Tuesday 26 August 2014

COROMANDEL CLASSIC

2014 marked the 15th year of the Coromandel Classic Multisport race; an event based on the beautiful Coromandel Peninsula that consistently attracts many great multisport and adventure athletes from around NZ. This year saw the addition of a duathlon event, which gave non-paddling athletes a chance to get involved, perfect for triathletes who enjoy a bit of the off-road racing!

My coach, Brendan, and I both entered the duathlon as individuals; an event which would see us cover 20km of mountain biking, 45km of trail running and 120km of road cycling, across two days.

The weekend began with race briefing and gear check on Friday night. From the get-go I could tell it was going to be one adventurous weekend! Race briefing involved endless instructions of where not-to-go to avoid getting lost for hours in the rugged Coromandel Ranges. It finished with a warning from the race co-ordinator to be careful on the run course, as he had previously broken his arm while running through and marking the track! He also threw in mention of the fact that they had designed the duathlon event to suit the distances of Ironman athletes, by adding in an extra out-and-back to Cooks Beach on day one. 
As someone who is yet to do their first half Ironman, this was a tad daunting!

Day One

Day One dawned as a beautiful (but crisp!) Coromandel morning. Race start was 7am, beginning with the 20km mountain bike leg up the Kauaeranga Valley. When the race began, both Brendan and I were towards the back of the field, which meant there was a bit of work to do, to find our way up to those of a similar pace! Brendan managed to somehow catch the front bunch, and I made my way up to the second bunch where I settled in for a steady ride up to the road end. Arriving at road end, my trusty support crew (Mum and Dad) helped me through transition and off I went on the 27km run up the rugged, yet stunning Pinnacles Track. If you are ever in the Coromandel Region with a few hours to spare, this is definitely worth a look!
 
 
The track is known to be very technical and steep, with over an hour of climbing to begin with. To prepare for this tough run, I had travelled down a few prior to the race to practise and become familiar with the course. However, I soon realised that the track I was running was certainly not the one I had practised on, woops! Not sure what track I ran Brendan, but it sure wasn’t that one!

After crawling, falling, climbing and cursing my way up to the summit, we started heading downhill – however this soon proved to be tougher than going up!
The slippery rocks and clay banks meant that falling over a number of times was inevitable, and I found myself sliding down some parts of the track on my bum. Unfortunately I found myself being overtaken by quite a few people on the downhill sections, and lost around 10-15 places overall. 
When I finally came to the final 9km of the run along gravel road I knew I had some making up to do, and took off furiously down the road. Thankfully, I was feeling pretty good at this stage of the run, and managed to overtake over 20 people to make up for my slow decent!
Reaching the end of the run was a relief, knowing that there was only one stage on Day One left to go – a 50km cycle. I was feeling OK heading out to Cooks beach, until I reached the turnaround point and realised that I had been riding with a slight tail wind, which was now going to be a head wind!
I slogged my way out of Cooks beach, and along the way couple of team cyclists flew past me (hey Matt B!), who all seemed to have much fresher and faster legs than I did. As much as I tried, I was unable to keep hold of anyone’s wheel for any decent amount of time!
Towards the end of the cycle leg, I approached the final big hurdle of day one; Pumpkin Hill. By this time, my legs were completely smashed! So it was straight into a granny gear for the slow and painful crawl up the dreaded hill. I reached the top after quite a few minutes of pain and decided I hated pumpkin even more now. Luckily, from here I was then able to enjoy a sweeping decent down into Tairua to complete my longest ever day of racing (and there was still day two to go!).

Day Two

Saturday night was a pretty sleepless one. I was on a total sugar and caffeine high from all the gels I had consumed during the day. However, it was back up again, nice and early, for round two!
Day two kicked off at 8.30am Sunday with a 40km road cycle from Tairua. It was nice being able to watch the multisport competitors take off in the kayaks at 8am before we started. We had a rolling start for the first cycle leg, so it was nice and controlled. I was just starting to enjoy myself hanging out in the main bunch when the speedsters of the group decided it was time to kick into action. With the pace picking up, the bunch soon split into two groups where I positioned myself near the front of the second group – not wanting to go out too hard on the first leg. The big hill 13km out of Tairua split our bunch up even more, and I managed to keep up with the front group after the hill, with four other guys. Working together, we had a pretty good, steady pace into Whangamata and T1.
The 18km run began with a long 5km along the road until we hit the Wentworth Valley track. I ran along the road with a guy who was doing the event in a team and we chatted every now and then which thankfully help passed the time on what was a pretty straight forward section. At the end of the gravel road we headed into single track. The track wound its way up through some amazing bush to the Wentworth falls; from here there is a long steady decent down to the Maratoto ford. The scenery up to the waterfall was amazing, which certainly helped to take my mind off my hurting legs. Hitting the downhill section, I once again struggled to keep to a good pace. Anyone who has done downhill running with sore and tired quads knows that it is not very comfortable, and you never really know if your legs are going to be able to catch you if you fall!

Feeling pretty wrecked and now covered in mud, I made it in to T2. Getting on my bike for the final time knowing that I only had 30km of flat road to go was a good feeling. The end was now in sight!

