Xterra Shakespear

The magnificent Shakespear Regional Park

Wow pretty much sums it up.

This was my first ever crack at an Xterra Trail Run Series event, and what a fantastic place to start. This course, up at Shakespear Regional Park at Whangaparoa (about an hour north of Auckland) had a little bit of everything - road, farm trails, single track, coastal rock hopping, wading, swimming, beach running and more!  All wrapped up into a wonderful family friendly event by Total Sport.

This season is the 10th year Total Sport have run the Xterra Auckland Trail Run Series. I've heard so much about the events over the last couple of years, and now I know what I've been missing out on.  If the remaining 5 events (including Xterra Waihi) are half as good as this one, I'll be stoked.  I have a feeling that they'll all be like this though - after all, great events are mainly about the people (behind the event and in the event!), and Total Sport have fostered an amazing trail running "family" through events like these.

I entered the "super long" run which was said to be 20.2 km, but how on earth you accurately measure a course like this beats me (my watch measured 19.5 km at the finish). The run started with a sharp pinch up a road section of a bit less than a km, which certainly got the HR up to operating temperature, before heading on to some farm trail up and up to almost the top of the course, before racing back down some nice (but short) single track leading to the beach at Army Bay. From there it was a long technical coastal section right around the outside of the tip of Whangaparoa Peninsular.  Along the way there were a couple of sections where the rocks just stopped, and the only way on was to take to the water and paddle and/or swim a few metres to the next rocky outcrop.  The water was freeeeeeezing, but the air temperature wasn't too bad at all, so the water was a welcome chance to cool off.  At the end of the coastal section there was a long drag along the beach and tidal flats before heading back up and over the farm tracks for the last 5-6km.  Along this section there were some bloody steep hills to contend with. I did a bit of hiking up the steeper hills, and tried to make up the time going down the other side.  From there it was a final drag race along the beach, to the finish line.

Competitors running along the beach section

Along the way I saw heaps of good running mates, and everyone looked like they were enjoying themselves.

I found the race quite challenging - staying on or close to the red line for the better part of 20km is hard work at times, but it all felt like it was over pretty quickly. Particularly the last section along the beach when I was passed by someone I'd been trading places with all race - I thought I might just have enough to finish fast and take the place back, but suddenly, there was the finish gantry!  Next time!

For the record, my time was 1.46.28 and I finished 26th overall and 6th in the Masters age group. I was really happy with that result, and now can't wait until the next event at Riverhead in 3 weeks time.

A final note of thanks to Total Sport for making this such a family friendly event.  I took our 3 kids Max, Charlie and Lucie along, as Total Sport had arranged a child care service through Rockmybaby - the kids loved it, and I got to bring them along to enjoy such a great event. That really made our day!  Thank you.