TrailRunMag 13

VOL3. ED13 // WINTER 2014 // AU/NZ/ASIA

LARAPINTA - JOURNEY OF LIGHT & LANDSCAPE // MIND GAMES TRICKS OF THE TRAIL // WILD ENDURANCE // ULTRA SCHOOL - TNF100 // HOT SEAT - RACE DIRECTORS LET LOOSE // LEGENDS OF THE TRAIL SALLY LAW & LANCE HUNNIFORD // TRAIL GUIDES // GEAR // TRAIL PORN //

RORY BOSIO

Latitude: NORTH 45° 48' 55.01" Longitude: WEST 6° 51' 58.62" Elevation: 5124 ft / 1562 m Photo: TIM KEMPLE

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DETAILS

VOLUME 3, EDITION 13, WINTER 2014

Foundation supporters (the

Yay-sayers)

Running Wild nz www.runningwildnz.com Salomon au www.salomon.com/au Wild Plans www.wildplans.com Brooks / Texas Peak www.brooksrunning.com.

The North Face Australia www.thenorthface.com.au La Sportiva / Expedition Equipment www.mountainrunning.com.au

Editorial Australia Editor: Chris Ord Associate Editor: Tegyn Angel New Zealand Editor: Vicki Woolley Asia Contributor: Rachel Jacqueline Minimalist/Barefoot Editor: Garry Dagg Design Jordan Cole Craft-Store.net Contributing Writers Dan Slater, Mick Bettanin, Matt Judd, Simon Madden, Rachel Jacqueline, Shane Hutton

cover photo

Visit us online

The Blue Mountains single track bring a smile to the face of trail runner Bec Wilcock, from Sydney, NSW. Photo: Lyndon Marceau Photography / www.marceauphotography.com

www.trailrunmag.com www.facebook.com/trailrunmag www.twitter.com/trailrunmag

THIS PAGE: TRM’s Tegyn Angel, runs the Larapinta Trail, NT, Australia.

Photo: Chris Ord

Senior photographer Lyndon Marceau www.marceauphotography.com Photography Eduardo Hernandez, Ariel Traipe, Anna Warr Photography, Wild Endurance, Simon Madden, Jim Smart / massivesynamix.com.au, Mal Law, Allan Ure / photos4sale, Graeme Murray, Aurora Photos / www.auroraimages. com.au, Matt Judd / www.juddadventures. com.au, Tegyn Angel Trail Run is published quarterly Winter / Spring / Summer / Autumn Editorial & Advertising Trail Run Magazine 10 Evans Street, Anglesea, Vic 3230 Email: chris@trailrunmag.com Telephone +61 (0) 430376621 Founders Chris Ord + Stuart Gibson + Mal Law + Peter & Heidi Hibberd

Disclaimer

Trail running and other activities described in this magazine can carry significant risk of injury or death. Especially if you are unfit. Undertake any trail running or other outdoors activity only with proper instruction, supervision, equipment and training. The publisher and its servants and agents have taken all reasonable care to ensure the accuracy of the information contained in this publication and the expertise of its writers. Any reader attempting any of the activities described in this publication does so at their own risk. Neither the publisher nor any of its servants or agents will be held liable for any loss or injury or damage resulting from any attempt to perform any of the activities described in this publication, nor be responsible for any person/s becoming lost when following any of the guides or maps contained herewith. All descriptive and visual directions are a general guide only and not to be used as a sole source of information for navigation. Happy trails.

Publisher Adventure Types 10 Evans Street Anglesea, Victoria, Australia 3230

ADVENTURE IN ANY DIRECTION BROOKSRUNNINGAU

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BROOKSRUNNING.COM.AU

CONTENTS 8

VOLUME 3, EDITION 13, WINTER 2014

122

REGULARS

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BUILT BY ATHLETES

8.Editors Columns: 8. Australia - Chris Ord 10. New Zealand - Vicki Woolley 12. Australia - Tegyn Angel

S-LAB OUTFIT

TRAIL GUIDES

22

122.

Karawatha Forest, Queensland

INTERVIEWS

124. Goldie Bush, Nth Island, NZ

36.

126. Hunua Ranges, Nth Island, NZ

128. Currawong Falls, Aireys Inlet, Victoria

TRAIL MIX 22.

Never too late

Lance Hunniford

74.

Legend behind the legend Sally Law

42

Event Preview

Patagonia, Chile

22.

Event Preview Naseby, NZ

24.

Event Preview

Sanctuary, Nelson NZ

26.

Event Preview

28.

Event Preview

King of the Mountain, Pomona, Queensland Surf Coast Century, Anglesea, Victoria

108.

Trail Porn

So dirty, it’ll blow your mind

REVIEWS

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14.

FEATURES

Now’s a good time to buy…

30. Mind

all the good gear

98.

42. Larapinta a journey through ancient landscapes 58. Wild Endurance from trail zero to hero

Shoe reviews

A Kiger, a Peregrine, some Inov8tion, a little soft XTacy and some Ultra Trail goodness

94.

Games the trail plays tricks

66.

From the Directors’ Chair Race Directors give their side of the story

86.

Nutrition

Tailwind

6

Ultra school The North Face 100 on six weeks training

DESIGNED FOR FREEDOM KILIAN JORNET

EDSWORD

AUSTRALIA // CHRIS ORD

PHOTOGRAPHY: Simon Madden

Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day You fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town Waiting for someone or something to show you the way - Time, Pink Floyd I look at my daughters, four and six. I watch them dart around the garden. Doing everything at once and nothing at all. And I yearn so badly to be a child in that moving but endless moment again.

That moment is one where time exists as a broken metronome. Tick. And the tock takes hours to show up, despite it only taking a second.

As an observer – a supposedly ‘grown-up’ parent – my kids’ two hours running around barefoot, climbing the apple tree, laughing, bickering, sulking, crying, laughing, takes but seconds. I look down to my computer screen.

I look up two seconds later and they have had five lifetimes of adventure (I can see it in their smiles and the grass stains on their knees). Yet I have only half written these first paragraphs.

The universe, apparently, is expanding at an accelerated rate and so to my life is accelerating; time is speeding up, robbing me of my life, stealing my children’s childhood, running me out of time faster than I could ever have imagined back when I was up that backyard tree plucking at the juicy apples of my own ‘when I grow up’ dreams.

Life. Slow. Down. … … … Please.

Tired of lying in the sunshine Staying home to watch the rain And you are young and life is long And there is time to kill today And then one day you find Ten years have got behind you No one told you when to run You missed the starting gun

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No one told me when to run. I missed the start, absolutely. But when I did start to run, properly run, I tried to (and still try to) do it like I was a child. Like I wasn’t late to the party. Like life had only just begun.

Like my kids. But you can’t outrun time.

Nevertheless, I try. I run more. And in the moment it works. When I am not running, I am going faster. Everything swirls around me – life, family, work, friends, events, words, jobs, happenings, dishes, renovations, crises, dinner, stop, stop, stop. Give me a moment.

And I run. Into the trees. And my watch, thank Christ, doesn’t work. And so I am timeless. I’m running but I am going slower than I have for decades. Maybe I haven’t gone this slow since I was darting around the backyard as a child. And so I run further into the trees, away from time.

There remains sixty seconds in a minute and sixty minutes in an hour. But that doesn’t mean time hasn’t sped up.

For thousands of years, the Schumann Resonance or pulse of the Earth has been 7.83 cycles per second. Since 1980 this resonance has reportedly risen to over 12 cycles per second. Even if you don’t subscribe to the theory, look at it the perceptive way: what you can fit into 60 minutes (or sixty seconds) today, took much longer yesteryear. Communicate to your friend in England? Three months back then. Today, a millisecond. Travel from Melbourne to Sydney? Months once upon a time. Today, you can get there in a few hours by plane.

And what you are expected to achieve in any one time span today is much, much more than ever before. Just ask your boss.

Effectively, time has sped up because we squeeze more action (if not result) into each tick of the clock. More, more, rush, rush, squash it in. It is no wonder our perception is one of accelerated – or looking at it another way, lost – time. And the feeling that we have no time for anything. Especially the important things.

Perhaps, then, it is a good thing, that I am not a runner who tries to go fast. In fact, running for me is all about slowing down.

And you run, and you run to catch up with the sun, but it’s sinking Racing around to come up behind you again The sun is the same in a relative way, but you’re older Shorter of breath and one day closer to death Every year is getting shorter Technology, the pace of connected life, the number of emails, the rate of my Facebook updates, the sheer number of things I am now plugged into…everything is being crushed under the weight of having access to the entire world and its vast store of information. I can talk to anyone on the planet, yet I don’t think anyone is listening, really. Everyone, including me, is just talking.

Louder, quicker, more. I eye off the trees.

They look quiet. There’s no-one there. Not even time Herself.

Home, home again I like to be here when I can When I come home cold and tired It’s good to warm my bones beside the fire Far away across the field The tolling of the iron bell Calls the faithful to their knees To hear the softly spoken magic spells - Time, Pink Floyd

Never seem to find the time Plans that either come to nought Or half a page of scribbled lines Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way The time is gone The song is over Thought I’d something more to say

Your rushed editor, Chris Ord chris@trailrunmag.com

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NEW ZEALAND // VICKI WOOLLEY

Lost Towns...

Boasting its own mountain bike park and sublime walking tracks, Karamea welcomed the news that the nearby Heaphy Track was to be permanently opened to mountain bikers over the winter: surely the people would come?

Yet with enormous frustration, Paul stands on the road outside Rongo Backpackers and watches carload after carload zoom through to Westport to make connections home.

“They don’t even stop for coffee or gas”,

We love dramatic landscapes, rugged ridgelines and lush forests. So why do we NOT love the very weather that shapes our adventures?

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Yet the thousands of hours we spend hungrily devouring trail, feeding mind, body and soul, don’t cost us a cent! We’re often oblivious to any volunteer man-hours that have gone into community fundraising, trail creation, education and maintenance.

It’s not that we are a stingy lot - my peers chastise DoC for not introducing some kind of fee structure for day-trippers who don’t contribute by way of hut fees.

Paul helps me understand there are other ways to ‘pay’ for our experience and support local communities.

“Stay a night if you can,” he encourages.

“But if you can’t do that, how about a meal at the local cafe? Even a coffee or pie for the trip home, or maybe throw $20 petrol in your car...” he tails off.

Paul says sadly. He hopes the opening of Old Ghost Road trail through to Westport might encourage visitors to spend time in the area. By linking the Heaphy Track and OGR, it will then be possible to bike, tramp or run from Nelson to Westport: perfectly positioned between the two, Karamea is ideally located for a stopover. The locals are quietly supportive of Paul, but cautious in their optimism: they have had their hopes up before.

Paul’s passion got me thinking about the plight of ‘lost towns’. A friend and I went to the movies, recently. We each had a beer and popcorn, total cost $55.60. The movie was 130mins, so that viewing experience cost me 21c per minute. A trip with my kids to the local climbing wall worked out at 30c per minute, and a game of golf averages 43c (so I am told).

Shut up and run!

AND WHILE I’M ON A ROLL... TRAIL RUNNERS ARE NOT GENERALLY A WHINGING LOT, BUT...

After a volatile year on the off-road event circuit, I’m sure I’m not the only one who is getting a bit tired of the ‘whining’ about event costs, course changes, cut-offs and – as always – compulsory gear. I’ve even heard Race Directors copping flak for circumstances beyond their control, like weather! In the spirit of open communication, we decided to give the RDs a chance to have their own rant

PART 2

IN A TINY TOWN AT THE END OF A REMOTE NO-EXIT ROAD LIVES A QUIETLY PASSIONATE MAN. COSSETED IN THE COASTAL COMMUNITY OF KARAMEA, PAUL MURRAY’S ‘LIVING IN PEACE’ PROJECT FEATURES GLOBAL INITIATIVES IN SUSTAINABILITY AND TRAVEL.

PART 1

EDSWORD

And sometimes the change forces me to go exploring and find a new favourite or two!

But the thing that gets my back up more than any other is the weather whinges. We love wild places. We love dramatic landscapes, rugged ridgelines and lush forests. So why do we NOT love the very weather that shapes our adventures? It’s cold, windy and rainy. So buy a jacket... then SHUT UP AND RUN!

in this edition. Read the story further in, you may just be surprised!

One whinge I have been guilty of myself is track closure or rehabilitation – especially when it’s a favourite track. Yet I’m learning that this can actually give rise to a whole bunch of opportunities. Sometimes I’m educated about environmental factors or at-risk species I was unaware of. Sometimes rehabilitation means I can look around more, and discover a whole new beauty in terrain run before – or a previously strengthbuilding run becomes a delightful speed run.

Your put up or shut up editor, Vicki Woolley, NZ

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EDSWORD

AUSTRALIA // TEGYN ANGEL

WOMEN’S BUSINESS

HUMAN BEINGS ARE INCREDIBLY PERCEPTIVE. WE’RE BLESSED WITH HIGHLY DEVELOPED SENSES: EYES, NOSES, EARS, A COMPLEX NERVOUS SYSTEM MAKING US SENSITIVE TO TASTE AND TOUCH. SURE, COMPARED TO THE EYESIGHT OF AN OWL, A SHARK’S ABILITY TO SENSE BLOOD IN WATER OR THE EARS OF A DOG, YOU COULD SAY WE’RE RUNNING BLIND. BUT AS PART OF A NETWORK, ALL HARD-WIRED TO OUR MAGNIFICENTLY POWERFUL BRAIN, WE MAKE UP FOR OUR SENSORY DEFICIENCIES WITH A SYSTEM THAT’S FAR GREATER THAN THE SUM OF ITS PARTS. “A jack-of-all-trades, master of none,” as the saying goes, often ignores the next line “is oft times better than a master of one”.

Repeated sensory input, parsed through a brain predisposed to the formation of habits, allows us to automate tasks. Learning to drive a car or ride a bicycle are the classic examples. When we start out, they overwhelm us. There’s so much going on, so many stimuli, that we don’t know what to focus on and so we’re unable to focus on anything or we fixate on the irrelevant.

Technical trail running fits in here too. Pay attention to a skilled runner bombing a section of difficult, downhill single-track and you’ll see a dance of highly focused, restrictive attention and subconscious automation. They’ll be aware of the way light hits a certain surface and instinctively react to what that means for grip and traction. They’ll notice the water ditch or slippery, fallen log a few steps ahead and will adjust their stride to ensure they approach it with tension in their legs and ready to jump.

For that instant they probably won’t notice the

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birds have gone quiet, the wind has died down or that scavenging hikers have picked a stretch of trail clean of deadwood.

It’s in our nature; we’re more likely to notice something that shouldn’t be there and is, than something that isn’t there and should be.

Whenever I leave the house I do a quick check of the kitchen bench for my keys, wallet, phone. If I’ve put it down in an unusual, out-of-sight place there’s a fair chance it’ll be forgotten. Out of sight, out of mind. In education we call a similar phenomenon “unconscious incompetence”.

That is, we don’t know what we don’t know.

While I’ve drawn a casual connection between the two, the point I’m trying to get at is this: if we don’t know something’s wrong, missing or broken, we’re unlikely to do anything about it until we clue on.

For the greater part of our recorded history women and men have played unequal roles in sport and society. There’s no question Western Society (at least) has travelled a good way down the road toward equal gender rights and opportunity. But we’re not there yet. Women are still under-represented in sport, often underappreciated in the rest of society and fear prevents a great number of female trail runners from going out after dark.

But what of the larger trail and ultrarunning world? Races in the trail and ultra world are often dominated by men, at least in terms of numbers if not results. There is a problem here we’re failing to notice? Perhaps there is, perhaps there isn’t.

If “yes”, am I blinkered because I’m a guy?

Maybe, maybe not. I’m fortunate to have fallen in love with a female trail runner and so I’ve been given an opportunity to see things from a different perspective. It’s difficult to take in the majesty of a mountain when you’re standing on

the summit but step into the fields and behold!

Gear manufacturers are starting to recognise that men and women are shaped differently; that a pack designed for a man won’t necessarily fit a woman just because you make it smaller. Trail shoe companies understand that a woman’s feet are shaped differently to a man’s. Unfortunately at TRM we are a small number of people producing most of the content and we often struggle to find femalespecific gear, never mind female testers with enough time and technical insight to pen reviews. We’ve noticed and we’re taking steps to find a balance.

Chris doesn’t know it yet (not that I really plan on giving him a choice) but I’ve made it a priority as Associate Editor to push the female side of things whenever I’m able. That’s not to say I’ll crack the shits if less than 50% of our material is about women or we have an issue with more male contributors than female. I’m not a form-before-function kind of guy and this is not a condescending, nepotistic plucking of the heartstrings designed to endear us to our fans for the sake of ratings. There are no ratings and we do this because we want to; because it drives us.

This is an attempt to better represent the demographic of our reader base. Without you all – men and women alike – we’d just be a few odd bods that share a habit of spending more time writing about, than actually doing, the thing we love, trailrunning. It’s you that gives us a purpose, your time and attention that justify our efforts and a common love of trail running (not politics) that makes us a community.

Yours in equality on the trail, Tegyn Angel, Associate Editor

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NOW’S A GOOD TIME TO BUY Reviewer: Chris Ord

Reviewer: Chris Ord

IO Merino wear VITALS

$99.50

Contact Altitude Lightweight

$94.50

Signature Whitewater Pullover

$89.50

Park City Vest www.iomerino.com

do the keep warm/keep cool job when wet, so no matter), and they can be more delicate and degrade more easily than polypro.

But the upsides out weigh the down, especially as they are so much more fashionable in the pub. Bonus. On test here was a threesome ensemble of a lightweight long sleeve , topped by a ‘Whitewater’ pullover hoodie and a vest on top. All three at once would only ever be needed at first dawn on a super icy morning. You’ll get hot even then. I have to say that the vest in general is an under-rated garment for Down Under conditions. Even if just a tee and the

IT’S ABOUT TIME that Australian trailites (at least) started riding off the back of Aussie merino sheeps’ back, rather than those of New Zealand (with apologies and no offences to Kiwi readers – but we have been buying up your merino for years already!). And so it’s hallelujah for this ensemble (especially coming into winter).

We all know the upside to merino – no smell, wearable and workable in both cold and warmer weather, and natural fabrics that just feel damn comfy. There are downsides to merino no matter the brand: they take ages to dry once wet (but they still

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vest – it keeps the core warm, but means you never really overheat. The Whitewater, with a more porous knit than the other two, was perfect as a layer to allow wicking, as much as merino can allow.

Each top could be worn solo or mixed and matched for conditions – whatever the weather.

The fit is tapered and comfortable, the styling, well, styling. Great gear and the fact that IO Merino is a crew out of Adelaide trying to do the right thing in terms of sourcing and quality construction (they only use the best MicroMerino wool) - is a bonus.

Osprey Rev 12 pack WHEN YOU’VE BEEN RUNNING in the vest style hydro packs, it’s mentally challenging to consider going back to regular pack-style hydration systems. But with a four-day haul through the wild ranges of Victoria’s Alpine National Park sparking a need to carry more water than usual (no creeks up on ridgelines) and plenty of safety gear, I needed a solution on my back that had plenty of capacity, but was still comfortable over the long haul.

Enter the Osprey Rev 12. While not that well known as a brand in trail running (although very well regarded in trekking), Osprey has with this range leaped ahead of others in many aspects of function.

The smarts start with intelligent bladder design and fit. Built in baffles significantly reduce barreling and sloshing. An internal rigid collar holds the bladder in place. The hose disconnects halfway, meaning no fiddly feeding of it in and out of the shoulder harness when refilling - just un-clip and your bladder pulls out easily unencumbered.

