The Routeburn Classic 38k Adventure Run  was held on May 12th, 2007, near Queenstown on the South Island of NewZealand. The Routeburn is one of New Zealand’s most historic routes and is one of only two tracks with World Heritage Walk status (the other being the Milford Track). The course is rugged and isolated, which means limited support and helicopter rescue if something goes awry. This is a very tough trail, with 1500+ meters of climb,
over a mountain pass at the beginning of winter. The race began at O’dark thirty in the rain. We 225 runners lined up, with all our mandatory gear strapped on, in the drizzle. The gun went off and away we went. The race began with 500m on a paved road to allow for some jockeying for position. After that, it was into the rainforest, past occasional views of Milford Valley, to the foot of a fairly large waterfall. By about a mile into the race, I was stripping off clothes and strapping them on to my already overloaded, double bottle, waist pack. I felt pretty good and enjoyed passing plenty of folks. The first water stop was at 12k, and I do mean water stop. This race had nothing but water at the aid stations. Oh well, I had some gels in my pack, so I kept right on going. The next 12–14k were all climbing, with some very steep grades. All of this was single track, making it a challenge to find spots to pass. My Garmin gave up beeping at me about no satellite signal, so I never knew exactly where I was and how much was left. I was really giving it everything I had and was glad I spent all those early mornings running the hills at El Moro canyon. By the time I reached the summit of Harris Saddle, the sun was overhead and the views were glorious. Surrounded by mountain peaks with a light dusting of snow, and piercingly blue alpine lakes, I felt like Julie Andrews at the start of the Sound of Music (an older, grubbier, sweatier and tougher Julie Andrews of course). By this time I had managed to ingest one cold, congealed GU and probably needed to eat more, but I just couldn’t bring myself to even try. The 12k descent was fast and furious. I lost time and was overtaken by others who were much more bold than I going down over rocks and boulders. I amazed myself with the number of instances I narrowly averted twisted ankles, broken shins, jammed fingers and chipped teeth. I didn’t pull out of all my stumbles, but I managed to keep moving without any catastrophic damage. The last water stop came around, so I filled up my two bottles and summoned my last bit of energy. The final 6-8k are fairly flat, on wider trails through rain forest and a series of river crossings on cable bridges. It turns out that if you try to run across a cable bridge, it starts to bounce and sway and actually tries
to eject the offending party right off the bridge. That was fun the first time (not), but after that, I slowed down on the bridges and kept a tight grip on the cables. I have to admit, the last 5k seemed endless, but I’m also sure I was in brain fog by then. I finally heard the announcer at the finish line and pulled out the last bit of surge power I had to complete the race in 4:50, 5th in my age group. I immediately found a place to collapse and recover. I felt totally bonked in the best sort of way and was already plotting how I could return to this race in the future and improve my time.

There are definitely cultural differences between New Zealand and the United States. At this race, there were no goody bags at the registration, nothing but water at the aid stations, and the free post race food was a grilled sausage. There were other food items for sale, like soup and juices, but nobody had any oranges, bananas, or sport drinks. The awards ceremony took place that evening at a swanky restaurant in Queenstown, which required a ride up a gondola to reach. The food at the party made up for the dearth at the finish, and I pigged out along with everybody else. The winners were congratulated (2:58 was the winning time) and there was a raffle with some great prizes from local businesses. To cap off my amazing adventure, I won a free jet boat safari – the value of which exceeded the cost of the race entry. Score! I learned about this fledgling adventure race from Sue at www.amazingrunningtours.com. She had been contacted by Evan, the Race Director, in the hopes of putting together a package tour from the United States. I knew as soon as I heard about it that I wanted to run it because I’ve been to New Zealand before and always have an excellent time. As it turns out, I was the only person to sign up for the race, so it ended up being just Sue and me. We had a great time in New Zealand, going jet boating, 4-wheeling, and ocean cruising in addition to running the race. I highly recommend this trip to anyone up for a mountain trail adventure.

Written by Sandy Draper member of Snails Pace Running Club in Fountain Valley, California
 

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