Taking on the toughest adventure race in the world - Godzone 2018

Let’s face it Adventure Racing is frustrating, it is out there in terms of mental, physical, emotional stress, it is confronting and takes you to places you don’t go to in normal life, and it is brutal, but it is addictive and a sport that once you embrace it is hard to give up.

I have been adventure racing since 2000 and have tried to “retire” numerous times but yet I am constantly drawn back to it. Why? I spent hundreds of hours during this year’s event whilst bush bashing though dense Fiordland bush trying to answer that question. My only answer is, it pushes me out of my comfort zone and forces me to do things to would normally say no to. In normal life would I choose to go caving for fun? NO, of course I wouldn’t, I am claustrophobic! Would I choose to pack-raft down the steepest river in the county? NO, I would not, I am petrified of big white water, would I choose to bush bash through dense bush for days and nights on end? NO, I would not, I love my sleep and home comforts. So why do it do it – because life is for living and if you never step out of your comfort zone you never grow and learn as an individual, you never feel adrenaline coursing through your veins and you never get to push through your fears and realise you are far more capable than you give yourself credit for.

This year, in light of the title of the toughest Godzone ever, we put together a team of incredibly experienced women who we felt were the best match for this particular event. This was my comeback from surgery debut so it was important that I surrounded myself with a team of extremely capable women who could hold their own. Our team consisted of Louise Mark, Rachel Smith, Emma McCosh and myself. Although we have all done numerous events with other teams, the Godzone was our first event as a complete team of four. People often ask, why do it in an all female team. My answer is simple “because we can” we have nothing against racing in mixed teams and all of us have raced in mixed teams in the past, but sometimes it is nice just to prove to ourselves that girls can do anything, we can read maps, we can carry heavy stuff, we can foot it with the other teams, we can hold our own. During this year’s event there were two comments from spectators out on the course that stuck with me – one lady passionately yelled out – “girls can do anything remember that” – another guy asked if we got scared out in the bush at night – we quietly smiled at both comments.

As a newly formed team our race preparation the night before the event didn’t go quite as smoothly as planned and somewhere in the frenzy of it all, our attention to detail was not what it should have been and we  found ourselves splitting up and working as individuals rather than a well-oiled team. Although we weren’t aware of it at the time, this lack of cohesion cost us dearly and still today leaves us with the bitter taste of disappointment in our mouths.

This is how our race played out.

The start gun went off and we jogged down the main street of TeAnau waving to the spectators. Our first task was to blow up our packrafts. It seemed to take forever and we wished we had the foresight to pack a plastic pump to speed up the process. We finally got on the lake and paddled the short distance across Lake Ta Anau and into the Waiau River towards Lake Manapouri. What a relief it was to have started and to be on our way. Now all we had to do was focus on ourselves and work as a team.

Stage 1 was a mixture of hiking and pack rafting, with an abseil dropped in. We moved smoothly through this stage doing our own thing and keeping in our team bubble. Teams were everywhere and although it was tempting to change our plans and go where others were going, we backed ourselves and stuck to our guns. We arrived at the abseil at night we couldn’t see a thing but boy was it long. In some ways we were disappointed we couldn’t see anything but in other ways it may have been a blessing as it was HUGE. On arrival at Borland lodge we decide to set up camp to the side of the trail and grab a couple of hours of sleep before sunrise.  After a reasonable sleep we were back on the trail and made our way to Lake Monowai, followed by a portage to the Waiau river. It was neat to see spectators supporting other teams at the river giving us a cheer.  The river was pleasant enough and we cruised along enjoying time off our feet. However we had had enough by the end of the paddle and were pretty happy to be finished stage 1.

Although I was dreading the caving we were keen to get in a quick transition onto our bikes for a quick ride to the Waiau Caves. The ride to the caves was awesome and we were on fire, working together as a team and enjoying the feeling of being on our bikes. Much to my relief the cave was open and wide and there were no technical squeezes for me. Although Emma who had the clip card had to wriggle into some pretty small spaces. On exiting the cave we couldn’t believe how warm it was outside and we passed the hour of dead time we had basking in the sun, eating and chatting to other teams. We then headed off to Motu Bush and Dean Forest for a spot of mountain bike navigation. On dark we struggled a bit as there were trails everywhere and we foolishly listened to another team. After a good hour of frustration and going around in circles we finally found our way out of the forest and headed through to transition.

We knew stage 3 was going to be a beast so we opted to try to have a warm and comfortable sleep in transition before heading out on this leg. It was a major fail and we pretty much wasted a couple of hours lying there listening to all the commotion around us. We promised ourselves we would never try to sleep in transition again what a disaster.

