Torpedo7 athlete Emily Wilson has had a lot on her plate lately, not least of which was an attempt to ‘Everest’ on Treble Cone. Climbing 8848m of vertical (the height of Mt Everest) up the access road to raise awareness of Diabetes in New Zealand, Emily sent us through this update recently and it’s well worth a read!
Hi everyone! I have just spent the last week competing and completing two events that have been on my radar for most of the year.
On the 8th of November I raced in the largest adventure race in the world, the Act-Belong-Commit Augusta Adventure Festival based out of the small town of Augusta at the southern most tip of Australia’s West coast. I was really inspired by the beauty of the coastline and starting at the famous Cape Leeuwin lighthouse was a real treat.
The 56km course included a 12.5km beach/rock run, a 1.9km ocean swim plus 800m run, 13km ocean paddle, 26km sandy mountain bike and a 2.5km beach run. After a slow start stuck behind others on the rocks, and slogging through the deep sand, I found my legs with 5km to go and I was able to up the tempo to keep the Aussie girls in sight. A quick transition into the wetsuit and it was into the ocean. The three week swimming block I did to get my form back must have worked because although I veered off course a bit, I managed a pretty decent swim. A nice high cadence meant I exited the water charging on all cylinders.
Transitioning into my borrowed Stellar SR for the ocean paddle into a pleasant 15 knot wind, I felt confident I could paddle strong and catch the girls in front. Lucky I didn’t disappoint myself! I clocked the fastest individual and second fastest overall female time to take the lead in the female field. However, this was to be short lived, in my haste I left my helmet with my boat and had to go back for it, within that time Simone had passed me in transition and was gone, putting at least 10 minutes on the field in a brilliant showcase of what an epic cyclist she is. I was not going to have those Aussie girls pass me on the bike so I pedalled like a demon through the sandy course and managed to hold them off. On the final run I just went for it, never looking back and taking second place behind Simone. We were both stoked with how it all went and in the end it was 1st and 2nd for the kiwi’s in both the female and male fields. Thanks to EPC coaching I am feeling the improvements! Whoppee!
It was always going to be a quick turn around and boy had I left no extra time to let the achievement sink in. It was straight back home to Wanaka to organise my ride to Everest (8848m) up the Treble Cone ski-field road for World Diabetes Day on Saturday the 14th of November. I was so lucky to have such amazing support from local businesses in our community, my friends, and family who flew down from the North Island to help me through it.
 
8pm on Friday the 13th and I set off on my first lap with my twin brother and uncle in tow. The first four laps went well, I was doing under 2 hour s a lap including quick stops and with only Mumford and Sons for company on laps three and four I clocked my fastest times. From then on, things started to plateau as a bitterly cold nor-wester started to pick up and I remember shaking uncontrollably by the end of the fourth. It was around this time that my back had reached an overwhelming ache and I was super glad to see my three awesome friends Simone, Ailsa and Floortje appear out of the dark for lap five. They lifted the stem on my bike as well as my spirits and we arrived at the top in time to see a beautiful sunrise, the mountains were ringed in a bright pink glow and after a satisfying toilet stop it was getting easier again.
Lap 6 went without a hitch but lap 7 was a struggle, weariness had truly set in by then and my stomach was getting sick of food, even the yummy whole foods I was trying to feed it (bananas, strawberries, boiled eggs, roast kumara, Pic’s peanut butter on buckwheat pancakes, date, cacao, cashew balls, coconut water, GF vege muffins). I had to try hard to release my negative thoughts, this grind was a lot less than most have to endure on a daily basis and I had to remind myself of why I was here-for those with diabetes. Sometimes these kinds of lows are replaced by real highs and I was truly delighted to see a steady trickle of riders making their way up the mountain at about 8am. From then onwards, I was blown away by the amount of people that came out to support me at the bottom and ride a lap or two, or three.
Wow, they just kept coming and I must apologise now for not being more ecstatic at the time. Diabetics, friends, strangers all doing their bit to support this cause and I couldn’t have been more grateful. It was in those last few laps that the whole week had started to catch up with me. After a few longer social stops at the bottom and much amazing encouragement from my fellow riders, I slowly but surely ticked the last metres off.
Suddenly it was all over, after 22 hours and 130km I was at the top and I could reflect on what we had all been able to achieve over the day and what I had learnt. I was most excited to get to test out the Freestyle Libre flash glucose monitoring system during the ride which enabled me to continuously monitor my glucose levels with a simple swipe of a smaller reader device past a sensor in my arm. This has given me really useful data to analyse, to better understand the effect that different foods, timings and exercise has on my blood sugar control. I don’t see myself as being particularly inspiring but I do hope that this mission has showcased the powerful effect exercise has on lowering and stabilising blood sugar levels and ultimately what is possible to achieve with diabetes.
Finally I must take this opportunity to thank all those that have supported my efforts to raise more awareness of Diabetes in N.Z. There is no easy fix to anything in this world but it is the small positive changes that we make on a daily basis that will count in the end. I am really looking forward to making a difference in the coming years in my role as the next International Diabetes Federation Young Leader. First stop is representing New Zealand at the World Diabetes Congress in Vancouver next week!
Watch this space and in the meantime I’ll see you out there…
