Small very picturesque town in New Zealand just South of Christchurch on the South Island.

Why on earth would you think of running a marathon in Akaroa? Well, it started like this. I had run a qualifying time for the World Age Group Championship in Capetown in South Africa. So far so good. We then looked at airfares, accommodation, security and the prospect of over 20 hours in economy with Qantas who only fly Melbourne – Sydney – Johannesburg – Capetown. If we were going we would have liked to do a safari while we were there so all in all it was getting very expensive and unwieldy.

What was another option? A little marathon being run for the first time in Akaroa in New Zealand came up in the feed. We had some frequent flyer points with Air NZ so we kind of went, why not? We signed up before Christmas and then my hammy went. And then I had trouble with my right heel after Tokyo. A couple of bouts with the physio and I ran half of the Canberra marathon to test the various bits out. This then gave me five weeks to prepare for Akaroa. Now you might think that this isn’t enough time to prepare for a marathon but I had completed Tokyo, and then half of Canberra and put in a fairly solid five weeks when we arrived in Akaroa. Still wasn’t enough but one does what one can.

One thing I didn’t appreciate before the start but certainly do now is the elevation on the course. If you look at the pretty picture of the bay above, can I draw your attention to the mountains in the background. The course is on Summit road. Get the idea ? Those hills in the background represent about 15 km of the course. The rest of it is just the same.

The course is out for 10.5 km and then back. Continue on for about 15 km and then fall off the side of the mountain down to sea level.

So we gathered at the start. A cold but slight breeze in the fog on top at Little Akaloa. About 10 degrees but a couple of degrees of wind chill. I had no intention of going hard so I opted for a long sleeve top under my Knox top. We had a bit of a delay when one of the buses with the comptitors from Christchurch got lost but within ten minutes of the advertised start time we were off.

Down, sharply down for 3-4 km. Once out of the fog the conditions were pretty good for running but the road surface was rough bitumen and the drop in elevation made getting in to any sort of rhythm difficult. They fixed that shortly after by putting in the first of, I’m not sure how many, climbs. The only advantage to a climb at this point is that it then becomes a downhill on the return. But what about that first couple of downhill kms ? Hmmm.. Down to the turn. I could see the Hilltop tavern only 400 m away and was tempted but no, we were warmed up and we were running.

On the return up to the start we climbed back into the cold and fog. I had been thinking that maybe a T-shirt under the singlet would have been sufficient but once we hit the fog I was glad I could roll down the sleeves. It immediately dropped by a couple of degrees. Back down out of the fog at halfway and my shoes were making some interesting noises. These were, and I use the term were, reasonably new, probably 8 months old but had only been used for three previous marathons and a fun run. They were flapping as the rubber pad gracefully dissociated itself from the heel. Over the rest of the event the foam proceeded to shred off. It was all fairly rough bitumen but I would have hoped that they would have held up better.

So down and then another big climb to the clouds, down and then up over the next big climb. Very little flat land. Legs were holding on but starting to get sore. The downhills were equally as hard as the ups with landings blocking into the quad muscles. When we got down below the clouds the views are spectacular. We could look down the caldera of the extinct volcano that is Akaroa out through the bay to the heads that open out into the South Pacific Ocean. On the other side of the ridge there are views down into the small bays that make up that side of the promontory, Pigeon Bay and Little Akaloa. It is spectacular and well worth the drive. Well worth the run ?? I made it up the next big climb at 32 km and decided that to finish was going to involve judicious walk breaks. The hammering of the legs was getting too much and I knew from driving the course that the last five kms involved coming down off the ridge to sea level and was going to hurt. A lot. We worked up another big climb. It seemed the organisers had decided that each of the events should have its own big climb. The half had two, the 10 km had one and we had the advantage of three big climbs. Well done us.

So, I settled in to a run and occasional walk up or down the big slopes. By this point we were catching the half marathoners and so there was incentive to keep going. Around the turn and down. And down and down. It was like a Coles advert. The course was down, down. Too steep to run consistently it was more a progression and try to hold everything together. Down to the bottom and around to the finish. About 1500m from the base of the downhill and I ran in pretty well. I think because there was so much up and down that my body really appreciated a kilometre of flat land.

Through the finish in 4:04.07. At a couple of stages I thought sub 4 was possible but for an event I was not really ready enough for I’m pretty pleased with how it went. As a gauge, the winner ran 2:59 and there were only the two finishers under three hours. I won the 60-69 age group. I’m not sure if there were any other silly old buggers out there I haven’t looked but I was the first one in and because it was the first running that counts as the course record for the age category.

The following day it all fell apart. I’d had what I though was a chill or dry sore throat that I put down to the cold before the marathon but by Monday I was dizzy and discharging a deal of mucous. Blew out all of the hankies we had brought with us and half a box of tissues. I think I had pulled that throat infection down into my lungs. Quads were shot and right heel was not playing as it should. Tuesday is a very quiet day. I’m starting to come good but there won’t be much activity this week. I have an appointment on Thursday to have a Basal Cell Carcinoma taken off the back of my left wrist. It’s a relatively minor operation under a local anaesthetic but will leave 5-6 stitches on my dominant hand. Then it’s back to the drawing board for the next exciting adventure.

Would I come back? There is a competition running with the survey that everyone does these days and the prize is an entry to next year’s event. If it was that tough, why would I want to do it again? I would certainly need to do lots and lots more hills.

It is a nice event. Small but well supported by the locals. The major sponsor is Akaroa King Salmon. We tried some of their wood smoked salmon and it is yummy. Don’t know.