone up and over from the pools, then turned around and retraced the route! Impressive!

My only real disappointment of the trail was that the descent to the end of the trail was at times quite steep, not dangerous steep unless you were reckless, but too steep to run safely... and running downhill is part of why we bust our gut to get to the top.

But after the really steep section the last km is nice cruisy downhill through a meadow, some more bush and eventually coming out beside the carpark at Awakeri Hot Pools where - hopefully - your car awaits you.

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T42 - Downhill with a Bite!

(Borrowed from Total Sport)

It's an amazing thing with trail running, if the course is a memorable and a largely enjoyable one, then we forget about how hard it was last year.

This was very much the case with the T42 which last year was my first trail marathon (2011), I remembered that it was pretty much downhill for the first half and I remembered that there was a nice uphill at the end.... everything else slipped out of this aging memory... but more of that later...

As usual Total Sport had booked a perfect day... very icy back at the Park Traveller's Lodge... but that meant a clear and crisp day, perfect for a run!

All onboard the bus at 8.30am for the trip up the road to the start, a wee stop off to watch the start of the MTB race - more to keep us out of their way I think! Lucky enough to sit next to Kugs (James Kuegler) on the bus, one of the best adventure runners in the country. Like the best athletes in every sport he is constantly looking for ways to improve his performance... even though he coaches many athletes, he has still taken on a coach for himself in a bid to be the best he can be.

Keith & Steve

Race briefing was pretty straightforward... I think... short term memory loss due to age... or perhaps I just wasn't listening. The mandatory walk through detergent made sure that we did not do further damage to the local ecosystem. I continue to be impressed by the length Total Sports go to to minimise their effect on the fabulous landscape we run through.

My mates Keith Crook and Steve Neary were both onboard as well, looking forward, like me, to a fun run in the bush! It was also great to catch up with a few of the other usual suspects from previous Total Sport events.


The race starts with a 2km loop through the neighbouring farm that takes the ice right out of your muscles within the first 500m with a nice wee climb... this loop serves two purposes, it adds 2 necessary km's to get the run to marathon distance and it lets the bikes get well out of the way of any but the faster runners like Kugs and Kerry Suter... more about him later as well. It also allows us our one brief run towards the mountain (right), which was in its splendour!

Then onto the T42 proper and the expected downhill... hang on... this is uphill... as I said earlier, we remember what our brain likes and eject all but the most painful of the bad bits. While the first 17km of the race is largely downhill, there are plenty of uphills to work you out. After finishing Tarawera Paul Charteris assured us all that 6 - 8 weeks after was the best time to run a fast marathon time... this, plus the 'downhill' made me push out a bit faster than usual.


At 10km I was about 3 min ahead of last year, 6 minutes ahead after 20km.... but not feeling anywhere near as comfortable as I remember feeling last year... by 30km I was only 2 minutes ahead and suffering with a very, very sore back. No point stopping though as it hurt just as much walking as running. At 35km I was a minute slower than last year and not happy... however the one thing that has definitely improved for me this year has been my finishing. I lifted my effort as much as I could and was pleasantly surprised to cross the line in Owhango 5 and a bit minutes faster than last year.


Elsewhere in the field the amazing Kerry Suter had blitzed everyone to break the course record by 10 minutes, his story is here. He averaged 4.14 min/km for the whole marathon... my fastest pace was 4 min/km and believe me, that was on a big fast downhill, overall I managed 6.36 min/km and was happy. Keith and Steve both suffered injuries that severely hampered their runs... although Steve still scampered in 15 minutes ahead of me with the injury. Kugs 'cruised' into 4th without apparently breaking a sweat and was thinking about running back!

Keith & James

At the finish line the bloody bikers had drunk all the beer!! Total Sport top man Aaron Carter procured me one from somewhere which put the smile back on.


Back to the Park for a Prizegiving, drawing of the major spot prizes (missed out again) and then a bbq dinner and dessert (the mini Pavs were awesome). Us oldies crashed rather early, but could clearly hear the merriment of those that still had some energy until the small hours.

Overall a great run and one to be recommended. Total Sport events are excellent, although at the moment they seem to be suffering a touch with growing pains. The events are getting so big that they are not always coping, i.e. no beer, no goodie bag fillers at Waihi, too many people and not enough food, just a few little things... they are adjusting though and are quick to accept feedback... when entries jump from in the 400's to in the 900's most would struggle and they still run some fantastic events in some amazing venues.

Will I be back next year... you bet, different tactics maybe... but this is a cool run on an excellent trail. (Remember, click on any of the pics for a larger view).