52 in 52 Race #2 - Te Mata Terrific Tui

An event cancellation gave me a week to recover after T42 and then it was off to the fabulous Hawkes Bay for the first race of this years Hammer Nutrition Hawkes Bay Trail Run Series (HBTR) as the second race of 52 in 52... and what a great choice it was!!! As the rest of the country was getting dumped with copious amounts of rain,  
the Hawkes Bay was, as usual, warm and sunny.

Lunchtime Saturday in Rotovegas and filled up at Gull with diesel using some of my sponsored vouchers. Gull have made getting around the country so much easier with this great donation. Lainy and I then headed over the hill. The lovely Lesley Wilson (and hubby Des) were our great hosts for the evening... which pleased Lorraine as she didn't need to get up so early for the race. It also meant I ate way too much dinner as it was fabulous!

Frank Spencer

Race Morning dawned fine and slightly misty, GPS got me to race start nice and early - as I tend to do. Caught up with Louise and Philip Shambrook, the Race Directors of the Series who have sponsored me for all 4 races. Also there were a few people I had only met previously on facebook, as well as Earl Wykes from BNI and Frank Spencer (right) who had been assigned to run with me on the day. I wasn't a very good guest though and lost Frank on one of the early hills... kept thinking he would catch me up but he didn't quite.

Emergency Number 1... no Porta-Loos!!! Fortunately they arrived before race time and a relieved Mike lined up for the start. Philip delivered a stirring Race Briefing and then, totally without warning invited yours truly to say a few words, which I did poorly!. Then the start... a quick burst of bitumen inserted to make up the distance right got us warmed up... then back into the farm and the climbing started.... 
 





You were left in no doubt from the very start as to how tough this was going to be, 
it was more like the English Fell Running than the trail-running we do here, with lots of grass, rutted farm and stock trails, mud and of course cow-pats! My Inov-8 X-Talons were fabulous on the muddy and slippery grass and 'other materials' and my only fall was when I tripped!



The climbing at first was steady but runnable... but that changed.
There was some great switchback climbs with trails barely as wide as your foot. Most of this stage was walking for me... with the occasional bout of enthusiasm leading to a hundred metres or so or running. The views were getting ever better and it became obvious why running in this area is so popular. One wee trip nearly sent me down a high steep bank, but I got away with a muddy knee and a faster than usual heartbeat for a couple of minutes.

To give you some idea, I normally take 20 or 30 photos during a race... for this race I took 102!!! 
I can't get them all in here, but will upload the best to Flickr.

The Fenceline

Finally got to the top and the Lookout and was feeling tired but happy to finish climbing - I thought - then we were directed off up even further through grassland - as in "just run along the fenceline", so we climbed along the fenceline, then dropped steeply down the other side - which very quickly lost its joy as we saw the leading runners slogging back up this hill towards us!! This was the out and back section we had been told about... afterwards on Garmin it didn't look too tough 80m vertical in 1.4km... but it was. Passed Frank my 'co-runner' in this area and told him I was fading... I think we both were. 


Once back at the top we cruised over into some of what appeared to be MTB Trails and more like my normal type of trail... only I was too tired to enjoy it.

Frank finishing...

We wound our way through several valleys and woody stretches, before heading out of Te Mata Reserve, across the stream and into a final 4km of farmland. The first couple of these kilometres were gently uphill and I dredged enough out of the old body to run these... albeit rather slowly, however now we were mixed in with the medium distance runners and I employed the old trick of 'just catch the next one' to pick off quite a few on this stage. 

Then the big downhill to the finish and I just let the old tired legs go... so glad to hit the finish though for a sticky bun and a drink! Snuck back up guiltily to meet Frank finishing his run. My time of 2:27 shows how tough a half it was as it felt like I ran as well as I did in Xterra Rotorua 4 weeks back where I ran 1:45.


Then had a post race catch-up with the lovely Jen from Cranford Hospice before Philip shoved the microphone under my nose for a few words.


This was a fabulous day, well run with a nice family feel. Most of the runners seemed to know each other and Philip and Louise are working hard to make sure their events don't get too big. I had wonderful support on the course and donations both before and after the race.

The next HBTR race is in 3 weeks and I will be there... why not join me!