The final road ride was surprisingly enjoyable (thanks to a tail wind) and I managed to catch the guy in front of me. We rode the last part of the ride together into Thames, crossing the line together with a pat on the back.
As always Mum and Dad were there to greet me over the line and I was super happy to finish first individual female. The Coromandel Classic had lived up to all expectations; with great people, an awesome relaxed atmosphere, some ridiculously tough racing, and beautiful scenery. Oh and they even put on some spectacular weather for us!
Congrats to Brendan who took out the duathlon title overall, against some tough competition, despite dislocating his shoulder on the run on day one (?!). Also congrats to Matt B who totally smashed the bike sections in his two man team - I had no chance of holding your wheel as you flew past! And to Lysaght Consultants, who came in second in the four person team multisport event. 
Finally, thanks to Mum and Dad for being my support crew and supporters over the weekend.

For more info on the Coromandel Classic, check out www.coromandelclassic.co.nz/
Han.

Thursday 27 March 2014

THE DUAL

From the beauty of the alpine tussock and high country rivers of the Motatapu event in the south, to the stunning island sanctuaries of Motutapu and Rangitoto in the Hauraki Gulf. The last few weeks have certainly dished up some epic places to race!!

Last weekend it was the Partners Life ‘Dual’ Motutapu-Rangitoto Traverse. This event offers a number of walking, running, mountain biking, and triathlon events, along with the incredible and unique opportunity to explore the Motutapu and Rangitoto Islands. The event is now in it’s 6th year and this year raised around $30,000 for the Motutapu Restoration Trust; an organisation doing incredible things for the flora and fauna on the island. If that’s not a good reason to fork out an entry fee, I don’t know what is!

Around 2100 competitors and supporters made the journey over to the island this year; a potential logistical nightmare, that was handled with an incredible level of professionalism by the event organisers, all whilst respecting the history and fragility of the events incredible setting.

As for my day on the island, here’s how it went down:

4.30am wake up to get to the ferry before 6am! I sat on the deck of the ferry and watched the city lights drift away as we made our way over to the island.
As we walked from the ferry to the race area in Home Bay we began to see first light, it was going to be a beautiful day! Setting up transition as the sun began to rise was a great way to get excited and in the zone for the adventure ahead.

This was followed by getting a welcoming onto the Island by the local iwi and a race briefing, before testing the water.

Race started bang on 8am. Sneaking a spot up the front left before the gun went off was key ensuring I didn’t get caught up in too much of a brawl at the beginning of the swim. By the second lap of the 1km swim, the field had spread and I was able to get into a good rhythm.
As I exited the water and ran up the beach I looked at my watch, it just turned over 14mins - about the time I was aiming for, sweet.

Through T1 and on to the bike and we headed off up the gravel road. There were a couple of decent climbs on the bike, with rewarding views at the top. After reaching the furthest point on the course from the start, we made our way  back around the island along a pretty flat and fast track.
The last climb on the ride was on farmland and was pretty bumpy and tricky to ride over. Here I felt as though I was beginning to fade slightly and was over taken by two men who seemed to just glide past me over the rugged farmland!
Reaching the final decent I was pretty happy I had made it there without any falls and was beginning to feel pretty good about myself. Bad move! My arms were pretty tired from being jolted around so much, and I had to really concentrate to keep my hands from slipping of the grips. Unfortunately, with literally 20m of downhill left in the ride, I hit a large hole. Next thing I knew I was launching through the air, much like superman, over my handle bars. Luckily the fall didn’t hurt too much at the time, and after stretching out a bit of cramp, I was able to get back up and on my bike – feeling a little silly.
Into T2 and I had many cheers from the supporters. I could hear people saying “oh look, a girl! Go girl!” From this I figured there must not have been many girls go past before me (turns out there were none). The run was quite hilly and hot with the midmorning sun beaming down. Reaching the last aid station I stopped briefly to get a good drink and while doing so, the volunteers told me I was first girl to go through, awesome!
                         
I bounded off in excitement, with only around 2kms to go. Crossing the line first female overall was such a rewarding feeling. Totally stoked.
Thank you to all the event organisers and the enthusiastic volunteers! And special thanks to my Coach Brendon and all my training buddies at the club who continue to push and inspire me. What a cool sport this is!

For more information on the event, see www.thedual.co.nz


For more information on the incredible work of the Motutapu Restoration Trust, see www.motutapu.org.nz

Sunday 16 March 2014

XTERRA: MOTATAPU

Happy New Year – a bit late I know.
Even though the title of this blog specifically refers to 2013, it seems that life, and indeed racing, goes on in 2014! A year ago, the thought of racing in a World Championship seemed almost crazy; yet here we are, I’ve been over to Hawaii, and managed to survive my very first major event! 
And now I have well and truly got the bug, so it's time to look at qualifying all over again...
  
