GODZone 2017
We started I suppose on the Friday, getting our logistics plan and maps, which set us off on what I would say was one of the most important days of the race; the logistics were crucial to a good race and making sure you had all the right kit was essential. We already had food pre-packaged in 12 hour ration packs so this meant we could allocate it easily, but we still had to make changes for things like kayaking and biking, which are hard to eat on as your hands are busy, so things like nuts or cereal are harder to manage than say, a muesli bar, so we reallocated these “two handed” foods to the trek, at this point it was so good to have the amazing amount of sponsored food from Hillary Foods, Awaken bars, Pure sports nutrition and sport beans, as this is a huge cost normally, so having a surplus of really good nutrition was just awesome! We spent the entire day from 7am till 12pm organising the race, packing things away, looking at routes and cover sealing the maps (to keep them waterproof). We went to bed later than would have been ideal but we wanted to get the planning right so there were minimal hiccups in the race.
Stage 1: multisport – run-11km, bike-19km, kayak/canoe-19km, gorgeering-6km
The race started on Queenstown beach at 7am on Saturday, and fired off up the track that heads up Ben Lomond, we moved up here at a good pace that we could sustain, and picked up the controls as we went with only a little confusion on a control that was marked on the track junction on the map, but the actual junction was in the next valley over in real life. Running along the ridge down to the gondola from here was a dream, the sun was streaming in and we felt good.
We made it to the bikes and whizzed through transition, bailing down Hammy’s track, which was a radical way to descend! After hitting the flat in Queenstown we headed up Queenstown hill which was a bit of a slog, and we towed a bit just to keep the pace up, before the sweet downhill to come!
We started I suppose on the Friday, getting our logistics plan and maps, which set us off on what I would say was one of the most important days of the race; the logistics were crucial to a good race and making sure you had all the right kit was essential. We already had food pre-packaged in 12 hour ration packs so this meant we could allocate it easily, but we still had to make changes for things like kayaking and biking, which are hard to eat on as your hands are busy, so things like nuts or cereal are harder to manage than say, a muesli bar, so we reallocated these “two handed” foods to the trek, at this point it was so good to have the amazing amount of sponsored food from Hillary Foods, Awaken bars, Pure sports nutrition and sport beans, as this is a huge cost normally, so having a surplus of really good nutrition was just awesome! We spent the entire day from 7am till 12pm organising the race, packing things away, looking at routes and cover sealing the maps (to keep them waterproof). We went to bed later than would have been ideal but we wanted to get the planning right so there were minimal hiccups in the race.
Stage 1: multisport – run-11km, bike-19km, kayak/canoe-19km, gorgeering-6km
The race started on Queenstown beach at 7am on Saturday, and fired off up the track that heads up Ben Lomond, we moved up here at a good pace that we could sustain, and picked up the controls as we went with only a little confusion on a control that was marked on the track junction on the map, but the actual junction was in the next valley over in real life. Running along the ridge down to the gondola from here was a dream, the sun was streaming in and we felt good.
We made it to the bikes and whizzed through transition, bailing down Hammy’s track, which was a radical way to descend! After hitting the flat in Queenstown we headed up Queenstown hill which was a bit of a slog, and we towed a bit just to keep the pace up, before the sweet downhill to come!
Reaching the transition to the river we hurriedly packed up our bikes and pumped up the inflatable. Nath and Levi hopped in the inflatable canoe, as they were the strongest paddlers, while Rachel and I operated the kayak which was a significant challenge as we weren’t allowed to use the rudder until we got down the Shotover to the Kawarau. Some teams elected to tow their canoe with the kayak, but we decided that manoeuvring this would prove too challenging so elected not to. Upon finishing the Kayak, we had to haul the boats and all the gear up a very steep switchback track, which required a lot of teamwork and guts.
Next up was the gorgeering – a 6km trek up the Arrow River gorge, flitting from one side to another and through a river. It was beautiful, and surrounded by the willows. We held our own here and weren’t afraid to get wet which saved us time, however we were slowed at times by the (as you’d expect) dense growth at the sides of the river.
Next up was the gorgeering – a 6km trek up the Arrow River gorge, flitting from one side to another and through a river. It was beautiful, and surrounded by the willows. We held our own here and weren’t afraid to get wet which saved us time, however we were slowed at times by the (as you’d expect) dense growth at the sides of the river.
