Hawke’s Bay Triple Peaks

A certain festive rush of blood to the head had seen me simultaneously enter both the Wellington Xterra series and this race, which was to be my first trail ultra. I’d heard about this race last year, and it sounded like a cracker. Nice mix of terrain, river crossings, hard and long, but not too hard and too long. Especially for a first time crack at something longer, having only done marathon distance on the road up until now. Plus, it’s always nice to have an excuse to visit the Hawke’s Bay and accidentally buy too much nice wine. Winning 20% off through Wild Things being greatly appreciated (off the race entry, not the wine, alas).

So it was that we spent the week leading up to the race nervously watching the weather forecast and trying our best to do a NOT-rain-dance. Sadly to no avail as the weather gods conspired to drop sufficient rain both locally and on the Ruahine to mean the Tukituki River, a mere trickle for most of the previous month, was in spate and a muddy, fast moving thing, full from bank to bank. Not a river anyone would think of trying to wade across, not that any sane race director would allow such thoughts to even be entertained.

The rain gods and the Tukituki River not being cooperative! HBRC river gauge for not far downstream of our supposed crossing site on left!

Which meant that come Friday morning, Plan A had to be abandoned. This would have seen us run up Mt Erin, down to the Tukituki, cross over and up the imposing 645 m Kahuranaki, back down to the same crossing point, back over and then up Te Mata and finally back down into Havelock North – about 56 km in all. Thankfully, the organisers had a Plan B up their sleeves. Plan B would be shorter, about 45 km, and see us stick to the true left of the Tukituki and thus keep our feet dry for the day. Obviously a shame to have to use Plan B, but a totally spot on decision.  Major kudos to the organisers for having a Plan B ready to use, and marked out in case the river wasn’t being cooperative – which it most certainly wasn’t.

We arrived early enough on the Friday arvo to have a little explore before some late carb loading. Some pretty average pasta from the village pub and a much nicer craft beer from a wee bar (Hugo Chang). We also managed some important recon – scoping out the spot for tomorrow’s post-race curry! Then rego, briefing and making sure the support crew (thanks Lou!) knew where the transition points were and (very) approximately how long I thought I’d take.         

Race day

Saturday dawned cool, a little overcast, but fine. We all gathered right in the middle of Havelock North for the off at the very civilised time of 8:30am. Several unusual things for me. Firstly, it’s the first race I’ve ever done where there have also been mountain bikers taking part too; and secondly, rather than a shoe tag, or one on the race bib, we had weird transponders you wore on your finger and had to physically insert at checkpoints. Seemed to work fine, and didn’t annoy me half as much as I feared at the start. Also the start involved following a safety car to allow us to traverse a few initial junctions safely. That was only an issue for the speedy bikers. Us mid-pack runners just followed the people in front as per usual!

This trail running lark is OK! Somewhere high in Kopanga Station. Photo by Dominic Strogen.

To start, we had a little under 3 km of road running. A gentle climb up Lucknow and Kopanga roads, with a few locals out, mugs of coffee in hand, to watch the nutters go past. Then it was onto the good stuff. Into Kopanga Station we went, for a short while on the main farm entrance track and then onto a series of trails, varying between grassy farm tracks and bike/stock trails across the paddocks. Traversing some lovely open land with fast flowing trails and the odd sharp climb (tending to get sharper as time wore on) as we made our way ever closer to Peak #1, Mt Erin (490 m). There was plenty of pushing/carrying of bikes on these climbs, and not for the last time, I was glad to be on two feet and not two wheels. I’m guessing the elite riders probably rode up many of these, but they were long gone by the time I got there! As we rounded a bend the summit and its large TV mast came into sight and we started to hear the strains of AC/DC wafting on the breeze from the impressively large sound system they had at the top. There was one last very sharp climb to the summit and, to add insult to injury, they were blasting out ‘Another One Bites The Dust’ by Queen as I struggled up. 

The death climb up to the top of Mt Erin. Musical accompaniment not helping! Photo by Dominic Strogen.

A quick gurn for the photographer at the top and a dob of the transponder, then we were off downhill towards the first transition point for those doing the relay – or the first spot we could meet support crew for those of us doing the whole thing. We headed down to the N/NW, initially on some lovely flowing grassy farm tracks where you could really let loose, then alternating between formed tracks and paddock bashing. I’m not a fan of open paddocks as I always fear for my ankles, so I took it a little easier on these stretches. There was only one small diversion where a few of us missed a turn and had to backtrack a little to cross a fence. It was a lesson to do your own navigating, and not blithely follow those in front of you! Pretty soon we were at transition #1 (17 km), just off Middle Road. A quick swap of a soft flask, some words of encouragement, and off again.

