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.

...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!