And the large opening for the separate bladder compartment means while everyone else is struggling to slide their bladder in place, this one just eases in, no sweat, even with a bulging pack.

The mouthpiece with right angled ‘on’ and watertight ‘off’ positions was dependable and comfortable to use, while the magnetic holder made running while reattaching easy: for the first time I could do two things at once!

Although this isn’t the largest in the

VITALS

$149.95 RRP AU www.ospreypacks.com

series, the 12 is huge, the main cargo compartment having a gaping large zip opening making everything easy to get at.

Pocket choice is many and varied: a high shoulder perfect for emergency first aid kit; a drop down DigiFlip media pocket for your phone, food pockets, a zip-out-stretch water bottle pocket (that hold the bottle firm), a main central compartment, side stretch pockets, zip hip pockets, plus there’s a bungee strap on back for external stowing.

Three line, rip-stop nylon makes the Rev Series tough although the one (and only) downfall of this pack is that the hip pockets feature more fragile mesh – which rips

easily if you happen to get caught on a stick (which happened to me).

The fastening system worked a treat, remained steadfast and was comfortable, while the waist belt and back padding wicked well. While I used a 12, the Rev Series consists of five different sized packs, from a lumbar style sling bag, through to a 24L pack, meaning there’s a model for the go fast short run, through to fastpacking foray.

And if the 12 is anything to go by, they are some of the comfiest and most practical on the market.

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NOW’S A GOOD TIME TO BUY VITALS

Reviewer: Shane Hutton

Reviewer: Tegyn Angel

$339.95 www.mont.com.au www.bogong.com.au/ mont-moondance-1-tent.html

Mont Moondance 1 SO YOU’RE about to run 670km across a state knowing you’re on remote, inaccessible trails for days on end, and all you have to get through is what’s on your back. Where to rest your head at night? South-west Tassie…brrrrr… under a tree isn’t going to cut it. Well hello Moondancer…

Weighing in at1.6kg, here’s a single person 3 season tent well-suited to Australian conditions. I reckon I saw all three of them on the Tassie Traverse (www.theultralife.com.au) and the tent performed admirably.

It takes around 5-6 min to put it up, thankfully after hard 9+hr days of running.

Fully sewn in base and seam sealed, this sucker

is not leaking. The floor is rated to 10,000mm PU coated rip stop nylon. It is so simple to put up it even has colour-coded poles: just match them up. There is ample room inside to sit up while preparing sleeping gear or eating food and a convenient zip in the top of the base allows you to get to a small flap that holds the fly open allowing condensation to escape although…on the warmer nights, even with the flap open, I still got horribly sweat-wet. This is not fun when packing the tent up knowing you will have to get it out later.

The vestibule is not huge: probably the only down side to this tent for hikers with big packs at least. For runners with shoes and a hydro pack

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there is enough room (although I stored mine inside the tent, keeping hungry animals at bay).

Tassie Tigers are hungry beasts you know…

I used the tent in pretty windy situations and it was nice and warm inside and didn`t flap around.

One of my favourite features is the bag it comes in. It`s not a token bag that once you take it out for the first time, that`s it your never getting it back in. It has plenty of space and a strap that you can pull tight to compress everything once it`s in. A cracker multiday tent for those who have to carry all on their missions.

‘Cause everyone runs across states, right?

Salomon Sky Tee THE SKY TEE is a techy bit of kit: reflective panels, flat-lock or welded seams and strategically placed, sci-fi panels of three different fabrics. Conceived to fit under a running pack or vest, the sell is that the technology and clever design justify the hefty $89.95 asking price. While there is a low cut collar and ¼ length zip, most of the climate control comes from the fabric selection, all designed to minimise chafe, and maximise breathability.

Along the chest and lower back there is a high-thread count, silken fabric that hugs the skin and reduces friction. This feels great and dries fairly quickly, though if you’re sweating a lot no fabric will actually get to that “dry” stage. Within these larger panels are areas of “burn out” mesh, essentially the same fabric that has been pressed with lots of small holes for increased airflow. These breathe well and are positioned in areas that don’t tend to see the straps of a pack but which are prone to sweat build up; like the centre of the chest and lower back. The arms, shoulders, upper back and under arm sections are made of “3D” fabric, woven in such away that a diamond-relief texture is created. The idea here is to give a degree of padding while, again, maximising the airflow under pack straps and running vests.

The fitted tailoring looks good and doesn’t bunch up, performing well under a formfitting pack. While this works very well under a Salomon pack, I’ve not had a chance to test it under any other brand ack. I found my nipples got a bit raw under such a tight shirt, though (ahem) it has been pretty cold. The Sky Tee would be a good choice on its own for warmer climate, longer runs where you’ve got a hefty pack to carry, or as a base layer under a jacket or thermal layer.

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VITALS

$89.95 RRP AU www.salomon.com/au

NOW’S A GOOD TIME TO BUY Reviewer: Vicki Woolley

VITALS Skort $74.95 US Tech shirt $49.95 US www.inknburn.com/

CONQUER NEW TERRITORY

Ink’n’Burn Tee and Skort weather. I looked cool... but soon felt a little too cool: despite being sold as a ‘tech T’, the shirt fabric is just poly mesh at the end of the day, with no thermal or UV protection properties.

The women’s cut is also fairly uninspiring... but one hopes the observer is dazzled by the aesthetics which... ermmm... ‘rock’.

The denim-look running skort got our vote (and many, many other random male votes). A polyester/spandex blend, the outer is excellent quality, light and easy to wear, and has two front pockets. The undershorts (hotpants?) fabric is a little heavy but the

REMEMBER the Lydiard days when de rigueur running attire was white shorts pulled up high and tucked into a white singlet, and long white socks?

Well, this is the future... celebrate your inner bad boy/girl with some wicked gear from US firm Ink’n’Burn. An eclectic mix of Goth, tattoo, surfie and tree-hugger, you are sure to find your style in their unique collection of running clothing.

I practiced my sneer in the mirror, then donned Ink’n’Burns ‘Run or Die’ t-shirt and denim skort to hit Rotorua trails in gnarly

stitching is good; there is a moisture-control gusset that is comfortable and hygienic, and the bright orange/yellow/red patterning means you look stylish even if you face plant with your butt in the air (as I did, on the first wear)! The undershorts settle quickly and don’t ride up: the waistband is deep and firm, and for those with awesome abs, can be rolled down to provide a colour contrast.

Our verdict? Buy. But save for (mild weather) fun events or running ‘dates’: these garments seek attention. This is running with attitude.

Ultra Ultra Aspire Aspire Alpha Alpha FINALLY – someone has come up with the near-perfect marathon off-road race vest: the UltrAspire Alpha. Light (210g), breathable, and nestling into the small of your back, you will forget you are even wearing this little beauty.

The Alpha is all about easy access. The main storage area is in the rear pocket which scoops around to each side, allowing you to access contents without removing the pack. I love the magnetic closures which mean no crampinducing contortions trying to fasten closures.

Provided there are no extensive compulsory gear requirements, the Alpha has ample storage for a midcourse event with two small stretch panels at the side, two large mesh front pockets

VITALS $149 NZD

(that can hold bottles or food), and an external shock cord for a jacket. The shoulder straps are adorned with an Electrolyte pocket on the right, and a small zippered ‘key’ mesh pocket on the left - a great concept, though sweat-crusting can cause the zip to seize over time.

The pack comes with a 2L reservoir, which is easiest to fill when removed from the pack.

While getting it out and back in can be a bit fussy at aid stations, I don’t think anyone has yet come up with the perfect reservoir solution.

With perfectly balanced weight distribution, this packs selling point is definitely its lightness and ease of wear. www.barefootinc.co.nz/

SUUNTO AMBIT2 R

THE GPS FOR RUNNERS The fresh Suunto Ambit2 R White comes with a fit designed for women. Heart rate and running features with Suunto Apps make it easy to keep track of your performance. Full route navigation allows you to discover new trails with confidence! www.suunto.com

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EVENT PREVIEW IMAGE: Eduardo Hernandez, Ariel Traipe

CHILE RUN

Torres del Paine, Chile

C

ONTEMPLATING A MARATHON? NY? Paris? London? Bah – if I’m gonna run a marathon, take me to the ends of the (beautiful) earth.

And while you’re at it, add 20 kays (it’s a long way to travel, may as well get your money’s worth).

While the 3rd Patagonian International Marathon happening in Chilean Patagonia in September isn’t technically on trail, it does use the wholly unpaved roads of Torres del Paine National Park, a designated World Biosphere Reserve since 1978. Featuring race distances from ultramarathon (63km), marathon (42km), half marathon (21km) and 10km, all within view of snow-capped mountains, glacier-fed lakes and the unique wildlife that the region has to offer.

The event has an eco-heart with an aim to draw attention to conservation as well as the promotion of sustainable development. Each race entry includes a tree donation to Corre y Reforesta, a campaign that aims to

rebuild the National Park after a fire that destroyed almost one fourth of its native forest three years ago. Last year the event attracted 657 runners from Africa, Australia, Europe, North and South America. This year it is bound to get bigger, plus there are whispers of a bigger ultra being added to the menu in 2015…on trail no less.

EVENT Patagonian International Marathon 10km, 21km, 42km, 63km

DATE 27 September 2014 WHERE Torres del Paine, Chile, South America

WWW.PATAGONIAN INTERNATIONALMARATHON.COM

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EVENT PREVIEW IMAGE: Jim Smart / massivedynamix.com.au

KING OF THE MOUNTAIN

Pomona, Queensland Season 5 will consist of eight races, five of which will be the ‘Short Course Mountain Series’, with distances ranging from 12 – 21km. Each mountain series course is unique in its own right with a choice of the full distance or a shorter course option for those who may not want to run the full distance. The remaining three events will be the ‘Long Course Series’ comprising of the Glenbrook Marathon (with both 25km & 34km options), Australia Day Knapsack Lap Race and our hugely popular Mt Solitary Ultra.

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ne of the toughest and perhaps quickest mountain climb challenges in Australia, the Wimmers King of the Mountain Festival takes place in Pomona, in the beautiful Noosa Hinterland.

The impressive backdrop to the town, and the runners’ feature target, is 439m Mount Cooroora, an ancient volcanic plug with rocky outcrops, covered in part by dense trees. There is a well-worn track up to the top which forms the route for the annual Bendigo Bank International Mountain Challenge, the premier run event of the Festival.

It only covers a distance of 4.2 km but packs a decent punch (to the legs). After starting gently from the town centre it then takes on a gruelling, steep climb, the route up the mountain gradually becoming little more than a goat track and almost vertical in parts. In some places the track is only wide enough for one or two runners making passing another competitor risky and precarious.

Remarkably there have been few casualties over the years.

The return down the mountain requires strength, agility, a good sense of balance, and undoubtedly an immunity to fear. The race record is an incredible 22 minutes and 43 seconds held by Neil Labinsky from nearby Nambour.

EVENT Wimmers King of the Mountain Festival DATE 27 July 2014 WHERE Pomona, Queensland KINGOFTHEMOUNTAIN.COM.AU/

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Are you excited? We are, to reward our members for supporting us for the past 4 seasons; we will open up all our races on the 1st July 2014 and allow a whole month of member only entries. We have also reduced member pricing per race: • For our ‘Short Course Mountain Series’ an additional discount of $5 per race - bringing the entry price down to $25 for an online race entry!

• For our ‘Long Course Series’ an additional discount of $10 per race – bringing the member online race entry price $20 lower than the corresponding non-member entry price.

Membership will also open 1st July, for renewing members it will stay at $40 to renew and for new members the initial membership will cost $60 in the first year (and includes a RW t/shirt or singlet) and $40 in subsequent years. For those of you who are not currently season 4 members, all you have to do is join up to receive these discounted race prices and early access to race entries. Please note we have NPWS limits on race entries, so get in early if you want a spot!

We look forward to welcoming back current members, new trail runners and meeting you at our upcoming events!

EVENT PREVIEW IMAGES: courtesy Nelson Events

THE SANCTUARY RUN T

HIS ONE’S GOT IT ALL: History, Mystery and Scenery. Imagine a place where native plants and animals thrive without threat from introduced pests, alive with birdsong, where rare species such as kiwi, tuatara and kakapo roam freely.

That’s the Mystery as you tread a circuit inside The Brook Waimarama (Clear Waters) Sanctuary close to Nelson’s CBD. But before that, there’s the History and the Scenery.

The day begins as you head up Nelson’s 1862 ‘rail trail’ which began as New Zealand’s first railway, albeit horse drawn, transporting the chromite and copper spoils from the Dun Mountain Mineral Belt before closing in 1866 due to unfavourable returns. Will it be more favourable for you?

Those in the Short course (approx 14kms total) then head into the

Sanctuary at 4 Corners for their breathtaking circuit. Long course (approx 25kms total) trail runners ascend Fringed Hill (793m) pausing occasionally to view the panoramic picture postcard of Nelson City and Tasman Bay way below. From there it’s along Black Diamond Ridge followed by a quick descent down the old railway bench (cutting) which is pretty much still intact although no remains of sleepers or rails remain. At Four corners it’s into the Sanctuary to chase those in front.

DISTANCE 14km/21km WHEN 23 August, 2014 WHERE Brook Waimarama Sanctuary, Nelson, South Island, NZ

WWW.NELSONEVENTS.CO.NZ/ CONTENT/SANCTUARY-RUN

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Nelson, Sth Island, NZ

EVENT PREVIEW IMAGE: courtesy Great Naseby Water Race

GREAT NASEBY Naseby, STH Island, NEW ZEALAND

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s the off-road ultra marathon bug bites deep, runners are peering into our country’s nooks and crannies to find events that are a little different. Tucked into the foothills of the Mount Ida Range in the South Island, Naseby is New Zealand’s highest town at 610 metres above sea level. Despite a decline in population from 4,000 at the height of the goldmining era to just 100 today, Naseby has managed a graceful transition to a winter sports provider, boasting curling, NZ’s only ice luge... and The Great Naseby Water Race as its own.

This unique event plays out around a 10km figure eight course, which runners lap to make up their desired distance. 2014 distance options range from 50km to 100miles (the ‘milers’ start on Friday), and there are team options.

The figure eight layout has distinct advantages: a single aid station located at the join/start/finish services participants every 5km, and provides for a significant amount of enthusiastic spectator interaction.

The course itself is half forestry

road and half trail; the latter loop runs beside the water race originally constructed to sluice the goldmining operations, and which now gives the event its name.

Cold and dry in winter, the event has occasionally been blessed with a light dusting of snow, creating a magical if chilled setting.

EVENT The Great Naseby Water Race

DISTANCE 50km, 60km (team), 80km, 100km, 100 miles (160km)

WHEN 29-30 August 2014 WHERE Naseby, Sth Island, New Zealand

WWW.GREATNASEBYWATERRACE.CO.NZ

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EVENT PREVIEW IMAGE: courtesy courtesy Rapid Ascent

SURF COAST CENTURY Anglesea, Victoria, Australia

L

et’s get one thing straight: there is no ‘easy’ 100km. You could do it on a flat treadmill and it’s still damn brutal. But for those legends (and anyone attempting 100km is certifiably a legend), who are stepping up to the big tonne for the first time, it’s worthwhile not eyeing off a Himalayan Hundred, or a Northburn, and indeed, keep The North Face 100 (rite of Aussie ultra passage) up your bucket list sleeve for a number two effort.

Instead, sign on for this beauty, now in its third year, that snakes its way throughout the ‘undulating’ Surf Coast, not far south west of Melbourne, Victoria. Why this one?

Because there are no mountains.

There are hills, but no mountains.

And the figure eight course means you come back into a familiar, central point, which lends some confidence (and a cheering family).

And, well, the course is damn beautiful, too: you run under some of Australia’s tallest cliffs for the first quarter – pretty much flat all the way (although you do get your feet wet). Then you conquer those cliffs and run atop them, followed by some dreamy hinterland singletrack with ocean views (which are a companion throughout most of the race). The beauty is that this is a beautiful but non-threatening

course (relatively speaking – it’s no Barkley Marathons that’s for sure).

That said, for the pros and the ultra old hands, the course still provides its attractions, be that a great setting to nail your fastest 100km on trail, or a just a good hundred hit out that won’t break the bones.

Even if you think a hundred is beyond you, the event offers team entries so you can split it down to 25km or so between four, or there is a new 50km solo option to get a good taste.

EVENT Surf Coast Century DISTANCE 50km/100km WHEN 13 September, 2014 WHERE Anglesea, Victoria, Australia WWW.SURFCOASTCENTURY.COM.AU

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MIND GAMES WORDS: TEGYN ANGEL IMAGES: LYNDON MARCEAU

FEATURE

SLEEPMONSTERS, VISITS FROM ‘THIRD MEN’, DRAGONS FLYING ABOUT: THE ULTRA ENDURANCE RACKET THROWS AT ITS PARTICIPANTS ALL SORTS OF CHALLENGES WELL BEYOND THE PHYSICAL REALM AND INTO THE IMAGINARY. TEGYN ANGEL LOOKS AT THE LINK BETWEEN THE ODD MIND HOLIDAY WHILE MID-100 MILER AND THE OCCURRENCE OF THE SAME THROUGHOUT HISTORY’S REAL FEATS OF ENDURANCE. >>

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FEATURE MIND GAMES

MIND GAMES FEATURE

“S

URE, I’M GETTING OFF AT THE NEXT STOP,” I THOUGHT TO MYSELF, “BUT I MAY AS WELL SIT FOR A LITTLE LONGER.” Stepping off the bus, I knew I’d be seeing my friends for breakfast tonight and so figured I’d have to hurry into the supermarket to grab a few bits and pieces. Lunch was great but dinner at the beach will be quite the occasion! I mean breakfast… Why is the bus still there? Is it waiting for me? What does he want? I’m forgetting something aren’t I? Is he thirsty, like I am? I wish I could walk straight. Oh, look, there’s a tree! Maybe it’ll help to hold me…BOOM! WAKE UP! YOU’RE HALLUCINATING! You’re 110km into the Ultra Trail Mt Fuji 100miler and you’ve got a bloody long way to go yet.

The first time I experienced sleep deprivation-induced hallucinations was during the 2013 Northburn 100miler. Coming out of the 100km checkpoint I’d felt like a million dollars, but a few kilometres later I was almost asleep on my feet. Barely able to walk straight, I started to fear the headline: “Sleeping runner blown off ridgeline, falls to death.”

The sheep judged me, the spiky Spaniards beckoned, the gale-force winds called my name.

Who the hell puts a leather lounge in the middle of a sheep station anyway? (There was no lounge.) I can’t believe how early the trees are dropping their leaves this year! (There were no trees.)

The race started at 6am, it’s now 10pm, that means I’ve been running for 24hrs. No. Wait.

That’s wrong. 8am ’til 10pm is 14hrs, so I’ve been running for 18hrs. Oh. Bugger. Basic maths, gone. If it weren’t for a friendly marshal coming along at just the right time with his bright headlights and conversation, I’d probably have ended up slobbering in a frigid ditch somewhere. Or worse yet, have DNF’ed.

UTMF was supposed to be different.

Whereas Northburn started at 6am (or did it…?), which meant running a full 12hrs before sunset, UTMF started at 3pm meaning I’d run into the night feeling comparatively fresh. I’d assumed the cocktail of darkness and fatigue

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were responsible for my somnambulance and hallucinations and that I’d therefore be less prone to them in Japan. This was probably true to some extent, as I got through the night without visitations or eyes-wide-shut.

However, mid morning and mid afternoon of the second day (about 110km and 130km) they hit pretty hard. Only No-Doze (I’d come prepared!), a sugar hit, a few face slaps and a good long drink of HTFU woke me up.