The next leg saw us heading back up Mt Erin, Peak #2 being a repeat of #1 – but on a very different route. We headed south along the base of the hills through the station, watching the second leg relay runners speed off with their fresh legs and no packs! There were a few ups and downs, but mostly flat for a few km, before the proper climbing started again. And boy did we climb! Then followed a succession of grunts – mostly up muddy farm tracks and occasionally open ground. A few of these looked like total mudbaths from a distance, but thankfully, on closer inspection, were dry enough not to be too much of a struggle. Well, mud-related struggle anyway. The struggle against gravity was real, and again I was happy not to have a bike to push! A nice moment was when someone I’d been playing leapfrog with for quite some time realised she had lost her transponder and was wondering where to start looking. A lady following just behind said, “did you drop this?” and immediately reunited her with it. Great work folks! A good team effort.

The top of one of the muddy climbs back up Mt Erin. Amazing country! Photo by Dominic Strogen.

After one real lung and quad buster, we sighted the mast on the top again – miraculously much closer than expected. The followed even better news –  that we didn’t need to go all the way to the top again. It might only have saved about 30 m, but my legs were glad of the respite! Another checkpoint, and off down the hill again – back onto the route we would have followed as part of Plan A. This was a steep drop with a little farm track and a lot of open paddock. A highlight was a mountain biker shouting, “YIPPEE!” as he hurtled past taking some considerable air off a small hummock! Before long, we were down near the river and more or less on the flat for a while. Firstly across the fields and then onto a farm track – the only really muddy section before sealed road. It was only about 2.5 km on the tarmac of Matangi Road but my legs didn’t enjoy it much. Then we were at the cattle yards, and transition #2 (31.5 km). Having seen the river up close on this section, Plan B was definitely the right call.

The descent through the paddocks from Mt Erin towards the swollen Tutituki. Not today Kahuranaki (right background)! Photo by Dominic Strogen.

More encouraging words, and a bit of a faff with drinks bottles later, and we were onto the final leg. This saw us heading north, initially on the flat, but then up a steep little pull – cue more unhappy-looking cyclists! Then a fast flowing flat followed by a slightly downhill (oops) section where we spread out. I was actually alone for the best part of ten minutes, or so,  for the first time on the day. We rounded a sharp bend across a creek with some encouraging-ish words from a very Scouse marshal. Then came a small redwood forest interlude and a stile crossing (ouch), leading to the trails of Te Mata peak proper. With an gentle climb to start we had a good natter and let some sprightly teenagers zoom past before we got to the Te Mata Zigzags of Doom™. This consisted of a stiff power walk right up the south face of the peak itself and, for the final time, I was very glad to be sans velocipede.

The Te Mata zigzags of doom! Our last big climb for the day. Photo by Dominic Strogen.

Finally, we made the summit, huffing and puffing, and a short flat trail to the road – one final pre-finish transponder check and down the road we went. We enjoyed the view back to Mt Erin which looked a very long way away. Thankfully, the topmost section of the road to the peak was closed and we enjoyed flinging ourselves down as fast as our tired legs would allow – leaving plenty of room for zooming, much happier looking, mountain bikers. We headed down to the water reservoir and back onto the trails. For the first time, the runners and bikers separated onto different tracks to allow safer travels on some lovely flowing downhill single track. My downhill legs were starting to flag a little by this point. Re-joining the bikes, we travelled to the bottom carpark on Tauroa Road – a veritable motorway of a trail. A short road section, a sneaky little climb and then down through Tainui Reserve on some very pleasant trails that I’m sure I’d really enjoy had I been less knackered. Then a final road section to the finish down Joll Road. Not very long (~1.5 km), but it sure felt like it went on forever.  Finally, the slightly surreal finish. The official end was on the footpath opposite New World, where our times were tagged before crossing the road for a valedictory 200 m or so to the actual “finish” where everyone was waiting in the village centre.

Yours truly crossing the “finish” line, and not hot-footing it straight for the beer – honest! - Photos by Louise Strogen.

And that was that. I was handed a key-ring (slight race bling fail?) and a very tasty local craft beer (excellent), although not quite what my body wanted immediately on finishing! I don’t think it quite counts as my first ultra, as it was still within cooee of marathon distance, but it was my longest ever run and definitely my longest trail run. All in all it was a cracking day out.

In the end, the weather gods were kind. It was cool and overcast – pretty much perfect conditions. I was happy enough with my 38th place – a respectable finish for this mid-pack runner in a field of just over 100 finishers in the full run. I gather there were just over 700 in all, when all categories were considered, which is pretty good going. All that was left was to have a very welcome shower and exceedingly pleasant soak in the spa bath (motel chosen for that very reason). Then back to prize giving to confirm my continued streak of not winning a spot prize. And then out for that curry (excellent) that my stomach had been thinking about all afternoon! And maybe a little light wine purchasing the next morning.

 Final thoughts

A well organised and really great race in a lovely part of the Hawke’s Bay. Shame about Plan B – but definitely the right call. And good work having a Plan B in place. Given the rain they’d had, the going was good to firm throughout with very little mud. It was great to have access across a whole load of private farm land, so thanks to all the landowners – it’s always nice to run somewhere you couldn’t normally get access to.  I know some people were grizzling a little at the lack of provisions at aid stations, but the instructions had been pretty clear – that you should be self-sufficient as aid stations were more for emergency use. Would definitely come back again and hopefully when we can get across the river and up the big peak #2!