• Expo :
The race due on Saturday, a well organized and decent size Expo is held on Friday .
I really deplore the fact that :
– for the price they just give you your Bib and don’t provide any bag to carry it, no goodies nor T.
– and got very picky about those new mandatory Seam Sealed Rain Jacket – cause even if it rains hard the usual waterproof vest along with a Space blanket would have sufficed –
after all Race is only at most 500 m above sea level.
I for that reason lend my Jacket to a runner who came from Gold Coast Australia but was denied his bib cause he sadly had no “Jacket” … 🙁
• Course :
With 4 types of distances going on they gave option to slow Runners or Walkers to start 30 mn earlier to meet the cut off.. The trail itself is nice, smooth, rolling with some good grades for the money.
The aid stations are nicely stalked every 7 km with awesome Volunteers serving Water- Sport Drink- Coke- Lollies- Sweets- Sandwiches- Cakes- Pizzas- Scones and Hot tea.
• Race
On Friday at expo, Miyuki and I picked couple of gummies to taste – Big Mistake –
It triggered my chronic stomach pain that I did not have for a while – and got more concerned as Miyuki started having some gastro by late afternoon. We had a light pasta dinner, went to bed early.
Late during the night rain started and poured until 6 am.
We woke up at 4:45. we both felt fine. Coffee – Muffins – Bananas. We dressed up and headed to the 6:30 am start.
With the strong desire of keeping my evil friend “Manu” at Bay who has been following me on so many marathons,
I forced myself to stop at every aid station staying away from Sport-Drink.
Grabbing pretzels- bite on peanut sandwich- chunk of banana- a Scone- 2 slices of Pizza .
All pushed down with Water or Cups of Coke.
My Stomach didn’t play havoc with me during the whole run.
Legs were fine all way long doing what they could to stay on the wet trail.
7 H 29 mn and 50 km later i reached the finishing line on the beach, Miyuki who finished her marathon earlier was waiting for me with a beer. I collected my Wooden Medal but were surprised and disappointed they were not giving Finisher T .
I changed, had more Beers, jumped on the Ferry which took us to the Paid Shuttle back to Starting line.
• Entry Fee
Despite the perfect organization Miyuki and I found the race entry 250 NZ$ outrageously expensive.
Knowing that the Shuttle back to Starting Line is not even included in registration fees but needed to be bought at extra 20 NZ$.
That said, we can always argue and agree that Nobody forced us to sign up.
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