In his book Running on Empty, Marshall Ulrich recounts asking ultra running legend Yiannis Kouros if he’d ever experienced hallucinations, a body-mind separation or strange mental games. Apparently Kouros was pretty forthcoming, explaining it was a pretty common occurrence; a result of the mind taking a little holiday while pain made the body uninhabitable.

Ulrich himself reported a bikini-clad rollerblader, strange lizards and a plane landing near him during one Badwater while others have reported seeing the white road lines shaken about like ribbons or have been kept company by life-size cartoon characters. A study by Andrew J Mojica reported up to 30% of participants in the 2003 Badwater reported hallucinations.

Pheidippedes, famous for running the 240+ km from Marathon to Athens in a day and a half (and who clearly had nothing on Kouros who still holds the record of 20hrs 25mins), was said to have met Pan (the god of the wild, nature of mountains and companion to nymphs) near Tegea, about 200km in. Yeah, sure he did.

Jure Robic, 5-time winner of the Race Across America (RAAM - a single-stage 4800km ultramarathon cycling race across the USA) and a serial-madman, is so familiar with hallucinations and craziness that he can schedule it. Writing for the New York Times, Daniel Coyle reported of Robic that, “Around Day Two of a typical weeklong race, his speech goes staccato. By Day Three, he is belligerent and sometimes paranoid. His short-term memory vanishes, and he weeps uncontrollably. The last days are marked by hallucinations: bears, wolves and aliens

Coming out of the 100km checkpoint I’d felt like a million dollars, but a few kilometres later I was almost asleep on my feet.

>>

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FEATURE MIND GAMES

subsequently labelled the ‘Third Man Factor’, referring to situations where an incorporeal being provides reassurance and often advice during traumatic experiences. Although most commonly reported by climbers, it is often experienced by solo sailors, shipwreck survivors, polar explorers and in groups of people “alone together” in extremely isolated environments, like Antarctic research stations.

After an inconceivable struggle to escape their ship trapped in Antarctic pack ice, and then eventually reaching Georgia Island, Shackleton and his companions stood on a hillside looking down into a whaling station and their salvation.

Sounding like a pack of ultrarunners, they were “barely recognizable as civilised men. Their beards were long and their hair was matted.

Their faces were black and their clothes, filthy rags. The first three people they encountered recoiled in fear.” (Geiger, 2009).

“We had pierced the veneer of outside things,” wrote Shackleton. “We had suffered, starved, and triumphed, groveled down yet grasped at glory, grown bigger in the bigness of the whole. We had seen God in his splendors, heard the text that Nature renders. We had reached the naked soul of men.”

In his 2009 book, The Third Man Factor, John Geiger lists case after case of people in extreme circumstances experiencing these companions. Smythe on Everest, Lindbergh crossing the Atlantic, DiFrancesco escaping from the North Tower during 9/11, Ann Bancroft traversing Antarctica.

Presence Hallucinations or Guardian Angels, science or faith – their arrival seems to require a set of conditions: sensory deprivation in the form of monotony, isolation, solitude, darkness and physical hardship in the form of cold (or heat) exposure, dehydration, hunger, injury, fatigue, fear and sleep deprivation.

In a 2010 article for The Scientific American, Michael Shermer (one of four riders to finish the first Race Across America) confessed he’d repeatedly experienced the effects of the Third Man Factor. Shermer suggests a few explanations: 1) an extension of the normal sensed presence we experience of real people around us, perhaps triggered by isolation; 2) shut down of rational cortical control over emotions, as in the fight-or-flight response;

prowl the roadside; asphalt cracks rearrange themselves into coded messages.”

During one race, Robic is famous for picking a fight with a bunch of mailboxes he thought were black-bearded Mujahedeen on horseback. ‘‘Mujahedeen, shooting at me,’’ explained Robic ‘‘So I ride faster.’’

When stressed (and I don’t mean because you’re in a traffic jam or have to drink tea), the implicit mind gets squeaky, the barriers between conscious and unconscious processes start to fade and errant thoughts ignore the traffic signals of our otherwise-logical and disciplined realities. Hallucinations, amnesia, psychosis, schizophrenia, seizures, phantom limbs and phobias with extended exposure to stressful stimuli, our brains even begin to physically adapt to their new environments, a process called neuroplasticity. For better or worse, the mind is capable of some pretty creative things.

Who is the third who walks always beside you?

When I count, there are only you and I together But when I look ahead up the white road There is always another one walking beside you Gliding wrapt in a brown mantle, hooded I do not know whether a man or a woman —But who is that on the other side of you?

-T.S. Eliot, The Wasteland In this famous stanza from The Wasteland, Eliot, inspired by a passage from Shackleton’s South, speaks of a third, unidentified person walking with them. The concept was

3) the body, stress tricking it into thinking that there is another you, constructs a plausible explanation that this other you is actually another person—a sensed presence, a doppelganger, a mini-me —nearby. Essentially, the body and mind have a little argument and go their separate ways but your mind is a workaholic and can’t let go and so creates an explanation for the duality – enter stage left Guardian Angel.

But is it fair to bridge the gap between a sensed presence and more common, lunchboxvariety hallucinations? While these are no-doubt extreme examples, they do attract some pretty accomplished people; folks with an experience base that brings their achievements into the realm of subjective possibility. For them, and people like Smythe and Shackleton, “intense stress” and “traumatic episode” probably have a different interpretation. Their comfort zones are stretched, their security bubbles inflated.

For the rest of us a mountain ultra, a hundred-miler, a 24hr or a multi-day will likely stretch us in a similar way. It’s a matter of perspective. To quote Emerson: “The mind, once stretched by a new idea, never returns to its original dimensions.”

What Badwater, an Everest ascent, RAAM, a trans-Atlantic crossing, an Antarctic Epic and the Sri Chinmoy 3100 all have in common, is sensory deprivation in the form of monotony, isolation, solitude, darkness and physical hardship in the form of cold (or heat) exposure, dehydration, hunger, injury, fatigue, fear and sleep deprivation. Sound familiar?

The human mind is a source of constant wonder, as capable of profound love and self-sacrifice as it is of unfathomable cruelty.

The mind/brain, unique and unimaginably complex, processes sensory data and sorts through the reams of biofeedback. It does its best to make sense of the world around us: categorising, explaining, rationalising, directing. A Central Governor; a Master to our Blaster; a freshly-ground Yirgacheffe to our otherwise-gelatinous 9-5 quagmire. But everyone has their off days and our heads are no exception. You can’t be perfect all the time.

Besides, hallucinations can be damn entertaining, especially for your crew.

7500 RUNNERS 77 NATIONS REPRESENTED 3 COUNTRIES ON THE ROUTE

CHAMONIX MONT-BLANC LES HOUCHES SAINT-GERVAIS LES CONTAMINES MONTJOIE

25 > 31 AUGUST 2014

WORLD SUMMIT OF TRAIL-RUNNING 5 ULTRA-ENDURANCE RACES AROUND MONT-BLANC

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INNERVIEW

LANCE HUNNIFORD

WORDS: Vicki Woolley IMAGES: Lyndon Marceau / Hunniford Collection / Vicki Woolley

A late run on life It’s never too late start running. Just ask New Zealander, Lance Hunniford, who tackled his first trails just before clocking over the big Six-O. Three years on and his famous Hunniford Shuffle (and ability to slay any serious hill climb) is gaining iconic status around the running traps. TRM’s NZ Editor, Vicki Woolley, meets a trail elder whose late run on life led him to conquer the formidable Northburn 100.

I

t’s a warm, lazy Saturday at Muriwai Beach, and the sound of kids happily messing about on the playground filters into our conversation. Yet sitting across the table from Lance Hunniford, I get the impression this is a guy who life beat up early, then spat out and said “So, watcha gonna do??”.

The shy, quiet man before me was genuinely surprised when I first requested an interview. I assure him that as one of just 29 finishers of the 2014 Northburn 100 miler, people will find his story interesting, more so when they hear Lance is 62, and has been running for just three years.

The eldest of five children, Lance grew up in Pukekohe (a town in the Auckland region of New Zealand’s North Island, then considered ‘rural’) where he had a typical Kiwi hunting and

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fishing childhood. However, Lance’s story is similar to a lot of endurance athletes I meet: as an early adult he ‘lost his way’, and spent a number of years labouring on Australian farms in a bit of a haze and with no real direction.

Returning to New Zealand in 2011, restless energy saw Lance sign up for the Orewa Half Marathon. It was his first race and Lance pulled out a 1hr 48m with only six weeks training - the love affair with running had begun. The next two years were a whirlwind of successes with a top 5 age group finish in the Xterra Trail Running series, and age group wins in the 70km Kauri Ultra and Sri Chinmoy 12hr track race. During that event Lance met Kim Allen and Gary Regtien, forging the beginnings of a relationship with the endurance running community.

He went on to run his first 100km at the 2012 Tarawera Ultramarathon, finishing in 14hrs – a moment he proudly describes as his greatest achievement.

“It’ll always be special,” he says. “You know, the first time you run 5km is neat: then the first time you run for an hour, then your first halfmarathon... but 100km is pretty special.”

One of a small cadre of ultramarathoners who switch easily between track and trail, I challenge Lance, does he have a preference?

He shrugs.

“I’ll run anything, I don’t care” he says, then continues, “I prefer trail... but you can only look at so many trees before you want to get out and look at some mountains,” he smiles.

“I love mountains”.

It’s nice to hear him say that, given his recent experience at the mountainous Northburn ‘Miler’, where Lance collapsed 2km from the finish, staggering over the line a nailbiting hour later. He takes up the story.

“With 22km to go I was feeling fantastic – my quads weren’t even hurting, and I was the only one still running. I’d had a bit of trouble >>

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INNERVIEW

<<

EVERYONE HAS EXCUSES – I’M TOO OLD, WHATEVER – TAKE A LOOK AT THIS GUY AND GET A GRIP

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overnight but nothing major – I couldn’t figure out how to open the gates in the dark so just climbed over. And at one stage climbing a big hill my race number was rasping against my shorts and I thought it was dogs barking. I saw a light ahead, and was a bit nervous because I thought it was hunters, but it was only Virginia Winstone’s head torch – she was sitting down for a short break.”

“So in that last 20km I passed 10 people and went from 22nd to 12th place. Then 4-5km from the end I came smashing down a hill and must have missed a marker. I was horribly lost, crashing around in brambles, blackberries... It felt like hours but was only about 15 minutes. I sat down to get my thoughts together, smashed through some brambles, climbed a big hill and came out on the road.”

Race Organiser, Lisa Tamati, chips in.

“I was driving back to the event centre and suddenly I saw this guy tearing along the road, covered in blood, looking like some warrior!

I ran over and asked what happened. Lance told me had fallen through some briar bushes and got lost. I asked him to wait so I could call some guys from base and get him sorted. But he was SO pissed off: ‘No, no, I have to get back on the track – people are passing me!’ he yelled.

Then he leaped over the fence and tore off along the trail.”

Lisa recognised this as the last flush of adrenalin before a runner’s body shuts down and mobilised emergency services.

Sure enough, Lance was about to hit the wall.

“I ran down the road and found the main track. I was pretty ropable – I was going for sub34hrs and would have made it easily. I just kept thinking of all those people who I had passed, and thinking they were ahead of me, now. “(Then) that was it. I lost all my energy, my legs went; I just hit the wall 2.5k from the end.

I took my pack off and lay down, trying to regroup. Orlaith Heron came running back from the finish line looking for me.

“I needed water. Orlaith went to the creek and got me water, then went and got me a Coke. I was hallucinating, convinced I was in

Rotorua. It seemed I lay there for hours and hours but it was only 30 minutes.

“Then a couple walked past me – I asked them if anyone had passed them and they said No! WOW! Only one of those ten people had caught me, despite getting lost and stopping.

I got up, put my pack on, and staggered after the couple, with the ambulance alongside. I thought I was running towards a caravan park, and asked the ambo: ‘Do I have to run around the caravan park?’ And he said ‘No, no! Just cross the finish line!’ I walked across that line in 34hr 48min... and then the people I had passed started coming through.”

Lisa is in awe of Lance’s achievement at Northburn.

“That’s what this event is about,” she tells me. “People going to the bottom of their souls, and reaching on through.”

She describes Lance as a phenomenal role model.

“Everyone has excuses for not getting out there – I’m too old, whatever – take a look at this guy and get a grip on yourself!” she says.

So how did Lance recover? At Northburn, it is mandatory for milers to be walked around for 15 minutes under observation after crossing the line – Lance then went and sat in the creek for a while, with a doctor in attendance.

Three weeks later he is already mountain biking and running 60km a week, admitting he just bounced back and rarely gets injured.

“Everything just sorts itself out with a bit of rest,” he shrugs, though he agrees preparation is critical, and shares one of his training secrets.

Once a week in the lead up to Northburn, Lance would walk 1km up a gravel road hill, and then smash back down – for four hours. Geoff Higgins chuckles when he hears this. Since a chance meeting on the trail, the two have shared many training runs and adventures, and Geoff has benefited enormously from Lance’s extensive knowledge and gentle coaching.

Geoff tells me the story behind the famous Hunniford Shuffle: “Anyone who knows Lance knows he kills the hills. He keeps a steady pace that doesn’t alter even when he gets to a big >>

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LANCE HUNNIFORD INNERVIEW

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when he mentions Naseby [see Event Preview, this edition], I foolishly ask him which distance.

“I always choose the long distance. It’s all about testing yourself, and that’s easier to do when it’s not too crowded.”

I am curious why he is driven to keep pushing himself?

“Making up for lost time,” Lance replies quietly. “I lost my way a bit for a few years, so it’s all about what I can do in the time that’s left. And maybe if I can help some of those others...” he trails off, then brightens: “I’ve talked one of my brothers into hiking the Hillary Trail with me. And two of my brothers are crewing for me at the Sri Chinmoy 24hr and Around the Mountain (Taranaki) later this year.”

He tells me his family are supportive, though don’t really understand Lance’s passion, and he is clearly excited to actively introduce them to his sport.

hill. He tells you ‘We’ll walk the hills,’ and then takes off with a walk that would leave most for dead - I tried to keep up but found myself just as knackered as if I were running!”

I ask Lance if there is anything he would like to tell the trail running community, and he laughs.

“Keep it simple! Running is not rocket science.”

At High School, Lance learned (renowned run coach) Don McFarquhar’s methods: these days he feels we unnecessarily complicate what is actually a simple sport.

“If guys like Barry McGee, Bill Baillie, Jeff Julian, Ray Puckett, Terry and Rex Maddaford were running today,” he argues, “They would still be winning – without handhelds or gels.

Nothing has changed in 60 years, yet at the moment running is a ‘business’, not a sport!”

We talk about Lance’s upcoming events, and 40

Lance has seen firsthand that life is not always good and fair and kind, yet Geoff has this to say, “He has become a good friend and mentor to me, and is an old-school kind of guy, with old-school values like ‘Do unto others as you would have done to yourself’. He’s got your back at all times, and I’m sure we are going to have plenty more running adventures to come.”

Not a person to dish out highhanded advice or righteous opinion, Lance is quietly encouraging of those contemplating taking up or extending their running – or any other sport, for that matter.

“Do it,” he says emphatically. “It’s not that hard. You will hurt for a while, but then it will stop. Life is short. Just get out there.”

He shrugs and gives me that lovely shy smile again.

“That’s about it”.

High Per formance Nutrition You’re out on the trail, you’re surrounded by nature’s best. It’s raw and real and you love it.

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FEATURE WORDS: Simon Madden IMAGES: Simon Madden and Chris Ord

of light and landscape A journey of running and life along the Larapinta

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THE COLOUR BLOSSOMED LIKE IT WAS EMERGENT. IT SATURATED THE HILLSIDE, THE SCRUBBY TREES AND THE BLOCKY RIDGE LINE, BUT IT WAS THE SHIFTING HUE OF THE ROCK THAT WAS MOST SURREAL. AS THE SUN FLED, THE ORANGE BURNT DARKER BECOMING VITAL AND THICK, SO DEEP AS TO BE SUCKING INWARDS RATHER THAN REFLECTING OUTWARDS AS IF THE CLOSER IT GOT TO NIGHT THE MORE DESPERATE THE COLOUR BECOME. IT WAS GLORIOUS AND UNREAL. The quotidian is what is real. We live lives of such habit that our reaction upon seeing something brilliant is that it is un-real, we accept only the banal. And I am conditioned like everyone so the light isn’t real. It can’t be; it’s too much.

And the trip has not even really started yet. This place is only ten minutes out of Alice Springs and this is a loosener after the flight. The hill is not that steep. The location is not that remote. My legs are not that sore.

My lungs are not that stretched. The three of us lope down the worn path unhurriedly returning from the summit.

The man is alone. Long grey hair, heavy around the middle, pudgy, but dressed for movement – runners, shorts, t-shirt, a stick.

He looks wheezy, he looks like the top of the mountain is a long way off. We skip into the car park. The man hails us, we reply, he asks about the view from the top, we say it’s glorious. He thinks before he speaks, a pause settling between us.

“I can see your faces. I can see that it’s a million time better up there.”

He doesn’t seem sad that he hadn’t seen it himself as accepting of the vicarious.

“Yeah, well, you keep on living.”

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When I think about running distances I think about Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece, 2001: A Space Odyssey. Partly because I think about the film a lot and partly because we humans slump towards easy symbolism to explain our world and pop culture is accessible and pregnant with easily symbolism. One reading sees the film describing human evolution from ape through to the realisation of a higher state of consciousness. That’s running for a long time, moving through changes of state, easy.

Running is easily bound up in the concept of journey, this is easily expanded to a 2001 frame of a Marxian, uni-directional evolution of the person at the end of which are Quixotic promises of epiphany and transcendence.

This sort of thing is attractive to me. I’m a concepts man, a complicator (over), a see-er of symbolism. And applying this to running distances this is what I had been told or read or what I have experienced or a melange of the three; first comes the embodied self; then the cartesian; then the spectre of David Hume; then you inhabit the line between reason and cause. I’m not sure what comes next.

There is a gulf between perception and reality in which the irreconcilable self is warped under the pressures of hope and delusion. I always thought of myself as the kind of guy who should be able to surf, probably not an original misconception considering surfing’s attractive aesthetic, soulful philosophy and the coolness manufactured by hyper commercialisation. I never thought of myself as the kind of guy who could run. My father was a raconteur before his mind became too addled for it and he was found of saying about his middle child, me, “He couldn’t run out of sight on a dark night.”

He might have been right or cruel or both.

Children tend to become what they are told they are, strange then that I can’t surf but I can run.

Much like the apes who at the beginning of 2001 were pushed along in their development when a higher being bestowed an obelisk upon

them, I was given a pair of talismanic running shoes by one who knew far more than I. And that is when I denied my father and started running again and so probably why I was here.

The here is important because running is just not about looking inwards, otherwise we would just run a purgatorious eternal loop around the same concrete block.

The town of Alice Springs gives way to low scrub, the landscape is greener than it should have been, spines of upthrust broken rock track the highway on both sides, bursting from the ground and arching upwards before crashing into the ground once again, they remind me of the humped backs of dinosaurs, I can’t remember the name of them. We are heading into the West MacDonnell Ranges to run parts of the Larapinta Trail. To the rest of Australia the Red Centre is mythic and foreign. It’s gorgeous out here.

The embodied self First, the self is a body.

Despite the rarefied air of introspection, running is also about simplifying, stripping back technology and white noise and just fucking running with a body.

I have always been a poor witness to my body but when I was still blessed with the plasticity of youth I could smash through and it didn’t really matter, as years accumulate you are forced to nurse your goals through your capability. Setting off this first day I scan my body for what hurts, creating a hierarchy as the first kilometres pass. The stabbing in the right knee smoothes quickly. Part of being able to run is being able to interpret pain and understand each of its consequences. Normally this sort of wisdom is hard won.

