After completing the two-day Kaweka Challenge with a friend last year, Bannister & von Dadelszen Partner, Bruce Gilmour, decided to put himself through the treacherous task of completing the 30 kilometre one day race on 23 February to prove that last year was no fluke. Here is his account of the Kaweka Challenge.

At 8.30 am we were off heading up the first “hill”. By the time you get to the top of that you are either well and truly “warmed up” or in agony. From the top of the first hill, it is along the open windswept tops to the first check point at the Kiwi Saddle hut.

The next stage climbs to the top of Kaiarahi at 1500 metres above sea level through to the next check point at the top of the Mackintosh Spur.  Arriving there ahead of my target times, and feeling pretty good I was starting to think I was doing pretty well as the bulk of the climbing was behind me and all I had to do was descend the Mackintosh Spur.

Once down the Spur the track winds through bush, and in and out of valleys to the Lakes car park.  Apart from one long climb up and out of the Kaiarahi Stream the course is relatively flat and fast from here.  It was at this point, after about four and a half hours I started struggling with cramp in my legs.

Anyone who has done the Kaweka Challenge will be familiar with “the wall” – a near vertical bank of scrub rising for about 100 metres above the forestry track towards the end of the course. By the time I got to the wall the cramp was really hurting and I could hardly raise my feet high enough to climb.  Gritting my teeth I crawled up the wall on hands and knees and once I made it to the top I managed to carry on about another two kilometres to the finish.

The sense of relief to see the finish line come into sight was something I will never forget.  Putting on a brave face I finally crossed the line after just over six hours of the most punishing running and climbing I have ever done.  Finishing tenth out of twenty three entrants in my class and taking half an hour off the time I did last year is very satisfying but missing out on breaking the six hour barrier by the smallest of margins niggles a bit.

Oh well, maybe next year…….