52 in 52 Race #7 - HBTR Pukeora Pickled Pukeko

I finished at Rainbow Mountain and the 6th event of the Challenge... headed back to Rotorua to try and thaw out, knowing that I had a big road trip to the Southern Hawkes Bay ahead of me the next day to complete the first Double-Header of the Challenge.

After a bit of thought (and a long hot bath) I came up with a plan so cunning you could pin a tail on it and call it a weasel (yes I know I stole that from Blackadder).

I would have an afternoon kip, grab some dinner, then I would watch the All Blacks v France (30-0 Woohoo!!!)... then toodle off as far as I could towards Pukeora. I drive a lot and know to stop when the eyes get too heavy.

Well I got all the way to Waipawa - which is just down the road from Waipukarau, which in turn is bloody close to the race venue! Then the plan was to curl up and have a snooze in the wagon... which is kinda where the plan came a bit unstuck. I have had many power-naps in the Subaru but never attempted to have a proper sleep. Let's just say that 6'2" of me struggled to find any position at all that was comfortable!

Which meant that I was the very first competitor to arrive on raceday!

Wet rainy day, not too cold though, didn't deter the runners of the Hawkes Bay and before long there was a nice queue at the Registration Caravan window.
 
The course, as we were informed by our trusty (?) Race Director, was 3 laps of a circuit that went firstly around the vines and then onto the MTB trails.

So away we went on time and around the vines, a lovely little uphill tucked in amongst them to wake us up and then into the forest.

MTB trails are reknowned for their winding, meandering paths and this was no different, around and around we went. Up and down through beautiful pine needle lined trails and pretty good footing... for now! 

 The other interesting thing about this type of forest MTB trail is that at times you could see 5 or 6 other runners all running in different directions on different parts of the course,.

At the end of the first lap I made a bit of a stuff-up... instead of turning back up the hill to the caravan for the loop around the vineyard, I followed the wrong arrow back out onto the MTB trails again. I soon realised what I had done when some of the faster runners passed me for the second time - and pointed it out to me!

With the steady drizzly rain the course was starting to cut up a bit. By the second lap the two shorter races had both done a lap each on it and now the uphills were 'interesting' and a couple of the downhills were 'fun'. While I didn't have my Inov-8 X-Talons on (as they had gotten wet on the Saturday run), I was wearing my Inov-8 Roclits instead and still had twice the grip of just about everyone out there.

At the end of the second lap I did a double lap of the vineyard to make up for stuffing up the first one - which got me a few comments from the gallery!

Into lap 3 and the body was holding up better than expected after a tough weekend, the trails however were getting muddier, so it kept my attention right to the end. At the finish I still had enough left to push up the final hill and run strongly (for me) to the finish.

2:20 was my time... the official time was a bit different to this and I can only think I may have been penalised for my out of order loop... not a problem though, as this is not about being world champ!

Another great Hawkes Bay Trail Run Event... the great thing so far from the 3 of their events I have run (2 this year, 1 last) is that they have been completely different to each other. The next is around Sacred Hill... hoping for something new again!