Motu Challenge
New Record at the Motu Challenge
Richard Ussher / 15.10.2013
With just under 2 weeks to get sorted between getting back from a month in China and the 20th anniversary of the Motu Challenge I knew that I’d be in for some serious competition for the top spot – namely from local favorite Sam Clark who was also in the final stages of his preparation for the Tour of Southland in a couple of weeks time.
Give the amount of biking in the Motu event it was not bad prep to be going into the race on!
The first mission is actually getting there from Nelson. Elina is especially fond (massive sarcasm intended!) of the ferry trip so given she was still not feeling 100% recovered from China she decided to fly and I would drive and pick her up in Rotorua.
As usual the Ferries were running to a very loose schedule that in most ways looked nothing like the sailing times I had booked, but eventually 2 hours after I was scheduled to arrive in Wellington we finally departed Picton for a soon to become 41/2 hour sailing. The reduction in speed was no doubt an effort to keep a few more lunches down in the multitude of rather sickly looking people as we pitched and rolled our way across the strait – great fun but it would be way more fun on a surf ski – provided you were heading in the same direction as the wind and waves of course.
On our way through to Opotiki we met our support crew for the weekend, Yvette and Michael who had kindly volunteered their day to help us out and while not being overly familiar with the race were keen as mustard. We soon also picked up a 3rd crew member Daralyn who as luck would have it was super familiar with everything that is involved in the race.
The forecast was typical of the Motu event – pretty average and apparently the night before the race was pretty wild, with everyone thinking it would be another weather bomb year – I luckily saved myself the stress and slept through the racket outside.
Race morning however dawned relatively benign with only a 100kph wind, no rain and a high predicted in Motu of somewhere approaching positive figures.
Chasing Sam From the Start
The race got underway and almost immediately Sam Clark and a small group set about attacking the bunch and soon slipped off the front. I’d been talking with Carl Jones back in the pack and it was soon evident that if we weren’t careful Sam would be out of sight. A few people helped join a bit of a chase but as soon as it got close the chase would predictably become disjointed and away the small group would slip again.
They weren’t the only thing slipping either, I’d noticed my seat post gradually losing height as we bumped along the gravel road and as we hit the first major hill it was evident it needed to be rectified as it felt like I was riding Elina’s seat height.
There is nothing quite as demoralizing as watching the entire field streak past and disappear into the distance as you frantically deal with a mechanical on the side of the road. My only hope as I finished was that it wouldn’t immediately being to slip again.
So began a long solo day, I got into a good rhythm and began checking off what I would need to do for the rest of the day if I was to see Sam before the finish. I settled into a hard but not suicidal pace and gradually picked off groups of riders. I got a bit of company for periods but not much in the way of a draft or pacing.
Arriving at Motu and my worst fears were confirmed with a split to Sam of over 8 minutes, maybe I wouldn’t be seeing him after all! He’d held off all the chasers by himself, which was very impressive.
As I headed out on the run I felt good and I knew that despite the conditions being really conducive to a fast time, Sam must have really pushed the bike to be so far ahead. I was reminded of my first trip to Motu when I’d ridden almost 10 minutes into Gordon Walker only for him to peg me back and take the win that day.
With so much hard racing left to go there was a good chance that Sam would have a debit to pay for that effort, but I wasn’t going to be able to hold back.
I felt good on the run, I was probably fresher than on most occasions heading onto the run and the run had been the main focus while in China, as access to biking and kayaking hadn’t been great. Arriving back at the TA after the 17km I’d taken almost 3 minutes out of Sam. The next section would be telling as to how he was going, another 55 km on the bike, on the TT bike this time.
Into the Wind
I got into a good headspace pretty quickly on the TT bike, focusing not so much on catching Sam but in doing the best ride I could and a quick glance at the numbers on my power meter every now and again confirmed that things were in a good range for me.
