Tuhoto Ariki... worth the climb...

Tuhoto Ariki Trail was a first for the Rotorua area... a dual use MTB and walking (running) trail through Department of Conservation (DOC) land. The name of the trail celebrates Tuhoto Ariki, the famous Tuhourangi tohunga who predicted the Tarawera eruption and then survived it. He was dug out of his debris covered whare after being trapped for 4 days.

The bad news first... Tuhoto Ariki starts at the highest point of the Redwoods/Whakarewarewa Forest Park.... so climb, climb, climb.

There are many different ways to get to the trail, Keith Crook and I ran it the other way a month or two back. Running it in reverse makes the trail a steady climb followed by a rapid decent... todays route made it a steep climb followed by a long steady decent through fabulous native bush trails.

Ok the first step is getting there... turn into the main Waipa Mill entrance just out of Rotorua on the Taupo road. Drive straight by the main MTB carpark on the left and carry on down the road, you will see the Mill barrier arm appearing ahead... however just before that take a right turn. Follow this road for about one and a half kms and you will see the hoist off to the left of the road for lifting logging trailers onto the main truck bed when empty. Just past this the road sweeps around to the right and on the outside of this curve is a parking area. Find a spot and get ready to run.

Head past the barrier (above right) and you will see a map ahead (left). Take a left here into Larch Road and a hundred or so metres along the trail veer right into Nice Road... and it is a nice road. Follow this to the end of the road and then turn left and follow the road to a 4-way intersection... you will find it hard to miss as it is just after a nice wee climb. At the intersection you will see another MTB map... but you don't need that, turn hard right into Direct Road and climb.... for me, this is a walk, run, walk, run road... there are two intersections of roads on the way up, take the right hand option both times - take the left at the first if you like punishment as it comes out at the same place but you just work harder.


Eventually you will climb a road that ends at Hill Road, If you veer left here you will see another MTB map (they get looked after well here) and to the left of that the entrance to a MTB trail called Frontal Lobotomy - yup, that's where we are going. Despite the name, this is a nice climb for that takes you all the way up to the start ramp for the National Downhill MTB trail. Carry on past the start and head up the road for the last part of this climb to the start of Tuhoto Ariki.
 



Before you head down the trail, if you head to the towers opposite the entrance you will get some glimpses of distant Mt Ngongotaha and some idea of how high you have climbed.

 Ok, so this is what we climbed up here for, head into Tuhoto Ariki and enjoy... right at the start you will see the start of a new trail Te Tihi o Tawa... this was still to be opened when I wrote this and is due to be opened on the 1st December 2011 so you can be sure I will be testing my Salomons either up or down it soon.

Tuhoto Ariki, is great forest running, roots, mud, flowing downhills and sharp corners. There are 4kms of running from the start, although we will be leaving it slightly before the end to extend the run through the other trail through the DOC land.

On the run you will come to a nice grass clearing.... just run through and look for the continuation of the trail off the left of the clearing. Shortly after this you get a bit of a wake-up with a 50m (vertical) climb... but it is all runnable and then it's off down again... lots of fun here with more roots, mud and tight turns.

Keep an eye out for the sign (left) and head right down Hatupatu. This is a Grade 5 MTB trail, but makes for a nice downhill run. Knarly at times and a couple of "ooh, better be careful down here" spots. But overall it is a nice run that finishes on Moerangi Road almost directly opposite the start of your next trail (signposted with an exit only MTB sign).

That trail is an 'almost never used' MTB trail that winds down nicely to another MTB intersection (right). You can do as I did and head down Chestnut Link into RollerCoaster or you can take the right-hand option and follow the road through to the road at Hill Road. If you take this option, take a left at the road and follow it down to the intersection where you will see the Shuttle queuing area, follow the road to the left here and follow it back to the start.



If you take the route I took down the MTB trails, beware of MTB riders behind you (you can usually hear them a long way off). They don't generally mind as long as you give way to them. As you head down the trail is pretty cool to run. You will see the sign to RollerCoaster and the only split in the trail is a t-junction where the main trail appears to go right and that's the way you head. The trail will eventually come out on another forestry road with the continuation of the trail just over the road. 








