Bethells West Coaster 2022
10th December 2022
https://www.strava.com/activities/8229056735
Race Day
I drove Nev out to Bethells in the rain and mist. Fortunately the rain cleared nicely by the time we arrived there, and although the ground was very sodden from weeks of rain, at least we stayed dry.
The course followed the same 'alternative' route that I ran in 2018, since the Te Henga section was closed.
Running
Nev and I set off at the gun, and got into a steady rhythm along the initial flat sections across the big stream and along Bethells Beach.
After 2km we got up off the sand and ran up to Te Henga trail and then clockwise down the long descent where we crossed under the bridge and entered the stream. I felt pretty good, and was mostly setting the pace. We ran up along the river banks for a while, with Nev started to drop behind me after about 8km. This was a pretty section, with nice cooling water to splash through and wash the sand off us.
After we neared the event base at the 9km mark we then headed off onto the private property section, which was a big loop with a 200m climb, then a drop right back down and another big 200m climb back up to the ridge. Nev was out of sight behind me by now, and I overtook a few people on the uphills. (I didn't walk any of the hills and had no aches or pains all day :) )
I was wearing my awesome Hoka TectonX shoes, which are super fast but not suitable for mud... and unfortunately it was actually very muddy and slippy! I nearly went over a couple of times, but hey, it raised the adrenaline factor which is always fun. Although I was fast on the uphills, most people around me were absolutely killing me on the downhills.
Finally I got down off the muddy hill and onto some sand for the last couple of km downhill (mostly) to the event base.
I did 1:52:28, which was 3 minutes faster than in 2018 :) Super happy there for 6th overall.
Nev came in at 2:03:09 after an enjoyable run.
Wrap
The run was pretty uneventful.... no injuries, no blood, tired bodies but perhaps not as physically wrecked as after some events.
I had been watching my weight and training hard for the last 3 weeks, and it certainly helped. I had an easy week of tapering (admittedly from a pretty tired pre-state), and felt really comfortable on the run until the last 500m when I started to crash and slow down. So good race pace overall.
I had a muesli bar 30 mins before, and one gel during. I took a cup of water and/or coke at each drinks station, and was dripping with sweat by the end in the 100% humidity.
It was really nice to get out to another organised event.
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