The Heaphy - It Deserves a Mention

Somewhere around November last year I was getting itch feet with most of the welly boys in Canada and old mate in nelson. An epic adventure was needed and so the plan formulated to run the heaphy. The original plan was to take two days and carry a little gear but Ant, always wanting to out do himself suggested that we just roll it in one day. It's only eighty k we figured - thats only two marathons and four half's. No problem.

So it was two bright eyed armatures that arrived at the collingwood end of the heaphy around 5 o'clock on the morning of the 23/01/2010. The heaphy can be described as a 17km climb, 23 km across the tops (flat), 12 km decent and then 28 km home (give or take a few kilometers here and there). We set off at a pretty good pace but slowed down (Ant the pro was thinking ahead) to make the summit in about two hours.

After photos and some tactical weight loss we set off across the gouland downs. This has to be one of the most spectacular place in NZ and had good view all round. What was more awesome was that we could see the next twenty km laid out in front of us. This was easy running.

Somewhere around the third hut things started to go a little bad stomach wise. This meant that somewhere between the third and fourth hut I took a spew. Last night's tea just wasn't moving (something to do with mushrooms) and the body wanted out. Afterwards i felt much better.

From here we got to half way, passed a couple of walkers (such a good feeling), yarned to a DOC ranger, and boomed the downhill. A big bit of running which absolutely destroyed us. Once reaching the flat it was eight km to the coast and then a further 16km home. By the time we goat to the coast i was absolutely on board the pain train. The last 16km was definitely the toughest with a lot of mental power being used just to get from corner to corner. The end came just in time with a final climb and mashing of the legs back down to the beach.

Here's the video summary




Highlights of the whole thing:

• The gouland downs
• The moments after the spew
• The use of the mangnidoodle (clears the mind back to point zero)
• The bit where ant told me that he was stocked that I was leading cause he was battling

Low lights of the whole thing:

• The sand flies
• The moments before the spew
• The non stop consumption of energy gels and one square meals
• the bit before ant told me that he was stocked that i was leading because i thought he was doing fine and i was struggling and this was playing havoc on my mental state

Would definitely recommend the heaphy to anyway. Next up where taking on 106km through the rainbow range or something (goes for st arnud through to Hamner). Should be awesome.

Representing Team Goat Racing for Life

Andy