When an invitation to a Girls' Trail Running Weekend in Taupo arrived from Kate (of Kori Kita) I jumped at the opportunity to explore new tracks with like-minded people.
Friday
I picked Jo
up from Devonport, and we headed south just after 1pm. A smooth journey saw us
arrive at Acacia Bay at 5pm. Time to settle in and then a
wait to see if anyone else was going to turn up. In the end there were only the
three of us who ran on Friday night. Kate (and Red) took us along the lake edge
a short distance before heading up the hill into the forest. The evening was
perfectly still and clear and surprisingly warm. Not a ripple on the lake and
myriads of stars twinkling above. Every so often we paused to simply soak in
the beauty of our surroundings. A gradual winding ascent through the pines,
then a quick drop down Blue Ridge and along a few roads back to Acacia Bay. By
this time it was 9pm so we quickly rustled up some chicken & pasta for
dinner.
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| Sunrise at Acacia Bay |
Saturday
Breakfast
at 7:30am. Blue sky and no wind – Lake Taupo was still like a mirror. Drove to
Kinloch and met Shannon at 9am. The plan was to run down the 20km Great Lake
Trail to Kawakawa Bay and over to Kinloch. However, Kate had forgotten her pack
so she dropped Jo, Shannon, and me at the trail head then dashed home to
collect her gear before running in to meet us from the Kinloch end of the
track.
I was eager
to get running so went out fairly fast to begin with. Very gradual downhill on
pumice tracks, at first through farmland scrub then slowly entering proper
bush. Ran by myself for the first 10km down to Kawakawa Bay where I lapped up
the wilderness views while I waited for Shannon. For the next few kilometers we
ran together and I learnt a lot about training and racing from Shannon. Kate
joined us roughly 5km from Kinloch.
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| Kinloch, looking towards the Headland |
A short
stop at Kinloch to refill water and for Shannon change shoes before Shannon and
I headed up the W2K Track while Kate ran back along the Kawakawa Bay track to
meet Jo. After a 300km training week Shannon wasn’t feeling too sharp, so I
forged ahead at my own pace and ran the next 20km by myself. 5km of runnable
uphill brought me to the turnoff for the Headland Loop. This track is quite
tight & twisty but a bit softer underfoot than the main trails. A few good
lookouts along the way. By this time the breeze had got up and clouds were
threatening rain. About half way round I realised that I had underestimated how
much water I would need and my supply was getting low. Managed to eke it out
until about 2km from the end. Jo & Kate were waiting inside the Kinloch
store, welcoming me with some much appreciated hot chips.
The tracks
were completely different to what I was used to, and much easier than running
in the Waitakere Ranges. My lower legs felt the constant pounding on the hard
pumice while my quads hardly felt like they had done anything. Normally after a
long trail run my legs are smashed, but this time I still felt fresh. The
tight, windy mountain bike tracks with no roots or rocks did get a little
monotonous at times. The hills were all entirely runnable, but the total ascent
was only 670m over 40km.
Jo was
exhausted so we dropped her back at the house then Kate took me on a quick
jaunt down to the Acacia Bay caves. Headed back and hopped into the spa pool –
fantastic recovery session! Relaxed in the tub for an hour and a half before
deciding it was time to get dinner. Two of Kate’s running friends, Tilly &
Sandy, joined us for dinner. Had a wonderful evening of laughs and camaraderie,
and watched a little of “It’s Not That Hard” documentary.
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| On top of Tauhara |
Sunday
A bit
cooler in the morning. Shannon walked the Tauhara Half course, and Kate & I
ran up Mt. Tauhara. The track was rooty, narrow and steep – just how I like it!
A few views on the way up but the summit was in cloud. Quickly put on gloves
& a warm top. Spent a few minutes at the top before heading back to find
Kate and accompanying her back to the summit. We didn’t hang around long as the
cool breeze and cloud soon sent us scurrying down to shelter. The descent was
fun! Light misty rain was starting when I reached the carpark.
It was a quick trip for me: 34 minutes up and 20 minutes down. Under the challenge time of 1 hour! We then drove around
to the finish line of the Tauhara Half, but it was raining so we didn’t hang
around to watch people finish. Had a lazy afternoon at the house and departed
for Auckland just before 3pm.
A very
enjoyable and inspiring weekend of running!
