Godzone 2022 – Team Motueka - Emma McCosh
It was a late call up for me. Godzone had been off the radar as I had decided to race the Tour TeWaipounamu instead this year. Riding, pushing and carrying my bike for 7 days, Godzone style, with minimal sleep was probably pretty good training.I was keen to be in a competitive team, not be the one carrying everything and be pushed more than I had done in other years. It was a gamble racing with people who I had never met but the stars aligned,
I’d managed to get time off work at short notice and Debbie was happy riding the Sounds 2 Sounds bike packing trail with a mate instead of me.
Race prep went well, finding all of the gear and clothing to keep me warm, dry and comfortable to a week racing. I’d dehydrated a lot of my own food and bagged up everything I’d need so packing wouldn’t be too time consuming once I arrived in Wanaka and saw the maps. Just as well as AirNZ delayed my flight twice so I only arrived late Wednesday. Meeting Tom, West and Brent was good. They were easy going and we all seemed to be on the same page with gear, food, urgency and planning.
Godzone is always a challenge but seeing the maps let us know that this year was going to be long. Big and long. Again, I was happy to be racing with young lads who would be carrying most of the team gear inc pack rafts!We did have some team debate on running or walking the first leg. I still believe this is what we got wrong. It was decided we would push harder for the first two legs to make sure we made the first dark zone. Walking faster would have reduced our heart rates, kept our nav errors down and potentially given us a far better result overall. I guess when you join a team you don’t push for what you believe is right.
After some added stress of major roadworks delays getting to the start, we lined up in the second wave, filled with excitement of the adventures and challenges ahead. Seeing familiar faces and the energy from others is always motivating and nerve racking all the same. The short run to our already inflated pack rafts and then coastal paddle was straight forward but then we overshot a checkpoint and found ourselves back tracking with a few other teams and wasting some time re-orientating ourselves. My shoulders felt the lack of paddling training but we managed to stick together as a team in our two rafts.
Our team had 4 pack rafts to choose from so we were very lucky we didn’t have to bike with them up the valley to our first supported transition. We hadn’t been racing that long but evening was already upon us. We were handed warm wraps filled with cheese and veges and headed off with our big packs filled with plenty of food, all of our packrafting gear (for those unfamiliar with how much we have to carry: 2 pack rafts and pumps, life jackets, paddles, throw ropes, wetsuits, helmets, lights, tent, sleeping bag, spare warm clothing and 3 days' worth of food). Tom and West had studied the maps as well as Moirs guide and came up with the best route over the Pike. We were so lucky with the weather being as mild as it was. We were in and out of the river most of the night. Nav must have been tricky but we made it up, along, down, up, down... until we reached the Pike. There was a long time we saw no teams after we left the river but suddenly there were several teams around us. Out for the View being one of them which was nice as I have raced with Rachel before. A familiar face is always so nice when you’re around people who still don’t really know you and you don’t really know the either.
To be honest for the first two days racing I was filled with regret about choosing Godzone over Sounds2Sounds. I could have been riding my bike, eating warm meals each night and enjoying swimming spots, coffee and taking more time to appreciate the views. Our team was in about 20th place and it was not what I had expected. As the race progressed, I became more bonded in the team, more absorbed in the course and Sounds2Sounds didn’t enter my mind again. The simplicity of only needing to get through what is in front of you, only having to worry about the three boys around you and just having to look after your feet, water and food intake was enough to keep my mind occupied and my heart content.
Leg 3 was mammoth. It felt like a Godzone all on its own. We had packed enough food but we had gone over the time estimate we had given. The river was low, making the paddling a lot more challenging than it should have been. Getting in and out of boats constantly made a very slow journey down the Pike. Unfortunately, we were about to reach the dark zone so instead of following the river as far as we could before 8:30, we deviated across the lake to intercept the marked track. Now there are DOC tracks and DOC tracks. This one was one of those tracks where they must have been very short of orange markers! We were quite efficient in the bush but once the track opened out into the river or a big open field it was anyone’s guess where the track went. We wasted a lot of time and decide to call it quits, make our way back to the river and sleep until the dark zone lifted. Had the track been reasonable, we wouldn’t have lost so much time here but we gave it a shot and unfortunately it just didn't pay off. We slept well and made a good start in the morning. This leg, being a mammoth leg has become a bit of a blur but there was a significant time when I was feeling terrible. The heat, the pace of the first two legs, my backpack which didn’t allow easy access to my food and probably my mental headspace meant I didn’t eat and drink that well at the start.... and then my stomach wouldn’t let me eat or drink well.
My team was very good but I was disappointed in myself that I wasn’t myself! Finally, after several hours I rehydrated some good old 2-minute noodles. They were easy to digest and totally did the trick at settling my stomach, giving me some energy and then allowing me to get back to normal food. I had lots of dehy/free dried meals, bars, scroggin, homemade biscuits (thanks Megan!), apricot loaf (thanks Mum), gels, lollies... plenty of variety. I could finally push that little bit harder without feeling sick and felt strong again. Phew!After something like 68hours we made it into TA3 and were greeted by warm bacon and egg butties and a support crew set up like no other. Wow.
