Lake to Lighthouse
Usshers Defend Their Titles
Richard Ussher / 03.12.2009
Our pre race started with a powhiri down in Wairoa before a second up in Tuia as the communities welcomed the race to the area and blessed the tounga that we’d all be racing for over the next few days.
Race day dawned with a solid wind blowing and I’m sure it was causing a fair bit of consternation amongst Chris and his team as to whether the kayak leg should proceed and as we got underway on the Mountain bikes we definitely felt the full blast of it up above the lake. Luckily the kayak leg was in the more sheltered region of the lake and most problems seemed to be due to wind gusts as opposed to any significant wind chop.
The race included a team of Gordon Walker and Dwarne Farley who were determined to see no individuals would be first home this year. With us all fresh it turned into a bit of a slug fest up the first hill and the field quickly split up.
Into the kayak transition and I’d a small gap on Dwarne but that disappeared rather quickly as Gordon hammered past in the kayak. I was unsure if it was really that kosher to draft off Gordy with him being in the teams and with the water choppy it pretty quickly became a moot point as my indecision let him slip away and I was able to go about my race with a slight bit less discomfort.
Onto the run and I was determined to keep the pace under control this year so as not to feel quite as wrecked in the second half of the run, after all 47 km’s is not your everyday leg in a Multisport race. It seemed from reports I was slowly reeling Gordy in but I knew once he changed over to Dwarne at the halfway point it was all over for me and the strategy for running the whole distance is vastly different than for a still solid 26 km.
Into the halfway point and I had no idea how far any of the other individuals were leaving no option to keep up a reasonable pace. I didn’t seem quite as knackered this year and managed what could almost be described as a jog up to the top of the climb – I did have to turn the auto pause function off on my GPS watch though as it was starting to decide I was indeed stopped in several locations (must have been the tree cover ;-) )
Past Panekiri hut and we were treated to a bit of a haka at the top courtesy of a couple of the local kapa haka group who must have been positively frozen by the time the last runners came through – their loin cloths wouldn’t have provided much respite against the strong winds up there that is for sure.
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