We hiked up the road to Lake Hauroko in the dark, annoyed that we had wasted time trying to sleep and a little apprehensive about the paddle down the Wairaurahiri river that lay ahead. We headed out on to the lake around 5am and struggled to keep the sleep monsters away as we paddled across the lake to Teal bay. The sun came out just as we arrived at Teal bay and we were given the all clear to continue on to start the river paddle. Holy …… what a full on river it was. Our hearts didn’t stop pumping for the three or so hours of the river. WOW ! It was 3hrs of constant Grade 3 whitewater, referred to as NZ’s longest waterfall. Whilst the others had smiles from ear to ear I personally was glad to arrive at the next CP in one piece and to be back on dry land.

We once again packed our packrafts and all our gear into our packs and headed off into the night and forest in search of CP 17. It was pretty slow going and we struggled to work out exactly where we were with all the twists and turns of the river. We met several teams heading back out down the river which was alarming and all a bit confusing, however we pushed on and eventually found the CP. By this time it had started to drizzle and was getting dark. We didn’t really feel like heading further into the hills for a cold dark night of misery as it was a long navigationally challenging route to the next checkpoint, so we opted to head back out to the track and rethink our options from there. On arrival at the track we hit rock bottom. We had been pushing hard for a couple of nights on very little sleep, so to avoid a complete meltdown, we chose to head back 3 km to have a warm and comfortable sleep in a hut. From there we would get up before dawn the next morning and plan our attack. It was pretty tough heading back towards the hut but it was the best decision for our team at the time. We were stoked to find the hut empty. We lit the fire and cooked ourselves a nice warm meal. Ah bliss – how nice it was to see the rain coming down outside whilst we were warm and dry. After a great sleep we got up before dawn and made a plan to take a route across tops to a Mandatory Check Point on Lake Poteriteri – what we didn’t read was the notes that said that this MCP was for the short course only!! This is where our lack of cohesion at the planning phase of the event let us down. Had we been more thorough and planned our route as a team, we would have picked up the fact that we were about to handicap ourselves by walking an extra 20 km and kayaking an extra 10 km or so that we didn’t need to do. However, we were oblivious to the fact that no one else was doing what we were doing and set off before daylight to navigate our way through the hills and dense bush. What a day we had, we pushed hard and nailed the navigation. We didn’t see any other teams which we though was odd but given the dense bush and terrain it wasn’t that strange. We eventually bumped into some pursuit teams who seemed a bit perplexed to see us but all in all we were pretty happy with our day. We finally hit Slaughter Burn hut CP 18 on dark to discover we had lost 20 places and had taken an extra 8 hours longer than other teams around us. Feeling a bit despondent and down we pitched the tent and grabbed a couple of hours sleep before tackling the next challenging section of navigation.

We woke up after a few hours of sleep and headed back into the bush. Prior to the race we were told to think like deer. Honestly, during this section we actually felt we had become deer. We had spent so many hours, if not days, bush bashing without seeing anything but bush. We nailed the navigation and picked off one CP after another totally concentrated on what we were doing. We saw a few other teams on this leg but pretty much just focussed on being as efficient as possible and making no mistakes. We reach CP20 and dropped down to the lake. What a relief, we had done it and got out of the deep forest and onto the Lake before dark, we felt like we’d achieved something pretty special. Paddling down to the sea was cool and we were pretty stoked that the next bit of the course was on trails so we could rest a little on the navigation. We celebrated with a hot meal and a sit down at the start of the South Coast trail. We slipped and skidded our way to CP21, Westies Hut. What an amazing hut, we were blown away by how beautiful it was. The South Coast Track turned out to be hideously boring and annoying. Although we could hear the ocean we couldn’t see it, it was muddy slippery and very disappointing. We decided to stop for a 2 hour sleep in a bit of flat forest hoping for a quiet uninterrupted sleep. Once again it turned into a disaster as the heavens opened up after an hour. We hadn’t closed our packs properly as it was fine and clear when we set up camp, so we hurriedly jumped out of our sleeping bags and packed up as quickly as we could in the freezing rain. Grrr we were not happy. We finally arrived at the next CP totally exhausted only to learn that the cut off was looming and we needed to haul butt to make it to the end of stage 3. We pulled together as a team here pushing each other, sharing gear and once gain remaining focussed. Three of us had developed sore spots on our upper thighs which hurt with long pants on, so we chose to walk this leg in our undies. This was the only part of the course where we saw other trampers and people!! I am sure they wondered what the hell we were doing. We finally made it into transition with three or so hours to spare. It was a cold and miserable transition so we hurriedly repacked our gear ready for Stage 4.  We were absolutely knackered after pushing so hard to make the cut off so we opted to find a place for a sleep in transition. We saw other teams sleeping on a barn so found a barn of our own out of the cold wind. Unfortunately a marshal decided we were not allowed to sleep in transition and booted us out. We were less than impressed given other teams were doing just that. Reluctantly, we set off on our bikes along the road looking for a haybarn. We found something a few km down the road and tried to settle in for a 4 hour sleep. Unfortunately, it wasn’t ideal and the wind and cold meant that two of us pretty much got no sleep at all. Another fail on the sleep front !!

