Back in May last year, my partner Peg and I decided that we should put the Red Bull Defiance (RBD – a two person team adventure race) on our to do list….I haven’t raced in multisport individually since 2009 when I tore my ACL.
Back on with the runners, a dust off of the kayak and so the training began. I was quickly reminded of just how time-consuming training for several disciplines can be. I was feeling pretty good, injury free, and managing to fit good training sessions in and around my busiest time of the year with work. However, once I finished the season, and after a small day surgery, my health deteriorated somewhat! I was feeling extremely fatigued. I had absolutely nothing in my muscles to put into training the last 4 weeks leading up to the race, to the point I very nearly pulled out of doing RBD. I was unsure and worried about how I was ever going to complete the two days of hard slog. I had a visit to the Doctor two weeks prior to RBD and blood test results showed I had low iron levels. I chomped into iron tablets, rested up, and slept as much as possible. With still not much improvement just days out from RBD, I made the decision to continue on and do the race with the goal of just trying to enjoy and finish it.
Day one:
Day one began with an early bus commute from Wanaka to the barge crossing near the head of Lake Wanaka.  We poured out of the buses and onto the Minaret Station stock barge where our bikes had already been racked. The crossing was made exciting (or dangerous one might say) with a helicopter doing acrobatic displays and flybys with only what seemed to be a couple feet of clearance between the rotor blades of the helicopter and the wire netting fence that stopped stock/us athletes from going overboard. Similarly, as in the D-Day landings, we exited the barge and quickly warmed up before starting the race, the first stage being a 48km mountain bike from Minaret Station down to West Wanaka.I felt a bit sluggish and slow to begin with, however as time went on I felt remarkably good.
Amazing vistas, a few undulating climbs and loose rocky descents made for epic riding. Unknown to Peg a nasty piece of bracken wrapped around her spoke during a hike-a-bike section up the Minaret Burn. When she remounted her bike her spoke snapped and broke the seal of her tubeless tyre. So a quick fix with a tube and some air saw us back on our bikes again and flying into transition 1 at West Wanaka Matukituki bridge.
The run up the Matuktuki river felt good, to begin with, then we turned left and directly up a few steep scramble climbs. It always amuses me how the marshals are so cheerful (much-appreciated encouragement!) and tell you how strong and great you are looking, when realistically at that point near the top of that steep uphill we must have looked like we were in a suffer fest! Loads of athletes seemed to be cramping and Peg suffered a little cramp too. I gave her some Enervit tabs to consume and a wee tow and soon we were at the Abseil, a 100-metre sheer rock face descending over Lake Diamond in which I found to be an exhilarating experience. I would rather skydive, to be honest! However, the adrenaline buzz afterwards made the run to transition 2 go very quickly. It’s an awesome idea to have a compulsory untimed stop in the middle of a race whilst having to wait for your turn for the abseil – a great chance for a feed, pee stop and a bit of banter between athletes.
Stage 3, left the West Matukituki bridge down to the mouth of the Matukituki river, out onto Lake Wanaka for an arduous flat water paddle around some buoys and passing Ruby Island to the foreshore of Wanaka where the Red Bull finish line awaited us. We extended our paddle slightly as I missed an important part of the briefing telling us about having to go around the peninsula and around another buoy further inland before making our way back across to Wanaka foreshore. I was steering the kayak and once we were around the peninsula I had Wanaka in my sights and I naturally made a beeline for it, only to be rudely interrupted by a boat that came roaring up to redirect us. The paddle was finished with a good northerly swell. I wondered why our boat kept randomly turning left and become frustrated with continually fighting with the pedals to steer the boat straight, only to find out after the event that we were meant to lock our rudders in.
Hot showers, refuelling with fluids and food, along with preparation for day two began immediately after finishing so we could rest up as much as possible before enduring what was forecasted for cold, wet and miserable conditions.
Day 2:
The rain pelted down consistently all night and the snow covered mountain tops were clearly visible as we lined up early on the start line for day two.
The Le Mans style start off the foreshore of Lake Wanaka to our kayaks was chaos as everyone barged their way to their boats, struggled to get spray skirts on and get paddling. However, we were soon warm, established a rhythm and tried to draft off any kayak possible, still not realising why our kayak kept suddenly taking a sharp left turn. Leaving the lake and entering the full and fast flow of the mighty Clutha River was a welcome relief. 20 kilometres on we reached the get out point at Oxbow. We then ditched our tub (kayak) and life jackets etc. for a pair of runners and ran up to the trap shooting special stage.
After having a practice on Friday morning at this sport and hitting 5 of our 6 clays, I thought I was expert enough to take the first shot. You’re allowed two shots for one clay bird. It turns out I’m not quite the Killer Kath I thought I was! Peg rocks up and nails the clay with her first shot! I was super impressed and super stoked as we didn’t have to take the two minute stand down penalty if we had both missed the clays.
We proudly set off to the transition area where our bikes were racked for a complete change into some warm, dry clothes and a quick refuel. We then made our way up an epic climb through Criffel Station to the Pisa Range, an elevation gain of 1278 metres. The rain eased and the deer that were stampeding passed in some of the blocks made for a pleasant and entertaining climb. Upon reaching the tops the wind chill factor and snow covered tussocks meant stopping and putting on more woollens and jackets. I love this kind of adventure! The downhill off the Pisa Range to the Cardrona Valley was fun, however, required some care as it was very wet and treacherous.  Numb fingers from the extreme cold made it difficult to distinguish whether you actually had your hands on the brake levers or not.  We passed a few teams on the downhill only to be caught again on the last mountain run stage. The Cardrona River was pumping high with brown water.  Some of the little whippet athletes were assisted to ford it with their bikes. Peg ploughed on through it and I followed, managing to get across without swimming with my bike. Not long after the crossing, we were at our last transition.
Forcing some food down our throats and rushing out of transition meant we headed off without our walking poles, which I heard about many times on our run/trek. The skyline traverse mountain run stage was cut short from 28 kilometres to 22 kilometres due to the dangerous amount of snow that was on Roys Peak.
The run began with a gentle meander up Spots Creek, then we soon began a long gruelling climb to the summit of Mt Alpha (1630m) and the refreshing snow covered tops. The descent began in the fog, slippery snow and tussocks, and we could on occasions, hear the commentator at the finish line which was most encouraging! It followed a fence line which Peg used as an abseil line and successfully burned holes in her new possum and merino gloves. Then a welcomed easy running four wheel drive track lead us all the way to the bottom exiting at waterfall creek. From here it was an arduous flat run back to where we could see and hear the finish line. Both of us out of were out of water at this point and Peg out of food. I offered her some block chews one at a time, only find out later she didn’t want just one chew at a time, 2 or 3 would have been better thanks!
We were cheered on by many of the general public who were using the same trail as us. The finish line seemed to take forever, however, we eventually crossed the line in a total time of 14 hours 59 minutes, with a huge sense of relief and accomplishment. Mission completed and goals achieved!  I couldn’t have been more happy with our effort.
Would I do this event again?
Yes, I thoroughly enjoyed the event. It is an amazing course in a great location, with epic riding and running stages, along with a couple exciting special stages to spice things up, and if you like flat paddling, then this is an adventure race to be put on your to do list!
Did you like Kath’s Adventure? Do you want to experience it for yourself for 2018? Check out Red Bull Defiance for more information and stories.