This is my first real foray into expeditionstyle running, or whatever this is, and between gulping breaths I try to open myself like a child. I run at the back where I can see. I start >>

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Fall, they say. Almost like you are falling forward, come up on to the midfoot, get out of the backseat, falling. I’m on a fucking precipice.

I’m in my body, lifting my hips, shortening my stride, padding rather than pounding, trying to adjust. Am I doing this right? His stride is shorter than mine, but he is about five inches shorter. How long is my stride anyway? Why do I feel like my shoes are on the wrong feet?

Something’s off. Onwards.

to probe the meaning of the portmanteau runability, which until then I had thought of as whether you could literally run over the ground – was it too broken, too steep or too loose? It quickly expands to whether or not you should run, where to expend energy and where to conserve it.

Section 4 of the trail is all killer no filler, taking the adventurous from Standley Chasm through dramatic terrain to Birthday Waterhole, and I feel like I am mostly studying two very different men running. Chris I peg as a metronomic testament to the primacy of will over preparation and Tegyn as an animal, not for ferocity but efficiency. Efficiency is more than a buzzword used by Thatcherites to rationalise squeezing more blood out of feckless workers as we clamour for a consumption-driven 3.5% GDP p/a growth ad infinitum. When trying to run for a long time being economical is important. I’m surprised by how often we drop stride into a fast walk and it’s testing to maintain rhythm though it doesn’t look like a problem for them. Thinking about their movement as strategy rather than serendipity, three words congeal into a holy tryptic of pacing – frame, brain and terrain; listen to your body and its needs and capabilities; but think about where you are and how far you have to go; and overlay these two on the terrain. Onwards.

Cartesian The mind as a trickster.

After a time the mind becomes the duplicitous master of the body.

Here short-term goals lure my donkey-body forward like carrots – just get to the next rise, ten more minutes, 1000 more steps. I become a willing individual separate from the body, which drops away. This is the phase the interests me least, maybe its the falsehoods.

Across the plateaus, winding up and down steep hills, through thick stands of trees and low grasping spinifex there is a constant that works in concert with the carrot, ants. Ants are a stick. Every time I stop they swarm to me, exploratory and bitey. Keep moving and wear long socks.

The dry sand of the empty riverbed signals >>

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the stage’s close, through one more copse of trees and there is Birthday Waterhole, a stunning pool of water accumulated at the base of a rocky outcrop, tiered sandy banks rising above it, a lone ghost gum stands stark sentinel on the ridge. Arse chafe is a bodily experience.

Why aren’t they stretching? Doesn’t matter, I will. What are they eating? How can you not wear jocks under your running shorts? Coffee is critical, I grind the beans by hand and as I pour the water into the cylindrical Aeropress I stir with a stick from the ground and joke about being connected to the land. Right now, right here, after moving across the earth by the force of my own body, it’s only half a joke.

The afternoon is languid. As we wade into the pool, dragonflies contour the concentric ripples we force across the surface tension, the freezing water compresses the air out of my lungs and immediately the aches in joints and muscles are gone.

The mind splitters.

You are just moving, the body is left behind and the mind does not need to cajole, and the framework of thought dissipates so that ideas, images, feelings and sensations are untethered, emerging without any sense of connectedness.

The demands of reconnaissance mean I spend large tracts of the next two days alone. Solitude is a forgotten virtue. I like being by myself, the sense of isolation and remoteness, yet still the urge to share is often present. I placate it through composition, crafting sentences to envelop a single word that emerges as if of its own volition. These thoughts from nowhere are so prized because they seem delivered from without, free of obvious connection. I am depersonalised, my role in the appearance of these bubbles of gnosis is unclear. How do you translate experience to communicate it to someone else? Should you even try? The Portuguese 50

word saudade repeats, I don’t know why this tumescent word for a kind of longing repeatedly appears, or what I am longing for, the word can’t be easily translated into English, maybe that’s why.

There are several sites marked as ruins along the trail, relics from different pasts. Most seem hardly worth the name, only carrying a smear of humanity rather than any identifiable objects. Often I stop under a tree to listen in the stillness, not out of fatigue but curiosity.

My heart slows its cadence and reduces its booming, bird song emerges, the wind tugs at branches. I think about how for many running is an act of temperance, a program that saved them from a life of stuporfacients, sodden with gin or merry with ale. And how that would change it. I don’t feel like I am running from spectres, or from temptation. Just running because of running. Still it allows me to evade modernity’s exigencies and half way along the Larapinta there has never seemed to be >>

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anything less urgent in my life.

It happens more than once – cresting upthrusts of rock that form sharp ridges and descending into scoured and jumbled boulders in creek beds – but one instance stands out for its power. One time when the wave of expectation is matched to the frequency of reality. Again late, the light shifting and slanting near Serpentine Dam. Breath is easy to focus on, heartbeats echoing into footfalls.

Moving in and out of consuming folds in the land. Upturned, undulating, rolled, lifted, broken upheaval. Reluctant trees part just enough. The beauty of looking down. The skin of rock underneath yawns and cracks and falls away, oil on canvass, time machine, dry rocks and boulders and then the desert soil again red and sandy and the constant mountains about me. Giant gaping maws of rock open up the hillside silently emitting a thrrruummmmmm.

Red is blood, red is communism, passion, rebirth, the metamorphosis of narcissism, everything I see hides something else, stone thieves separate of the sky and ground so completely. Hume whispering revelations.

Much of it rubbish, some of it heady, all of it disjointed but for me. There is distant fear that this is it, that an ephemeral memory can never be revisited without a knowable path of associations, that not written down they will be gone, and I run through sadness for it, the darkness slowly taking the land.

There is nothing more enfeebling than travelling through the wild dark. A weak pool of light pressing out against the crush of infinite nothing. It’s not that there are monsters lurking, cut purses or vengeful gods, it’s not fear, it’s irrelevance. The reduction of your being to insignificance and the futility of your struggle against it. Nothing is going to strike you down, because you are already

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disappeared. The deeper the darkness the greater the contrast between your existence and meaning. I run on like this in rapturous irrelevance until the lights of the other two bloom in the valley below, pushing out, from here the edges where their blooms abut the darkness seem inconceivably defined. Then I stop, turn my light off and wait under a big sky.

Reason/Cause Reasons has no authority over you, causes though, causes can make you stop running.

The Finke River is the largest in the area, the indigenous people call it Larapinta. As a camping spot it is wonderful. A wide swath of sand stretches away from the water’s edge, dotted with red river gums, blocky rock outcrops guard the opposite bank. I wander bow-legged into the low scrub and a wild looking man and his son appear to ask me what day it is. I don’t know but try to figure it out and we talk about the river. As we part ways I think about World Safari with Alby Mangles and what happened to him and there is a film coming out about just that. I think about gum-booted Cliff Young who won the Sydney to Melbourne beating actual runners and doing what you are not supposed to be able to and how could there possibly not be a (good) film about him. A wind whips up as we head to bed, rain starts to fall and as I drift off I think this is supposed to be a desert.

In the heavy gloom of the morning, with day fighting to assert itself, a double rainbow caps the river and I fumble with my camera, desperate to catch the fleeting before it is lost.

This is our last day running so we quickly break camp and are heading out along the river bed when a man hails us; did you see the dingo last night? I tried to signal you with my torch, it’s my first day here in Australia, are they >>

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IMAGE: MT BULLER, AUSTRALIA / WWW.MARCEAUPHOTOGRAPHY.COM FEATURE LARAPINTA

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cast about, sheer drops and sharp peaks extend farther along the range. Lashed by rain and wind we sign the book and check the fastest times recorded, there is no competition, but…

We begin running down and all of a sudden, yes of course, the wind scatters the clouds, which break and leave us under blue skies.

Since forever humans have feared the weather, sought its favour, looked to it for meaning.

Nothing has changed. Easy symbolism is a siren, dashing you upon the rocks of convenient metaphor. The rain for up and sunshine for down is bluntly and perfectly poetic. Soft light playing off the slick peaks, the greens deeper for it, the oranges more burnt, the sky still heavy and grey and white east along the range from where we had started this whole trip. Blue above though. Barreling down with abandon, too fast, like a child who trusts too

common? Were you worried about the dingo, I ask him. I’m from Kenya, he replies, we have lions. Those little dogs don’t bother me. I don’t make a joke about babies. Onwards.

Narratives require ends, they are the rules, a The End is arbitrary but powerful. Trajectories have to go somewhere. Under ponderous skies we stare along the ridgeline that leads up to Mt Sonder, Section 12. The End. As we set off the rain begins and it is perfect.

I relish the toil of up, the bloody-minded trudging may have my head swimming and my lungs hot, hips and arse hurt, not calves and thighs, yet there is something in grinding away that brings great joy. The wind strengthens and the rain whips into my face. The running along the ridge is surprisingly fast and the summit of Sonder advances quickly. When we get there we

much. Hurtling, picking steps, reading texture and angle and colour. Down is an unfurling, piqued by consequence, eyes flushed with demands, the trail flows, drops down step rocky chutes, levels out again and I’m laughing. Place does mean something, it makes running more than left right left right left right, and saves us from our own self-importance. It helps when what you are moving through is rapturous. And this place is beautiful.

I never get to the phase that straddles reason and cause, I don’t run for long enough, or far enough, I don’t hurt enough. But I guess that is the point, that’s the reason to keep running.

‘Keep on living’, he said.

Experience your own Larapinta, on a run tour, 20-25 August 2014. www.tourdetrails.com/larapinta/

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FEATURE

WORDS: DAN SLATER IMAGES: ANNA WARR PHOTOGRAPHY / WILD ENDURANCE

[TRAIL] ZERO TO [TRAIL] HERO WILD ENDURANCE IS A TRAIL WALKING AND RUNNING EVENT MORE FOCUSED ON ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS AND FUNDRAISING THAN COMPETITION AND WINNING. SO WHEN DAN SLATER SIGNED ON FOR THE FLAT OUT FIFTY, HE DIDN’T EXPECT THE COMPETITIVE SPRIT TO SUDDENLY COURSE THROUGH HIS VEINS…BUT WOULD HE SHED BLOOD FOR THE CAUSE? 58

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[TRAIL] ZERO TO [TRAIL] HERO FEATURE

I NEVER THOUGHT I’D BECOME AROUSED DURING AN ULTRAMARATHON. I MEAN, WHEN YOUR BODY’S SHUTTING DOWN HOW CAN YOU EXPECT IT TO TELL THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PLEASURE AND PAIN ANYWAY? SO WHEN I ACCIDENTALLY BRUSHED MY LEFT NIPPLE AT 39KM I COULDN’T TELL IF THE RESULTANT WARMTH WAS PLEASURE OR … WAIT A MINUTE. IMMEDIATELY MY MIND CONJURED UP IMAGES OF PAINED RUNNERS WITH TWIN BULLET WOUNDS ON THEIR CHESTS, WEEPING BLOOD LIKE SONNY CORLEONE. I PEERED FEARFULLY DOWN MY SHIRT BUT THANKFULLY THE CHAFING WAS STILL IN THE EARLY STAGES. I alerted co-runner Jared to my predicament and, still running, he fished out a block of Bodyglide, which I applied to my tender regions, praying it would be enough to last the final 10km. With pain sensors alerted, I then felt a similar burning sensation down below.

I shut it out and kept on running. ‘Pain Is Weakness Leaving The Body’, goes the mantra.

It felt like a lot of weakness was about to depart through my left testicle.

When I was invited by workmates to walk 100km non-stop, I laughed. I was more likely to go mountain bike bog-snorkelling in Wales.

Walking for 30 hours straight sounded like a thoroughly unpleasant exercise to me (and still does). Despite repeated urgings I could not see any valid reason to agree. So when cajoled to get involved, I opted instead to run the 50km alternative. They thought I was mad,

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yet my reasoning had me done and relaxing in the pub, counting down the 24 hours of hard graft they would still be facing. Still, however you dice up the distance, I was committed to participate in an event called Wild Endurance (WE), a 50km or 100km team challenge in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney. Established as a fundraiser in 2008 by the Wilderness Society, WE was originally more of a bushwalking event but is now firmly established on the trail running calendar and attracting its fair share of dirt demons.

The Wilderness Society is Australia’s largest not-for-profit environmental organisation, formed in Tasmania in 1976 by a small group of volunteers to protest the damming of the Franklin River. Its fight raised national awareness and in 1980 the society began campaigning against other issues Australiawide. The Franklin was saved in 1983 and remains an amazing destination for all wildlifelovers. But the Wilderness Society didn’t stop there: for over 30 years they have taken part in almost every major environmental campaign in the country, successfully protecting some of the most pristine and important wild places in Australia.

In Western Australia, over 66,000 hectares of Ningaloo Reef has been protected. Fraser Island was declared a World Heritage Area in 1992. More recently, a new national park was declared on Cape York Peninsula. These things don’t just happen by accident. They happen courtesy of the passion and energy of organisations like the Wilderness Society.

In my personal and continuing struggle to determine which of the countless charities >>

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thereabouts. No sense rushing things. As long as I could run 25km I’d be able to fudge the second half, I reasoned.

This being a team challenge I needed a partner, but despite the obvious pleasure of running 50km through the mountains I had trouble finding volunteers. I didn’t know many runners and friends I did ask pretended they’d misheard. “Fifteen kays? You must be joking!” The task was made more difficult by the fundraising component. After paying the $180 entry fee each participant is also required to raise a minimum of $400 in sponsorship, a task which certainly discouraged some of those whom I asked to join me (at least that was their excuse). If, as seemed to be the case, the charity aspect was the alienating factor, I fear for the future of society.

On paper Jared was an awesome running partner – his parents lived near the start line and they were happy to put us up and act as our support crew. He had a Salomon S-Lab vest, Hoka One Ones, Dirty Girl Gaiters, the whole bit. He even had a Suunto watch so we could time ourselves. [I‘m not a big spender on technology; when I ran the Knysna Forest

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on this distressed planet are actually worth supporting, the Wilderness Society comes pretty high on the list.

So, I was bound by pride and motivated by altruism. I still needed of couple of things: fitness for a start. It’s not like I hadn’t run trails before - I’d run plenty. I’d got into trail running when I lived in Cape Town, South Africa. With Table Mountain in my backyard, I’d leg it up to the contour path any chance I got. I did all the local events: the Bat Run, Fisherman’s Run, Hout Bay Challenge, Table Mountain Challenge. I loved it.

But that was seven years ago. Since then, I’d moved to Australia, become allergic to dust mites, grass and ibuprofen, grown nasal polyps, got married, turned 40, drank several thousand beers and developed vertebral subluxations leading to spinal degeneration (or so my chiropractor claimed). On the plus side I could run four kilometres without a break – that was nearly a twelfth of the distance already – and I had four months to whip myself into shape.

I’d start training on 1 January, I told myself.

Well, maybe a few days after. 5 January? Or 62

Marathon I didn’t even have a digital watch – I had to wait on the start line until the second hand hit 12 so I could pace myself accurately.]

I was using my seven-year old Montrails, a borrowed pack and some out-of-date energy gels. I didn’t even have a mantra, and they were free! I was in way over my head.

Nevertheless, I set my mind to the task and trained hard. Living in Inner West Sydney most of my runs were limited to uninspiring loops between Redfern station and Erskineville station, but I did get out now and again to Manly Dam and gradually increased my long runs to 16km, 18km, 20km. By the time May rolled around I’d reached my target and was confident I could finish. We were aiming for a time of between eight and 10 hours.

The morning of the event was a miserable, misty Saturday, but spirits were high as a crowd of almost 500 entrants gathered in the drizzle donning waterproofs, adjusting trekking poles and sucking down a last hot drink. The crowd was a cross-section of the outdoor community: bonding corporate groups, stoic bushwalking veterans, enthusiastic young guns and trail >>

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runners hoping to post a personal best. The atmosphere was hardly that of an Iron Man triathlon, with competitors more likely to strike up a friendly conversation en route than shove each other out of the way.

The temperature was 6°C so we were itching to get away and pump some blood to our extremities. The only thing standing between us and 50km of agony was Sarah Williams, the Wilderness Society’s Wild Endurance Coordinator, bouncing around on the mini-stage by the starting line.

“Are you ready?” she yelled.

Sarah’s enthusiasm for her job is painfully obvious: “I absolutely love it,” she tells me later, “Do you know what would be awesome?” she says, without missing a beat, “Is if we could take Wild Endurance to Tassie, being the birthplace of the WS. I would love to do that if it were viable.”

After a few last-minute words of advice Sarah counted the crowd down and we were off.

The course began cruelly with a steep hill but we soon settled into a steady pace as we

hoofed it down to Medlow Gap as part of a loose group. In the spirit of co-operation the drizzle slowed and had eventually fizzled out by the time we reached Mount Debert, one of the few sections of single track on the course. This was the start of a long uphill which culminated in Taro’s ladders at the tip of Narrow Neck Plateau. It was there that I heard a race official call out to the team ahead that they were in fourth position. That couldn’t be right; that meant I could almost see the leaders.

“How’s your competitive spirit?” I asked Jared, grinning. He shrugged. Until this point neither of us had even considered the possibility of placing highly, it just wasn’t on our radar, but now I began daydreaming: what if we did get on the podium, even third place?

How cool would that be? It’d make an awesome Facebook status update. I even began wording one in my head as I ran along, lost in la-la land.

Then I realised: we were going too fast, too soon - schoolboy error.

“The race isn’t won in the first 10km,” I heard my training partner whisper in my ear, “Take it easy”. But we weren’t even trying; in an attempt to avoid exhausting ourselves early

we’d agreed to limit our speed to 8km/h, which we were achieving quite easily. And so we settled into the 10km-long stretch of Narrow Neck Plateau. A considerable percentage of WE is on fire trail, the Bluey’s default surface. The packed gravel and dirt may not be the most enjoyable terrain on which to run but it does improve both safety and speed. The clouds were lifting and the views of the Megalong Valley from Narrow Neck were inspiring, at least until we plunged down the Golden Stairs to Federal Pass.

It was around here that we became preoccupied with the empty trail we were leaving behind. “Where is everyone?” we asked each other. The soreness in my legs I had expected, but the crick in my neck was purely from looking over my shoulder for the teams that should have been snapping at our heels.

The leaders had looked so much fitter and more confident than us – we couldn’t quite believe we’d overtaken them in the first place.

They’d only stopped for a leak and we’d jogged casually past, sure that we’d be enjoying the view of their heels again within minutes. But >>

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it somehow hadn’t happened. Maybe they’d had an accident, or got lost? I hoped not (but secretly I hoped exactly that).

Having descended the escarpment there was always going to be a wicked climb up the Furber Steps to Katoomba Oval - halfway mark for the 50km teams. “You’ve done the toughest section!” welcomed a sign at the check point. I had been imagining a nice sit down and a meal, maybe a power nap, but after only eight minutes we were refuelled and ready to leave. That competitive edge had started to cut into us; already we had got so used to the lead that we didn’t want to lose it. I no longer cared what had happened to the other teams as long as I stayed in front. I was becoming – a (competitive) ultra-marathon runner!

We took off along the cliff top walk to Echo Point, threading through surprised Asian tourists and down past the Three Sisters to the Giants Staircase and a near-vertical descent.

At around 32km we began the long, steep trial of Kedumba Valley Road. I think this is where the ‘endurance’ part of the WE name was coined – 10km (700m vertical) of knee-jarring descent followed by 8km (600m vertical) of 64

back-stretching ascent. The gradient felt like it was 45° in places.

