Wiki Factory Racing

I made the crazy decision a few months ago to enter the 12 hour solo event at Mcleans Island. Despite every intention to train for the event, my longest ride leading up to the event was only 3 hours long... Not exactly ideal but in the end it seemed to work in my favour (not that anyone probably believes I did barely any training). The race started in typical fashion with a compulsory sprint around the first lap despite the long distance ahead of us. After that first lap I was sat comfortably in the lead bunch with the eventually winners of Open men and Vet men as well as 2nd and 3rd place Vet men. I was expecting the pace to drop off at any moment but when it didn't I made the decision to drop off the back and ride at my own pace because it felt like if I kept going at theirs, I would blow. I was soon passed by Dave Slater and focused on trying to maintain my position and keep my lap times fairly consistent. Mentally the race started to also become tough from here with fres

Glorious weather saw 23 teams compete in the annual SCARC 12hr Adventure Race, The Edoras Challenge at Mesopotamia Station and Forest Creek Station on Saturday, 27 September. It was our first race together as a team, building up for Godzone, and my first serious race for quite a few months apart from a few club kayak races. With a shot gun start at 7am, teams had the choice to either trek first (30 km around Mesopotamia Station) or MTB (50km around Forest Creek Station), we made the call to bike first as we thought the weather would come in fairly early and would result in a slower bike time than the effect would be on the trek. We were pushed on the bike leg by team Heartland Ricoh but due to them making navigational mistakes and then ultimately forgetting about one of the last checkpoints, we managed to take the lead into the trek section.   This is where I knew things would begin to unravel as I had been focusing on my riding for the upcoming 12 hour solo at Mcleans Isla

This year was a little bit different for me compared to previous years as instead of being a competitor (or guide like last year), I was the safety manager for the event. Although a lot easier to manage than race director, there were still a few stressful moments over the past couple of months watching the weather and preparing the course. My most cause for concern though was doing the briefing in front of everyone! My biggest lesson learnt from this however was how much effort goes into organising events behind the scene, so much respect for these people!! Definitely can't wait to get back racing though  Best spot on the river  With the best view on the river

In the past whenever there has been a rogaine held around Christchurch I have always been busy, so it was a nice change to be available for the rogaine held today at Victoria Park by the Peninsula and Plains Orienteering Club. The 3 hour course was part of the Canterbury Secondary School Champs event, with there being an open category for anyone else who wished to participate. Although you were meant to be in teams of at least 2 people, I decided to compete solo as it would be better for my own navigation practise. The course was effectively 2 big loops, with one loop focused around Victoria Park and the valley, and the second loop based around the Huntsbury valley and track. I decided before the event started to combine the two separate loops into one large loop while nominally skipping a few check points. This plan soon changed once the event started though as it became apparent that my idea was becoming more like a case of follow the leader as there were several other people with

It has been an exciting few weeks around here with entries submitted for the Speight's Coast to Coast and also GODZone, New Zealand's leading multiday adventure race. Due to my usual busy schedule over summer with guiding down the Waimak for Topsport Kayaking, and the fact that I haven't raced in a multisport event for over a year, I have entered Coast in a team for 2015 with Timur Kibar. With the combination of my cycling and kayaking ability/knowledge of the course, and his running and cycling ability, we are hoping to do quite well overall. Just 2 weeks after Coast, I will then be down in Wanaka for GODZone 2015. After wanting to do this event since the first chapter in 2012, the opportunity to race in 2015 was too hard to refuse. My team mates, Alastair McDowell, Ben Gibson and Isla Smith have all competed in this race before, and despite our young age, I believe we have the skills between us to be competitive at chapter 4 of GODZone. With the training sessions pl

This year I got invited to be in a competitive team by Tim Farrant which included a few GODZone competitors such as Elisha Nuttall and Ben Gibson. Due to my current lack of fitness and lack of time on my feet, I went into the event pretty nervous about my ability to survive 24 hours on my feet let alone in a fast team which would be running a lot of the event. Due to the nature of the event, we had no idea where we were off to when loaded onto the buses Saturday morning, but I had heard rumors of the event being held in the Ashburton lakes region which turned out to be correct. Another major part of this event is the fact that the majority of teams dress up in costumes for the first leg. Our team decided to go for Cadbury Favourites as the theme for our costume which not only looked impressive but also worked as some protection from the masses of matagouri bushes which always seem to feature in a Twalk course. The first leg was held from Lake Camp back to the sealed road via Lak

On sunday the 11th (Mothers Day)((Sorry Mum!!!)), the Down River Kayak Club held an upstream race on the Waimak down by the motorway bridge. The course was a loop with paddlers going roughly 3km upstream before turning around and paddling back down to the finish. Despite a small field, the handicap nature of the race still ensured that everyone made an honest effort to either try and prevent getting caught or prevent slower paddlers from beating them to the line. I started in the 3rd wave, 6 minutes down on the first group of paddlers with only the always flying Ian Huntsman behind me. Despite my best effort it is always a huge ask to hold off Ian, especially when he is using his K1 just for a bit of fun. In the end I managed to paddle down everyone who started in front of me to finish in 2nd overall which I was pretty pleased with. It still showed however that I have a lot of work to do in the boat to achieve the kind of results I want to be.

As most people who either support me, train with me, or compete against me know, last year I suffered a few medical difficulties which prevented me from performing to the best of my capabilities and side lined me from events for the duration of the 2013/14 season. Although the doctors still haven't come up with a definitive diagnosis as we have been unable to capture an episode occurring through an ECG, we are fairly certain I have Paroxysmal Supraventricular Tachycardia. Although uncomfortable we believe it is fairly safe for me to continue my love of pushing my limits through multisport events, and should not inhibit my ability in the foreseeable future. Obviously since it has been close to a year since my last race and I have done next to no training due to the fear of something major occurring, my fitness is at all time low. However, after helping out Flavio Vianna at a few events and Richard Ussher at Coast to Coast this year, my motivation to get back out there is higher th