So my 2014 got off to a rather awesome start, in the picturesque setting of Lake Wanaka and the Motatapu valley.
The event referred to as ‘The Motatapu’ began back in 2005, offering a mountain bike or marathon option, and attracted 1,000 participants. Now, in 2014, it is actually now more of a festival of multisport, with five different events all held on the same day and involving 3,700 participants! Needless to say, I was signed up for the Xterra UDC Finance Triathlon; a 2km swim in Glendhu Bay, a 47km mountain bike through the Motatapu Valley, and a 15km run up and around the Miners Trail above Arrowtown. 
My southern excursion actually began on the Wednesday before the race, with Mum and I deciding to make a long weekend of it, and we flew down to meet my sister Jemma in Queenstown. After finally managing to squish all our gear into Jemma’s car (3+ overnight bags, 2 bikes, and a kayak), we slowly crawled up over the Crown Range to the outlet of Lake Wanaka where we were to be staying. Getting there early meant there was plenty of time for checking out the course and the many other beautiful spots around Wanaka and Arrowtown. It also meant we had a chance to catch up with Nick and Judy who had been so good to me whilst I was over in Hawaii. Nick cooked a delicious meal, and it was so good to catch up and get some handy local hints before the race. 
                    
So, race day; it was absolutely stunning weather! A nice leisurely 10.15am start meant the air was cool, but not cold; the sun was out; and the lake was glass!!
There was a nice relaxed atmosphere at race briefing, and on the start line at the Lake’s edge… perhaps a little too relaxed, because many of us didn’t hear the countdown, and I was still in the process of putting my goggles on when the gun went off! I definitely paid for this a little, getting kicked in the head a few times soon after the start. But I soon found somebody’s hip to stick on for a majority of the first lap; it meant I could relax a bit and ease into the race. No such luxury on the second lap however, and I started to cramp a little towards the end of the swim, and whilst heading up the chute to transition. My first transition was tidy, but a bit more speed would be helpful. Sarah Backler (a Pro competitor from Tauranga) was out of the water close behind me, and her quick transition, along with my niggly cramp, meant she was able to pull away from me soon after leaving the swim-bike transition.

 
I was soon hooking into my electrolyte-filled brew, and after around 20mins the cramp had gone and I was starting to settle in to a nice rhythm. The start of the bike section had a number of fairly shallow river crossings which we great fun as we could hit them at full pace. I’m not sure the runners appreciated getting splashed though…
Overall, the bike was pretty uneventful, no major climbs, and all on pretty well groomed 4WD tracks. But right towards the end we dropped down onto the Macetown track and encountered some fast descents and a number of bigger, deeper, river crossings. Fortunately for me, I had been up here with friends earlier in the week, so I had a good idea of what to expect. These crossings were still mostly rideable, although in typical Hannah fashion, I had to fall off on at least one – and of course it was one where there was a group of people watching! After a quick dip and a giggle, I was back up on the bike and got away without losing too much skin or time.

Arriving into T2, the signs were a little confusing and I managed to take a slight wrong turn – a mistake a few had made apparently. Thanks to Craig who pointed me in the right direction! Again, I didn’t lose a who lot of time here, just looked a little silly having to run my bike into transition as it seemed quicker than getting back on and riding the last little section after having to jump a ditch. After ditching my bike, and switching Camelbaks, I was off on the run.
We didn’t have too long to find our running legs before we hit the first hill; a seemingly never-ending hill! I was soon red-lining, although the legs didn’t feel like they were making much progress up the steep gravel track. We had about 45-50mins of pretty solid climbing until we reached the highest point of the race (phew!). The one aid station on the run was ideal! There were heaps of kind and enthusiastic volunteers that gave me not only a nice cold coke, but also a huge dosing of encouragement, explaining that I was 5th overall (and first non-pro). With my new-found motivation, I made my descent down the hill as fast as I could, with a few dodgy moments on the slippery grass! The views from the top were incredible, but it was hard to find time to look up without ending up going head over heels. The last part of the run was back on the same track we had followed for the bike section, which meant going back through the river crossings from earlier in the day. This was also good fun, and I found myself bounding through the water as hard as I could – probably looking like a bit of a goober, but I didn’t care!
Running into the finishing chute was a fantastic feeling. There was a huge amount of support at the event, and I felt pretty special getting so many cheers as I ran up to the finish. The event was the longest I have completed so far, so I was glad to make it home, still smiling, and in one piece. Position-wise, things stayed as they were at the top of the run course, and I came home as 1st Amateur Female, and 5th Overall behind 4 very talented girls in Nicky Samuels, Renata Butcher, Liz Orchard, and Sarah Backler. But perhaps most importantly, I had qualified for the World Champs in Hawaii all over again!
                         
Thank you to all the event organisers and volunteers; it is an incredibly well run event and is in probably one of the most beautiful locations in the world – aren’t we so lucky here in little old NZ?! Congratulations to Nicky and Braden on their wins and to Nick, Pete, Will, and the many others I have met through events who were also out there smashing it.
Thanks to my coach Brendon for all his help with training and the lead up to the race; to Massey University Sports academy; and to my awesome race support crew, family, and friends - Craig and Wanphen, Mum, and Jem – who did so much for me on race day and in the days leading up to the race.
Bring on The DUAL.