Stage 2: Trek – 45km
On reaching TA1 (transition area 1) we finished the prologue (stage 1) and quickly set out on the first big trekking leg. This would take us over Brow Peak and down Deep Creek. This was an extremely scenic area and beautiful to witness in the setting sun. The only downside was that somehow my shoes that I wanted to trek in had been taken out of the TA box so I did the next 2 treks in my inov-8s. They are great shoes, but have lower profile heel than what I was intending to use, and I had not trained with the plan of using them much, so my Achilles became overstretched, which was niggly. We also experienced the only averse weather of the course which were clouds and some rain. The silver lining of this was that we (and the other teams we were with (Motueka and Heartland) got to witness an awesome double rainbow (no way!). We continued down the river, which proceeded into some slightly sketchy cliffs, so we made slower progress going forward, but this gave us time to focus on our nutrition, and I tucked into some Hillary Cereal which I had prepared in a bag with milk powder, so all I had to do was add water. This proved to be the best part of my nutrition that I looked forward to at all parts of the race (later on in the race certain foods, particularly sweet things, become very hard to stomach, especially given some nasty ulcers I developed due to constant sugar and immunosuppression from fatigue).
On reaching TA1 (transition area 1) we finished the prologue (stage 1) and quickly set out on the first big trekking leg. This would take us over Brow Peak and down Deep Creek. This was an extremely scenic area and beautiful to witness in the setting sun. The only downside was that somehow my shoes that I wanted to trek in had been taken out of the TA box so I did the next 2 treks in my inov-8s. They are great shoes, but have lower profile heel than what I was intending to use, and I had not trained with the plan of using them much, so my Achilles became overstretched, which was niggly. We also experienced the only averse weather of the course which were clouds and some rain. The silver lining of this was that we (and the other teams we were with (Motueka and Heartland) got to witness an awesome double rainbow (no way!). We continued down the river, which proceeded into some slightly sketchy cliffs, so we made slower progress going forward, but this gave us time to focus on our nutrition, and I tucked into some Hillary Cereal which I had prepared in a bag with milk powder, so all I had to do was add water. This proved to be the best part of my nutrition that I looked forward to at all parts of the race (later on in the race certain foods, particularly sweet things, become very hard to stomach, especially given some nasty ulcers I developed due to constant sugar and immunosuppression from fatigue).
We descended into another gorge, which was really cool; massive cliffs on either side, but we were caught up in moving with some other teams, so missed the checkpoint and had to double back to find it. Following this we moved on till the early morning where we pitched our fly and nabbed 2.5 hours’ sleep. We wanted to get enough to remain competitive later in in the race, but also didn’t want to get “dark zoned” (prevented from going on the water in the hours of 2030-0645) the next day. Being a younger team, our physiology demands we get more sleep to maintain the same performance as some of the older teams, so we made this a priority. We awoke and finished the trek by the next midday after another hearty climb up from Old Man Creek over the mountain to transition 3
Stage 3: canoe - 16km, abseil, trek - 9km
We had a reasonably fast transition and carried our “mesh bag” with all our river gear to the start of the canoe. This seemed heavy at the time, carrying it 1 km but was a dim foreshadowing of what was to come! We inflated our canoes and set off down the upper Shotover River. There were some awesome relics from the gold mining era and some moderately exciting rapids. We surged to the finish of that section which brought us to the biggest abseil I have ever seen! It went from the bridge where the AJ Hacket bungee descends into Skippers Canyon (71 metres!).
The next stage was guided rafting down the mid Shotover rapids, and we knew we had to make the start of it by 1830hrs, because it was approximately a 2 hour stage, so they wouldn’t let anyone on the water beyond that appointed time. We had allowed 2 hours for the 9km trek to this from the abseil, however we were then informed that it was taking teams 5 hours, and that we had to carry our mesh bag and all our water gear (a total of 3 big awkward packs). At this point we were a bit ahead of schedule, so we had a total of 3 hours 15 to get to the next transition and be ready to go. Initially we made good progress, and covered all but 2km of the leg with 90 minutes to go. We were going at an unsustainable pace, running around the hills and sidling on the rough terrain; however we figured that if we made it to the TA we would have an extra 9 hours on the next teams, so it would be worth it. Then disaster struck. We came to a valley, where there seemed to be 2 routes ; go straight ahead and into what seemed to be impenetrable rose wild bushes, or go up what looked to be a clear path with a wee rock climb half way up. The “wee climb” turned out to be an absolute monster of a climb that would have been fine had we not been tired and carrying multiple bags. I can recommend against carrying one of the infernal mesh bags as well as my backpack while teetering about a 10m drop. However despite this 45 minute delay, we managed to drag ourselves crawling to the transition area with 7 minutes to go. After a bit of bantering with the officials about whether it was sufficient time to get on the water they allowed us to proceed and we were overjoyed! From this leg we have coined the phrase “mesh bag” which is anything that the team really has to drag along at the expense of much energy and speed
Stage 4: Rafting – 14km
The raft stage was an epic adventure of massive rapids and gushing water. Definitely one of the highlights of the course! We also got to go through the tunnel in the river, which was a real treat. We arrived at TA3 elated, but also cold and wet, so changed into warm clothes, and made some hot food. With such a big lead on the chasing teams we relaxed a bit and took a while to take care of our feet.
