Still trying to knock the bugger off

On Friday the 6th of April I joined Mal Law and 8 others for my second attempt at conquering the mighty Hillary Trail on Auckland's wild west coast. There were some great runners in our group, including Michael Rodliffe and Penny Kirkwood, who have each run the Hillary Trail 6+ times, and Amy Campbell and Vicky Plaistowe, who came 2nd and 3rd respectively at Tarawera 3 weeks ago - people with very serious trail running pedigree.

The Hillary is a 75km route between Arataki and Muriwai. It can be done as a 4-6 day tramp, or 11-15 hour run, depending on how fit (and mad) you are. My first attempt was in July last year, for Midnight Midwinter Madness II, which was all of those three things. That night I was assaulted by the toughness, mudiness and coldness of the trail, and pulled out at Karekare, about 6 hours in. This time, coming off the back of a successful run at Tarawera, I was determined to do better.

The Wild West Coast

Although I had a personal goal in mind, my main role and reason for doing this run was to support Mal, who is fundraising for Mental Health awareness by running the Coast Path Run in the UK in June - that's about 1000km over 14 days. This was part of Mal's training, and fundraising by attempting to beat his PB on the trail.

We started this time at 5am under an almost full moon, and clear night sky. Conditions were pretty close to perfect. The first section from Arataki down Slip Track and Pipeline Track is mostly downhill and fairly easy going, although the pace was fairly quick. Then we hit Hamilton Track, where the "mud monster" lives, and the going was tough, and muddy, but not nearly as bad as last year. Still, in a couple of places, we were travelling through mud up to our ankles. We came out of Hamilton and down to Huia about 15 minutes ahead of Mal's schedule.

The next leg from Huia up to Karamatura Forks is quite tough uphill - climbing from sea level up to about 400m. I was still feeling ok, but the tough uphill started to take a toll on my legs.

From there, the trail goes on to Omanawanui Track along the cliffs above the coast, and the views accross to South Head are spectacular. It is one of my favourite parts of the Trail. From the top there is a steep decent down into Whatipu, and I took it fairly easy to try to save my quads from too much damage early on. About half way down I ran on ahead to refuel on Powerade and something to eat.

Whatipu

By Whatipu our group of 8 had become a group of 5 - Mal, Darren, Amy, Vicky and me.

From Whatipu up and along Gibbons and Muir tracks the going was good - these tracks were muddy bogs last year, but this time were like a highway in comparison. Although I was taking in Powerade, I couldn't face eating anything solid, and the fatigue from non-stop running for 3-4 hours was making my legs feel heavy, and the enjoyment factor was starting to wane...

At the end of Muir is Parahaha Point, and at that stage the Trail heads down through the marshes and on to the sand dunes for about 5km along the sand to Tunnel Point and on to Karekare. This was a beautiful part of the Trail, but I wasn't enjoying it much - basically banging up against a big wall the whole way. I also had a couple of stones in my shoe, but couldn't stop to take them out for fear of losing touch with the 4 others in our group. So I just gritted my teeth and carried on. The enjoyment factor was gone though, and I was only 30km into the planned 75km Trail. Bugger! I resolved to carry on to Karekare, and stop there for a while to wait for the next group to come through.

Karekare Beach

We reached Karekare about an hour ahead of schedule, and Sal Law (Mal's wife, and awesome supporter) hadn't arrived yet, so stopping wasn't really an option. I actually started feeling a little better, and decided to carry on. About 5 minutes into the next leg, Amy and Vicky volunteered to go back and wait for Sal, and Mal, Darren and I continued on.

The run up from Karekare and over to Piha is another steep one, but the views from the top down to Mercer Bay are out of this world. Even though I was back to feeling crap again, and had run out of fluid and was suffering, I was really happy I had decided to continue on. Darren and Mal both egged me on, and I was determined not to slow them down, so it was tough, but the views took my mind off how I was feeling.

Mercer Bay

Before I knew it we were at Piha Road, and Sal's support vehicle was a sight for sore eyes. At that stage I was completely spent. I was covered in white salt residue, and my kidneys were hurting, not to mention the overpowering fatigue, and so I decided to call it a day at Piha Road, 5:45 in.

So I was defeated again by an amazing trail, but proud to have made it further than my last attempt (in less time), and to have hung tough with some very talented and cool people.

Mal went on to finish the trail with Darren in 11:55, a new PB by 1:55, and raised $5000 for Mental Health awareness! Simply stunning effort.

Lessons for my next attempt:

1. Have confidence I can do it - if I am honest I had doubts right from the start - next time I will banish those from my mind!
2. Pace myself - next time I will run to the finish.
3. Nutrition - gotta figure out something I can eat on the run. Powerade and gels just don't cut it!
4. Know the trail - I feel confident now about the first half - need to get out there and run Piha to Muriwai before taking on the full again. That will take a lot of the fear out of it.

Overall I had a really good, but tough day, and made some great new trail friends, and achieved my main goal of supporting Mal achieve his PB. So next time I am going to smash it!