After illness, injury and low training miles the decision was made to drop down from the 80km event to the 50km event. What a good decision that was! It made for a relaxed and enjoyable day, with lots of time for photos, on a course that was made more fun by the presence of snow.
The plan for the Great Naseby Water Race this year was to do the 80km event again, only this time running and also starting early so that the option existed for changing up to the 100km if everything was going well.
In the month leading up to Naseby everything didn't go so well... a cold in the last week of July put paid to a 50km training run, dropping it to just
20km and a week of low mileage. Then Heather picked up an injury to her right quad, and I started to develop a range of niggles and problems with my quads. So the next planned long session and big week also faded. Any sensible person would have perhaps decided not to run at all, but we decided to drop down to the 50km and see what happened.
The day before the event we arrived in Naseby, having conducted something of a recce of the Otago Central Rail Trail along the way. The first order of business after unpacking the car was to
check out the course. It was early afternoon, the sun was out, the temperature was pleasantly warm, and there was a lot of snow on the ground.
Anticipating we'd be slow because of the injuries and lack of training we elected the early start. Up at 5am, showers, breakfast, get all geared up, and ready for the 6am start. I found the start of the first lap incredibly confusing and disorienting: not only was it in the dark, but where there was snow the day before there was now a wide clear path. It turned out that one of the Race Directors, Jamie Sinclair, had been out raking away the snow!
Emerging from the forest on to Translator Rd.
Photo: Matt Bixley
The clear path only lasted so long, and then we were on to some slippery stuff. Time to walk a bit to avoid unnecessary injury too early on. Across the little bridge, skirt the edge of the snow, and into the forest. Even the snow here was much reduced, and Jamie most certainly hadn't been clearing in here. Down on to Translator Rd to be greeted by Jamie, Matt Bixley, and Grant Guise who were effectively acting as impromptu race marshals to ensure we all went the right way. The snow on Translator Rd had also largely gone, so there must have been a lot of snow melt yesterday afternoon.
Photo: Heather Andrews
From here the road was "largely clear" until the 3km mark, just one patch of icy snow at perhaps 1.5km. At about 3km we turned up a road that had a serious covering of snow. The choice was a couple of inches of soft snow, or vehicle tracks that had turned icy. This was an uphill section anyway, and we had always intended to walked it due to our injuries.
Around to Coalpit Dam and the light was just beginning to show. Stopped to snap a quick photo of the trees silhouetted against the sky, then round to the half way aid station. The light was getting better by the minute and it was lights off as we made it up on to the Mt Ida Water Race.
Coalpit Dam in the early morning light
A really good fun section as the track dropped down a snowy bank off the water race and then slogged up a steep snow/mud climb the other side. On the first couple of laps this downhill has great fun, but later on turned slippery as the snow compacted down.
As the trail twisted along beside the water race it alternated between being clear and patches perhaps 50m-100m long of snow. We took it easy through these early on, but discovered later that with a short stride the soft sections of snow were ok for running.
Back around to the start/finish, lap 1 completed in a relaxed 1:26:38. Time to grab a bit of food, drop off head torches, and stop for a quick chat. Matt Bixley was pushing us back out on to our second lap, saying "bye, bye" until we left!
Laps 2 and 3 were very enjoyable, feeling fresh with a relaxed pace, and generally good ground conditions. The hill at 3km remained slippery, and we continued to walk that (as well as other hills). Early on the second lap the sun rose properly and we enjoyed the spectacular view of the snow clad Mt Ida range as the light changed. Lap 2 was our fastest at 1:21:41, and lap 3 was somewhat slower at 1:27:40.
Another slow transition at the end of Lap 2 as Heather chats with
Viv and Jamie, while Richard looks on and I take the photo.
At the end of Laps 2, 3, and 4 we stocked up on pizza and salted potatoes from the aid station, plus a couple of bite-sized
Heather Bars we had made on the Friday. A few painkillers were popped to deal with our injuries, and half-strength Horleys Replace proved an ideal drink.
Lap 4 we were starting to tire a bit and seemed to walk a lot more than on previous laps. We were still feeling good though and enjoying our time out on the course. This was our slowest lap at 1:31:12.
At the end of Lap 4 Heather changed her dress, we had some food and drink, and then walked off munching on a piece of pizza. The snow was well and truly melting by now, and in some places was becoming a muddy bog with the passage of many runners. The fun snow slope from the first few laps was now slippery and treacherous unless one was careful to use the soft snow at the far left. Viv caught us up and ran with us for a bit along here before continuing on. A few km from the finish we encountered Jamie hiding behind a twig (it was his camouflage), and he then ran and walked with us from there to the finish.
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