Molesworth

My first ultra-distance DNF
The Molesworth Run is 84.7km through Molesworth Station - New Zealand's largest high country cattle station - following the old stock route connecting Marlborough and North Canterbury. The trail is a gravel road, which just happens to be my favourite running surface. However, the route also climbs over two mountain passes - Ward Pass and Jack's Pass - so it is no doddle.

My training for this race included the 68km Marton-Wanganui Ultra 9 weeks before. Weekly mileage was never very high, as I wanted to ensure that I didn't overtrain and get an injury. I was not sure whether I was under-trained, overtrained (given some recent niggles), or just right. Time would tell...

The Start. From left to right: Ruth, Me, Maree Limpus,
John Thirkettle, Steve Folster.

The day started cool but sunny. The wind was a crisp southerly, which was primarily an annoyance because it would be a head wind. There were only four starters for the solo run: John Thirkettle, who had run all of the eight previous Molesworth Runs, winning all except one; Maree Limpus and Steve Folster, neither of whom had run an ultradistance race before; and me. The New Zealand 100km championships were being held on the same weekend and may have lured a couple of other starters away. One of the two-person relay teams also lined up at the start with us; the other two-person teams were starting with the four-person race an hour later. We were treated to the skirl of bagpipes from a lone piper atop a nearby hill, there were a few last words from the race director, and then we were off.

The first hill arrived about 800m from the start. John very quickly pulled away from the rest of us, starting to open up a lead that would grow ever larger. Everyone except me elected to run the hill, but I wasn't last to the top! For most of the first leg, I was running near Maree and Ruth (from the two-person team). They would pull ahead on the uphills, but I would catch them on the flats. The running on this stage was good: although the gravel road was a little rough in places it still provided a good surface for running; the sun was shining; the breeze was keeping us cool; and there were some amazing sights to keep the mind occupied. One memorable sight from the first 10km was a herd of horses that ran beside us, then crossed the road a few hundred metres ahead. Soon after the 8km mark was the first serious climb, which took us up to the top of Ward's Pass (1145m). My strategy was to conserve energy by walking all hills, but I managed to keep pace with Maree and Ruth who were both running.

View from Ward's Pass

Running with Maree along Isolated Flat

By the end of the first stage John had long disappeared from sight, Ruth was perhaps 400-500m ahead of me, Maree was a short distance behind, and Steve was perhaps 500m back. I stopped to walk as I ate the first of my freeze dried "classic beef curry" meals. In no time at all I had gone from 2^nd solo to last as both Maree and Steve passed me. I remained in that position for the next 15km, as we all seemed to be travelling at approximately the same speed.

Raining heavily, the road turning to mud.

At somewhere around 37km the race suddenly turned "interesting". I caught and passed Steve, and quickly opened up a large gap. Maree was within sight, and I knew I should be able to catch her. However, the weather was also starting to turn, and fairly soon there were some very large rain drops falling. This heralded the start of a dramatic change in the weather and a dramatic change in my race. A little before 40km I noticed that my left knee was starting to feel sore, but it didn't feel too serious. By 40km it was raining heavily, and I put on a woollen hat, polypro gloves, and a nylon running jacket. My knee rapidly worsened, to the point where I could no longer run downhill or on an uneven surface - a major problem on an uneven, hilly road! I limped in to the marathon point, which was also the end of leg 2.

At this point I changed into full thermals and my wet weather gear. Apparently the temperature had dropped to 5 degrees celsius, it was raining heavily throughout the next stage, and the wind was picking up. I also had my next meal of curry, and took a PowerBar with me as I started on leg 3. By the time I left I had used up 10 minutes, and I was now back in last place.

I still could not run on my knee so, apart from a couple of tests to see whether I could run, I walked all of leg 3. The "Tail-end Charlie" caught up with us about 12km from the end of the leg, and was none-to-impressed that I was intending on completing the leg. He tried several times to convince me to withdraw then and there. Obviously not an ultrarunner! It was so cold that about half way through the leg I put on an extra thermal top and changed my soaking wet polypro gloves for a dry pair. We eventually reached the Archeron accomodation house, then descended to the Clarence River bridge. The rain had eased by now, and a few snow flakes fell as I crossed the bridge. However, it was back to rain at the other side of the river.

Trudging up the hill in the rain after crossing the Clarence River bridge. There had been a few flakes of snow while crossing the bridge but now we were back to rain.

Even though I was only walking, I was now catching Steve. I had been catching glimpses of him for the past few km, and by the time that I crossed the Clarence River bridge he was perhaps 800m ahead. He was still running, but was down to a classic "ultra shuffle". It was still a couple of km to the end of leg 3, and it would be touch-and go as to whether I would make the cut-off. Along this stretch we encountered a group of horse riders, all kitted out in high country style.

Snowing heavily on the fourth stage.

The end of leg 3 finally arrived. I had made it just inside the 8 hour cut-off, with a time of 7:55. I still could not run, and my knee was feeling quite sore even walking downhill. It would take me at least 3 hours to finish, which would take me well outside the official time limit for the race. I decided to do the best thing for my knee and withdraw. Steve was only 500m ahead, but at least I should be able to be back running within a week or two. Unfortunately this meant that I missed the joys of running in the heavy snow that was the main feature of the final stage!

Results:

Name Leg 1 20km Leg 2 42km Leg 3 63.4km Finish 84.7km John Thirkettle 1:48:11 3:45:41 5:46:28 7:50:33 Maree Limpus 2:05:30 4:28:48 7:18:11 10:02:50 Steve Folster 2:06:00 4:42:24 7:51:47 withdrew 70km Andrew Shelley 2:05:10 4:47:01 7:54:59 withdrew 63.4km

Food:

Breakfast - About half of a "Backcountry Cuisine" freeze dried cooked breakfast, a cup of Coke, half a bottle of Lucozade.

During the race - 3 x cup of chicken soup (1/2 sachet each cup); 1 Powerbar; 2 x 1/2 serve of Backcountry Cuisine freeze dried classic beef curry, 1.5 litres Leppin Enduro.

Lessons:
Be prepared for anything and everything. Although I had a full set of thermals, I really could have done with waterproof gloves and waterproof overtrousers. I could have also done with either a physiotherapist or at least a manual with instructions on how to tape my knee!

The aftermath:
Legs were a bit stiff and sore the next day, but with the aide of a massage and an hour or so in the hot pools, they were well on the way to recovery on the second day. Because I had been pacing myself for 85km, withdrawing at 63km felt like nothing more than a long training run.


More photos are available on Flickr. For larger versions of each photo click on the photo to open the photo page, and then click the 'All Sizes' button.