It was on this uphill stretch that I noticed the tingling in my nipples and realised it was not just the excitement of being in the lead (although that may have contributed). That wasn’t all: my right knee was shot and the sole of my left shoe had started to delaminate. Jared, having maintained a stoic silence for six hours, now admitted to feeling dizzy and spaced-out.

I’d never run as part of a team before but I envisaged two people running alongside each other, nothing more. I was unprepared for the mutual encouragement, but Jared had kept up the pace when I had been flagging on the way down Kedumba and now that he was fading I needed to motivate him.

His Type 1 diabetes prohibited me from bellowing at him like the Drill Sergeant from Full Metal Jacket – “Are you quitting on me?

Well, are you? Then quit, you slimy f**king walrus-looking piece of shit!” – but I gently encouraged him while making sure he didn’t collapse.

“Four kilometres to go, mate,” I urged, “You can do it”.

Even 30km after taking the lead we were still

convinced someone would sprint up the hill behind us to overtake on the home straight.

The time was coming up to 3pm and I realised we might be able to finish in under seven hours if we pushed hard.

“C’mon, Jared, sub-seven! Let’s go!” I shouted.

3km, 2km, 1km … The Suunto ticked over to 6hrs 59mins as the Queen Victoria Hospital appeared and I coaxed my tired legs into a sprint, surprising the crowd of seven volunteers standing around the finish line completely unprepared for our glorious arrival.

We’d done it - we’d won. It was unreal. Far from the madding crowd I’d pictured, the only people in whose admiration we could bask were the milling volunteers and Jared’s folks, but that didn’t matter. In the back of my mind I knew that Wild Endurance was not a major event on the trail running calendar, and that Sydney’s serious runners were out training for The North Face 100 or down in Victoria at the Wilson’s Prom 100, but I was willing to ignore that for a few moments and high-five Jared, savouring the taste of victory. The fact that I’d come through with my nipples intact made it all the sweeter.

KEEN TO HAVE A RUN NEXT YEAR? Wild Endurance 2015 will be held on the first weekend of May. The time to beat, and new 50km course record, is 6:59:30.

Register: www.wildendurance.gofundraise.com.au

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FEATURE

FROM THE DIRECTOR’S CHAIR FEATURE

FROM THE DIRECTOR’S CHAIR 66

AS THE HONEYMOON PERIOD FOR OFF-ROAD RUNNING EVENTS ENDS AND THEY AND THEY BECOME ‘NORMAL’ SATURDAY SPORT, IT SEEMS EVERY WEEKEND WARRIOR HAS AN OPINION AS TO WHAT THE RACE DIRECTOR DIDN’T GET RIGHT – AND WHAT COULD BE DONE TO IMPROVE THEIR EXPERIENCE. AFTER A PARTICULARLY VOLATILE YEAR ON THE OFF-ROAD RUNNING SCENE BOTH IN NZ AND ACROSS THE DITCH, IT SEEMED ONLY FAIR THAT WE GIVE THE RD’S AN OPPORTUNITY TO TELL THEIR STORY. DONNING HER THICKEST SKIN, TRM’S NZ EDITOR VICKI WOOLLEY HUNKERS DOWN ACROSS THE TABLE FROM A HANDFUL OF EXPERIENCED KIWI RACE DIRECTORS AND PREPARES FOR SOME PENT UP FRUSTRATIONS. THIS IS WHAT THEY THREW AT HER...

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FEATURE FROM THE DIRECTOR’S CHAIR

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FROM THE DIRECTOR’S CHAIR FEATURE

Tell us about the love. You work insane hours, forsake family and friends, and put yourself under enormous stress. What drives the motivation when it’s 3am and you’re preparing volunteer matrixes?

Paul Charteris (PC), Tarawera Ultramarathon Race Organiser and Director.

Phil and Louise Shambrook (PLS), Kaweka Mountain Ultramarathon and Hawkes Bay Trail Run Series Directors.

It’s important that people understand why our outdoor spaces need to be preserved, and you can’t see that if you don’t get out there. We want to get people out on the trails to show them why it needs protecting.

Aaron Carter (AC), Director of Totalsport.

TUM is an event that can change people’s lives.

I desperately want to deliver one extraordinary, memorable day to runners and their friends and families - the sort of day that will last a lifetime.

The gratitude, the friendship and genuine love that comes pouring out at the finish line lets me know that something I have created has touched the lives of others. What more can you ask for in life?

People want to go to awesome places and spend their (very precious!) recreation time with likeminded individuals. By creating challenging and inspiring adventures in stunning locations, we understand that what we provide for people is important - and that’s about the best reason to get out of bed every morning! When you are really into what you do, it’s so much more than just a job.

Shaun Collins (SC), Lactic Turkey Events owner/operator.

It’s not always sunny days on the trail. Tell us about the un-love, what part of your job could you really do without?

I get a kick out of seeing people finish. You see some people at the start of an event and think ‘Jeepers this is gonna hurt’, but they slug it through and finish and come up to say how much they loved it. Then you see them pop up at other events and slowly make their way up the distance options. I love that we have been able to provide the tools for so many well-known trail runners to do this – stretching them mentally and physically a bit more each time.

PC: RD’s need to manage each race like a business – if it loses money, it can’t keep going.

So we need to be ‘financially tough’ with refund policies, transferring and deferring entries. I hear some heartbreaking stories about why people cannot run, and it makes me feel like a bad person when I say ‘no refunds’ – I don’t enjoy it one bit.

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AARON CARTER HAMS IT UP WITH THE TOTALSPORT TEAM UNDER THE T42 GANTRY, 2014. PHOTO: PHOTOS4SALE.

PAUL CHARTERIS PARTICIPATING IN THE 2014 INAUGURAL HILLARY TRAIL CHALLENGE: “FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MONTHS I WASN’T THINKING ABOUT MY RACE [TARAWERA]. ALL I COULD FOCUS ON WAS MY OWN DISCOMFORT. IT WAS BRILLIANT.” PHOTO: PHOTOS4SALE 69

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FROM THE DIRECTOR’S CHAIR FEATURE

LOUISE AND PHIL SHAMBROOK BEAM WITH DELIGHT AFTER LANDSAR GAVE THE THUMBS-UP FOR THE 2014 KAWEKA MOUNTAIN MARATHON TO GO-AHEAD IN ATROCIOUS WEATHER CONDITIONS - JUST 15 MINUTES BEFORE THE STARTER GUN. PHOTOS BY ALLAN URE, PHOTOS4SALE.

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AC: It’s a total numbers game: you put on an event for 1000 people, five people are going to have the worst day of their life! Over the years I’ve developed thicker skin, and now come pretty close to not taking things personally.

SC: For me it’s about Council permission and all the red-tape bullshit. And people interrupting as we are compiling results to ask when prize giving is – 2mins earlier if you didn’t bug me!!

The day after an event is much like a hangover.

I try to spend some time with the family acting like I have lots of energy, but really I’m forked.

OFFICIAL TARAWERA ULTRA PHOTOGRAPHER, LYNDON MARCEAU, BEMOANS THE FICKLE WEATHER AND THE PART IT CAN PLAY IN A COMPETITORS - AND RACE OFFICIAL’S - EVENT EXPERIENCE. PHOTO GRAEME MURRAY

SHAUN COLLINS (CENTRE) FLANKED BY KEY VOLUNTEERS SHANE ABSOLUM AND RICHARD MOYLE AT THE HILLARY TRAIL CHALLENGE 2014. PHOTO: PHOTOS4SALE. 70

SHAUN COLLINS (RD) COMES TO GRIPS WITH CLIVE START’S UNUSUAL RACE ATTIRE ON THE START-LINE OF THE HILLARY TRAIL CHALLENGE, 2014. PHOTO: PHOTOS4SALE

Let’s talk about money. Runners sometimes balk about paying entry fees to race trails they can run for free. Without giving too much away, what can you tell us about the costs of staging a major off-road event?

AC: There are a lot of events that you physically aren’t allowed to do except on event day (i.e.

South Island Motatapu, DUAL, etc) so it’s a funny old argument. We’ve unashamedly taken a commercial approach to this business and have a bunch of dedicated people delivering quality events so labour is our biggest cost by miles.

PLS: Events are a revenue stream for other service providers – e.g. timing, toilet hire, marketing, catering, printing, website management, paramedics, safety management and audit, traffic management, volunteers.

Almost everyone wants to put their hand in our pockets, but it is very hard to find people wanting to put money in. Finding sponsors to balance the finances and keep events affordable for participants is one of the worst parts of our job.

PC: No one makes a ton of money out of these events. Because TUM has global reach, it has a large media budget: a lot of resources go into TV production, video, photography, elite runner’s accommodation and Ultra-Trail World Tour activities. As I am now working fulltime for the event, staffing costs will drop a little in the coming year: 2015 (year six) should be the first year that it has come close to making a profit.

SC: There are large costs associated with an event that participants see nothing of, for example: health and safety plans and audits, land access fees, council application, environmental and monitoring fees. And a lot of event costs are increasing as our societies namby-pamby cottonwool expectations increase.

This brings us nicely to a discussion about risk. Compulsory gear, race waivers, course information... this stuff is in place for participant’s safety, but often challenged. Cut loose, guys!

SC: Please read course information!! If it says compulsory gear – it is compulsory! I see it as our educational obligation to show people what sort of stuff you should have and what you need to think about when you head into the bush.

PLS: The Kaweka Ranges can be a very hostile environment, and we take this very seriously.

Its hard work and expensive to put safety plans in place: it’s NOT about making life difficult for participants; it’s about potentially saving lives!

Safety planning is all about putting measures in place for when things go belly-up, so PLEASE stop moaning and just carry the safety gear.

AC: You never need any of this stuff when you’re having a good day. BUT if/when you take a fall you’ll be pleased to have that gear with you as you may wait hours to be removed. We pride ourselves on having outstanding health and safety protocols and procedures in place, and have invested heavily in this area. As depressing as it sounds, we prepare for the very sad day when someone dies at a TS event, and we want to make sure we’ve done absolutely everything we can to guard against this. We talk about this a lot.

PC: Most of the 60-70 identified major risks can occur at any time of the year, with race day risks pretty mild by comparison. But Mother Nature can always hurl a tropical cyclone your way (2014), or have the event fall on the most extreme fire risk day in the past 3,500 days (2013).

You just have to plan for those risks.

If you could encourage runners/ volunteers/supporters to do ONE THING, what would it be?

AC: Be present to how lucky we are to be able to do what we do, in the places we get to do it.

PC: All I ever ask is for you to be there on the day and take part – spectating, cheering, volunteering, running – it’s all about being part of a special day.

PLS: Runners: do the event without complaining, there is a reason things are as they are. Feel free to complain, but offer constructive critique. Volunteers: encourage more people to help. Supporters: get excited and enter!

SC: If you enjoyed an event, spread the word – don’t be shy! People are busy and there are a 71

FEATURE FROM THE DIRECTOR’S CHAIR

13 September ANgLESEA VIcTORIA

› 100KM SOLO OR RELAY TEAMS › NEW 50KM SOLO OPTION LUCAS DUROSS LOOKS MORE RELIEVED THAN DELIGHTED TO HAVE SMASHED THE BRUTAL 2014 KAWEKA MOUNTAIN MARATHON IN EXTREME WEATHER CONDITIONS. PHOTOS BY ALLAN URE, PHOTOS4SALE.

lot of events to choose from so we want to hear what works best and why. Give us feedback so we can continually improve the events for you.

markings to follow). We suddenly realised the colours were about-face, and things could have gotten ugly real quick, but Super-Dave gunned it to various course points on the quad bike and was sorted before the first riders arrived. Phew.

If you could discourage runners/ volunteers/supporters from doing ONE THING, what would it be?

PLS: Standing on the start line of the 2014 Kaweka Mountain Ultra waiting for the final weather check to determine if the event was even going to go ahead that day was just horrible. LandSAR confirmed it was all go 15minutes before start.

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PLS: Volunteers, we love every one of you – if you said you would help, please turn up.

SC: Once I had to send out this email: “Sorry but we have just found out that we will have to postpone the Trail Running Extravaganza due to a wounded feral bull running around the farm”.

Just a shocker of an excuse, you had to laugh!

SC: Please don’t come up after you have finished and ask what time prize giving is. We know you want to go home – so do we – but there is still half the field out there, so chill out and enjoy the atmosphere!

PC: My nightmares about the event start late Feb. One of the oddest dreams was when I routed the event through a pub and made it mandatory for all runners to drink at least one pint of beer and engage in meaningful conversation with the locals before being allowed to move on. Actually that doesn’t sound like a nightmare – that sounds like a pretty good idea!

PC: Every year the course markings get stolen, either the night before or during the race.

(Editor’s note: During the race? Seriously??

C’mon, people!!)

As RD’s you must have some truly tasty tales from the trail – wanna share your funniest moment or worst nightmare?

It was far from the retaliatory rant I was expecting. These guys assured me thick skin was a prerequisite for the job they do – but I challenge that. They are all passionate about New Zealand’s wild and beautiful places, and desperate to share these with others. They care deeply about each and every participant’s personal experience on the day and they feel each and every complaint.

AC: As the starter horn went for the mountain bike leg of the Dual one year, I checked in with our Course Director and casually asked him to tell me the bib colours being worn by the 50km and 30km participants (this is really important because the bib colour indicates which course 72

A spectacular ultra marathon through captivating wildflower hinterland, beside towering sea cliffs and along remote ocean beaches where no two footsteps will be the same.

They want you to have a good time, to love the environment, and to feel excited about where you are and what you have achieved. So get out there with an appreciation of what goes into you having a good trail run at an event, go easy on the unavoidable hiccups... and please, read the course information!

[Editor’s note: And perhaps say the odd thank you to the RDs and their teams who are all trying to make your day on trail the best it can be. Commented by the AU Editor who has also now taken the chalice to RD a trail event!

It’s scary, I tell you…]

Support those who are supporting and growing the trail running community by taking massive risks and putting in the time to create wonderful trail experiences for you: www.lacticturkey.co.nz www.totalsport.co.nz www.taraweraultra.co.nz www.thekaweka.co.nz/ www.hbtrailrun.co.nz/

22 June Studley Park 5 • 11 • 15km

20 July Plenty Gorge 6.5 • 12 • 17.5km

17 August Olinda 7 • 15.5 • 21km

14 September Anglesea 8 • 15 • 23km

Melbourne’s premier trail running series featuring four races held at beautiful wilderness venues.

This is trail running for everyone.

www.SurfCoastCentury.com.au

FEATURE

SALLY LAW FEATURE

The Woman [not far] behind the legend The Woman [not far] behind the legend

WORDS: Vicki Woolley IMAGES: Sally Law Collection / Mal Law

FOR A LONG TIME THE TRAIL RUNNING COMMUNITY KNEW HER AS MRS LAW: THE SUPERBLY SUPPORTIVE BUT DEMURE FIGURE RUNNING THE SHOW BEHIND CAUSE RUNNING LEGEND, MALCOLM LAW. NOW A TRAIL RUNNING LEGEND IN HER OWN RIGHT, IT’S TIME FOR SALLY TO STEP OUT FROM HER HUSBAND’S SHADOW...

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the ridgeline and was instantly infatuated.

I love being above the bush line and I really wanted to experience that section of the run.

“What the heck [I thought]…Mal and company were doing much crazier stuff than 60km… how hard could it be? I ran it in 2011 in 9 hours, getting to the end feeling like I’d run 150kms, but also like a super hero. I was hooked.”

Sal’s running went from strength to strength over the next three years, with almost every event a PB on the previous year’s time.

Husband Malcolm chips in: “Sal’s not kidding when she says I’ve started looking over my shoulder. She goes about everything in her usual humble, low key, matter-of-fact way, but I know how hard she’s worked to get her running to where it is today. Every time we compete in the same race she gets closer to me and I’m in awe of how she does this while maintaining such a smiley air of ease and fun.

I am immensely proud of my girl, The Gazelle, as I call her”.

I’m keen to discover Sally’s secret: how does she post respectable times, yet look so darn comfortable on the trails?

She laughs: “My personal motto is ‘train not strain’. I’m happy just to be out there ticking along and if I feel like walking, I’ll walk; but if I feel good, I’ll stretch things out a wee bit.

With an event, I always like to get to the finish line feeling AND looking like I’m happy to be there. Mal says I have potential to go faster but - while I do have a competitive streak - I don’t

ASK SOMEONE TO DESCRIBE SALLY LAW AND THEY TELL YOU ABOUT HER BEAUTIFUL SMILE. THEN THEY TELL YOU ABOUT HER EFFORTLESS RUNNING STYLE: SHE SIMPLY FLOATS ALONG, MAKING RUNNING LOOK MORE PERFORMANCE ART THAN EXERTION. I CAUGHT UP WITH SAL FOR A DAY’S RUNNING OVER HER FAVOURITE WAITAKERE TRAILS, AND ASKED HOW SHE CAME TO THE SPORT: “In mid 2001 a mate coerced our yachting crew into entering a half marathon. I thought this was utterly bonkers, who in their right mind would run THAT far?,” says Sally.

“But I started training and built up to my longest pre-event run of 12kms (that was as far as I thought was sensible). The event itself went well until about 17kms when I lost the will to live. I recall saying to myself ‘If I can just get to the end I NEVER have to run again’. I finished, gratefully relieved, in 2:14.

Two months later I met Mal.” Sally quickly realised that keeping up with her husband was a full time job. She had to get – and stay – running fit, because she never knew when they would suddenly be zooming off for another crazy adventure.

As Mal became heavily immersed in trail running, the bug also bit Sally.

“I was support crew for [Mal’s run project] 7in7 and was in awe of everyone running those distances. It never occurred to me that I could do it. Then I saw a Kepler Challenge video of

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“I have a fairly short attention span when it comes to running. I thrive on technical, varied trails, particularly downhill, and drop down the happiness scale when there’s a long, flat section unravelling endlessly in front of me” <<

near the batsman. During one of the games I copped a ball straight off the bat, which broke my nose. Try as I might, the old snot rockets just aren’t a happening thing for me. So tissues are something I wouldn’t leave home without.”

“Favourite bit of kit is more difficult. It would be whatever item relieves some minor discomfort at a particular point during a long run: chapstick when my lips are dry, jet planes when I’m peckish or the cash I brought along to spend at the [iconic cafe] Piha Store, mmmmm.”

We happen to be heading that way, so spurred on with thoughts of coffee and cake, we head back down the trail, discussing preferred running environments.

“I’ve come to realise I have a fairly short attention span when it comes to running. I thrive on technical, varied trails (particularly if they’re downhill) and drop down the happiness scale pretty quickly when there’s a long, flat section unravelling endlessly off into the distance in front of me”.

A tad guiltily, she confesses: “I did run a road half marathon at the end of March with the sole purpose of seeing if I could run one under 2 hours. With Mal pacing I crossed the line in 1:52 but it was a real effort to stay focussed.

have the mongrel in me to push to extreme levels of discomfort.”

The conversation naturally turns to food as we stop to admire the view down to Whites Beach, and Sally offers me a trademark jelly jetplane.

“I do take the odd gel from time to time but prefer as much ‘real’ food as possible.

Typically bananas, PBJ sammies, mixed nuts with dates, One Square Meals and the odd jet plane,” she smiles.

Recently a spotlight was trained on her hydration and found it to be deficient. “Fluid levels that were just adequate in the high humidity of Auckland were insufficient in the dry mountain air of Wanaka. I now drink a lot more water during the day, coconut water (and water) comes with me on runs, as do electrolyte tablets, and I use Recoverite as a post-run hydration boost.”

It is said that the contents of a woman’s handbag say a lot about the woman, so I ask about Sally’s favourite piece of trail-running kit, and what she would not leave home without?