At the end of the MTB trail you come back to the road. Take a sharp left and follow the road for just over 1.5km and you will find yourself back at the start having covered just under 16km. Keep an eye out for a short road to the left just before the finish - especially if it's hot - because it leads to the Waipa Spring which provide much of the water to Rotorua. On the post is a tap with pure spring water... a great way to cool down and fabulous days like today.




There are a myriad of ways to get up to Tuhoto Ariki, but they are all worth the effort (during summer you can even cheat and catch the MTB Shuttle up 90% of the way). Best time to run is during the week as there are less MTB riders around, but today was Sunday and the weather perfect and I only saw 5 riders on the trails I was on and as I got out of the way quickly there was no problem. Below is my link to my Garmin and as always, give me a bit of notice and I will come with you and show you the way!

Nice, Direct, Frontal L, Tuhoto Ariki and down Roller Coaster by mike3950 at Garmin Connect - Details

Te Iringa Track... (abbreviated)...

One of the pluses with my job (and there are lots), is that I travel all around the top part of the North Island and as from quite recently I have 3 trips per year down to Queenstown and Invercargill.

This week saw me in Napier for a night and the next day I knew I had a free day to travel back to Rotorua... a great chance to check out a trail I have been eyeing for a while.

About 27km from Taupo on the Napier Taupo road you will see the sign for Taharua Road, turn down here and proceed until you see Clement's Mill Road... take a right here and carry on to the end of the seal and on into the bush... in summer most vehicles should manage this road with no problems... although it was a bit rutted this week and a 4WD does make you feel more confident. In winter I am guessing a 4WD or AWD would be pretty important.

After a few km's you will see the sign for Te Iringa Track, park here, there is a nice picnic area where the non-runners or early returnees could set up lunch! There is a basic map that gives you most of the required info... interesting to note that this trail is open to MTB's... although it has a Grade 5 rating.




 


I expected a back country rough trail that would involve rugged trails and sometimes a struggle to pick out where the trail is... how wrong was I ... what a fabulous trail.










 




3km of steady climbing, most of it runnable gets you up on top where you get some great views through the trees, there is a stream crossing (right) which in November was not even deep enough to get into my Salomons wet inside.







 


At around 3.5km you come to the clearing where the old Te Iringa Hut used to be... great place for camp or to stop for a bite to eat... otherwise carry on. More great views after that... you can even get some neat views of Lake Taupo nearly 30km away!









This is where the "abbreviated" part comes... I had intended to run about 10km out and then back... however after getting to the trail start I found I had left my backpack at home and while I had food and drink to take with me, I didn't have my first aid kit or my exposure blanket. So when at about 4km the temperature dropped about 10 degrees and the sky started to get dark, descretion became more important than valour and I turned back.


 

I figured that the Kaimanawa's were not the place to be caught on my own in rough weather without the right gear. I had of course let my partner know where I was running just in case and had chatted to a DOC worked on the way in.


This trail so impressed me that I will travel back and do a longer version... I may even try to run the 21.5km to the Oamaru Hut and then back... that might be one to drag fellow trail nutters Keith Crook and Steve Neary along with me.

Toi's Challenge... just a run around town...

... I wish. I have been eyeing this race for a few years and finally this year it did not clash with anything else I had planned. 

Very reasonable entry fee of $40 pleased me straight away. I did a bit of research and could not find a Garmin profile anywhere... so looking at the map it looked pretty straightforward... I was in for a few surprises!


I got there nice and early (as I usually do), got a good close park and picked up my registration pack. Saw a few familiar faces including Vibram Tarawera Ultramarathon organizer Paul Charteris.

The race starts out with a bit of a dash across the park to squeeze through the chute and out onto the road into downtown Whakatane. 

Not a great start for me as I am now a true trail-runner and do not like roads at all... but it was only for a km and a half and then it was replaced by my other non-favourite, steps! They were very nice steps... with pictures on (called a vertigraph I hear, see, you can learn new stuff reading my blog)... but steps nevertheless. However the field was not too spread out yet and this was a walk up for just about everyone.

Then a few hundred metres more up the road and we hit the trail  - Nga Tapuwae o Toi. Could have been a great trail... but more steps made it hard work. And we climbed.... and climbed and then climbed a bit more until we were well over the city we left just a few minutes before.




Nice running up and through the Kohi Point Scenic Reserve, tight single trail procession, hard to get past anyone in front without just about sending them down the cliffs... although a few nutters tried to push past.

