Thanks Mitre 10!
The advertising slogan is “you’ll come out better off at Mitre 10″. Well, in the case of Mitre 10, Wanaka this is no idle boast. For this morning I received an email from store manager Mark Watson saying that he and all his staff wanted to get behind the 7in7 Challenge in any way they [...]
Welcome Richard Ussher!
Fantastic breaking news…. multiple Coast to Coast Champion and endurance athlete extraordinaire, Richard Ussher, has committed to joining the 7in7 Challenge 2010 on Day Two of the event - the awesome run around the Young-Wilkin circuit in Mt. Aspiring National Park. Richard is well known and respected both here in NZ and overseas. Although he has precious [...]
NZ takes up the Challenge
The response of people from all over NZ continues to be hugely encouraging. I now have no fewer than 60 Registrations from people who are interested in joining a day or more of the adventure. Not surprisingly, the most popular run is Day 1 – the Twin Lakes Marathon/Half Marathon around Lake Hawea and Lake Wanaka. [...]
Alan’s Story
Aucklander Alan Tappin is in his 50′s and discovered off-road running 6 years ago. He is joining the 7in7 Challenge on Day 6 to run the beautiful 55 kms of the Greenstone-Mavora Walkway. He sees it as an opportunity to meet people and see more of NZ and says “the chance to not only challenge myself in [...]
Elaisa’s Story
Elaisa Chapman is another person whose participation in this year’s Challenge so truly represents what it’s all about. This Alexandra-based runner lost her father to Multiple Myeloma (a form of leukaemia) in 2000 and his good friend died of Lymphoma (another form of leukaemia) two years ago. Elaisa says “it is still saddening to remember what they [...]
Filling up fast
Interest in joining the 7in7 Challenge has been pouring in from all over the country. We even have entrants from Australia, Singapore, USA and France! So far more than 50 people have expressed interest although not all have yet totally committed. So if you are thinking about joining us as we run for the lives [...]
One smart runner
To reach this year’s ambitious fundraising target the 7in7 Challenge is dependant upon the smart and hard work of all support runners. One of the first to sign up for this year’s Challenge was Cromwell mother-of-three and gutsy mountain goat, Rachael Buttar. She epitomises the spirit of the Challenge in every way imaginable and is really showing [...]
Making Friends
One of the most rewarding parts of organising the 7in7 Challenge – both last year and this – is the number of great people I have met. Many of these have become firm friends and I’m sure many more friendships will eventuate over the coming months. The most recent example was yesterday when the Law [...]
Meet Al & Barb
Every now and again life finds a way of throwing wonderful people into your path; people who it would have been very easy not to meet, but without whom our lives would be so much poorer. Had Al & Barb Love from Calgary, Canada picked another B&B to stay in when they first visited NZ [...]
Sarah’s story
Sarah Obbeek is a 29-year old New Zealander currently working as a paramedic in Australia. She has never run more than a few kilometres in her life – but she is participating in Day 1 of this year’s 7in7 Challenge and aims to raise $1,000 for the cause. I’ve yet to meet Sarah but found [...]
Wow, what a response!
The new website has only been live a couple of days and already it’s seen thousands of visitors. People are checking in from all over the globe, especially North America, UK, France and Australia but even from places as unlikely as Ukraine, Tunisia and Vietnam! Given that I’ve only just started putting the word out [...]
The guessing is over!
After many months of planning I can finally share with the world my plans for this year’s 7in7 epic. I am SO excited about this, not only because it’s 7 stunning days in trail-running heaven, but because the event format will allow me to share the experience with stacks of like-minded people. There are options [...]
7in7 hits the big screen!
Amid all the frustrations of sorting out this year’s Challenge has come the great news that the short film about last year’s epic adventure is to be shown at the NZ Mountain Film Festival in Wanaka. The Festival runs from July 2nd to 6th so if you are in the Wanaka area you might like to check [...]
Your vote counts!
Steinlager Pure are running a novel campaign to find kiwis planning inspiring futures. I have made an entry – on the basis of the 7in7 Challenge – and require lots of votes in order to be in with a chance of scoring a big fat donation for the Leukaemia & Blood Foundation. Could you PLEASE click here to register [...]
Addressing top young athletes
I have just received a great honour …. I have been asked by OPC to give a talk about the inaugral 7in7 Challenge on the eve of their 10th annual Genesis Energy Hillary Challenge. This is the toughest sporting/adventure/outdoor competition that secondary school students can do in NZ. It is taking place 17-21 May and on [...]
Running My Age
I woke up yesterday and had to confront the fact that it was my 50th birthday - although how that came along so fast is still a mystery. I had decided some time before that I would kick off the ‘celebrations’ by going for a 50km run – all good training for 7in7 2010 after all! [...]
Back to the bush
Last year, while training for the inaugral 7in7 Challenge I ran close to 2,000kms on the myriad trails of the Waitakere Ranges, just a short drive west from my home city of Auckland. This year I’ve been slow in getting back into the long runs and most that I have done have been elsewhere in [...]
A trip down memory lane
Having not slept through a huge storm that battered Te Anau all night long, I thought twice about taking on the mighty ascent to Luxmore Hut on the Kepler Track this morning. In fact I thought so long that it was midday, a coffee and a caramel & banana muffin before I started. Fond memories [...]
What was I thinking?
Well, I knew it was time to start training in earnest again – one look at the bathroom scales confirmed this – but was it wise to go out and run the 5th longest run of my life so early on? Answer = a definitive NO! But as I was in the Fiordland area anyway [...]
The Perfect End to a Perfect Week
It’s almost 3 days since I crossed the line at the Kepler Challenge having completed the last stage of my Mizone 7in7 Challenge in just a shade over 10 hours. I had thought that by now I would be able to order my thoughts on a momentous week, but it seems adrenalin and endorphins are [...]
I did it ….
360 km’s, 66 hours of running and it’s done. I cannot begin to describe how elated I feel. Thankyou all for your support – I’m off to celebrate now, but when it has all sunk in I will let you all in on the final day, but for now here’s a photo that sums up [...]
We're almost there… only one to go
It was a day of beautiful running and beautiful company, Rob, Alastair and I spent the night at the start of the Milford Track at the Glade Lodge and were woken with banana caramel porridge – which set us up for a 7am start. The weather was glorious as we headed up the McKinnon Pass [...]
5 down and two to go….
Can you believe it, I’ve knocked off day 5 – Seven and a half hours and The Routeburn is done and that leaves the Milford Track and the Kepler Challenge. I now feel I am so close to finishing the daunting task I set out to complete. Today was a cracker – The Routeburn is [...]
12 hours and 45 minutes
Well the crux of the whole “7 in 7″ is done – The Heaphy Track – the longest and possibly the hardest track of them all has been conquered. My support runner Jeff and I set off in the dark at 3.45 am this morning – much to the annoyance of our hut mates , [...]
