Auckland Trail Hunua 2025 (aka XTerra)
29 June 2025
21.6km, 917m, 2:25:55
https://www.strava.com/activities/14947348945/overview
Race Day
Race Day
Ed picked up Me, Barnaby and Juliette, and we met up with Michal, Maria K and Catherine D out there and later the rest of the Petri and RLC crowd.
The day was overcast and grey, but not windy or cold.
There had been heaps of heavy rain on Thursday/Friday, and so I expected the trails (and carpark) to be super muddy and wet. As it turned out, although there was a bit of water around, neither the parking nor the trails were a complete bog-fest, and I armed myself with my trusty Salomon SpeedCross and prepared for an all-in big effort!
Race
We started 10 minutes late (due to zealous KDB cleansing requirements), with Michal (predictably!) sprinting off ahead with Juliette at the gun. His 4 minute first kilometer put him comfortably ahead of me and Barnaby! The first part of the course is a bit more sanitised compared to previous years - there is no wading through a stream, and the single track (bike) trails are really fun as you undulate up and down small inclines. I was perfectly positioned amongst a group of runners going my pace, and Barnaby slowly moved away in front of me until I could only see him on the occasional long straight gravel roads.
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| See that guy behind you, Michal? Its our nemesis... |
After about 7 km, I came up to and passed Michal, who was presumably finally exhibiting some overdue caution due to the upcoming 'climb'.
This 'climb' is the hideous 250m gravel road. I was feeling ok, so I opted to jog non-stop up, and it helped that by half-way I could see Barnaby ahead, power walking. At about the same time, I spotted Michal running up behind me. Very amusingly, I overtook Barney (who was then guilt'd into running) just as Michal also joined us. So we three all entered Pukapuka at the same time.
Barnaby lead out along the mud and roots, with me following and Michal who dropped off behind us. It seemed to me like Barnaby was strong on the uphills, but wasn't as gung-ho on the downhills as I felt the day deserved, so after a few kilometers I overtook him and pressed on. I was power walking the worst of the uphills, but bombing the downhills pretty wildly - overtaking lots of Long'ers.
I worked hard right through Pukapuka (which, again, like normal, seemed to be longer than any other year!), trying to put some time on Barnaby since I expected him to crush the final downhill road section.
I got some cramp in my right calf, and even sucking on WSTs (Will's Salt Tablets) didn't fully help. But I eventually got to the final gravel road (with only one minor fall), and here the cramp actually intensified and slowed me a little for a kilometer or two but finally mostly disappeared.
I overtook Maria on the dam crossing (who was still recovering from the Aussie Ultra), and was glad to finish!
Juliette had a fun tussle with Gracie, playing leapfrog with her along Pukapuka, which was a great effort given the bowling-ball nature of the tread on the bottom of her shoes, eek!
The other members of RLC all did great - special mention to Sophia, who was first *overall* in the short course women! And Daniel, who was 8th *overall* while running in the under 13 years group! And Maria 4th in her (young!) category.
Ed was 2nd in 60+, only 11 minutes off first place :) [[I think that a) breakfast and b) some food or water might help, Ed!?]]
It was very good to have Barnaby back out there... pity that some other (unnamed but shamed) individuals weren't quite as organised...
Wrap
I had targeted this run for ages, since I hoped to be more competitive on it. I ended up 2nd over 50's, due to that rather annoyingly fast Michael R fellow who beat me by a minute. Grrr.!
But at least I beat Barnaby and Michal (most likely for the first and last time this year) !
I had a caffeine/gel after 40 mins, and another after 1:20, and took only about 500ml water (which I finished off well before the run ended)
A great event - my fav.
P.s. secret weapon....
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