GODZone 2019
I expected GODZone 2019 to be a rollercoaster, and it certainly was. Having come off a summer where I spent 2 months travelling overseas, I was definitely out of condition.
When overseas I had so many wonderful places to explore so my running fitness and general shape was good - but I had done precious little biking, next to no paddling, and only one long-ish mission with the Naki adventure racing team, where I went along for some fun on one of their trainings around the Wanganui River.
It's safe to say I was pretty nervous about how I would go, but I knew that even if I was dragging the chain, it was just a matter of suffering through it...which turned out to be not an unreasonable prediction!
I expected GODZone 2019 to be a rollercoaster, and it certainly was. Having come off a summer where I spent 2 months travelling overseas, I was definitely out of condition.
When overseas I had so many wonderful places to explore so my running fitness and general shape was good - but I had done precious little biking, next to no paddling, and only one long-ish mission with the Naki adventure racing team, where I went along for some fun on one of their trainings around the Wanganui River.
It's safe to say I was pretty nervous about how I would go, but I knew that even if I was dragging the chain, it was just a matter of suffering through it...which turned out to be not an unreasonable prediction!
I enjoyed the relaxed first day as it gave me time to figure out my systems and how to work with my new team - and thankfully (unlike many others!) I was able to grab a good sleep at the adventure park.
Comparing my experience with others, it would seem that I slept very well over the whole race...but it also seemed like I was much more plagued by sleepiness than my team members - perhaps both were a product of insufficient training.
My weakest moments were definitely on the bikes - my first "falling asleep on the bike" moment was very scary, and something which worried me for the rest of the race.I really enjoyed the paddling stages, they were so thrilling, and even though I struggled immensely, particularly on the lower rakaia, this was probably my favourite stage. It felt like such a battle and racing down the braids with other teams breathing down our neck was so exciting!
I also really liked the climbs, as these were much less a problem for me to stay awake on, and as always a great challenge. The views were insane this year, and made me realise what an incredibly lucky group of people we are to experience a week of NZ's best in the day and night.
I don’t think the course this year was quite as hard as last year - but personally I found it much harder, which I believe to be due to lack of prep. For me it was an absolute sufferfest!
I am not sure if it is because of this, or because of the outstanding camaraderie I felt both within the team and with other teams - or just the fact that we were adventuring in a sweet place - but this was also one of the most rewarding experiences I have ever done.
Thank you so much to the team for an epic week, and to Penati + our other food sponsors Absolute Wilderness +,Nyama NZ - we genuinely ate like kings and after the race I kept eating race food because it was so good!!