It was hard to leave... but we were excited to get onto our bikes and head off on the next leg. We smashed this. Boy did it feel good to be on the bikes, working like a team. We even had a puncture to deal with but managed to get the 2nd fasted bike time in this leg. This was great for team moral even though we beat our support crew to transition and had to wait around for them to arrive. Back into trek mode but this time without all of the packrafting gear. One of our team members really started to struggle on this leg but we managed to keep spirits high and bought out the tow rope. My fear of heights was only exposed for a short section but Tom and West were incredibly reassuring and I was much happier once we traversed around the bottom of the narrow rocky outcrops. I had a bit of DeJa'Vu on this section from the first Godzone. Good memories of another tough leg in that race! There was a lot of scrambly bush bashing but also some amazing travel along the
tops where we had incredible views and a chance to feel so privileged to be racing during this Covid affected time and to be in these amazing mountains doing what we love. We nursed poor Brent along as he really struggled on the descents. Tom and West were so strong, carrying more gear than the rest of us as well as managing to navigate together. I enjoyed route finding in the direction I was advised –animal tracks or the path of least resistance gave my mind a challenge and a chance for the boys to have to concentrate less for a while. With many a yarn, dehydrated meal and spoon shared later, we finished the big trek and took on the longest bike ride of the race.
It was Wednesday I had calculated there would be a small possibility that our path would cross Debbie and Rachel’s as they too rode through the Nevis Valley on their Sounds2Sounds journey.
The heat as we climbed up to the Ski Hut on the Nevis Road was almost unbearable. It was Toms turn to suffer but luckily, we found a flowing river where we could cool off (but not drink). That seemed to do the trick. I’d like to see the footage of the Godzone team videoing us as West lead us in a 4 way tow up the hill. 3 extendable dog leads modified to be tow lines, kept us together as we grinded our way up the Nevis. We reached the top and enjoyed the exhilaration of effortless travel down the valley and across the many river crossings. I love the Nevis, it’s a road I’ve crossed many times on bike packing missions. It is so vast, so beautiful with its open rolling tussock, and such great riding.And then there they were. Battling the uphill and headwind and we flew down the valley. Rachel and Debbie on their own adventure of the S2S. I was happy doing my thing, they were happy doing their thing. Relief and joy, amazement our paths had crossed over the many hours and km’s we’d travelled.
The Old Woman range and the Old Man range awaited us as evening took hold. Once again West offered his tow line and with incredible strength and endurance, dragged Brent and me up the very steep pinches while Tom rode alone and kept his eye on the map. It got cold up on the tops. The mist rolled in and it was the coldest it had been all race. I hate the cold and I hate holding up a team. I didn't put on enough at one stop and instead of asking to stop again I suffered in silence until it was too much.
Stupidly, I had overthought how the team would be annoyed at me stopping again but they were totally fine with me quickly putting some extra layers on and carrying on. Tom and West nailed the nav. Brent struggled with his Brain being not very brainy at all and bottoming out on his shocks all the time. He had to put his seat bag into his backpack as it kept rubbing on the wheel with the stuffed brain. A massive descent into Roxburgh had us contemplating riding on and into transition, as it was only another 30 odd km’s or sleeping under a nice hedge. Yea, go the hedge! We had 3 hours of much needed sleep before grinding our way up up up to Lake Onslow. I had ridden that road before but geepers, I couldn’t remember it going on for quite so long. It was more hot delicious food for us in TA before setting off for the Rogaine/pack raft section. I was surrounded by the hills I’d just spent time in for the TTW. I'm sure my teammates were so interested in me pointing out where I had ridden that time... but I told them anyway.
We had a slow but navigationally great section through the Rogaine. We made our way down to the very very slow and windy Taiere river. We did some good 200m portages to cut off some big loops in the river but once it got dark, we stayed in the river and after, what felt like an eternity, popped out at the bridge. We were all pretty cold so the TA was a welcomed site. We were stoked that this was
the last pack raft section of the event. No more heavy packs!!! We chose to sleep here and refuel with delicious hot food once again. It was very hard to drag ourselves out of the campervan but we
managed. 100km bike ride... come 118km. Again, I was stoked to be back on my bike. My full sus Niner Rocket is such a pleasure to ride. Even when it came to bumping along the railway line they sent us down, my bike did a great job and cushioning the ride where the other boys bounced around on their hard tails (Brent now on a replacement bike).
One of my race highlights was the spectacular sunrise we had up on the Rock and Pillars. Hard to beat being up on top, surrounded by mother nature's rock art as the sun rises. wow, it was beautiful. Another puncture for the team but on the plus side, we were faster at just whipping in a tube and Tom had a lovely shut eye as he waited. The temperature increase, the gradient of the hills increased and I worked harder than normal to keep off the tow as West was working hard with Brent on the tow and Tom stayed on the map. I had my merino ¾ tights on, I was low on water and man did I cook myself. Coming into transition I could feel myself as a zombie. I got into some cooler clothes, sat on the grass and re-set. I couldn’t eat anything so I just got some electrolytes into me and took a bag of food with me to nibble away at in the kayak. We had another dark zone to avoid and we were not keen to spend a night on the side of a dirty river with the end being so close in site. We paddled, chatted, ate, drank, nodded off and then decided to pull finger and paddle. We pushed hard and it felt great. We made the dark zone easily and then cold smell the finish. We could almost see the finish. To me the finish was the coast. We had come Coast to Coast, traversed the island, made it to the other side. The sand, the waves, the cheering from our support crew, the happiness in the team... but no, we had a further 3km bike ride and 15km coastal run/walk.
It was definitely an anticlimax for me but on reflection it was really nice to have a team debrief as we walked along the coast. We had become a real team, we had experienced highs and lows, and helped each other through these. We had learned a lot about ourselves and about each other and I had gained 3 new friends. I clicked the last checkpoint and we walked across the finish line together.
Our support crew, other teams, old friends and the familiar faces of the Godzone team. A cold beer and a hot pie greeted us but the greatest reward was the knowledge that we had completed the full course. We had had our doubts, sometimes it felt the course was against us but we never gave up. We took care of ourselves and of each other, we took each leg as it came and found our smiling faces at the finish line.
Godzone chapter 10 – the southern traverse. Thank you for the places you took us. You were long, you were brutal, but you were so satisfying. Your memories are etched deep into our souls!