Stage 5: bike – 38km, MTBO – 5km
Next up was a mountain bike along the moonlight track, however there was a section of track that had a big cliff off to the side, which we were instructed to walk our bikes along, but there was no indication of when we were supposed to remount, so we spent more time than necessary walking our bikes, however didn’t fall off a cliff, which I rated highly. Rachel also got a scare from a possum which jumped across the track centimetres from her face! Things got quite cold this night and we biked along wearing quite a few layers. On the whole, the days were amazing and the nights were cold. We got toward the end of the cycle leg and slept at the start of the MTB orienteering.
Grabbing a quick 4 hours sleep we began the MTBO the next morning which was an awesome way to start the day; zipping along sick trails with enough downhill to keep us fresh. Racing through the transition we started out on trek 2.
Stage 6: trek – 21km
This took us through the Mt Crichton loop track and some old gold mining earthworks. There was one control we struggled with as the track it was on was incorrectly marked, so we just took the safe, straight route to it, losing a few minutes but being safe and confident in our outcome. Following this we hussed it up the ridge to Mt Crichton where we made another safe and long but time losing route choice, opting to go around and over the summit rather than cutting straight across potentially bluff country that other teams gained time on– this seemed to be a theme for the race. The ridge was absolutely stunning, as you can see in the helicopter video on the GODZone Facebook page, and Lake Isobel was very spectacular. We made a fast descent until nightfall to the transition to kayak, downing some absolute wilderness meals on the way, which are a similarly freeze-dried food to the back country cuisine, but more convenient as they are pre-cooked, so can be rehydrated with cold water (and a bit more time).
Next up was a mountain bike along the moonlight track, however there was a section of track that had a big cliff off to the side, which we were instructed to walk our bikes along, but there was no indication of when we were supposed to remount, so we spent more time than necessary walking our bikes, however didn’t fall off a cliff, which I rated highly. Rachel also got a scare from a possum which jumped across the track centimetres from her face! Things got quite cold this night and we biked along wearing quite a few layers. On the whole, the days were amazing and the nights were cold. We got toward the end of the cycle leg and slept at the start of the MTB orienteering.
Grabbing a quick 4 hours sleep we began the MTBO the next morning which was an awesome way to start the day; zipping along sick trails with enough downhill to keep us fresh. Racing through the transition we started out on trek 2.
Stage 6: trek – 21km
This took us through the Mt Crichton loop track and some old gold mining earthworks. There was one control we struggled with as the track it was on was incorrectly marked, so we just took the safe, straight route to it, losing a few minutes but being safe and confident in our outcome. Following this we hussed it up the ridge to Mt Crichton where we made another safe and long but time losing route choice, opting to go around and over the summit rather than cutting straight across potentially bluff country that other teams gained time on– this seemed to be a theme for the race. The ridge was absolutely stunning, as you can see in the helicopter video on the GODZone Facebook page, and Lake Isobel was very spectacular. We made a fast descent until nightfall to the transition to kayak, downing some absolute wilderness meals on the way, which are a similarly freeze-dried food to the back country cuisine, but more convenient as they are pre-cooked, so can be rehydrated with cold water (and a bit more time).
Stage 7: kayak – 18km
The paddle proved challenging, as Rachel and I battled sleepiness while trying to navigate to a point on a shore which looked the same for 18km with no moon. We eventually happened across it and were able to continue, this would have been significantly easier in the day time, but we were not ready to stop yet.