With characteristic humour, she shares a story from indoor cricket days.

“I played in a men’s team fielding up front 78

My head was messy and I found I was often looking at my watch to see how much further I had to go. I rarely do that when I’m trail running because I’m just happy to be out there knowing the finish will come when it comes.

Not only that but I was SORE afterwards. For DAYS afterwards. I could run a whole trail marathon and not be that sore. Trail over road any day. No contest.”

It’s no surprise, then, to hear that Sally adores the Shotover Moonlight Mountain Marathon, which she describes as “Just a jumble of craziness in a spectacular setting.

It’s a cross between a trail marathon and a very hilly obstacle course. One minute you’re romping through a pink meadow of wild marjoram, the next you’re using a rope to drag yourself up a rock face, then charging down a scree slope, through a river and up a ladder.

How much fun is that??!! Epic.”

It hasn’t always been sunny days on the trail, though, as Sally recalls: “My worst trail running moment was Cyclone Lusi’s interference at the Tarawera Ultra this year. To provide some background as to why that affected me so much, I was one of the unlucky 2013 Tarawera 100K runners caught out by last minute changes in cut >>

The Woma [not far] behind the legen 79

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running memory.

“Running the Hillary Trail solo in August last year in 13:03 is one of my best trail running days ever. I was physically and mentally in a groove and when I got to the end at Muriwai, I felt like I could keep running. It was awesome. I had a smile on my face for days afterwards.”

Reflecting on that incredible challenge, Sally goes on to describe trail running as “an accelerated learning opportunity. I’ve discovered a whole lot about myself by spending hours inside my head while facing physical discomfort. Trail running has helped me become more confident; I’ve learned to manage adversity better, and I’ve come to realise I’m far more resilient than I give myself credit for.”

Does she prefer to run alone or in company?

“I enjoy the solitude of running alone. It provides me with a sense of utter calm, free of noise, clutter, and distractions. It’s also an opportunity to really notice things, to listen and see, to smell and touch. I can’t pass a large kauri without pausing to hold my hand to its flank to sense its life force and imagine its history.”

off times, and had to finish at 85km.”

“Anyway, I became more motivated than ever to knock the 100K off and by the time Tarawera 2014 rolled around I was 110% committed. No matter if it went to the mythical place called Kawerau or, worst case, the out-and-back fire course horror – I was going to finish that 100K. So then Cyclone Lusi came along in all her glory, forcing the organisers to make changes for safety reasons. Their announcement came the night before the event: the course had been shortened to 74km. I was shocked. I just hadn’t anticipated that outcome. I actually cried. No 100K for me. Again.”

Sally Law doesn’t stay down for long and we trot into Piha in fits of giggles as she tells me about the time she came across a completely naked man in the Waitakere’s.

“I was so surprised I had to look twice to make sure he really didn’t have any clothes on. For that reason I didn’t get a good look at his face but I could pick him out in a naked line up!”

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“Running with friends is absolutely fabulous - conversations range from the sublime to the ridiculous. There have been times when I’ve been laughing so hard I can barely fold in two let alone run! Trail running has gifted me some treasured friendships and introduced me to boundless numbers of wonderful people I’ve yet to meet a trail runner I didn’t like. They are an incredibly supportive, nurturing, joyous, big-hearted bunch of individuals who can’t get enough of trail running or each other!”

Excitement bubbles over as Sal cites the Running Wild annual Tarawera Trails Training Camp to illustrate her point.

“We had so much fun this year! It was like 60 kids at a school camp being drip fed sugar for two days. How good is it to hang with people and talk trail running for 48 hours solid without anyone’s eyes glazing over? It was like family, and in a sense we are, because like attracts like, right?”

Acknowledging the strong bond in the trail running community, Sally continues: “Often someone has a personal trail goal or suggestion for a group run, and there’s immediately a raft 83

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That’s your most harebrained, f****d up idea for a trail running mission yet! I love it - I’ll be there in 10 minutes’.

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of people lining up to help make the goal a reality. There’s a great meme doing the rounds on Facebook which describes the community pretty well: ‘That’s your most hare-brained, f****d up idea for a trail running mission yet! I love it - I’ll be there in 10 minutes’.”

Speaking of hare-brained ideas, the Laws have a big year coming up. Despite relocating permanently to Wanaka in January, they have barely unpacked. Life has been a whirlwind of training camps, running tours, events, Sally’s 50th birthday celebrations and visits with friends and family – both in NZ and abroad.

“All that and I haven’t even mentioned the Partners Life High Five-0 Challenge yet!” Sally laughs. “Project managing the Challenge has been Mal’s full time job for months and it will be our sole focus until the end of the year. It’s a massive undertaking (without even taking the physical challenge into account) and there is still much to do before Mal and 200 intrepid runners can set off in January 2015”.

Malcolm pays quiet tribute to his wife: “Sal is support crew extraordinaire and has been there to get me through so many missions.

Next up is the biggest test of her patience and resourcefulness yet - supporting the 50-day epic that is the Partners Life High Five-0 Challenge. But the really cool thing about this adventure is that Sal and I will actually get to do some of these big runs together. And that will be truly special.”

Just keep looking over your shoulder, Mal, as the next hare-brained idea for a trail running mission might just be Sal’s. And if it is, we’ll all be there by her side in less than ten minutes flat.

WWW.HIGH50.ORG.NZ/ WWW.PIHA.CO.NZ/PIHA-STORE/

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FEATURE

Ultra in sight We gave our Asia correspondent, Rachel Jacqueline, very late notice that she was in for a long run – The North Face 100, Australia, to be exact. Six weeks’ was all she had to prepare. Here’s what happened and what it taught her…

WORDS: Rachel Jacqueline IMAGES: Aurora Images

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FOR MOST PEOPLE, RUNNING 100 KILOMETRES THROUGH RUGGED AUSSIE BUSH IS A “NEVER-IN-MY-BLOODYLIFETIME” TYPE OF ENDEAVOUR. BY READING THIS MAG I ASSUME YOU’RE INTIMATE WITH THE WARPED SENSE OF JOY AND ACHIEVEMENT THAT COMES AFTER HOURS OF SELF-PUNISHMENT ON THE TRAILS. BUT LET’S KEEP THINGS IN PERSPECTIVE – YOU’RE WEIRD. ULTRA MARATHONS ARE TOUGH. AND THEY REQUIRE PREPARATION, EVEN FOR THE ELITES. So imagine my delight when my editor signed me up to run The North Face 100 Australia on six weeks notice. Standard marathon training is four months; I had six weeks. And you thought I had a cushy job.

In its sixth year, The North Face 100 Australia promised over 4,200 metres of cumulative ascent over 100 kilometres through Aussie bush at some of its finest, and over what was rumoured to be a tougher course. (Arguably this was proved as Stu Gibson and Andrew Tuckey sprinted over the finish for a split-second 1-2 finish in 9 hours 31 minutes - at least 14 minutes slower than Brendan Davies’ 2013 course record.)

I was woefully underprepared. After a gruelling performance at the Hong Kong 100 in January where I dragged myself over the finish, barely kept together by Nurofen, some sports tape and an iron will, the furthest thing in my mind at that point was racing again. I’d tallied just a handful of training runs in the eight weeks after the race, and was still rehabbing a particularly pesky IT band issue.

But what the hell, I thought. Life’s an adventure, right? After taking part in the 50km event last year I was keen to run the full distance on home soil. And besides, I was certain I could rely on my HK 100 training and fitness.

Coach Andy Dubois considered otherwise.

“Unfortunately you lose that in 3 to 6 weeks of

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not doing much,” he said in his annoying-andbrutally-honest tone via email. “So the answer is no.”

I was going to have to train, and train hard, if I had a chance of finishing in an acceptable state.

The six weeks that followed were intense.

We concentrated on quality workouts – a hill set, stair set, speed set and long run during the week, supplemented by hikes with my dog. My longest run, two weeks before TNF100, was a hilly 25 kilometres. It took me five hours. Yup, I was screwed. Or so I thought.

I arrived in sunny Sydney from Hong Kong more than a week out before the race and went for a 10-kilometre run to stretch the legs out.

Everything hurt and my legs just felt like two joint dough balls. Mandatory pre-race jitters set in, exacerbating my tragic lack of preparation.

And that was the point I decided to let go and embrace the experience instead. “It’s better to be 10% undertrained that 1% overtrained,” whirred the advice from Scott Murr, co-author of Run Less Run Faster, in my head. I comforted myself that the same would no doubt apply to being at least 30% undertrained.

The week leading up to the race I concentrated on positive, happy, and healthy thoughts. I scrapped the tapering plans and went to yoga instead. I slept. I caught up with friends. I laughed. A lot.

Come race day, I felt good. Eerily good. My legs had flourished in the week off and felt like taught, fresh sticks ready to plough through the course.

And plough I did, finishing in 14 hours 38 minutes. Yes it hurt, yes it wasn’t as good as I know I’m capable of and, yes, my IT band didn’t like it. But I did it. And – wait for it – it’s been my best ultra running experience so far.

What went right? Here are eight insights I take away from my 100km-off-only six-weeksof-training experience. >>

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. You are what you eat

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. Over training is a serious problem

While training for an ultra is vitally important, over training is also a serious problem. Before the boom in ultras and trail running, the sport was limited to a small an eccentric group of diehards. An ultra was traditionally seen as the next natural step after years of marathon running. These days, only a fraction of those lining up to an ultra have ever run a road marathon. The effect of radically increasing your training loads to run an ultra can, if not properly guided, lead to injury and fatigue, or worse, adrenal fatigue.

Preparing for an ultra is always about pushing limits and riding the fine line of injury. But the point is – it’s important you find your limits.

No blog article or book can tell you that, and it’s certainly not the same as your training partner.

Keep an eye on your training levels and how you respond and recover.

Although I was undertrained, I was working off a reasonable base fitness under the guidance of an experience coach. I had previous experience running 100 kilometres and was mentally prepared. I trained for a year before I attempted my first 100km race, and the time periods have reduced since then, as my endurance base has grown.

The point is: I did enough to get through and doing more is sometimes worse.

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While debates rage between paleo versus vegan and so on, my philosophy in race preparation is simple: I reduced sugars and alcohol (but didn’t beat myself up when sharing a vino with a friend), and increased my intake of vegetables and quality proteins. I don’t eat wheat generally, and I think this is important for most runners and it often interferes with digestion, particularly when your body is under stress.

And my biggest secret? I always prepare for an ultra by doing a two to three day juice cleanse two weeks before. As I was still doing heavy training given my short training schedule (whereas usually I’d be tapering two weeks out), I supplemented my cleanse with a raw food diet and nuts. The point is, leading up to the race I try and pack my body with as much nutrientdense food as possible. Just because you’re about to run 100 clicks doesn’t mean it’s time to start filling up on fatty deep fried foods.

3

. Stress is a killer

I kicked around the week before the race and kept stress to a minimum. While that’s not possible for many runners, you should be aware of the impact of stress on your running. My performance on the day was markedly better than a friend (who is a much better runner than me) who flew in just a day before the race to compete. I also know of several people who drove up to the Blue Mountains on the Friday night before the race, getting in late and compromising their sleep. If you’re about to ask your body to undertake such a big effort, be kind to it.

>>

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FEATURE ULTRA IN SIGHT

ULTRA IN SIGHT FEATURE

7

. 100 kilometres is a long way without a smile

I always smile in races. Even when I’m hurting. And believe me, this race did hurt. My IT band started to niggle about 10 kilometres in.

But what are you going to do, quit? Don’t forget why you run: to enjoy it. And smiling is a great way to remember it.

<<

4

. Patience is a virtue any ultra runner must have

8

. Don’t forget to enjoy the view

The only way I knew I was going to survive off such little training was to exercise discipline and patience and stick to a plan on race day. My mantra was to conserve and preserve, run what felt comfortable, and it served me as I was still running my 99th kilometre (before those brutal vertical stairs). My approach to 100 kilometres is always the same: it starts at half way. You should get in to the 50km mark feeling like you’ve done nothing, and only start to push with 30km to go.

6

. Surround yourself with the happy people and ignore the happy-suckers

I know I called you all weird earlier, and I’m sorry. If I was your friend, I would tell you to ditch me. The truth is, being passionate about ultras is likely to attract the happiness suckers and the doubters. Drop them. You simply can’t have their negative energy around you. I had five members of family and friends at every aid station boosting me up and helping me along my journey; their energy was better than any performance enhancing drug. If you don’t have support around, engage in conversation with the friendly aid-station staff and chat to fellow runners.

5

. Ego is a bitch

I believe performance in ultras is the sum of your natural talent and base fitness, times your training, times how much you’re willing to suffer. While I knew I was strong, given the amount of preparation I had done I knew no amount of suffering would make up for it. We can’t all be number one. And you know what?

It can be a little lonely at the top. Being a little further back is, in my opinion, much more enjoyable. It’s such an epic feat, why not drop expectations and have fun instead?

The TNF100 Australia is a beautiful race.

Running along Narrowneck under blue skies with the smell of eucalyptus hanging in the air sticks in my mind, even now. Too often we get so drawn within ourselves, our training plans and our expectations, we forget to suck in our surroundings and enjoy ourselves.

Where ever you race in the world - whether it’s in your own backyard, in the Alps or along Jamieson Valley - never forget to enjoy where running takes you.

Keep in tune with next year’s event at www.thenorthface100.com.au Read more of Rachel’s work at www.racheljacqueline.com

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95

TAILWIND NUTRITIONREVIEW

VITALS

$50

Large (1350g, 50 servings)

$35 Medium (810g, 30 servings) Reviewer: Tegyn Angel

Associate Editor and nutrition nerd Tegyn Angel reviews the latest and greatest offerings in the world of nutrition and hydration… there’s some gut-busters out there – best he do the litmus test for you. www.tailwindnutrition.com.au/

I’M OBSESSED WITH IMPROVING THE WAY I DO THINGS, GIVING MYSELF AN EDGE AND SOLVING PUZZLES. IT STEMS FROM AN INHERENT OPTIMISM; A BELIEF THAT THINGS CAN BE PERFECT. THE IDEA I COULD RUN AN ULTRA AND FINISH IT FEELING NICE AND FRESH DRIVES ME TO TRY AND FIX EVEN THE SMALLEST LITTLE NIGGLE OR COMPLAINT. PROBABLY THE THING I’VE EXPERIMENTED THE MOST WITH IS NUTRITION: NATURAL FOODS, HOME-MADE SMOOTHIES, HAMMER PERPETUEM BLENDED INTO A PASTE, GELS, ALL SOLIDS VS. ALL LIQUIDS.

Wind Beneath Your Wings 96

Some of these have worked really well, fuelling me through 100km runs with no ill effects. Some have been a mess: gut cramps, nausea, retching. Palate fatigue is the biggest killer, that is, using a product so much you can’t stand it anymore. It comes to a point though, where the experimentation gets tiring. I’m sick of carrying blenders in my luggage; freezing crazy smoothies; Chia bomb explosions; excel spreadsheets and bags of white powders.

I heard about Tailwind Nutrition, a clean tasting, reliable ultra fuel made from simple ingredients that don’t cause stomach issues.

It sounded worth a try and so I reached out to Gavin Markey, winner of the 2013 Great North Walk 100miler and head honcho at Tailwind Australia.

So what’s going on here? What’s all the hype about? Well Tailwind is as much about what it is not, as what it is. It’s cheap*,

has no caffeine*, no protein and no fancy schmancy snake oil, just a simple list of fairly common ingredients: Dextrose (Glucose), Sucrose, Sodium Citrate, Sea Salt, Citric Acid, Organic Flavour, Potassium Chloride, Calcium Carbonate, Magnesium Citrate.

The whole premise is that these are all you need to fuel for a race, period. When mixed with appropriate water intake, these will take care of your calorie and electrolyte requirements without the need for further supplementation.

This less-is-more approach is pretty damn attractive from the perspective of a runner as there’s bugger all prep and hardly any math.

Each scoop is 100 calories (our approximate max calorie absorption is 200-300cal per hour) so throw 2-3 scoops in a bottle with some water and you’re good to go. In testing Tailwind, my nutrition plan for ultras has gone from a complex spreadsheet to a number of “scoops” per leg.

In order to make this review legit I ran the 2014 UTMF 100 miler and used about 90% Tailwind. I worked out how many hours I intended to take between aid (e.g. 5hrs for the first three legs) and for each hour added two scoops to a bottle. The other 10% came from 4 or 5 gels, a couple of Quest protein bars and fruit, miso, chips and other goodies from aid stations. I used the gels for an extra kick going up into the Tenshi mountains (and when I felt sleepy) and the other items to satisfy a rumbling stomach and a bored tongue. Over almost 30hrs, I felt my energy levels were very consistent (notwithstanding a bit of fatigue-related sleepwalking) and my

stomach pretty calm.

This is all pretty glowing, but are there any downsides? Of course, but only a few. I’ve found I get gas during runs where I’ve used a lot of (the ironically named) Tailwind, but haven’t been able to prove they’re connected.

While it’s marketed as a flexible, oneproduct solution, it’s complicated if you want to keep your water, calorie and electrolyte sources independent. I’ve also found it to be overwhelmingly sweet when concentrated, even when I mix the fruit flavours with the unflavoured “naked” product, and therefore difficult to make into a multi-hour bottle.

This is a side effect of using dextrose and sucrose over something like maltodextrin and users will need to experiment with different concentrations for themselves. I get around it by taking a mouthful and then washing it down with plain water from my bladder.

So does it work? Definitely. Would I recommend it? No question I would, but on the assumption that it’s thoroughly tested in training. For shorter races and training it’s good to go by itself. For longer events I’d add caffeine and few other food options to break up the monotony. On super hot days I’ll carry a few salt caps for insurance. For questions about the need for caffeine or protein, the US Tailwind site is a good starting point for answers.

Disclaimer: This product was provided FOC by Tailwind Australia for the purposes of this review. *Note: Tailwind has launched a caffeinated raspberry flavour product after this review was written.

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REVIEW

TRAIL SHOES // THE NORTH FACE ULTRA TRAIL

take outs THE NORTH FACE ULTRA TRAIL

Great for: consistent terrain, racing, mid-distance, weightwatchers , trail feel, wet weather, hot weather

Not-so-great for: loose terrain, mud, sensitive souls, very cold conditions

Test Conditions: coastal trails, soft ground to gravel firm, rock sections, fire trails.

Only 65km tested.

Tester: Chris Ord Tester Mechanics: slight pronator, mid foot striker unless really tired and getting lazy to the heel, stiff hip flexors (not enough training, no fault of the shoe)

VITALS

$180 AU Information online at: www.thenorthface.com.au

ULTRA DEPENDABLE ONE AWARD GETS YOU NOTICED, MORE AWARDS GETS YOU CREDIBILITY AND THE NORTH FACE ULTRA TRAIL’S HAVE QUICKLY GARNERED SOME SERIOUS KUDOS IN MAG LAND WINNING GONGS THE LIKES OF OUTSIDE MAGAZINE’S 2014 GEAR OF THE YEAR AWARD IN THE TRAIL RUNNING CATEGORY AND RUNNER’S WORLD MAGAZINE BEST DEBUT AWARD WINNER. THAT’S NOT A BAD LOOKING TROPHY CABINET FOR UNDER HALF A SEASON OF BEING ON THE PLAYING FIELD. YOU CAN SEE THE MARKETING BODS – CHUFFED AT THE ACCOLADE AMMUNITION THEY’LL TOUT IN THE NEXT CAMPAIGN 98

The North Face Ultra Trail

- CLINKING CHAMPERS FLUTES WITH THE LAB DESIGN BOFFINS. GREAT WORK OLD CHAPS, NAILED IT. TRM has to date avoided the plaudit game, but if we did enter that fray, this model would get an award for ‘most consistent’ in terms of here we have a pair of trail shoes that doesn’t lairize. It just gets the job done, dependably across the middle ground of the trail scene.

