Tarawera Ultramarathon
Getting it done. The Tarawera Ultra Marathon, My First 100 miler
Annabelle Latz / 17.02.2021
Leading up to your first ever 100 mile running race goes a bit like this.
You dread the dead legs, you worry about the niggles, you pre-plan your nutrition and hope it plays the game with your stressed insides. And you feel pretty excited.
But no one tells you about the mid morning hallucinations when you’re running through a forest with just an hour and a half until the finish line, battling extreme fatigue. You quickly learn you can lean your head against a tree and shut your eyes for 15 seconds and it helps.
Tarawera Ultra Marathon. You promised to be tough, and you certainly delivered.
2021 was the fourth time the 100 mile race has been hosted at Tarawera Ultra Marathon. It’s an ultra running mecca of a weekend – there are 102km, 50km and 21km races to whet the whistle and sow the seed for the step up to the big one.
This was also the first year it has been a full on domestic race. We sure missed our International counterparts, who could not grace the course with us. Many eyes were watching from afar, it’ll be great to see you back here.
My go-to, jokingly, has always been ‘well, it’s a great way to see a place’ when people ask why I want to try and run 100 miles. But it’s absolutely correct.
The adventure started at 4am at Te Puia, Rotorua, on Saturday February 13th.
In a nutshell, we got to cruise (state of comfort varying) past eight different lakes, absorb the solitude of the Tarawera Forest, have a couple of quick boat rides, (one thanks to Mother Nature and a recent landslip because NZ is pretty good at earthquakes), navigate the twisty, turny Okataina track, check out the archaeological site of Buried Village, be humbled by ginormous redwood trees, hold our noses along the trail at Sulphur Point, and finish back in Rotorua welcomed by plenty of festivities.
The race was mostly narrow single tracks, white some wide trails, forestry, and even a bit of sealed road. Boredom was certainly never a factor.
The powhiri at Te Puia marae in Rotorua the day before race day offered a wonderful opportunity to appreciate the generosity of the landowners and stakeholders, and be gently reminded of the great relationships that are formed between different parties and different cultures to put on such a spectacle.
The old saying – ‘You don’t know what you don’t know.’ Wow, such truth.
I reached the 100km mark in 15 hours, looked at my watch and thought ... ‘hmm… well, I’ll add a couple of hours on to mitigate a bit of tiredness and tricky stuff, but I might even be looking at a 26 hour finish?’ My initial goal was 28 hours.
How wrong I was!
From 100km things still ticked along OK for the next 20km. I had entered another favourite part of ultra running – the energy shift as day morphs into night. I love it as the temperatures cool, the bird song starts to drop, and within a couple of hours you’re under the stars with the friends of the night. Some of the night time friends in this case were the pretty, but cute, possums and wallabies, some glow worms, and moreporks. (Ed. It’s an owl – I had to look that one up!)
I’d heard whispers that the terrain and steepness got gnarly in the latter part of the race. From 120km it started to make sense. Steepness is fine, no one minds a graft up a hill. But when your vision starts to fade because you’re so tired it’s a totally different beast. Between 11pm and 5am I took four 10 minute power naps, the need for sleep taking over. I actually think they worked a treat, for the brain more than anything.
Okataina, you were brutal. After six or so hours of climbing, shuffling, stopping at the track side for power naps, the course led me out of the bush as day broke. The cool morning air was welcomed as I layered up for a while. Bird song began, and I could now think, ‘I’ll be finished soon.’ This ‘soon’ was still six hours away, but in this game you clutch all straws of positivity.
By the 149km mark at Lake Tikitapu I had that desperate moment of ‘so close yet so far.’ In honesty, I was over it. The waves of fatigue were still encompassing. The smiling faces of four great mates at that aid station elevated me and put a skip in my very stumbly step.
Sleepmonsters hit hard for the next 10km stretch through forest, and one solid face plant created one solid outburst of frustrated tears. Not to worry, I was so close. Just keep the chin up, keep smiling, albeit through gritted teeth.
I crossed the finish line in 32 hours 7 minutes and 41 seconds. A supportive friend ran the final 6.8km with me, which was incredible. Together with a friend I’d met during the race and navigated some sticky moments with, we mowed the last bit down and enjoyed a very unplanned sprint finish. It was so epic. 100 miles. Done. Brutal. Wonderful. So chuffed.
One of my favourite things about ultra running is the friends you make along the way, and the stories you share - with people from all over the world, and all walks of life. You run and graft through so, so, so many miles of this race with this pleasure.
To Sam Ellis and his TUM crew a big thank you. Thanks also to the smiley-faced marshals (especially for the carefully laid out aid stations with cream scones and hot cheese toasties), to all the eager helpers, and to the rego tent pre and post race, and for all the bits in between which helped make this brutal escape from normal life so wonderful. What a treat it was to be there. I’ll be back for another TUM at some stage. I’ve got to put these lessons to good use.
And a massive thank you to those who donated to The Champion Centre through my Give A Little Page.
Well over $2000 was raised, which goes straight to the music programme at this early intervention centre for our littlest, precious people.
SleepMonsters
