Diary of a hairy legged multisport racer

Wednesday 12 August 2015

Gibbs Hill Challenge 2015: Using toddlers to break a record

The Gibbs Hill Challenge is an awesome race centred in Takaka. It's a great excuse to visit Golden Bay and temporarily escape life as a townie. We decided to make a weekend of it, hiring a Bach in Pohara. Nothing beats a morning paddle across Wainui Bay followed by an afternoon in front of the fire.

Zack likes me to be well prepared for my races these days so despite a 9am start he was insistent on a 5am wake up. Three year olds can be so thoughtful.



Cutting a long story short we woke to a big freeze. Overnight rain and a frost had made for cool conditions for the first ride. Soon enough Walter started us off onto the first 23km bike to Wainui Bay. My cold legs suffered with the pace but a brisk 41minutes had the first 3 of us in transition. Dismounting the bike I was prepared for a slick transition on the fly hoping to start running on my own. A quick loop of the transition revealed that Rach had not yet arrived. Bugger! So my wish to run out of TA solo was granted albeit in the wrong direction. I now began a search for Rach and my running shoes guided by the noise of two irate toddlers. Transitioning out of the stroller I began the run with an extra dose of aggression and time to make up. Character building one could say.



The 21km run goes out of Wainui bay uphill to a saddle below Gibbs Hill then down to Wharewharangi, undulating its way to Totaranui.  From here it rises steeply to the top of Gibbs Hill before dropping back to the fore mentioned saddle and Wainui Bay then the bikes. Knowing time was lost I ran harder than planned to the saddle hoping to catch a glimpse of those in front. Not seeing a sole I asked a SAR volunteer what the gap was to the next runner. "Oh not too far" he said. Internally disagreeing with his feedback (The gap appeared much more to me) I pushed the same intensity down to Wharewharangi where more volunteers were stationed hoping to make some time up. Feeling considerably worse for wear I again asked the burning question  this time rephrasing "how far  ahead is the leader". "You are the leader" she said. Un f@!kingbelievable I thought to myself. Anyhow, it had set me up for a good run provided I didn't blow.

Which I didn't....but plenty of suffering went down climbing up Gibbs Hill from Totaranui. Soon enough I was back on the bike and feeling as good as can be expected on the ride back to Takaka. With such a beautiful course this was the time I managed to soak some of it in and enjoy feeling warm on the bike.

Finishing strong and without any further mishaps I had managed a win and also managed to take a couple of minutes of the record. This was great news for Rach after our transition whoopsie earlier and shows that a bit of aggression can occasionally help fuel a decent performance! Crewing with Toddlers however is highly "not recommended"!.

Many thanks to Rach & Shirley for organising 3 boys for the race and to my trusty sponsors for helping my race happen. Thermatech, Torpedo7, Rasdex, Legend paddles & Migym Nelson.