Just before the 5 km mark the first major descent occured as we worked out way pretty quickly back down to sea level and onto the rocks. A little bit of rock running interspersed with some hard and soft sand made this a fun bit of the run. Ever since my first Xterra at Shakespear Regional Park on the Whangaparoa I have loved coastal rock running. This was not quite at that level... but a bit of fun nevertheless.



 
That fun was rather short-lived though as we were greeted with yet more steps to climb up from the beach and out of Otawairere Bay. This climb was only about a half a kilometre (felt longer) and then we were back down and onto the beach for the run to the Surf Club and the turn away from the coast.

Through the lovely carved 'gateway' and the climbing starts again. Still a few steps thrown in just to 'p' me off and a steady hard slogging climb for about 4km with a few little downhills thrown in to make you think you were finished. Then, just past 13km it really heads down and down... the body is saying "praise be this is good!" ...


 
....and then someone changes the script and your totally knackered body finds itself battling to get up another climb that lasts the best part of a k and finishes you off. But this finally is the last hill and then its down... largely down steps and onto the road. A km around the road, skirting the park and then down the chute to a welcome finish and a fabulous punnet of strawberries from the sponsor Julian's Berry Farm. 


2 hours and 9 minutes was about what I expected and a wee bit slower than I hoped.

All in all a well organized event by the Whakatane Athletic and Harrier Club. The club have been doing it for years and it shows in a polished product that most of the pro companies would be happy with. The only negative for me was that the prizegiving was 2pm... 3 hours after my finish. I was going to stay, but like most of the out of towners, in the end I got on the road and headed home.




Would I run Toi's again? Probably not, I like races that I can run most of, Toi's Challenge - like I found the West Coaster - is a race where I had to walk too often with lots of steps and hills too steep for this old bugger to run. It was an enjoyable experience though and one to file away with my growing list and one I felt I had achieved something by finishing!


My Garmin link.... Toi's Challenge by mike3950 at Garmin Connect - Details

TECT Park...

Today's run was a nice 10km loop around part of TECT Park... but as I intend to run a lap of the recent Tauranga Trail Run there with my mate Keith Crook from Auckland and share it with you after that, I thought I would tell you all a bit about TECT Park as outside parts of Tauranga it is a bit of a secret.

About equidistant from Tauranga and Rotorua on the Tauranga Direct Road, TECT Park is approximately 1650 hectares of land that was purchased in 2004 by Western BOP District Council and Tauranga District Council with support from Tauranga Energy Consumers Trust (TECT) and Bay Trust.


The park vision, “to develop a unique recreational venue and regional destination that caters for a wider range of adventure and education activities, in a managed sustainable way.”


Already there are many groups using the park with a myriad of horsetrails, several MTB & motorcross trails and of course forestry roads and a few walking trails.

As a runner I have found this great as firstly; I visit Tauranga pretty regularly and it is a great stop on the way back and secondly; the trails and feel of the environment is so very different to the Whakarewarewa forest where I do the majority of my local running. There are hard dry trails, muddy tight trails and knarly root covered trails.

Below is a map of some of the runs I have done in the Park and I have barely scratched the surface....

 

Click pic to get fullsize

One neat thing for runners with kids is that just recently Adrenalin Forest have set up a fabulous multi-level aerial rope course through an area of trees at TECT Park... so drop them off there for a while and shoot off for a run.

There are several Toilet blocks around the park and at the main base area you can even fill your drink bottle with fresh filtered cold water - for free!

This is a fantastic facility that will only get bigger and better with age, much of the park is bare at the moment as many of the trees have been harvested, but as the new ones grow and the areas of native bush regenerate, TECT Park will be a mus stop for any runner in the Bay.... watch out for my description soon of the trails used for the recent Smith's Sports Shoes Tauranga Trail Run .

* Click highlighted text to link to webpage.

Blue/Green Lake Loop

Where better to start than one of the semi-regular runs I love. With my first race after injury coming up on Sunday in Whakatane, I though I better give things a real test.

Click on pics for fullsize.

This run starts in behind the Waipa Mill...  go past the carpark where all the mountain-bikers park and where the MTB Rentals are and keep heading towards the Mill. When you can see the Mill barrier gate in front of you take the road left and keep following it to a big sweeping right hand corner with parking to the left. Park somewhere here.

