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Over summer I have been training for this race while trying to ignore the little issue with the New Zealand border essentially being closed. The stars aligned a few weeks before race day when I was on the verge of pulling out, suddenly it was going to be possible to fly due to a relaxation in the isolation requirements. I took this to be a good sign for the race. :-)

 

It was great to be lining up again to pit myself against the terrain at Frozen Head State Park. I had been reasonably successful on my first attempt three years ago and really wanted to improve upon that. The pace was hectic at the start and I found myself dropping back through the field but content that at least I was going at a pace I felt was manageable. Things steadily improved over the next couple of laps as I moved up into second place halfway through the race. At this point I was feeling optimistic that I might actually finish five loops, I was feeling good, moving well and had a few hours of time buffer. Oh how things can change though, a small mistake snowballed into larger ones, I started to make some navigation mistakes and quickly the time buffer disappeared. 

 

I persevered and got out onto the fourth loop, unfortunately I was moving a bit too slowly by this stage and eventually finished after the cutoff and couldn't continue. 

 

I really enjoyed the race, meeting so many wonderful people and I learned a lot. That saying about learning the most from your failures really does hold true.

 

Thanks to Horleys for all the support, many many gels were consumed in the race and training leading up to it. 

 

Thanks to Samuel Hartman for the photographs.

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