17 April 2021
8.4km, 800m vert, two laps at Coronet Peak Skifield
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The Buildup
I was really looking forward to this race, even though my 5th place in 2018 suggested that I was unlikely to get on the podium. I had a great training block over summer, but strained my hamstring 3 weeks ago, so ended up doing little running in the weeks immediately preceding this race. So I felt a bit underdone. At least the golf with Daniel the day before the race was using a cart and not walking :)
I was really looking forward to this race, even though my 5th place in 2018 suggested that I was unlikely to get on the podium. I had a great training block over summer, but strained my hamstring 3 weeks ago, so ended up doing little running in the weeks immediately preceding this race. So I felt a bit underdone. At least the golf with Daniel the day before the race was using a cart and not walking :)
The Race
Nikki, Daniel, Amelia and I drove up to Coronet Peak and met Brett (and Malcolm from ACA) there. The day was fine, with no wind and mostly sunny.
The open field started at 10:00 (for 3 laps), which Jono Johnston won.
Our masters field started at 10:15, for 2 laps of the course. (along with the under 20's) Each lap basically climbed up the skifield on the ski-trail tracks. Good footing - not really technical going up at all, although very steep to the point of needing to power walk a fair part of it.
It was a very small masters field, much smaller than previous years. Perhaps due to covid?
We started with a flat 400m section, where I found myself blatting along behind 3 juniors and ahead of all others.
I stayed ahead of my competitors for about half of the first climb, before one guy (Todd Krieble) slowly overtook me. By the top of the first lap, I was about 100m behind him, and thinking that I wouldn't see him again. But the downhill was *fast and fun*. Loose scoria and tussock but not difficult running really. I quickly caught up to Todd and just kept smashing it downhill until he disappeared from my rear vision mirror completely.
I came around for the second lap, and it got pretty tough. The uphill seemed endless this time around. I was making every effort to go fast, to stay ahead of Todd. I kept expecting him to catch me, but he didn't. Once I got to the top I was pretty sure I could stay in first place going down.
With about 1km to go, as I was going downhill, my hamstring pinged. (the same as 3 weeks earlier). Damn! I thought I might have to walk and lose my chance at winning, but I was able to just slow down a bit and cruise down and no-one caught me :)
Brett meanwhile had been zooming around and finished in third place in the over 50s !
Post Race
My quads were toast for a few days. The right hamstring actually wasn't really sore post-race, but I avoided running for the entire next week. (Until the Routeburn Classic!)
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