The 7 in 7 Challenge 2010

Pushing new limits

Top of the first climb - Perry Saddle Hut

I have always thought that the Heaphy Track will be the crux of the whole Challenge and my experiences on it over the last couple of days have certainly confirmed that. After a lovely early morning drive from Takaka (pukeko playing chicken with the van, soft sun on ridiculously green paddocks) I arrived at the Brown River end of the longest Great Walk. Conditions were near-perfect with firm underfoot conditions and clear skies but a cool breeze. Setting off at 8am (it’ll be a 4am start come the 7in7) it was straight into a long, gradual climb through beech forest – 800m over a never-ending 16kms before emerging at Perry Saddle. I immediately felt the difference that carrying an overnight pack makes – those extra kilos add a few degrees of incline to even the most innocuous looking slope.

Me taking a photo of my reflection of me taking a photo of my reflection of me taking a photo....etc

From here the track descends to the Downs – first Gouland and then Mackay, both quite eerie expanses of tussock lands cut by charming creeks that are in some cases chasms.  The track here was undulating but mostly runnable, even carrying the extra weight. I was impressed all along by the amount and variety of birdlife, which turned out to be my only company for two whole days.

Saxon Hut, the half way mark

Reaching Mackay Hut (40kms in) after 6 ½ hours I knew the rest was downhill – but a LONG downhill and it was almost two hours later that I finally emerged, tired but triumphant, at the Heaphy River and the Lewis Hut. However, my triumph soon turned to tears (poetic licence of course – we all know real men don’t cry !) when I discovered that the gas in the hut had run out. Desperate for a cuppa tea and a bowl of soup I had to wait while the coal-fuelled pot belly slowly built up enough heat to boil some water. I was so knackered that by 7pm I was in my sack, and there I stayed (lulled off to sleep by REM on the ipod) until awoken at dawn by the scratching of weka.

Cheeky and gorgeous - Mr. Weka

Having filled my tired (but amazingly well functioning legs) with porridge I was off again re-tracing my steps for another 53kms of wicked trail running. Somewhere along the way I chalked up the 2,000^th km of 7in7 training runs. I was encouraged by how strong I felt, at least for the first 6 hours, but then came the final 16km that was now a drawn-out 800m descent over the well benched  but often rocky track.

A quirky bit of Kiwiana... the Boot Tree.... loction: miles from anywhere, Heaphy Track

With the risk of turning an ankle ever present, and my head playing Jackson Browne’s ‘Running on Empty’ over and over on loop, it was a LONG way down. Two hours seemed like days as blind bend followed blind bend but eventually I arrived, foot sore and mentally shattered back at the Brown Hut trailhead. What a blessing it was to see my RoadCraft Base Jumper van and to have instant access to a hot shower and power for mixing up my favourite banana and chocolate protein smoothie – despite being in the middle of nowhere!

In conclusion – an awesome experience, lots learned and overall a good confidence booster. It’s going to hurt like hell come 7in7 but I now at least have total confidence in being able to tackle this crucial hurdle.

Related posts:

1. 12 hours and 45 minutes
2. Making friends with barnacles
3. Cross-training, Theft and Redemption
4. Wiggles fan joins in the fun
5. Completing the hatrick

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 17th, 2009 at 10:51 am and is filed under 2009 Blogs, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.