Ok, off running.... take a drink on this one, you may need it!

Head down Hill Road and almost immediately take a right into Reservoir Road and then again immediately on your right you should see the sign for Yellow Brick Road. This is a MTB trail, however in five years of running the MTN trails I have had no problems, I always give way to the bikes and generally it's so quiet you can hear them a long way away. Follow Yellow Brick Road to the end, it is a nice single trail with a small easy climb and pleasant running. If you've run the Kingsgate Rotorua Trail Half you will have run it the other way - twice!

At the end of the YBR, turn left and run about 10 metres and you will see a connecting trail... follow that for a couple of hundred metres and cross the road to the road opposite. Follow this around looking to stay left and take the left fork when you see the Long Drive sign. Up this road pleasant bush enclosed forestry road. Next intersection veer right and at the next to the left, then just follow this road to the end where it turns into trail... nice climb here (steps, sorry about that), keep climbing up into the bush again and follow what is quite a good trail to the end. At the end, steer left and follow the road (Fern Road) to the end.

Once you reach the end of the road look diagonally left and you will see the sign for Green Lake Rd, head down there for less than a km and turn left into Branch Road... up Branch Road to the top where it joins Tikitapu Road... the road to the Blue Lake.

Then start climbing... for those familiar with the Xterra Rotorua off road half (part of the Xterra Rotorua festival), then you will know this road very well.

Watch out near the top for some great views down to Green Lake on your right(above). Once you hit the top it is downhill to the Blue Lake intersection... if you feel like adding and extra 2 or 3km, then head right and circumnavigate the lake... me, I went left, great running trails here. Mainly down with a few bumps thrown in.

 

You will start to see that you are getting close to the Blue Lake beaches, so start watching for a trail off to the left. If you come out of the trees you have gone too far and should backtrack in 20 - 40 metres.

Once you have found the trail you have found the best bit of running on the loop (for me anyway), native bush, tight single trail that zooms up and down a bit before dumping you out on the trail next to Tarawera Road.

Back on the Forestry Roads here - although used more by walkers and cyclists that vehicles. Follow the road and keep following it, you will pass by Hill Road (the other end of where we started), feel free if you want to take a shortcut here, but let me warn you 'it is a bloody big hill!!!'

Eventually after what seems an endless road you will come to an intersection with a large Park Map on the left. Take the middle of the 3 roads ahead of you... you should head down a reasonably steep road, so if you are going up or even level, you picked the wrong road.

Head on down and along this road watching out for a sign on the left pointing to Nice Road which heads off to the right.... nearly there... follow Nice Road as far as it goes and you will find yourself back at the start almost right on half marathon distance.

I find it a great loop with all sorts of running from semi-knarly forest running to open forestry roads. A steep up and a long steady one... finish this run and you will have enjoyed some great countryside and a few fabulous views to boot!

Below is my Garmin Link to the run.

Blue/Green Lake Loop by mike3950 at Garmin Connect - Details

...and Onto the Trails

I went home from Auckland pretty deflated. Yes, I had achieved a goal I had set some 20 years earlier to run a marathon, but the way my body broke down towards the end of the run was a real kick in the guts.

It was about 10 days after the marathon before I laced the shoes on for a 'loosen up' run in the Redwoods .... and realised that I still liked running... just not marathons.

Then a bit of luck, on one of my runs the Redwoods was alive with people setting up tents and cones and arrows and tape. "what's happening?" I asked one of the workers. "An nDuro Trail Run", was the answer.

As I was only about 1.5km into my run I stopped and asked a bit more... this was the first of the years series and they had 3 distances. The middle - between 10km and 15km - sounded pretty cool, so as I had time I quietly jogged back home for my wallet and started my trail-running competitive career.


The nduro runs were great for me... although I only ever ran the middle distance, staying away from the 18km - 24km category. I was happy in my comfort zone and anyway, all the good runners ran the longer distance allowing me to win most of the 10km events (most only had 3 - 5 entrants in my division - a couple only had 1!)