Stage 8: bike - 110km
Arriving at the TA in Glenorchy we got dry and changed, were fed hot scrambled eggs by a stranger (yes mum) and sped out on bikes. It was the early hours of the morning at this point and we passed a lot of sleeping teams. We were feeling quite drowsy ourselves, so took life from belting out favourites like ABBA and Queen while zipping along the roads. I assured my team we were in one of the most beautiful locations in the world – literally named Paradise, but in the dark it could have been farmland anywhere in the country. We found a hay barn with person-sized bales which made for a fast and comfortable sleep without wasting time setting up a tent. The next morning we awoke to a cold fog and Rachel was keen for a 1 minute lie-in, however Levi was determined to get moving to galvanised us into action, and we were on the road again. The bike took us along the shores of Wakatipu and then over a saddle (1200m climbing later). It then proceeded with a technical rocky downhill, which was not only the highlight of the course for us on a beautiful day, but also very much in our favour in terms of time
Stage 9: trek – 33km
The transition was again much taken up by foot care, which the medics advised us to do, and we were doing much better than anticipated at this point, so we were happy to agree, before setting out on the final trek. Things started well for us, overtaking team Quest from America, which was a boost to moral. The organisers had given us a compulsory route to take to the top of the ridge, which gave me much relief, as I had been scoping it out with little hope before. Once on the ridge we travelled along it for a few hours, and things began to get weird. We had no other teams in sight, and were moving slowly over rough terrain. Due to the effort we had expended and lack of sleep, Rachel reported seeing two of Nathan, whereas in fact it was just Levi and he wearing similar clothes, Levi said he could see faces everywhere on the rocks, and other teams camped out where none existed, and both were having difficulty maintaining enthusiasm. We reached the end of the ridge and rather than going straight down onto a spur, which looked like there could be cliffs on. I was struggling to focus at this point of the early morning and it took all of my energy to navigate us around the head of the spur onto the track that was on there, all the while trying to encourage the team along the team along with me. Once we hit the track I felt a massive weight lift from my shoulders and I relaxed. At this point it was my turn to descend into madness, as the track appeared to come alive with artistic impressions of everything from friends that I hadn’t seen in years, who I proceeded to talk to, to ice creams, hot rods and fire dancing ladies. Nathan (ever the packhorse of the team) thankfully took over at this point and led our team along the track. Between us we saw hallucinations of the hut we were trying to find about 10 times, but when we eventually reached it we got some long awaited rest, and put our sleep monsters away. In the morning we jumped up and headed up the hill, direct though the beech, which was an excellent and fast route, and we got to the top in no time. We then proceeded a direct way down the other side, but ended up stuck I a gorge. This cost us an hour or so and was stressful and dangerous to say the least, but was actually one of the scenic highlights of the trip. It was a beautiful river in beech forest with the sunlight streaming in and cool water babbling through.
Having been forced to move slowly through the gorge we now raced along the track to the last transition, where we literally jumped in our boats and headed onto the lake.
The paddle proved challenging, as Rachel and I battled sleepiness while trying to navigate to a point on a shore which looked the same for 18km with no moon. We eventually happened across it and were able to continue, this would have been significantly easier in the day time, but we were not ready to stop yet.
