Arrow 24-hr Race
Here's the full story...!
After a scary coastguard rescue for Dean and many other competitors during the swim/crawl on the first leg across Auckland Harbour (very near hypothermia) we had a run through farmland to reach CP1 (checkpoint), then a short coasteering section to reach TP1 (transition).
Leg 2 was a kayak across Manakau Harbour and up the estuary to Waiuku - 36km and 4 ½ hrs battling a head wind and a strong current. I kept dreaming of beaches in Thailand to keep me going, whilst we all wondered what we find fun about these events. We sludged through 50m of mud to get to TP2, where a very welcoming hot drink & food were waiting, along with a change of clothes. Completing these events without good support crew would be impossible.
Leg 3 was a short bike ride to Ouako - flat and easy which made a nice change! We caught up some time here and had a quick transition. Leg 4 was another kayak up a short section of the Waikato River to find CP2 just before dark, then back downstream to Port Waikato - we really pegged it this leg and caught up even more time...plus we were starting to enjoy it again :)
Leg 6 was the hike/run section which was extremely varied, interesting, challenging, and really good fun. Most of it anyway. Jamie did some excellent navigating and we found CP's 3-6 relatively comfortably. Wish it had been light because the scenery would have been superb. It was a really clear night though which made it pretty spectacular around the coast and in the hills. CP 7 proved to be our downfall...having passed at least 5 teams in the first half of this leg, we then spent 2 1/2 hours looking for a CP we never found. Apparently we'd been given the wrong coordinates which makes it pretty frustrating, but some teams did manage to find it so nobody can really complain. We decided to bag the caving section, which was a shame, but after being told it involved an hour long crawl/swim in a tunnel only high enough to lie flat in, we thought it wasn't really worth it. On to TP 5 and another change plus more energy to take on board. We were all absoloutely knackered at this point (4am) and a bit demoralised by the loss of time and energy trying to find CP 7.
We set off on a bike ride to find 2 more CP's - I felt like I might fall asleep if it wasn't for a long, cold downhill start which definitely woke me up a bit! The ride was actually quite fun, and the sun coming up around 7am gave us all a wee energy boost (much needed). We reached the transition in time to wade through some more mud to start the final kayak section from Ruakiwi to Raglan. This took approximately 1 1/2 hours and we all cruised into the boat ramp at 11am to our own relief and that of our support crew!
I then had the best-spent 20cent shower EVER in the local camping ground, before the prizegiving at Raglan Town Hall. Happy and proud to have completed yet another event full of fun and madness...I'll just have to start finding a new team back in Scotland now :)
The overview...
My third and final 24-hr adventure race in NZ…well, for this visit anyway :) I think it was the toughest mental challenge I have ever endured - beginning with a 2 ½ hr swim/crawl across Auckland Harbour (French Bay to Auckland Airport). In the middle of winter this isn’t a fun start at 7am, we were totally freezing. The rest of the race involved 3 kayak legs, 2 mountain-bike legs and a trek section with an optional caving trip. The scenery and variety of terrain during the race was superb - I would love to repeat it all at a slower pace in daylight if given the chance to come back again! Despite taking a total of just under 28 hours to complete the course (finishing in Raglan at 11am Sunday morning), we were actually third in our category. Very few teams completed the whole course, which isn't surprising considering the challenges set by the race organisers... Click below for the full story, and hopefully a few pics coming soon!!
After a scary coastguard rescue for Dean and many other competitors during the swim/crawl on the first leg across Auckland Harbour (very near hypothermia) we had a run through farmland to reach CP1 (checkpoint), then a short coasteering section to reach TP1 (transition).
Leg 2 was a kayak across Manakau Harbour and up the estuary to Waiuku - 36km and 4 ½ hrs battling a head wind and a strong current. I kept dreaming of beaches in Thailand to keep me going, whilst we all wondered what we find fun about these events. We sludged through 50m of mud to get to TP2, where a very welcoming hot drink & food were waiting, along with a change of clothes. Completing these events without good support crew would be impossible.
Leg 3 was a short bike ride to Ouako - flat and easy which made a nice change! We caught up some time here and had a quick transition. Leg 4 was another kayak up a short section of the Waikato River to find CP2 just before dark, then back downstream to Port Waikato - we really pegged it this leg and caught up even more time...plus we were starting to enjoy it again :)
Leg 6 was the hike/run section which was extremely varied, interesting, challenging, and really good fun. Most of it anyway. Jamie did some excellent navigating and we found CP's 3-6 relatively comfortably. Wish it had been light because the scenery would have been superb. It was a really clear night though which made it pretty spectacular around the coast and in the hills. CP 7 proved to be our downfall...having passed at least 5 teams in the first half of this leg, we then spent 2 1/2 hours looking for a CP we never found. Apparently we'd been given the wrong coordinates which makes it pretty frustrating, but some teams did manage to find it so nobody can really complain. We decided to bag the caving section, which was a shame, but after being told it involved an hour long crawl/swim in a tunnel only high enough to lie flat in, we thought it wasn't really worth it. On to TP 5 and another change plus more energy to take on board. We were all absoloutely knackered at this point (4am) and a bit demoralised by the loss of time and energy trying to find CP 7.
We set off on a bike ride to find 2 more CP's - I felt like I might fall asleep if it wasn't for a long, cold downhill start which definitely woke me up a bit! The ride was actually quite fun, and the sun coming up around 7am gave us all a wee energy boost (much needed). We reached the transition in time to wade through some more mud to start the final kayak section from Ruakiwi to Raglan. This took approximately 1 1/2 hours and we all cruised into the boat ramp at 11am to our own relief and that of our support crew!
I then had the best-spent 20cent shower EVER in the local camping ground, before the prizegiving at Raglan Town Hall. Happy and proud to have completed yet another event full of fun and madness...I'll just have to start finding a new team back in Scotland now :)
The overview...
My third and final 24-hr adventure race in NZ…well, for this visit anyway :) I think it was the toughest mental challenge I have ever endured - beginning with a 2 ½ hr swim/crawl across Auckland Harbour (French Bay to Auckland Airport). In the middle of winter this isn’t a fun start at 7am, we were totally freezing. The rest of the race involved 3 kayak legs, 2 mountain-bike legs and a trek section with an optional caving trip. The scenery and variety of terrain during the race was superb - I would love to repeat it all at a slower pace in daylight if given the chance to come back again! Despite taking a total of just under 28 hours to complete the course (finishing in Raglan at 11am Sunday morning), we were actually third in our category. Very few teams completed the whole course, which isn't surprising considering the challenges set by the race organisers... Click below for the full story, and hopefully a few pics coming soon!!
posted by Mhairi
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