The moon is nearly full in the clear sky and the car windscreen needs deicing before the short drive from Putara Base to the carpark. With the obligatory start photo taken, head torches switched on, I hit the record button on the GPS and we’re off - 5:07am.
It’s quite wet and muddy underfoot thanks to a decent amount of recent rainfall. We’d been refreshing the Ruamahunga stage level (at Mount Bruce) several times a day for the past week, watching it rise and fall, rise and fall, willing it to go under 400mm. Our last update at 9:30pm had been 399mm - game on.
We run to the second swingbridge, then the poles come out for the short climb to the Herepai junction. Poles away and running again down to Roaring Stag. The hut is empty. Quick bottle refill and off, across the bridge and onto the bank of the Ruamahunga (who knew it was actually possible to run across swing bridges!). We’re not quite sure what lies ahead as neither of us have been on this section, but at least it’s light enough to see now. There is plenty of frost on the ground and a good dumping of fresh snow on Cattle Ridge. We cut across the shallows - the water is freezing. I decide there is no way we’re swimming any crossings today, in fact I point blank refuse to go in over my knees (which isn’t very deep).
Thirty minutes into the river section I slip on a rock and go down hard on my right knee. It hurts like hell. I swear. I’m so mad. The day has only just started and I don’t want to be forced to bail because of stupid rocks. I get up, rub my knee and roll up my tights to check the damage - a lump is already forming. Katie hands me my first dose of paracetamol for the day. Nothing much to do but to keep moving and see how it goes. Not long after this I fall again and hit my left knee! Thankfully not so hard, but enough to slow me down a bit.
We manage to stay on the TR the entire way - sometimes edging along the sides of the water, other times scrambling up and down the banks to avoid the deeper pools. Staying in the riverbed would be faster in low levels, but with the higher flow it would still be slow, not to mention freezing. At the final gorge section before Cleft Creek we climb up the bank near some overhanging trees and follow a good ground trail to the top. It doesn’t take too long before we’re dropping down into the creek and I spot two pieces of pink tape. Across, up the steep bank on the opposite side and bang - back on a track with orange triangles - wahoo!
An hour later we’re crossing the Waingawa and standing outside Cow Creek hut (for the fourth time in 2 months). Katie nearly has a wet mishap dropping her flask lid in the river and scrambling to retrieve it! Crisis averted, we’re on our way to Mitre Flats, back in familiar territory. The track is still a bit technical underfoot and the downhills jarr my knee, but the k’s seem to pass quickly. The sun is out and there’s very little breeze which makes it quite warm. We cross a boardwalk covered in netting and think this is the slippery one - forgetting the sneaky one much closer to Mitre Flats. Katie finds it - ouch!
At Mitre Flats the front pockets get restocked, bottles refilled, shoes emptied of stones, and a second dose of paracetamol downed. The next stop will be pretty much half way. For some reason I’m dreading this section. I’ve tramped the Barra Track twice and got an idea in my mind that the first part is steep and hard. It’s a bit steep at the bottom, but zig zags and is nicely graded underfoot. It also eases off after less than 200m of vertical gain, but then sneakily descends and regains another 200m. Overall it really isn’t that bad at all! The paracetamol hasn’t taken the edge off, so I start on ibuprofen. I do a rough calculation in my head to space out the max doses between here and Kaitoke.
Close to Atiwhakatu we see our first person of the day. “You look like you’re moving quickly”. Yup, and we’re gone - finally able to get some good stretches of running in. At the hut it’s the same drill: write in the hut book, refill bottles, check pockets, move on. It feels strange running on “Highway Atiwhakatu” with its graded metalled track, large swing bridges, and stairs. We meet our second group of people at the bridge before the River Ridge Track. It’s a family with young children. Unfortunately it’s a “Maximum load 1 person” bridge, and they are moving very slowly so I ask if we can jump the queue saying, “Sorry, do you mind if we go first? We’re in a bit of a hurry.” The woman steps back and I’m onto the bridge and running, leaving Katie to explain why we’re pushing in.
The River Ridge Track. Fourth climb of the day, described as “rooty and steep” - basically just a typical Tararua track. I’ve resorted to allocating Pure gels to climbs, so suck one back and get on with it. It’s not too far up there and before long we’re at Pig Flat and Katie is messaging Kyle about our finish time.