The rest, as they say, is history, in the last 4 years I have completed firstly 2 nDuro Series, then, when they were cancelled, I discovered Xterra Auckland and after missing the first event in 2010, I have run the last 11 straight with lots of early mornings to get to the back-blocks of Auckland in time for start. I have done two 19km Big-O runs at Okataina. 3 Xterra National Trail-Runs (1 at Rotorua and 2 at Waihi). The first Kinloch Off-Road Half in Taupo and the Brooks event this year at Mt Tauhara as well. Also this years Rotorua Off Road Half... and just recently the first Tauranga Trail Run in TECT Park over 28km... the list goes on.

The Xterra Series have been great, particular favourites for me are the Shakespear Regional Park run around the rocks and the Hunua event, which I missed the first year. The downside is that many times they conflict with other trail runs and so next year I will probably pick and choose, rather than enter the whole series.


Highlights this year have been the Fix Tussock Traverse... what an amazing race. 27km through some of the most amazing scenery in NZ... and to make it harder running into headwinds of up to 60km for the last 15km. 

Then I did something I said I would never do... I ran another marathon. Not just any Marathon, the T42 from National Park to Owhango, through the bush. Yes I was knackered at the finish - but you are supposed to be after a Marathon - 4 hours and 43 minutes... but I was still running at the finish and even 'put on a burst' at the end. 



So, that's a brief summary of how I got to here... my aim with this blog is to describe my runs... even the training ones, as some of the trails are quite cool. I try to find somewhere new to run (or climb if it's to steep to run) as I travel around this wonderful country and with the aid of my trusty Garmin Forerunner, I will share these runs with whoever wants them!

Why....

A little over 5 years ago at age 47, I was 112kg and on the way to being another heart attack statistic... at least that's how I looked at it.

So I decided to diet... something I had tried before with some success. I cut out all snacks, ate breakfast, lunch and dinner only and for my dinners I ate salad and meat... no carbs. This was working almost immediately with weight starting to fall off.

At the time I lived right over the road from Rotorua's famous Redwoods and I thought, maybe the occasional run in the woods might help. 

First run was about 1.5 km and nearly killed me... but I am nothing if not stubborn, so I ran a bit further the next time and kept adding distance nearly every run. Soon running about 40 - 50 minutes, it was then that a friend said.. "so you will be running the Rotorua Marathon next" ... no way I was ready for that, so I entered the 10km run at the same event and finished 8th for my age group... but what was more important, I really enjoyed being part of the event.

So I took the plunge and entered the Auckland Marathon, giving myself nearly 6 months to get up to speed, with the Taupo Half as a stepping stone.

So away I went running on alternate days and slowly increasing the distances. I was getting the urge to compete again, to measure myself and, after a visit to the web, I found the Huntly Half... 'worth a go' I thought.

Bowled up on raceday, feeling great. Cruised out on what turned out to be the most boring course in creation - except for the last 4km - and while motoring along nicely I was introduced for the first time to the the distance runners nemesis...'The Wall'! 

Unfortunately this happened just before we started around the lake for the last 4km, so I didn't get to enjoy the only pleasant part of the course as I stumbled and struggled to the finish. I broke 2 hours though (1'56") and so I had something to be happy about. My first, but not last physical crash!

Leaving Huntly I had learned a valuable lesson... I was not ready... so back to work. I set myself a target for Taupo of breaking 1 hour, 50 minutes. Targets are great... Taupo time... 1'49" and, to me, more importantly... no wall, I was pushing at a steady speed for the whole race and it was only the last wee hill up to the park before the finish that killed me off!

Back to work and up with the mileage (funny how we still call it mileage... I suppose kilometreage is a bit of a mouthful), to get ready for Auckland.

Auckland was one of the best and worst days of my running life. catching the early morning ferry, with thousands of others, to the start line. Milling around, queueing at one of the thousands of portaloos and then starting in this mass of humanity to work my way through the streets to the Harbour Bridge. For someone training on the trails the bridge incline was not too tough and was worth every ounce of energy. Then down the other side, an unplanned pitstop cost me a couple of minutes, then on the road to the bays. All going well... until about 30km... well, then it all crashed. The worst thing is when you are still running out towards the turnaround point, knowing that every painful step you take has to be re-traced. Down to the last 6 or 7 km and my hips were breaking down, I was literally staggering along, stopping regularly and truly battling towards the finish. I went through 30km in right on 3 hours... the last 12.2km took me 1'35" to finish in 4'35" and promises of 'never again'!

That might have been it for my running, because I was deflated after finding it so difficult to finish... until I got lucky...