A shoe made for neutral runners, it is well suited to an average shaped foot - despite looking on the narrow side it has good room on the interior so long as you haven’t got whacking slabs.

The ride is dependable, so long as you’re on medium grade dirt. It displays good trail feel until you get to seriously steep or loose, gravely stuff. Then it loses its composure a little, the demure pattern Vibram sole grippy on most surfaces but tending to lose its mojo on gravel or mud where the close knit, low profile lugs let it slide.

Where the Ultra Trail’s shine is in comfort and ride, so long as you aren’t looking to be molly-coddled. The Cradle mid-sole technology that has well-served previous models in The North Face trail range, is reemployed, giving an extremely stable ride and promoting a biomechanically correct stride.

The energy return is on the dull side with a

Where the Ultra Trail’s shine is in comfort and ride, so long as you aren’t looking to be molly-coddled.

firmer disposition – those looking for spring may be disappointed but those looking for trail feel will be happy trail campers.

For this tester, the moderate drop is in a sweet spot of 8mm (16mm-8mm), which delivers a good balance between low profile connection to the ground, giving immediate response and a mid range rise that doesn’t overly stress the calf as you fatigue.

The action on trail feels fast and agile – nearly like a road racing flat – you feel like you want to dance on dirt in these.

The upper is where more noticeable changes have been employed; a nearly seamless lightweight mesh construction featuring super wicking ‘Flashdry’ fabric on the inner matched to a breathable exterior mesh. These shoes are perfect for those runs where getting wet feet is inevitable. The material (including the overlays) is highly flexible, the fit consistent. The toe protection is good with rubberized protection the vanguard up front. The interior is essentially

seam-free allowing for sockless wear, as well.

Where the upper may fault is in longevity, however the shoe was not in hand (ermm, on foot) for long enough to assess either upper wear or sole degradation. Being a black Vibram sole, however, and on the firmer side, we suspect the grip will last longer than the fabric up top and indeed a quick web search revealed other testers who had minor issues with fabric wear and the odd tear.

Overall this would be a great shoe for fast, short- to mid-distance trails that feature consistency of mild terrain underfoot, rather than extremes. It would also be a good regular training shoe, especially for door to trail given the ride on road isn’t too bad.

Not a daring entry on the market, but a solid performer in the mid ranger category.

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REVIEW

TRAIL SHOES // SAUCONY HOKA ONEPEREGRINE ONE KAILUA 4 TRAIL

photo: Chris Ord

take outs SAUCONY PEREGRINE 4

Great for Nearly any trail you can imagine, technical, smooth; whatever you can throw at them they will handle.

Not so great for Lasting very long if you beat your shoes up on trail a bit.

Test conditions Technical but soft trails, fire roads and a bunch of hardcore, rocky, gritty, sharp trails in the Northern Territory. Approx 160km all up.

Tester Chris Ord. Tester mechanics slight pronator, mid foot striker unless really tired and getting lazy to the heel, stiff hip flexors (not enough training, no fault of the shoe).

VITALS

$179.99 /AU Further information at: www.saucony.com.au

FLYING HIGH ‘RUN ANYWHERE’ IT SAYS ON THE TONGUE OF THE LATEST SAUCONY PEREGRINE 4S. ONE LOOK AT THE AGGRESSIVE LUG PROFILE AND YOU’D HAVE TO THINK THESE DIRT BANDITS COULD JUST ABOUT STEAL YOU THROUGH ANY TERRAIN, TO BE SURE.

Saucony Peregrine 4

they rather too quickly fell apart: a common problem among reported Peregrine wearers.

It does say a lot about a shoe, however, when it disintegrates rapidly (not a good thing when you’re on trail 100% of your run time), yet people keep going back to buy them regardless, the fragility of the upper being more than counterbalanced by the sheer performance and comfort on foot.

And so with my old Peregrine’s gone to the trail running gears’ holey place (the bin), it was a pleasure to reacquaint myself with the 4�s. They have a firm feel, with not a ton of cushioning, but are by no means a minimalist

The caveat here is that in the past I have written about my extreme affection for the Peregrines (barely stopping short of putting them on a pedestal in my loungeroom). In the past they have slotted into the quick-draw category as the go-to shoes. That was, until

100

shoe. In fact, the balance between protection and trail feel is, as it always was, spot on for my liking and the 26mm heel to 22mm forefoot, gives a low end, 4mm drop, which is my drop sweet spot. That gives the run action a very low profile ride, despite the fact it looks externally like a bit of a bigger beast.

The comfort factor inside remain high – it’s one of those shoes you put on and it just feels right from the get go. The snug factor inside is perfect for what I’d rate as an average size and shaped foot. There’s toe room, bit it is not boxy; it cuddles nicely through the centre but is by no means restrictive to only slender slabs.

There is nothing namby-pamby about the construction with sturdy uppers and decent solid laces adding to the durable feel.

the shoe features welded overlays which no doubt provide better wear qualities on the upper, however the main mesh material, which assists in awesome breathability and wicking, and contributes to keeping the shoe lightweight, still suffers from a sensitivity issue. That is, belt them around the Larapinta Trail in the Northern Territory – rocky, harsh and spiky – and they still come away with obvious weak points on the outer forefoot, against where your little toe is (just below the improved toe shell which does give great protection) and right where the crease line is.

I wonder if they should have put some of the weld material in what has always been an obvious weak spot in previous models?

It’s a pity as otherwise these shoes remain a glorious addition to ant trail runner’s arsenal.

The good news is that we’re only at model #4, other brands (Brooks, Mizuno etc) have stretched the model iteration love through to at least number 9. It follows, then, that Saucony still have a few models up their sleeve to perhaps make this the perfect trail running shoe.

‘FlexFilm’ - a seamless construction - continues to lock in the foot without adding weight to the upper, making the Peregrine 4 the lightest version yet.

In the core, the rock plate has been upgraded to nylon fiber mesh for reduced weight and added flexibility, and the ‘PowerGrid’ replaces ‘ProGrid’ in the heel for optimal cushioning.

The system effectively centers the foot, absorbs impact and distributes pressure to feel a little squishier in the heel, but hey, you shouldn’t be landing on your heel anyway, right?

Underfoot, the multi direction lugs are some of the best grip on the market in my opinion, across all surfaces. And unlike many grip beasts, the Peregrines still ride well on harder, flatter, smoother trails or fire roads.

Adaptability to conditions, I believe it’s called.

Even to the point that they say the Peregrine is gator compatible (although that depends on the brand of gator – anything with a strap that hooks underfoot gets worn pretty quickly as there is no concave gutter to keep it from grazing the ground with every step).

But what about that durability issue? Well,

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REVIEW

TRAIL SHOES // INOV8 TALON 212

Image: Tegyn Angel

take outs INOV8 X-TALON 212S

Great for: hyper-technical terrain and glorious single track. Anything off road.

Not-so-great for: wide feet and roads. The soft sole will likely wear out long before the uppers, the lugs are super aggressive and wide feet will need to size up to find a fit lest they feel the wrath of lace bite.

Test Conditions: extensively tested on everything; dry, wet, dusty, muddy, hard, soft at UTMF and the Larapinta Trail

Tester: Tegyn Angel, Associate Editor, Trail Run Mag

Tester Mechanics: pro-minimalist, calf-heavy midfooter

VITALS

$169 AU Information online at: www.inov8australia.com.au/

SHARP PERFORMER WHEN I FIRST STARTED TRAIL RUNNING, I OWNED A SWEET PAIR OF THE NORTH FACE AND A PAIR OF MONTRAIL HARDROCKS. CHUNKY AND BRUTAL, THESE WERE GREAT SHOES BUT AS MY MILEAGE GREW I DEVELOPED PATELLA TENDONITIS AND LOOKED FOR WAYS TO FIX IT. I DISCOVERED VIBRAM FIVEFINGERS (VFF) AND NIKE FREE 3.0S AND WAS SOON RUNNING IN PREDOMINANTLY MINIMAL RUBBER. THE KNEE PAIN WENT AWAY AND, ASIDE FROM SOME TEETHING PROBLEMS, I’VE RUN IN MINIMAL SHOES EVER SINCE.

Then courtesy of a bike mishap I spent a few months with deep bruising on my heel that forced me away from the VFFs. I needed more padding if I was to keep running, I but was loathe to lose the low drop, flexible platform entirely and went looking for alternatives.

Enter Inov-8, a UK brand that loves minimalism, producing a lot of their shoes with small-to no-drop and maintaining a huge range of trail, road and “fitness” shoes that includes a lot of very thin, very flexible offerings.

The X-Talon 212 has a cult status among the off-road community and claim to have garnered more world championships than any other off road shoe. As with all Inov-8s, the 102

Inov8 Talon 212

number represents the shoe’s weight in grams meaning the X-Talons are 212grams, or about 15g lighter than the Salomon Sense.

The other part of their name refers to the type of outsole, in this case the extremely aggressive sole. These things are so luggy they look like football boots, but are matched with very low weight and incredible flexibility.

For 2014 they’ve had a revamp with a few minor changes, mostly cosmetic, but let’s put things into perspective. This shoe was first released in 2008 and this new model is almost EXACTLY the same. Same sole, same upper, same weight, same name. The saying, “don’t fix what ain’t broke” applies here, a good thing as

These things are so luggy they look like football boots, but are matched with very low weight and incredible flexibility. it’s damn frustrating when you find a shoe that works for you has been discontinued or “fixed” six months later.

So the changes? The new colourway (from poo-yellow/gray to Blue/Orange/Black) and a flatter lace material are the most obvious.

They’ve also received a couple of rubber caps over each side of the central-midsole which improves traction but also increases their durability, particularly for Obstacle Racers who’ve come to love the 212s.

Before I discovered the 212s I spent a lot of time (four pairs in 18 months) in the superlight X-Talon 190s. They are like switchblades: super quick, dangerous and effective on just about anything except pavement. But the uppers were flimsy and

had a habit of wearing through the toe-box (nb: they’ve just released an update of the 190 which claims to have fixed this, but we’ve not gotten our hands on them yet).

I bought the original 212s because they ride the same under carriage as the 190s but sport a beefier upper with a leather toe-box and thicker mesh. These make them very durable and reduce the entry of dirt and debris while making my dollar go a whole lot further. I’ve run kilometres of volcano scree in my old pair and although the sole now looks like a set of racing flats, the uppers are as good as new.

For an extra 22grams the 212s have saved me hundreds of dollars.

Getting the magnifying glass out, the new 212s run a 6mm footbed with 6mm of drop.

The sole is extremely flexible, similar to the NB Minimus, and based on a modified climbing shoe rubber that makes it very sticky. The fit is what Inov-8 calls “precision”, designed to ensure “minimal internal movement when contouring, ascending and descending.”

In practice that means they’re fairly narrow all the way through and I have to upsize to get

enough width in the toe-box. While it’s hard to tell if this transfers to the internal fit the new outsole of the 212s do seem almost 1cm narrower in the mid- and forefoot.

While they’re designed more for shorter, sharper races rather than ultras, I ran the Buffalo Stampede marathon and just came off running the full 169km of UTMF in these bad boys, and didn’t change socks or re-lace once in either race. I did pre-tape the broadest part of my forefoot, as my hobbit feet tend to fill out the Euro fit, but otherwise survived almost 30hrs of running without a shoe-related blister.

How’d the shoes hold up? On courses that are both straight up and down technical singletrack or dreary road and pavement, I found that they performed incredibly well. I wouldn’t lace them up for a road race or a city park trail, but the 212s are my go-to shoe for anything technical and have proven themselves an almost perfect balance of weight, cost and durability.

Ed’s Note: shoes were purchased at full price and not supplied by brand.

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REVIEW

TRAIL SHOES //TRAIL SHOES NIKE ZOOM TERRA KIGER

Image: Vicki Woolley

take outs NIKE ZOOM TERRA KIGER

Great for: Anything technical Not-so-great for: Shopping Test Conditions: Technical single track: steep, wet rocks and roots, mud, stream crossings.

Tester: Vicki Woolley, off-road ultra-marathon runner.

Tester Mechanics: Forefoot runner.

VITALS

AU$210.

Information online at: www.nikestore.com.au

LIKE A KIGER AFTER A LENGTHY ABSENCE FROM THE TRAIL RUNNING SCENE, NIKE HAS THROWN DOWN THE GAUNTLET WITH THE ZOOM TERRA KIGER, A SHOE THEY DESCRIBE AS “DESIGNED TO FIT LIKE A TRACK SPIKE BUT PERFORM LIKE A TRAIL SHOE”. AT 210G (WOMEN’S SIZE 8) THESE BAD BOYS - OR GIRLS - ARE PERFECTLY PITCHED TO GRAB A SHARE OF THE MARKET THAT WANT A LIGHTWEIGHT SHOE WITH A LITTLE MORE CUSHIONING THAN MINIMALIST. The most rigid thing about the Kigers is the box they come in: there is no rockplate, heel 104

Nike Zoom Terra Kiger

counter or medial post. The shoe is built on a Nike Free last, with a full length rubber outsole and Nike Zoom forefoot and heel units to provide cushioning. The result is a shoe that is light, beautifully responsive and with heelto-toe flexibility. Don’t let the softness of the satinesque inner deceive you: these shoes are Halle Berry with a handgun.

I was suspicious at first. The toe wrap seemed minimal, but actually provided adequate protection as I stubbed a couple of rocks and clipped more than one root. I worried the back of the shoe would squash down like a pair of old sneakers. Instead, the anatomical low-profile heel ‘subsides’ to match

Coming over the crest and starting a steep, slippery and technical descent, the ‘sticky’ rubber multidirectional lugs kicked in.

real-time trail feel, responsiveness and grip has completely transformed my downhill running.

Time to get dirty, Halle. The burrito tongue with fly knit lace technology took some getting used to, but it does provide snug wraparound midfoot hold. The tongue rides a little high, but is soft enough to not apply pressure, and extremely effective at locking out debris – and the mesh drains quickly. The original laces look a little short at first, but they stretch, and the whole shoe configuration adapts to your foot after a few outings.

The Kigers had a final surprise in store for me as we hit the end of the trail and headed down the 5km gravel and tarmac run out.

Despite the absence of a rockplate, the airpressurised Zoom units and outsole provided enough protection and cushioning for me to transition seamlessly to hard surface without issue. These shoes are little and cute – sexy, too – but, like every good Bond girl, they mean business. And if you take them on, you had better mean business, too. They will leave you looking like an idiot if you don’t.

the natural contour of the runner’s heel, then holds stable. In fact the entire mesh upper has so little structure that, over time, it takes on the shape of the runner’s foot. This slipperlike comfort has since rendered the Kiger my ultramarathon trail shoe of choice.

These shoes are brutally honest - any work you do in them is your own. The flip side is that you won’t get any argument from them, either: I was poised in just the right position on my toes for the climb, and the better utilisation of calf muscle counteracted the absence of return from a more buffered midsole. Coming over the crest and starting a steep, slippery and technical descent, the ‘sticky’ rubber multidirectional lugs kicked in. These are something special: as the day wore on we were rocking it down steep hills... then steeper... then wet and steep... and finally clay – at speed, no fear. Seems it didn’t matter what I threw at the Kigers, they weren’t going anywhere out from under me, and being able to relax on the downs set me up well for the climb that inevitably followed. After six months of running in little else, the combination of 105

REVIEW

TRAIL SHOES // SALOMON S-LAB XT6 SOFT GROUND

take outs SALOMON S-LAB XT6 SOFT GROUND

Great for traditionalists, almost any trail surface, using gaiters.

Not so great for minimalists, ground feel

Test conditions hardcore, rocky, gritty, sharp trails in the Northern Territory. Approx 75km all up.

Tester Chris Ord. Tester mechanics slight pronator, mid foot striker unless really tired and getting lazy to the heel, stiff hip flexors (not enough training, no fault of the shoe).

VITALS

$219.19 /AU Further information at: www.salomon.com/au

SWEET X-TACY I CAN BE SUCH AN UNGRATEFUL, JUDGMENTAL PRICK SOMETIMES. I’ll be honest – when I took these shoes out of their box, I did not know what I was getting (in more ways than one it turns out). They were provided for test by Salomon, but they hadn’t told me what I was testing. I opened the box (without looking at the label) gleefully expecting to get my dirty tester mitts on a pair of the latest Sense, such is my inclination towards the more minimal style of shoe.

I’d heard good things about how they had rounded them off a touch and thought they would suit me (‘cause I am never going to be as go fast as the original Kilian-inspired Sense

Salomon S-Lab XT6 Soft Ground

were capable of).

Dang. Really? How will I run in those heels?

The sight of the XT-6 Soft Ground had me like a spoiled little child. Awww but I wanted…

Shut up child. Gift horse. Mouth. Run goddam it.

In the back of my mind I remembered that Aussie young gun trailite, Blake Hose, was addicted to these things. Even before he was sponsored by them.

So packing my bags for a trail run along the Larapinta, NT, I stashed the Soft Ground in, unsure how much soft ground I would be testing them on.

Day two I traded another pair of shoes that 106

weren’t quite working on the touchy terrain, for the Salomons.

They may look audacious and their heel visually screams at other shoes, I’m the King of the Castle… But on the foot, looking ahead rather than at the paint job, the feel, the application of these shoes to the ground belies that bolshie ‘look at me bravado’. These puppies back up their boast. Are they for soft ground? Not sure, but they sure make the ground feel soft.

Super comfortable, they moulded quickly to my feet (average size, not fat, not thin), coddling through the centre courtesy of the regular Salomon quickpull lace system tensioning up welded Sensifit upper. I like the upper on these

Are they for soft ground?

Not sure, but they sure make the ground feel soft.

for wet, muddy conditions, I threw the Soft Grounds into unfamiliar terrain, crunching them of sharp, abusive rock. And they rode it with aplomb. Similarly, back on home, damp, leaf and mud strewn turf, they sucked to the ground well, the outsole lugs big and well spread; not as deep as the Fellcross, but adequate for all but the deepest mud.

The sole is on the stiffer side, but still flexed through my foot motion and toe-off without feeling restrictive or harsh, likely courtesy of the flex grooves in the outsole.

While never going to appease minimalists, this shoe will be coveted by traditionalists looking for a high performance shoe that delivers protection, stability and grip in what is a fairly lightweight package for the beef it has on its bones. The ground feel is, as you’d expect, not as touchyfeely, but flared heels give confidence on the rear end when earthed, and a fairly low ride ‘feel’ that belies the 20mm to 9.5mm heel-toe drop means you don’t actually feel like you’re riding in Priscilla’s platforms.

Al up this is a surprise package shoe that will have a broader market appeal than you (and I) would expect.

Salomons; they are like Goldilocks’ preferred, not too padded, not too light, just right. And robust – I slammed these things against the red-orange, shoe eating rocks of the Red Centre and they came away with nary a scratch. No tears, no wear points. The bullet proof rubberized toe I was particularly grateful for, given Larapinta terrain tends to bite at your feet often and hard.

So the upper is as sound as a MacDonnell Range sunset. But what of the inner?

Well, here we had a stumbling block, if minor. The Ortholite number – while comfy, and without hot spots – fell apart rather quickly. When I say fell apart, the grey lining on which your foot sits came away from the foam base, then scrunched up under toes and forefoot. A small annoyance at worse that merely requires a new innersole.

