Rotorua Tough Guy and Gal Challenge - Run10k


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Rotorua, Waikato
New Zealand
Event Promotions
11C / 52F
Overcast
Total Time = 00m
Overall Rank = /
Age Group = Female 14-45
Age Group Rank = 2/498
Pre-race routine:

Stretching for 15 minutes, had a Powergel then made my way to the startline to watch the men start.
Event warmup:

At the start of the men's race, I realised that maybe I should pay a trip to the bathroom, so the sprint there and back was my 5 & 1/2 minute warm-up.
Run
  • 00m
  • 10 kms
  •  min/km
Comments:

I started out the first 5km very fast and assertively. I had a lot of pushing and squeezing past people at the obstacles and in the forest to reach first place. When the men in front of me saw that I was coming first, they kindly moved aside, as the paths were very narrow and the swamps very deep.

I felt I ran very well in the forest and hiull sections of the race especially, and am pleased with the startegies I used for the mud swamps.

In the second half of the race, I was caught up by another female competitor, and we battled it out neck and neck until she finally broke away in the last 3km.

In the last 3km, my blisters had mud inside them, my ankles wre yelling all sorts of swear-words at me and my shoes were heavy with all the mud and water. This is probably one of the longest 10km run races out there!
I put in a final kick and ran strongly in last 300 metres to the finish to take 2nd prize.
What would you do differently?:

- Push more in the mid-section of the race where the course was flatter.

- Tape my necklace to my chest next time to stop it bouncing around.
Post race
Warm down:

Catch up with the first and third prize winners and have phtos taken. 1st place-getter turned out to be a world-class mountain runner- very interesting to talk to.

Walk to campervan and have a warm shower, get changed and replenish fuel stores.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

- Getting stuck in the swamp
- Tripping on two of the hurdles
- Too much foot traffic around some of the hurdles (began to lap some slow people)
- Angry blisters

Event comments:

Awesome course, awesome race and nice volunteers. However, the management royally stuffed-up the starts- some women started with the men, some 10km people only did 5km, so there was mass-confusion about the placings. We had to stay behind to figure out the placings of everyone, but thankfully it was all verified in the end. Next time, the race organisers need to stagger the starts, make sure no women run in the mens start, and no 10km people bonk-out after 5km yet record their placings as 10km's. The craziest part however, was having 2 chutes to run into!! You could choose whichever one to finish in, therefore placings got all jumbled up depending on which chute you finished in. Race organizers should also time the race to verify results also.

But all that aside, it was an awesome race and one I will definitely be running next year.




Last updated: 2006-08-20 12:00 AM
Running
00:00:00 | 10 kms |  min/km
Age Group: 2/498
Overall: 0/
Performance: Good
Course: 10km run through chest-high mud swamps, swimg bridges, under barbed wire, over spider-web rope obstacles, forest, up very steep terrain, sulphur rock pits etc.
Keeping cool Good Drinking
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 5
Physical exertion [1-5] 5
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? No
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks?
Post race activities: Average
Race evaluation [1-5] 3