Taining Outdoor Quest
Taining Outdoor Quest (& Zhengzhou Run)
Richard Ussher / 02.10.2013
After Wulong we had a whole day to recover, or more correctly to travel and ended up in Zhengzhou for a small 30km running race. I’m not quite sure how we get ourselves roped into these things sometimes but it was definitely a step down in class from the Wulong race.
We did get to see a confirmed dish of dog though – it was the most popular dish there and probably the best looking leading me to think that at some stage we would have definitely eaten it without being aware in our china travels where often we just go by what the pictures look like on the menus!
The next morning we all assembled on the start line, vastly underprepared and still rather tender from the 4 days of racing in Wulong.
I started off at a bit of an amble as the Chinese all started their mad sprint for the front.
The first 7.5km were all up and consisted of mainly steps – rising over a 1000m vertically I was happy to drop straight into survival mode. As could have been predicted after a few hundred stairs there were swaths of Chinese runners who had gone out too hard already down to a walk or in some cases a crawl and I steadily moved through the field.
We popped through the smog later about half way up to be greeted by magnificent views of stunning mountains, pinnacles and temples above and also a remarkably blue sky.
After the top it was a relief to know it was mainly downhill for the next 20 or so kilometers but the soreness in the legs meant it was a rather gingerly stride down the hills.
I kept passing runners and finally passed the front of the women’s field at the 24km mark. The track just kept going and going and at 30km there was still no sign of the impending finish, although we were back in the smog and visibility wasn’t more than a few hundred meters.
Finally after almost 34 kilometers I ran into the finish and the pain finally stopped! I was pretty happy with 11th place and not too long after Elina arrived in 7th place after what sounds like a similar experience to me.
After Zhengzhou we had 10 days to kill before our final race in Taining and headed for the Yunan province where we’d been in July and had found some really nice places. Thanks to Red Bull China we ended up with our own driver for the time and toured from Kunming to Dali for a couple of nights then on to Lijiang, which really is a stunning place on the edge of the Himalayas. The highlight of my time here was a trip to Tiger Leaping Gorge, which has to be the largest rapid I have ever seen and was quite incredible to see.
We finally headed to Taining, which turned into a full day adventure and threatened to not end well. After 6 hours of flights, over 7 hours of transit time we ended up with a driver who seemed intent on trying to kill us all and left Elina a nervous wreck on the 5 hour drive to the race venue, he was lucky he didn’t end up tied up in the back of his own ute with me driving!
Taining was a 2 person team race so Elina and I were racing together with our main competition as usual coming from Jacky and Mimi from Thule. Our expectations took a knock with Elina spending the entire first night throwing up and the next day sleeping the whole day and not feeling much better. I don’t think it was the food but probably the stress of the drive from the airport.
Day 1
The first day was fairly short and promised to be intense racing. We set off on a 7.5km road run where we knew Mimi’s running prowess would be hard to counter, we were happy to come in just 90 sec down and well ahead of most of the male teams. We were surprised to find them still trying to get over the 3m high wall but quickly found out why. The surface was extremely slippery and it was impossible to get a hold on the top of the wall so after pushing Elina up she had to then jump down so I could climb on her shoulders and get up and then pull her up.
Getting into the kayaks and the sit-on-tops reduced the racing to slow motion, we made a little time but the boats are almost one speed only.
A MTB followed and we were surprised to suddenly catch Jacky and Mimi at the top of the hill, and then it flattened out we got a small gap and were able to keep it. The Men’s Red Bull team were also with us and we lapped it out back to the kayaks.
Into the kayaks and back for round two of the wall which this time we had to run up a sloping 45 degree ramp to the top and again covered in the slippery coating it was super frustrating as we would get almost to the top before sliding back to the bottom. Finally Elina made it to the top and was then able to grab me as I made it close so I could haul myself the last part up with her help
A short run to the finish and we’d suddenly made 3 ½ minutes on Jacky and Mimi – a great start to the race.
Day 2
A mass start on the bikes is always a bit nerve wracking but we managed the first portion with no issues. Then just when it seemed like things were under control the course dived off the road into a tight single track and Elina got trapped behind a load of people and all of a sudden the front of the race was minutes in front of us as we got stalled in the congestion. We finally battled clear and put our heads down and chased as hard as we could. We were slowly picking off teams in front and several times I thought I was able to see Jacky and Mimi but we didn’t see then until we made the TA and the mandatory 15min rest. They had just under 3 minutes on us which wasn’t the end of the world but with a trail run coming up damage limitation was going to be key to being close enough to try and catch them on the long paddle to come.
We had a solid run but still lost over 3 minutes and started the paddle with a big gap. We got into the paddle well and gave it everything we had with almost 2 hours of paddling there was a lot of time to try and make a difference and slowly the teams in front started to get closer and closer.
Again the lack of speed in the boats was against us with trying to get any extra speed requiring a ridiculous amount of extra energy. By the end though we’d out paddled all the Men’s teams and got within less than 3 minutes of the French with just an abseil and swim to finish. The Abseil was off a low bridge into a very long looking 300m swim. Luckily we’d thought to pack goggles, a tow line and hand paddles and so we maximized our swim with Elina, who is very much swim for survival rather than speed, doing really well.
At the finish we’d lost a little time to Jacky and Mimi who are both swimmers but the time difference over the first two days meant we were now only 25 seconds behind overall, the last day would be the decider.
Day 3
We started on the MTB’s again and we set off in an aggressive mode to see if we could shake things up. We quickly split the field up but couldn’t quite shake the French off. Then, heading up the major climb for the ride I heard Elina yell something and the next second I heard my derailuer disintegrate into about 5 pieces, not ideal. The tow line had jumped off Elina’s stem and got wrapped around the derailuer and simply ripped it off the bike.
Time to test the bike fixing skills and I was able to turn my bike into a single speed in pretty good time and we were back on the go – all be it with rapidly diminishing prospects of winning the race. We started passing through teams again and luckily the course was mainly either up or down so I was able to go well up the hills, then build up as much speed as I could and get into a tuck on the downhills. Our biggest issue was the flats where my max speed at about 130 rpm was 23.4kph. Elina would come past and I’d grab onto her jersey and get a tow on these sections.
We finally made the end of the ride, which was again the 15min rest and learned we’d lost about 8 minutes. Not good but it could have easily been much worse and we were still in with a chance to take a podium for the day and protect 2nd overall and were close enough if Jacky and Mimi had an issue we could potentially still take a win.
There was a paddle up next and it would have been a really fun paddle through some small rapids and tight canyons with a bit more water but it was super low and at every shallow the back end where I was sitting would slam into every rock on the way down while the lighter teams would simply slip through event he worst lines seemingly with out touching the bottom.
We were still making ground on teams in front but couldn’t get anywhere near making up the difference to first.
The final run was really hot but we gave it a good push and were pretty spent when we arrived at the flying fox. I went first and was alarmed to see how quickly I was approaching the other side, I managed to grab the rope and spin myself feet first and also take a bit of speed off but still hit the end going very quickly. Elina said the riggers suddenly started asking for people’s weights at the start to adjust the tensions! It had obviously been rigged for mid 50’s and not 80kgs as Elina glided in and stopped within about 30cm of perfect.
We ran the final 500m to the finish, another case of close but not quite close enough.
After a month in China we were both ready to head to NZ, there are some amazing places in China but it is just so different and it can wear you down. I certainly was.
We are fortunate to have the support of Red Bull China for our racing in China this year and of course we couldn’t keep doing what we do with out the fantastic support of all our regular sponsors.
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