At the Totara Flats junction we meet a group of older gentlemen. “Where have you come from?”, they ask. I laugh and reply, “Putara Road,” as we head off down the hill. I feel so frustratingly slow on this section. I manage to weave through the less rooty paths to the right of the main track, but I’m glad when we turn onto the flatter sections of the new track. The wind has picked up and is blasting cold air straight at us. We have to stop to put on an extra layer and gloves. More downhill, one swingbridge, and then the Waiohine. Thankfully the wind direction is such that the bridge isn’t blowing sideways today! Katie crosses and continues on to Totara Flats hut.
Two young guys are standing on the deck of the hut when I arrive. They are somewhat starstruck when they find out what we’re doing and where we’ve come from. People actually do that stuff? Wow! Amazing! Despite the non-stop conversation we manage to re-stock, refill, eat and leave in under 10 minutes after politely refusing offers of baked beans and soy chocolate milk.
The Flats are great running - especially at the moment while the grass is short. We have a tailwind too, but turning the legs over at pace feels like hard work, so we settle for a steady jog. Cone Saddle is one of the dreaded sections of the route and I’d hoped to at least get to the top before darkness, but it wasn’t to be. Part way up the headlamps come out and we momentarily lose the track. Thankfully it is muddy, so isn’t too long before we find boot prints and we're back on it. Before long my headtorch needs a battery change, which promptly fails so requires another change - argh frustrating! I’d fully recharged it the night before, so it should have lasted much longer. I’m feeling grumpy, so I down a handful of sugary ginger. The track is pretty easy to stay on in the end, we only have to briefly hunt around after crossing Clem, otherwise it is straightforward.
Descending to Cone Hut is actually a fairly steep and technical 300m drop. Not good on sore knees. More drugs required. The hut is dark and empty, but warm and dry. Outside it’s blowing and trying to drizzle. Repeat hut drill, move on. Ten metres. “I forgot my poles!” “I dropped a glove”. “Come on Eleanor, get it together” I tell myself. I know it’s still a way to Kaitoke from here, but I feel like we’re on the final stretch.
The river flats between Cone and Tutuwai are actually quite hard to navigate in the dark. The track weaves in and out of the trees and several times we find ourselves too far to the right. We decide to forgo visiting Tutuwai Hut and press on, this time heading too far left. Katie in front spots some markers up a side stream and I follow her, taking a few minutes before I check the GPS to confirm that we are not heading the right way! I show her and we retrace our steps and head right. After this the track is in the trees, mostly flat and really easy to follow. We jog along and the kilometers tick by.
We scramble up the bank, Katie getting caught up in the rope, and soon we’re crossing the final swingbridge of the day and topping up bottles for the final time in Marchant Stream. It seems to take ages to get to the start of the Puffer, but then we’re there. Final ascent, final gel. Thankfully the clay descent isn’t too slippery today. The painkillers need topping up by the final descent to Kiwi Ranch Road, but I’m not stopping, so grit my teeth and get on with it. We joke about taking the wrong track in the YMCA bushwalk section and getting lost, thankfully it doesn’t happen.
Then it's there in front of us - a farm fence! We whoop as we run the final few metres to the lone car in the carpark. We freakin’ made it! 72km of SK Valleys in 18:28. Body still feels good, just a little tired. Kyle takes our finish photo and hands us vegetarian pizza and chocolate milk, then drives us back to Putara Base to sleep what’s left of the night.
I’ve only ever done two runs over 40km, and one was a road marathon 11 years ago. This was my furthest run by over 25km. I had no idea if I could do it, but was curious to see if I could. I didn’t think about it too much, other than to do some research on the off-route river section and some basic logistics planning around nutrition. My legs didn’t feel any more tired than they did when I started and I don’t think I’ve picked up any niggles. I am a bit tired generally, but I think after a few easy days and some good sleeps I’ll be fine.
We were within grasp of the overall women’s FKT all day, but didn’t quite get there in the end. We did solidly take the women’s team FKT by over three hours. I’m pretty stoked - guess it’s not too bad for my first ultra! Question is: what’s next? (No idea...)