Xterra Waiuku 2019

Xterra Waiuku 2019

Xterra Waiuku 2019

30th June 2019

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/3796586383
https://www.strava.com/activities/2491111362
http://totalsport.racetiming.co.nz/competitions/1655

The Video
https://www.relive.cc/view/2491111362


The Day
A gorgeous cool sunny day with little wind. Yahoo! Do we look warm?

Brett drove me, Will and Barnaby out, leaving home at 6:55, which was borderline too late - it is quite a long drive there, and the parking is way up a long road past the event base. But we all made it in time. Neville and kids came out later to do the 5km. We were expecting big things from Nev over the shorter distance, and he didn't disappoint with a second overall placing!
Will's family also came out, and Michal and Neil, and I chatted to Alyssa there also.

The Prep
I'd had a good last few weeks, including some short hard efforts, and apart from a sore left foot and achy back was in fine shape to give the boys a run for their money. Will was just back from a world tour, which included 85km of run/walk over 2 days. Barnaby was making his long-awaited comeback trail run.

The Run
We started off at a quick pace (first km in 4.04) before heading out along the side of the Waikato estuary along the soft sandy trail. Will, Barnaby, Michal and I were in close proximity for the first few kilometers. Will started to pull ahead after a few km, and I also gained a bit of a gap on Barnaby and Michal. 
By the time we turned off left into the forest, Will was 40 seconds ahead of me, and looking strong.
I was running well, feeling pretty comfortable. After maybe 8km, I started to glimpse Will ahead, and overtook him at about the halfway stage. Apparently he was discovering that a double marathon the previous week wasn't the perfect tapering prep... He and Barnaby and Michal ended up in close proximity for some time, before Will got another burst of energy and made inroads into my lead. Hah! Too late to catch me however :)

The sandy beach section at about the 16km mark seemed to go on forever and was extra soft due to recent dry weather.

Michal overtook Barny on the last few kms.

Great running by all. 
Me, Will, Michal and Barnaby were separated by less than 3 minutes !

The surface is just fantastic at Waiuku - either compacted sand, pine needles on sand, or beach sand!

Some people were brave (stupid??) enough to challenge the mighty mud pool!

We were knackered, but happy :)

I took out the superlong 50+ race, and Neville was second overall (and first in age group in the short course). Brett was a few minutes off his nemesis Nick in the 60+.

Post-race Analysis
I completed in 1:56:36, or about 2 minutes slower than last year. Good pace judgement.
I didn't use my camelbak, just a couple of quick reusable cups of water to wash down some gels.
I think at the end, everyone had really enjoyed this event... the downhill blasts on soft footing were great fun!