Tarras Rogaine & Plans

The problem with being allowed to focus on a major event/World Championship and time away is giving up some family time. So two weeks back and the perfect opportunity arose for some time together in the outdoors running around and having fun together.

Sam and Ollie had their first go at a Rogaine at the Highland Events, Lowburn rogaine earlier in the year. While I was out thrashing the crap out of David Kennedy (he’ll read this). Ann and the Kids grabbed a map and did a few controls. Then while Robert and I were honing some skills at Annavale, they were out again, this time officially cleaning up the family section.

Ed and Terry decided to add a 3 hour family section to their September rogaine to be held in Tarras this year. So off we trotted as a family to have some fun. Neither of the girls were feeling a 100% so they made a team to just go for an amble and allow Ollie to go as hard as he wanted. Turns out that’s quite hard. When Robert and I go out for a 6, 12 or 24 hour the pace is generally 5-6kph depending on the terrain. Ollie had done 2kph in his first hilly effort, so should have been capable of around 7-9km in this flat 3 hour.

Just before we started Terry asked if we were to clear the course. “Hell No”. I’d had a measure and it was at least 13km. No way the little man (9 going on 10) would get that. Maybe the Dunstan High boys would though. So of we trotted, Ollie setting the pace, me guiding, trotting along with the high school boys. Controls ticked of very quickly so I rapidly reset the course to pick up some extras. Ollie was going great. An hour into it and the School boys had missed one. Ollie knew we were in front and he was still trotting along between controls. I was having to force him to walk all the up hills. I kept feeding him sugar and water and pointing him towards things and off he’d go.

90 minutes in and were out the far end of the 3 hour course. The school boys would take slightly left and right routes to the controls and we’d take straight lines. They did bloody well for 14 year olds. Ollie was now in charge of the map and compass and with only minimal guidance could place the compass, line up the needle and set himself a direction. Dead Straight. See the image below, Ollie did all the navigation from 23-63-34-33-31-Finish. We crossed the line in 2:10 just 30s behind the school boys, but they’d left out 32.

So the wee man ran 14.2km in 2:10, with map and compass. We we’re now having fun together building the model race car that he chose as a prize.

Highland Events had this Family style rogaine pitched perfectly. The map was clean and simple allowing kids and novices to cover a lot of it and not be daunted by the scale of things. $25 for a family day out, perfect. They had another 100 or so doing the 6 hour and about 50-60 doing the 12 hour. I haven’t seen the results yet but my pick was for the Flemming/Nuttell/??? team to clear the course. They should have, I plotted a 70k route for the mostly flat course.

Future Plans
I’ve had a solid two weeks of doing stuff all now. I’ve been riding a bit, running a bit, eating a lot and wondering what event I might want to do.

Kepler – 1st Saturday in December. This is always going to happen. Training should be quite solid. Former Luxmore Grunt record holder Andy Town is now living here and is keen for some hit outs. Vic Beck is also back for more and we’ve already had an easy 4 1/2 hour session. With all of us being a similar pace I can see these turning into some quality efforts as we each try to get and edge for race day.

St James – No not THE St James put on by Nathan Fa’avae. That was a great run. So much fun had in the 3 years it was held. This one is being put on by http://www.stjamesmountainsports.co.nz it’s on the other side of the Waiau River, looks like a great 50k and we’ve got a family pass to the Hanmer Hot pools. Plus the timing is good in preparation for Northburn. Camping on the start line at Lake Tennyson will be fun for the family. I haven’t entered but I’d like to do this one.

Shotover-Moonlight February 23rd. Last year was so much fun. Adrian looks like he’s putting together a great field. Richard Ussher, one of the Curries, Vic Beck and Sara Biss???? and then there’s the 5k Option for Ollie to do again. He’ll be looking for a win this time after last years winner took a shortcut. Me, I think it’s just going to be a long training day for Northburn and more great camping at Moke Lake. ww.activeqt.co.nz/

Northburn This is going to be a big focus for the summer. I ran 26:52??? the 1st year and know I can go a whole lot faster. It’s hard and the sense of achievement from this race is 2nd to none. World Championships excluded. I had a great time last year helping out Terry, Ed and Tom when they needed jobs done. Doing the BCR coverage with Grant was a buzz. But time to get back into it. I want this race to work. The Pinckney family have opened up their property to us and there are some fantastic places to visit. Ann ran the 50k last year and loved it. She’s got eyes on dropping over an hour from her time as well.

So that’s the plan. Train, Run and lots of camping on the start line with the family. A great Summer.

edit:
Forgot to add the following

The time has come to have a go at Colin Rolfe’s 22:57 for Putara-Kaitoke. I’ve known about this for as long as I’ve been running. It’s a classic traverse and I’ve got a couple of Air Dollars in the bank. Not sure when it will happen, but I’d like it to be this summer.

The Otago Rail Trail – Graham Sinnamon holds the current record for the 156km at 23:59 when he raised some money for his school. It’s been nagging for a while as well. I think 16 is possible if it all goes right and 18 shouldn’t kill me.