 Just before light we were once again on our bikes and heading for Rowallen Forest, the navigation was challenging but nothing Rachel couldn’t handle and we sailed through this leg without too many dramas. Once we were back on the road we were stoked to find a local farmer had set up a roadside stall. We stuffed our faces on peanuts, chips, apples and coke –what a treat! Five mins down the road we were fed burgers and eggs. We were blown away by the support of the locals. We headed up to Borland pass with four or five other teams around us. We knew there was another cut off looming but figured we had plenty of time to get there. Little did we know that Percy’s pass would severely deal to us. We arrived at the bottom of Percys Pass and started hauling our bags and bikes up rock faces and under and over trees. For the first 10 minutes we worked as a team and things were going smoothly, but then the wheels fell off and we totally struggled with the physical challenge of getting to the top. The other teams we were with pulled away from us and left us alone in the dark. We were devastated, as we realised our hopes of making the cut off were fading into the night. We ended up taking our wheels off our bike and making numerous trips up and down with gear, frames and wheels. It took us twice as long as other teams but we didn’t give up and kept persevering. We arrived at the next TA two hours after the cut off totally exhausted and disappointed in ourselves. The marshals had no information for us and couldn’t tell us what we would be doing next. This added to our frustration but all we could do was get some sleep and wait for some instruction as to what we would be doing next. We woke the next morning keen to get going but still the marshals had no concrete plan for us. What a downer, we felt totally deflated after working so hard to get here. However, to our credit we kept our cool and patiently waited for instruction. To our relief we were given a modified route back to the finish. We were to kayak, trek and kayak to the finish. We packed our things for the final time and set off. It is amazing how powerful the mind is and we struggled to remain motivated and focussed given we were now on a shortened course.

It was awesome being in kayaks and paddling on the Lake we tried our best to keep our spirits up and make the most of the situation. We were lucky to still be part of the event and knew that we were the only ones on this leg so although we couldn’t pass any other teams ahead of us we also could not be passed and would retain our position. The kayak went without incident and we then set off on the last trek leg. Initially, things went well but after the first checkpoint the wheels fell off again and we chose to sleep on the track and wait for first light. It was pretty cool setting up camp and taking time to relax, cook dinner and get a full night’s sleep. The pressure was off so we were able to enjoy each other’s company and chill. In the morning we awoke to other teams around us on the short course and headed off to find the next checkpoint with ease. We had one more checkpoint to get on the trek and then it was a simple paddle across Lake Te Anau to the finish line. Too easy … no not quite! For some reason, likely sleep deprivation, we got a bit discombobulated and spent hours roaming around the forest using our altimeters as navigation devices searching for the last checkpoint 100 metres too high up the river. After deciding to pull the pin and walk out to the TA we passed the checkpoint!!! You should have heard the squeals of delight. SO, finally we sheepishly headed to the TA and completed the last paddle to the finish line. We finished with a mix of emotions, pleased to have finished, pleased with ourselves and how we had managed the course and our feet, pleased not to have suffered from Trench foot like so many other teams, but also so extremely disappointed with our result. We knew we had the potential to finish in the top 10 and were gutted we were nowhere near that. It wasn’t until we got home and went through the maps that we worked out why we had performed so badly. We had given ourselves an 8 to 10 hour handicap by going to get the non-compulsory MCP . Boy did it hurt – what a rookie error. For four seasoned adventure racers it was and still is a hard pill to swallow. Note to self – READ THE INSTRUCTIONS / BE THOROUGH IN PLANNING / MARK YOUR MAPS PRIOR TO STARTING.

A huge thanks to my teammates for the support and for never giving up.  

Also thanks to our sponsor Jack Wolfskin who provided us with awesome gear that meant we were warm and dry at all times.