The 3.00am wake up to get to the start line for our 4.15 start was a bit of a struggle. My good intentions of going to bed early were derailed when, much to our surprise and un-advertised, the netball came on TV. So it wasn't until 11.oo that I got to bed!
The running was good. My first leg started about 4.45, so I was running in the dark. There are no streetlights out there and it was pitch black. We had our van following the runner most of the time s, but while we were changing runners the runner on course was left alone for a while. It was a bit eerie being out in the middle of nowhere all alone in the dark, but it was nice and cool - good for running.
My second leg started at 7.15, so it was light and much easier to get gear organised etc. It was still nice and cool and along this leg I ran past some of the TV cameras. Saw myself running on the news this morning - it looked like I was having fun!
My third leg was going to be my toughest - mainly uphill and a bit later in the day when it is starting to get hotter. The uphill wasn't too bad, a long gradual hill, and I did get quite hot but we were lucky with the weather. It was overcast all day with a strong breeze, so it was as cool as it could be.
I was pleased to get to my last leg. By this stage I my legs were starting to stiffen up from sitting in the van for so long and I was getting a bit tired, but once I got going I felt OK.
Before much longer it was time to get out of the van again for one last effort - the whole team was allowed to join our final runner for group finish. We all crossed the finish line together flying our NZ flag 9 hours and 50 minutes after we started. We were please with our effort - we had estimated that it would take us about 10 1/2 hours, so we were quicker than that. The organisers had estimated our time at 11 hours 40 minutes.
We had some good battles along the way as we caught up with some of the other teams along the course. With our 30 minute head start we managed to cross the finish line before the Australian team and win the Charity Challenge. This earned $2000 for our charity, the National Children's Orchestra. Overall the Aussie team was a few minutes quicker than us, so claimed the trophy for fastest Diplomatic Team.
At the prize giving it was interesting to mix with the other teams and hear how they had gone throughout the day. There was a real mixture of teams - some that were very social and took 12 hours or more to complete the course and there was one open mens team that was very fast and managed to finish the 102 km in 7 hours 13 minutes. The most remarkable achievement of the was that of Dave Edgar, the fitness trainer for the Samoa Rugby Team - he ran the whole course by himself. I think it took him just over 14 hours, but he was still running when he crossed the finish line.
I will try and get some photos and post them later.
For the record the total course is 63.6 miles or 102.4 km.
The NZ High Commission Team took 9 hours 50 minutes to complete the course
My legs were:
- 4.83km 26:10
- 5.09km 27:01
- 4.83km 26.09
- 4.51km 25:17
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