The wind was pretty blustery but generally in a good direction for the first portion but once we hit the main road we turned into the wind. This seemed to intensify whenever the road turned upwards, adding to the feeling of hopelessness as everyone struggled towards the major obstacle on the ride, Traffords Hill.
The lower section didn’t disappoint as the gradient and the wind left me wondering where all my small gears had gone, but as we climbed around the corner the wind seemed to abate and the remainder of the climb seemed to fly by.
The wind returned with a vengeance on the descent with huge gusts threatening to send me careering across the road or off the side and down the bank. Some self preservation came into play until the road started to flatten out then it was back into trying to squeeze as much as I could out of the legs which were beginning to complain a bit.
Into the Lead on the Paddle
Hitting the Kayak TA I was buoyed to hear I was now less than 4 minutes down on Sam and so it really now was race on.
I caught a glimpse of 2 boats at the far end of a long straighter section, about 20 minutes into the paddle, which gave me something tangible to chase. From there on I knew I’d have to put myself into the hurt box to have any chance of getting onto level terms before the end of the paddle.
The river was flowing at a good level, which wasn’t doing me any favors either, although it was a lot more fun and it must have been pretty exciting for the spectators following the action from the road seeing the gap shrinking.
About 2/3’s of the way down all of a sudden I seemed to make up a huge chunk of time and passed the paddler from the leading team (from one of the local schools) and set my sights on Sam, now only a minute of so ahead. Every time we rounded a corner I hoped for the first time ever in this race not to see the end of the gorge so I’d have a bit more time to get on terms.
With about 3km left in the paddle I finally pulled up along side Sam and then put in a big burst to try and make sure he couldn’t jump on the wash. I managed to get a gap and slowly started to eek out a small advantage.
By the TA I had maybe 20 or 30 seconds on Sam and headed up to the waiting bikes wondering how much of a fight he’d be able to muster on the next 8km section on the bike.
Course Record Finish
Sam had run up from the kayak pretty swiftly and the gap seemed very small as I headed off on the bike, it was easy to see him just a hundred or so meters behind if I looked back. He had certainly not thrown in the towel and his legs had got some recovery in the boat – there was still plenty of work to do in the final 2 sections.
About halfway to town I realized I wasn’t doing myself any favors by worrying about what he was doing and as soon as I started focusing on my performance again I started to extend the gap.
As I transitioned onto the final run Sam was just arriving as I was running out onto the road and the race was still there for either of us. I focused on my process from the outset and tried to relax as much as possible and the legs started to respond.
A quick check after the first km confirmed that I was starting to extend the gap again and when I next checked I couldn’t see Sam although I knew he’d still be close.
Heading under the finish banner and knowing that it was finally wrapped up was a great feeling, especially to have come back from such a bit deficit was a real feeling of accomplishment at having controlled the emotions well throughout the race and never giving in.
Sam had raced really well, proven by the fact that we both went under my old course record.
In the women’s race Elina had a good solid outing including taking out the fastest MTB section against Olympian Karen Hanlen who she’d been riding with when Karen’s bad luck on the MTB section continued for another year with a flat. Karen did recover to take out the Motu 160 rode though.
Elina ended up coming home 4th individual overall with only Super Vet Neil Jones spoiling her chance for the overall podium.
In the Men’s Motu 160 Steven Sheldrake took almost 9 minutes off the course record and showed he’s still a weapon on the TT bike, but now has an impressive MTB to go with it.
The first team home was from the local school and there were plenty of impressive results from the school groups. Motu is always a really fun event and was great to see the community fully behind it.
Now it’s time for a mini break before training for Challenge Wanaka starts to kick in, it’s great to be heading back there and I’m really looking forward to the challenge. It’s been 3 years since my last iron distance race so who knows what will happen! Hopefully the weather improves a bit though or it is going to be brutal logging miles on the bike!
Next month is also shaping up as a busy one though with the Ashburton ½, The Southern Alps Tour and finishing off with the Mark Webber Challenge in Tasmania.
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