Stage 8: bike - 110km
Arriving at the TA in Glenorchy we got dry and changed, were fed hot scrambled eggs by a stranger (yes mum) and sped out on bikes. It was the early hours of the morning at this point and we passed a lot of sleeping teams. We were feeling quite drowsy ourselves, so took life from belting out favourites like ABBA and Queen while zipping along the roads. I assured my team we were in one of the most beautiful locations in the world – literally named Paradise, but in the dark it could have been farmland anywhere in the country. We found a hay barn with person-sized bales which made for a fast and comfortable sleep without wasting time setting up a tent. The next morning we awoke to a cold fog and Rachel was keen for a 1 minute lie-in, however Levi was determined to get moving to galvanised us into action, and we were on the road again. The bike took us along the shores of Wakatipu and then over a saddle (1200m climbing later). It then proceeded with a technical rocky downhill, which was not only the highlight of the course for us on a beautiful day, but also very much in our favour in terms of time
Stage 9: trek – 33km
The transition was again much taken up by foot care, which the medics advised us to do, and we were doing much better than anticipated at this point, so we were happy to agree, before setting out on the final trek. Things started well for us, overtaking team Quest from America, which was a boost to moral. The organisers had given us a compulsory route to take to the top of the ridge, which gave me much relief, as I had been scoping it out with little hope before. Once on the ridge we travelled along it for a few hours, and things began to get weird. We had no other teams in sight, and were moving slowly over rough terrain. Due to the effort we had expended and lack of sleep, Rachel reported seeing two of Nathan, whereas in fact it was just Levi and he wearing similar clothes, Levi said he could see faces everywhere on the rocks, and other teams camped out where none existed, and both were having difficulty maintaining enthusiasm. We reached the end of the ridge and rather than going straight down onto a spur, which looked like there could be cliffs on. I was struggling to focus at this point of the early morning and it took all of my energy to navigate us around the head of the spur onto the track that was on there, all the while trying to encourage the team along the team along with me. Once we hit the track I felt a massive weight lift from my shoulders and I relaxed. At this point it was my turn to descend into madness, as the track appeared to come alive with artistic impressions of everything from friends that I hadn’t seen in years, who I proceeded to talk to, to ice creams, hot rods and fire dancing ladies. Nathan (ever the packhorse of the team) thankfully took over at this point and led our team along the track. Between us we saw hallucinations of the hut we were trying to find about 10 times, but when we eventually reached it we got some long awaited rest, and put our sleep monsters away. In the morning we jumped up and headed up the hill, direct though the beech, which was an excellent and fast route, and we got to the top in no time. We then proceeded a direct way down the other side, but ended up stuck I a gorge. This cost us an hour or so and was stressful and dangerous to say the least, but was actually one of the scenic highlights of the trip. It was a beautiful river in beech forest with the sunlight streaming in and cool water babbling through.
Having been forced to move slowly through the gorge we now raced along the track to the last transition, where we literally jumped in our boats and headed onto the lake.
Stage 10 : kayak – 47km
We made good progress on the glassy lake, Levi driving the pace, and could see Queenstown getting closer and closer. Gaining the last checkpoint we saw once more our friends in the team Motueka, who had been unfortunately grounded due to forgetting their tracking device in transition
We made good progress on the glassy lake, Levi driving the pace, and could see Queenstown getting closer and closer. Gaining the last checkpoint we saw once more our friends in the team Motueka, who had been unfortunately grounded due to forgetting their tracking device in transition
About 5 minutes after we passed them however they launched back onto the water and gave chase. We had about 12 km to go and so really put the hammer down, however Nathan was taking on water through his front cargo port in the waves which were getting more and more scary. We quickly bailed this and resealed the port. Because the weather had developed into a severe headwind and waves, we were crashing along at about 1km per hour and the 500m we had on team Motueka had turned from a 5 minute lead to a 30 minute lead. We dug it in, despite Nathan being concerned about his blood glucose levels dropping low until we passed the headland and turned into the Frankton arm. Here he smashed a gel and we raced home to the finish with what was now a substantial tailwind. We were welcomed to the finish with open arms by our families and each other of course. After months of planning and 5 years of mentally building up to it, we had completed GODZone Pure. We really just wanted to finish the course and do well for a youth team, but ended up in 12th position overall, which we thought of as an unreal achievement, and were overcome with joy. We stayed at the finish long enough to welcome following teams, eat a pie and enjoy the “compulsory checkpoint” official GZ beer. It was also really cool to have a chat to Steve Gurney, an absolute legend of the sport, who had kindly given us enough “gurney Goo” to keep our feet in prime condition and keep the disintegration and trench foot infections at bay. Soon enough however our weariness overcame our social nature and we went home to get properly warm and dry, and sleep the whole night‼
The next few days were a good time to recover and reflect on what we had achieved with a good combination of determination and team work. It was an epic week of fantastic adventures and really made me believe that anyone could achieve what we had I they just set their mind to it and gathered a team of like-minded supportive individuals. We worked together as a unit and I believe this allowed us to work through the problems we had, and is something I would personally like to incorporate more into my life in general.
-Tom Spencer and the Greenhorns Team
The next few days were a good time to recover and reflect on what we had achieved with a good combination of determination and team work. It was an epic week of fantastic adventures and really made me believe that anyone could achieve what we had I they just set their mind to it and gathered a team of like-minded supportive individuals. We worked together as a unit and I believe this allowed us to work through the problems we had, and is something I would personally like to incorporate more into my life in general.
-Tom Spencer and the Greenhorns Team