Down to the foundations. The XT 6 includes a pronation control post, so if you’re into the whole shoe-manipulating-natural-motion approach to design, and you over-pronate, then you’ll get the support you need from these. For those neutral runners, the effect is subtle if noticeable at all but kicks in gently as you and your form fatigue.

Despite the fact that these are designed 107

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TRAINING WAS BREATHTAKING IN A FEW WAYS FOR RYAN SANDES BEFORE THE START OF THE DRAKENSBERG GRAND TRAVERSE, SET IN THE DRAKENSBERG MOUNTAINS, SOUTH AFRICA. KELVIN TRAUTMAN / RED BULL CONTENT POOL 108

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TRAIL PORN

PRESENTED BY

AUSTRALIAN TRAIL RUNNER LUCY BARTHOLOMEW TAKES IT IN HER STRIDE ON THE TARAWERA 100 COURSE. LYNDON MARCEAU MARCEAUPHOTOGRAPHY.COM

ANNA FROST RUNS GREEN IN THE WHAKAREWAREWA FORESTS, NEW ZEALAND. LYNDON MARCEAU MARCEAUPHOTOGRAPHY.COM

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TRAIL PORN

PRESENTED BY

STEVE NEARY AT THE TURNAROUND POINT OF THE CAPE BRETT CHALLENGE SOLILOQUY PHOTOGRAPHY

THE CARIBBEANâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S ONLY ULTRA, GUADAUN FEATURES SIX STAGES FROM 15-30KM ACROSS THE ARCHIPELAGO OF GUADELOUPE. ALEXANDER BEER WWW.ALEXANDERBEERPHOTOGRAPHY.COM

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TRAIL PORN

PRESENTED BY

IRUNFAR.COM EDITOR, BRYON POWELL, IN FRONT OF BLUE POOL AND POHUTU GEYSER, TE PUIA, ROTORUA NEW ZEALAND. LYNDON MARCEAU MARCEAUPHOTOGRAPHY.COM

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PRESENTED BY

GETTING HIGH IN VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA'S, HIGH COUNTRY ALPINE WILDERNESS ON A 100KM HUT TO HUT MULTIDAY BETWEEN HISTORICAL DROVERS' HUTS, THE BASIS FOR A NEW TRAIL RUN TOUR BY TOUR DE TRAILS WWW.TOURDETRAILS.COM. CHRIS ORD 116

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TRAIL PORN

PRESENTED BY

TRAIL QUEEN, ANNA FROST, CHECKS OUT A FEW OF THE ROCKIER TRAILS TO BE FOUND BEHIND THE SEASIDE RESORT OF LORNE, VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA. CHRIS ORD

THE VIEWS ARE BIG, SO TOO THE MOUNTAINS AND DISTANCES AT NEW ZEALANDâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S NORTHBURN 100, RECOGNISED AT THE MOST BRUTAL RUN DOWN UNDER. LYNDON MARCEAU MARCEAUPHOTOGRAPHY.COM

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TRAILGUIDE

AUTUMN BLISS 128

You know they’re there: those pristine trails.Close.Not far from your doorstep.

You can smell them…

Karawatha Forest, Brisbane, Qld 120

Or maybe that’s just the sweet waft of dirt not-long ground into the lugs of your trail shoes, which sit by the front door — a welcome reminder of the weekend’s mountain jaunt.

But the blood screams for more. The legs are sore, yet they pine for a warm down. A warm up. A flat out blast along some winding, wet, wonderful singletrack. But where to go?

Only got an hour (which you know can stretch to three).

Trail Mag has the answer(s).

Here. In this guide. Each edition we’ll bring you step by step trail run guides, all within an hour of a major city or town in Australia, New Zealand or Asia, all between 5km and 30km, all worth zipping out to for a trail fix.

We’ve also included some post-trail goodness ‘cause we’re human; we’re caffeine freaks too (strong latte – sometimes double espresso, but only on race days), and we love the smell of fresh eggs and bacon after pounding the paths. Welcome to the goodness guide.

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PRESENTED BY

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Goldie Bush loop, NORTH Island, NZ

Hunua Ranges, North Island, NZ

Currawong Falls, Aireys Inlet, Vic

Win Salomon gear!

We need trail correspondents! If you think there’s a cracking trail the world needs to know about, go research it, write it up, shoot a photo and send it in. We do have a bit of a style going, so be sure to check out the guidelines and download the pro forma before you do at www.trailrunmag.com/contribute If your guide is chosen as the ‘Editor’s Pick’ of the issue, you’ll win some great Salomon Trail Gear. The best guide submitted to be published in Edition #14 (out September 2014) will receive an Agile Set 12 backpack (RRP $139.99), and an XA run cap (RRP$29.99), valued at $159.99. Just for going trail running (with a camera!)?

Yep, that easy!

So go running, get writing and start window shopping at www.salomon.com/au

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TRAILGUIDE

PRESENTED BY

IMagE: MATT JUDD

KARA KILLER

1-1.75hrs LOOP

Your Guide //Matt Judd www.juddadventures.com.au

RUN IT: There are trails throughout Karawatha Forest, several of which are named loop trails that are well signposted. The “see it all” loop - you won’t see this on any of the direction signs - is a combination of several of the marked trails to take in most corners of the forest area.

1. Starting from the Acacia picnic area, head out on the southern branch of the Ironbark Circuit.

300m from the start take the left trail at the junction onto the Rocks Circuit.

2. A further 2km on you’ll come to a large track

junction where you want to go left, following directions to the Wallaby Track. Not far from here you come to a firetrail junction where you again head left, now on the Wallaby Track, and another 350m or so from here you want to take a right hand turn onto the Dentata Trail.

3. 500m into the Dentata Trail there is a somewhat confusing trail junction (with a few trails going off and signposts pointing in ambiguous directions), at which you want to take the rightmost option onto the Wallum Track.

4. Following the Wallum Track for 800m or so brings you to a short timber boardwalk.

Follow the left trail at the end of the boardwalk, continuing on the Wallum Track.

5. After 1km or so of running you will come to

yet another signposted track junction, at which you want to follow the signage for the Maculata Track heading west. Continue on this track for 1.5km (give or take), ignoring any tracks away from the main trail.

6. You will come to a signposted junction with

the option of the Hakea Trail. Take it. Follow this trail for a 1km until a timber footbridge on your right leads you on to the Wild May Trail.

The Wild May trail winds through wetland scrub

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Karawatha Forest, Brisbane, Qld

POST RUN GOODNESS:

before leading you to the Illaweena Picnic area at the south-western corner of the forest.

7. Crossing the grassed parkland and over the timber footbridge, take the right trail onto the Casuarina Track. Following the trail beneath the powerlines you will pass a signposted junction to the Maculata Trail on your right, and about 150m on from here you will come to a nonsignposted trail junction with a trail on your right – take it (this is the Dianella Trail). This is one of the few non-marked trails on the loop so be sure not to miss it!

Karawatha Forest is on the southern fringe of Brisbane, a city that is spoilt for choice with great coffee (and pubs if you’re running late in the day). it’s worth heading in to Brisbane’s West End for breakfast at one of the many trendy cafes or if you have to duck off the motorway for a caffeine fix heading back into Brisbane, you could do worse than Swich Espresso, 954 Logan Road, Holland Park west.

8. Following the Dianella Trail for 1.6km – ignoring any trails off this along the way - will have you back at the Wallaby Track, at which you want to go left. Following the Wallaby Track firetrail takes you first to the west before a bend steers you north where you join up with the Entolasia Track which becomes a section of sealed bitumen road leading past a large water reservoir.

trail tips NAME: Karawatha Forest Loop NEARBY CITY: Brisbane CBD (18km, 20min drive)

EXACT LOCATION: Acacia picnic area, Acacia Rd Karawatha

9. About 350m on from the water reservoir, all of which is downhill on the bitumen road, there is a signposted junction taking you off the road onto the Echidna Trail. This trail twists and turns downhill for a while before climbing uphill on nice, narrow trails.

TOTAL DISTANCE: 14.1km (from GPS) TOTAL ASCENT/DESCENT: Not much – GPS gave 185m

TIME TO RUN: 1hr steady pace, 1hr 45m relaxed

10. You will come to a track junction for the

TYPE OF TRAIL RUN: Loop

Rocks Circuit, where the most scenic option is to continue straight (on the rightmost trail) up natural rock stairs to a picnic area. At the picnic area head left, still on the Rocks Circuit, and not far on from here you will come to “The Rocks”, a fun sandstone shelf across which you head to a set of timber stairs winding between the rocks.

DIFFICULTY: Easy DEFINING CHARACTERISTICS: Non-technical terrain, dry forest, wetlands

FEATURES OF INTEREST:

11. Only 100m or so on from “The Rocks” you

Karawatha Forest has a diverse range of wildlife and forest growth. From Wallabies and Kookaburras to Eucalypt forest and wetland lagoons.

come to yet another trail junction at which you again go left. 300m downhill from here you hit another junction – this time go right. You will still be on the Rocks Circuit, which you follow until you cross a small timber bridge. Over the bridge take the left trail option onto the Ironbark Circuit. 700m or so of running will soon have you back at your starting point at the Acacia picnic area.

ONLINE MAP

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TRAILGUIDE

PRESENTED BY

IMAGES: Vicki Woolley

GOLDIE BUSH LOOP

90 min

Your Guide: Vicki Woolley With a myriad of stream crossings, Goldie Bush loop is less trail run and more delightful adventure – best undertaken in warm weather with humour and a bunch of good friends. Take care after periods of heavy rainfall; the river is deep and fast-moving in places.

RUN IT:

1. From the car park at the start of Constable Road, the well-benched track drops steeply down through a stunning Kauri glade in the Motutara Scenic Reserve. Currently under threat from Kauri Dieback Disease (PTA) it is worth taking this part slowly and enjoying these magnificent relatively young specimens. Please use the phytosanitary station at the start of the trail and stay on the track – PTA is soil-borne and can be spread by tramping over roots.

2. After 1.2km you reach the Mokoroa Stream:

look carefully at the signage, pass under the bridge and set off along the Mokoroa Stream Track through the Goldie Bush Scenic reserve (do not cross the bridge: you will return over it at the end of the run).

North Island, NZ

5. After 4km you finally climb out of the river and up the steep right bank: turn left at the top to reach the 11-metre stunning Mokoroa Falls lookout.

TRAIL TIPS NAME: Goldie Bush Loop; Motutara and Goldie Bush Scenic Reserve.

6. From the Falls, continue up the wide and

gravelled Mokoroa Falls Track which climbs steadily for 1.5 km until you reach the junction with Horsman Road car park. Turn right onto Goldie Bush Walkway: the next 2km are delightfully runnable (especially when dry) as you float along loamy turf through imposing but well-spaced stands of rimu, lancewood and nikau.

NEARBY TOWN/CITY: Kumeu, 19km (20mins).

EXACT LOCATION: Start of Constable Road, Muriwai Beach.

7. All too soon the sound of the river alerts you to

TOTAL DISTANCE: 8km

the end of your adventure. Cross the bridge and climb back up through those magnificent kauri and tanekaha to the car park.

TOTAL ASCENT/DESCENT: 500m elevation gain

TIME TO RUN: 1-1.5hrs TYPE OF TRAIL: Loop

POST RUN GOODNESS:

DIFFICULTY: Moderate DEFINING CHARACTERISTICS:

Many exhausted runners slog out the final few kilometres of the Hillary Trail fantasising about hot chips, oat slice, homemade pies and milkshakes awaiting them at the Sand Dunz Beach Cafe (455 Motutara Road, Muriwai Beach).

Join them...

Single-track, technical, multiple stream crossings, poorly marked trail

FEATURES OF INTEREST: Mokoroa Falls, regenerating Kauri, native bush

3. The Mokoroa Stream Track follows the left

bank of the stream for a short way: when you reach a right-hand bend, look for the orange trail markers and stay on the left bank (crossing a small tributary).

4. For the next 2.8km the trail meanders about

on each side of the river: you will cross it many, many times, and at one point, walk in the stream for a 100metres or so: this makes it feel more like a ‘bash’ than a formed trail! Stay vigilant for orange markers: sometimes the trail appears to lead somewhere but peters out. Even when the river is low, care must be taken at the stream crossings: the sandstone is covered with algae and slippery, and there are some decent sized holes that are great for swimming if you choose!

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Geothermal activity abounds, evidenced by steaming little fumaroles, coloured mineral deposits, and rainbow banding in exposed rock outcrops

ONLINE MAP

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TRAILGUIDE

PRESENTED BY

photo: Vicki Woolley

HOOFING IT IN HUNUA

2-3rs

YOUR GUIDE: Vicki Woolley The DoC website informs us that historically, “Māori used the hills and forests of the Hūnua Ranges primarily as a source of food and timber, and as a refuge rather than for permanent residence.”

Rugged, brutal and beautiful, the infamous Hunua trails beat you with one hand and reward you with the other – often simultaneously...

RUN IT:

1. From the car park at the end of Moumoukai Road, head up gravelled Waterline Road to the Upper Mangatawhiri Dam. Do not cross the Dam, but stay left on Waterline Road and warm-up on 3km of gently undulating forestry road, meandering around the west shore of the reservoir.

2. After 3.2km the forestry road turns inland

away from the water: Ernie’s Track starts on the bend, heading off to the right. Keep your eyes peeled as it is easy to miss the entrance.

3. Immediately the track drops into dense

native bush, then undulates mildly for around 2km. There are a few small stream crossings: on sunny days, bright orange ponga fronds provide a delightful contrast to beautiful green foliage. Keep an ear out for tomtits, kereru, piwakawaka and tui, and if you are very lucky, you may even hear a kokako: Hunua is the last NZ mainland refuge for this endangered beauty.

4. The track is reasonably well marked with orange DoC triangles, but do stay vigilant as a number of bait lines lead off the main track.

Shortly after crossing the Mangatawhiri River, an incongruous stand of bamboo alerts you to the remains of old Ernie’s Hut, tucked around the back.

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Hunua Ranges, North Island, NZ

5. After leaving Ernie’s Hut you begin the 2km climb to the highest point of the day at 497m.

Nearing the top there are a couple of grassy clearings, which afford spectacular views of the Ranges, down to the reservoir and northwest to Manukau Heads and the Waitakere Ranges.

trail tips

6. Diving back into the bush, the undulations

Hunua 13km, Papakura 28km.

NAME OF TRAIL RUN Ernie’s Loop, Hunua Ranges

NEARBY TOWN/CITY

(with a net elevation loss) become more serious and fun for those who like their technical downhills. About 1km from the summit you pass the junction with Upper Mangatawhiri track on the left: continue straight ahead.

EXACT LOCATION 7km North of Warkworth on SH1, Dome Valley Tearooms (on right of highway)

TOTAL ROUTE DISTANCE

7. Breaking out of the bush at Piggott’s

15km

Campground, a signpost directs you to Lilburne Road and on back to the Mangatawhiri car park. Lilburne Road is a nice fast 5km gravel run-out to stretch out the knots in your legs, returning you to the east side of the dam.

Cross the dam and trot back down the hill to the car park.

TOTAL ASCENT/DESCENT 635m elevation gain

TIME TO RUN 2-3hrs

TYPE OF TRAIL RUN Loop

DIFFICULTY

POST RUN GOODNESS:

Moderate

There is nowhere fantastic to eat at this end of the Hunua, unless you like convenience store ice cream! Best leg it back to Auckland and jump into one of your favourite barista-accredited caffeine haunts. Can’t wait that long? Try en route Bruno Rossi Café Superiore, 291 East Tamaki Road, Manukau or Mottletop, 293 Great South Road, Papakura, although we can’t personally vouch for either - they being research based picks.

Single-track, technical, roots, mud, stream crossings, big climb

DEFINING CHARACTERISTICS

FEATURES OF INTEREST Native bush, Ernie’s Camp, manganese mine (disused), variety of birdlife

MAP

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TRAILGUIDE

PRESENTED BY

DISTILLED GOODNESS

1-1.5 hrs LOOP

Your guide: MICK BETTANIN Victoria’s Surf Coast, an hour and a coffee stop south west of Melbourne, is home to a bunch of great, medium-weight singletrack perfect for general training.

You can choose anything from a short meander to linking up more than 100km vis a vie the Surf Coast Century (13 Sept) event. This loop with extender options takes in part of that course and features some of the best fun flowing single track in the area.

RUN IT:

1. Head out from the Distillery Creek

picnic ground and pick up on the Nature trail (departing from behind the picnic area), running counter clockwise (you can run clockwise too). The Currawong trail departs nature trail as it loops around, about half way along and is well signposted.

2. After 2km you’ll cross Loves Track and

there is a sign pointing you up to Currawong Falls. The trail here flows along a pretty flat gradient, with a few nice ponga lining the creek.

3. After about 4km you hit the first switch

back and will notice the gradient steepens slightly, as you rise the ferns give way to gum trees, and the charred trunk are remnant of fires in the area.

4. After a short climb along the trail you will

come across Currawong Falls. Not the most spectacular falls in the Otway’s, but the real prize is actually see them flowing in full flight!

5. The trail continues up to the summit

at about 7km from the start (268m) and is marked by a trig point. Head straight across the road and drop down into a fun fast and technical descent – plenty of loose rocks and tree roots here, so be mindful of your footing.

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Currawong Falls, Aireys Inlet, Victoria

6. After an initial steep decline, the trail

trail tips

flattens out and brings you to first viewpoint, looking out over Aireys Inlet township. If you’ve run from Aireys enjoy looking back on a great run, or if you’ve left from the car park enjoy the fact that you don’t have to run all that way home!

NAME: Currawong Falls - Iron Bark Gorge NEARBY TOWN: Aireys Inlet, 2km; Geelong 48km

7. Shortly after this there is a second lookout

EXACT LOCATION: Distillery creek Picnic Ground, 2km to the north east of Aireys Inlet.

point, overlooking Ironbark Gorge, with some 20m-30m cliff sheer drops – almost as steep as downhill MTB course ‘A’ line.

TOTAL DISTANCE: 14km or a 10km option if missing Ironbark Gorge or 23km if running in from Aireys (there are trail hook ups).

8. Continue down along the firm packed trail until you reach the next intersection (sign posted) which provides the option to complete a shorter loop by heading back to the car park, or to turn right and continue onto Iron Bark Gorge.

TOTAL ASCENT/DESCENT: 218m TIME TO RUN: 1-1.5 hours – depends on how much view you stop to enjoy ☺

9. The trail immediately pitches up again and

TYPE OF TRAIL RUN: Loop

is somewhat rockier than the Currawong falls trail. It winds up Ironbark Gorge and crosses five bridges as it twists and turn.

DIFFICULTY: Easy-Moderate DEFINING CHARACTERISTICS: Mixture of smooth benched trails and rocky / rooty technical section (plus some striking changes in vegetation)

10. As you pass the last bridge , the trail turns left up a switch back and continues along a rocky little goat track – look to your left and there’s not much to catch you so best not trip over here.

FEATURES OF INTEREST: Currawong Falls.

Run when it has been raining (or even in the rain, and catch the falls in full flight). The sweeping vistas looking out over Aireys Inlet are the high point. Good sweeping trails.

11.You’ll be at the top before you know it and then there is just the fun flowy descent down to where the trail will exit you at the picnic area.

ONLINE:

AIREYS-INLET ONLINE

POST RUN GOODNESS:

COAST HAVEN ONLINE

The Aireys Inlet Pub http://aireyspub.com.au/ hot chips are amazing, beer is cold (they are installing their own micro brewery, too), and if it’s been a cold day then the open wood fire will thaw you out.

PARKWEB ONLINE MAP: ‘Walks of Lorne and Aireys Inlet’ including the Surf Coast Walk. The Great Ocean Road Series.

Spatial Vision

MAP

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