The Half Nugget

This weekend I competed in my first ever off-road duathlon, in fact it was the first time I ran competitively since the Weetbix triathlon! I have to say I had an absolute blast, it was a very cool trail run along the coast of Waihi and an awesome mountain bike once you got through the farmland to the trails. Despite constant rain on the drive down, I woke early on Saturday to silence, a break in the rain came at the perfect time!

I was up at the crack of dawn rearing to go, I was feeling pretty good, although quite nervous this being my first duathlon! Dad came along as support crew to help me with my transitions by driving around to the various transition points to drop my gear off. First thing in the morning we headed out to Waihi township to register, then to drop my bike off at the first transition point, then down to Waihi beach for the race start at 8.30. Just as we were pulling up at Waihi beach it started pouring with rain, by pouring I mean bucketing down! It was crazy and there was only an hour till the start, luckily it cleared up in time for the start and I got to do a warm up without getting soaked. :)

And we're off! Into the 10km coastal Run

Everyone gathered for the start of the Half
Nugget (10km trail run, 22km MTB, 2.5km run)

8.30 came round pretty quickly, I'd given Dad strict instructions on what to drop at the transition points, had enough water and fuel in my drink pack and back pockets to get me through the running and biking and was warmed up and ready to go. All and all I felt I was well prepared and ready to give the half nugget a solid effort. The horn went and we were off, I set off at a steady pace that I would be able to maintain for the 10km's. The scenery along the coastline of Waihi was beautiful, the sea was so rugged and wild. For brief moments I enjoyed the beauty of the rough sea crashing on the rocks below the steep cliff top I was running along and then it was back to focusing on running the trail as fast as I could. I have to say it was rather odd to be running rather than biking, I'm just so used to being on a bike when it comes to race situations! It was a lot of fun though navigating the technical coastal trail by foot rather than wheel. There were roots galore, steep downhill shutes and pinch climbs, rocks, ruts and rivers to cross, much like a good mountain bike trail really! I found myself racing down the hills to see how fast I dared go without slipping (because of the rain the track was quite slick in some places and then had small currents of water flowing down in others) and then pushing myself up the hills that was the tricky part! But I got there and after the fun adventure round the coastline, the trail headed uphill for 2-3 km's, now that was a killer. I was determined to run the entire 10km's, without walking (only over technical sections if I really had to) so I pushed on up the hill round each corner till eventually I go to the top to transition point one.

Big smile on my face coz now I
get to ride my bike!!

Transition 1

Wooh hoo! I made it through the 10km run, the hardest part was over!! :) Made a quick transition onto my bike, thanks to Dad for having everything ready for me so I could do a nice, fast smooth transition! As soon as I was on my bike it was a steep gravel road, then into farm land through paddocks and farm tracks.

There was a mean as downhill through some paddocks which I pinned it down it was so mint. I can't believe how amazing my 29'er bike is, I can go so much faster down hills! It's so smooth! After that I found myself riding along a farm track for a while, started to wonder where the single track was at and that's when I reached it. It was a pretty cool section of single track I thought, there was a lot of winding uphill to get to it but what goes up must come down! And it sure did, there were a lot of nice berms pretty tight but so much fun!! and even a couple of small jumps :) The track builders did a good job on the trails, they were heaps of fun! I went as hard as I could on the MTB section because I knew this was where I could make up some time. It was hard going in some places there were a couple of good climbs that seemed to go on for ever and ever, but I hung in there knowing a downhill would be coming soon enough.

Finally I made it to the 2nd transition point where I switched my bike for my running shoes. I was told I was coming in 2nd place out of the females!!! I was so surprised, and stoked. With that in mind I took of for the final stretch of the race, a 2.5 km run. I was quite excited and in my haste I forgot to take my helmet off! Whoops, lucky I didn't get far before I realised! I was so stoked to cross the finish line in 2nd place out of the females and in a time of 2 hours 42.

Massive thanks to Ben Chidgey for the help with the training, tips for race day and knowledge about multi sport events. I wouldn't have done as well as I did without your advice. Thanks a lot.

It was such a cool event to be a part of, with a great atmosphere, over 700 people competed that's HUGE!! Anyway the next event for me will be the T42 in two weeks. Can't wait! (This one has a lot of fun downhill sections :) looking forward to it!)

Sprinting for the finish! 

 

And I'm done! :)