GodZone - The Southern Traverse, chapter 10

The event directors of GodZone Chapter 10 - The Southern Traverse 2022, promised this course to be the toughest one yet!

Registration day of GodZone

When you sign up for GodZone you have to be prepared to accept and expect: 

• the unexpected
• team decisions
• the prospect of short coursing or not finishing at all
• to reach new levels of physical and mental stresses

I have been asked to do GodZone several times, however, up until last year I have always had other big events on my calendar. This was my first attempt at GodZone.

Our team goal was to finish the Pure full course.....

Pre-race team training expedition

A few months prior to the race I was chatting to a friend (who has been world adventure racing for many years and has competed in most GodZone events) who said to me "good on you for giving it a crack though". At that point, I thought to myself that I was going to be giving it more than just a crack!

Pre-race team training expedition

Once my cow artificial season finished at the end of December, I focussed solely on preparing for GodZone; mostly hiking and biking adventures, sorting nutrition and essential gear. Training for GodZone has been the most enjoyable summers training I have had in years. Long treks in new places, in extreme weather conditions with friends or just me and my pooch. There is nothing more I enjoy in life than to be amongst nature experiencing wilderness areas and seeking solitude - my kind of heaven!

With two successful team training expeditions and individual efforts to be as fit as we could be, I felt that we were as ready as a team could be for this race. Emotions of excitement and nervous energy were exploding on registration and map handout day (the day before the race began at Jackson Bay). We were roaring with excitement when we learned of where the course was heading with the last part of the course going through both Tiaan's and my back yard and hometown of Roxburgh. We headed back to our accommodation for the night to make route choices, do last minute packing and have our last supper before embarking on this enormous adventure. 

The first section of the race was more like a multisport race incorporating a pack-raft out to sea around Jackson Head to Smoothwater Bay, followed by a navigation section through bush to Lake Ellery, then onto our bikes which took us into the Cascade River to TA1 (Transition Area).

At around 6pm we set off for a 155km hike/pack-raft section. We were warned to take enough food for what was predicted to be around 48+ hours! (Some team members were a bit light on food). Our route choice took us up the Cascade River, over to Duncan River and Pyke Saddle to Pyke River. It was a relentless 24 hours of boulder hopping up and down river beds, bush bashing, tripping, slipping and toe bashing. What a welcome relief it was to give our feet and shoulders a rest on the pack-raft section down the Pyke River. However, it wasn't without it's dramas. The first part of the Pyke River was flowing too low to be able to paddle some sections, so we had to portage or float the raft for a few kilometres. We nearly lost a pack-raft as it got wedged on a log in a fast flowing rapid. Thankfully, another team came to help rescue the raft. We managed to reach Lake Wilmont just on dark-zone (a time that you are not allowed to travel on water between the hours of 8:30pm and 7:30am for safety reasons). This meant back to hiking. After struggling to find the poorly marked track several times we decided to have an hours sleep at around midnight, then push on to Olivine Hut where we slept a couple more hours until 7am. Then we could begin pack-rafting again at 7:30am. 

It was mid-morning before we made it to Hidden Falls Hut. Once we left there, we headed up Hidden Falls Creek towards Park Pass. The weather turned miserable, a cold and wet southerly. On dusk we decided to stop and get some hot food into us before making a push over Park Pass to a rock bivy where we discussed that we should catch a few hours' kip. I decided to keep my last three items of dry clothing for that kip and soldier on in my soaking wet gear hoping that the climb would keep me warm. The next section found us clambering around cliff faces hanging on only by crown ferns. We then found a random track which turned into a brutally steep climb to the tops where there was bone chilling winds. When we reached the rock bivy it became apparent that hypothermia was becoming a real threat. Due to a lack of dry clothing to put on for a kip, the best option now was to continue walking to keep warm. I put the last of my dry clothing on and we boiled up water several times to get warm fluids into us and to keep a warm water bottle close to our core while walking. 

Finally we reached the Rockburn Shelter around 11am on Monday. It was a welcome sight to see the volunteers at Rockburn Shelter and to learn that we were sitting in 13th place, which was a nice surprise. We were down to our last rations of food. Fortunately, and most appreciatively there was food available here for everyone as the organisers realised it was taking most teams longer than expected and that most teams would be getting low on food by now. We indulged in hot noodle soup and cheese sandwiches. We were all freezing which made it a struggle to get our wetsuits on for the next pack-raft section down the Dart River to Lake Wakatipu and TA3 at Glenorchy. 

The motion of the river seemed to rock both Tiaan and I to sleep as we were experiencing severe sleep deprivation (which it's not surprising as we'd only slept 3 hours in 74 hours of racing). "The Sleep Montser" is a common occurrence in multi-day adventure racing. It is a fiendish adventure racing character, appears unexpectedly, closing your eyes against your will. It was the weirdest experience having fallen into a deep sleep and having a vivid micro-dream within seconds. At long last we entered Lake Wakatipu and it was rolling rough. This seemed to wake me up, or was it the sight of our support crew on the shoreline waiting anxiously for us to arrive? 

Wet, cold and happy to reach TA3

We rolled out of our rafts for some welcome hugs, a wash and to put on dry clothes. Our team discussed earlier to have a two hour sleep in this transition before we would continue. I promptly slithered into my super warm sleeping bag (that I had lent Trish for support crewing) in the back of my truck. The sun was beating in on my face, it was bliss, yet I felt myself shivering the entire sleep. 

It was a stunning evening, and our team was quite chirpy as we headed out on our bikes from Glenorchy for Kinloch, Mount Nicholas Station and to TA4 near the Oreti River. The mist was mooching around the hills. Hallucination is another common occurrence that adventure racers experience. I was having a moment where I felt drunk and that the grey bushes amongst the scrub on the side of the road looked like steam rising. My team mates assured me that I was hallucinating! My knees were quite swollen so it felt nice to get them moving and to clear some lactate while spinning off into the sunset. The ride down the side of the lake was a fun single track with lots of over grown scrub that caused the odd spill. Once we hit the gravel road it was a grind up the Von road, reaching the next transition at 1am. We had another few hours sleep here and set off at 6am for the next 56 km section over the Eyre Mountains to Kingston. 

Chipper team spirits

My feet and body were feeling trashed. However, after pulling on a new set of dry boots and a reset of the mindset it all seemed achievable! All we needed to do was look after each other and get this section ticked off. Then we could get off our feet onto the biking, pack-rafting and kayaking sections before the last 20km hike along the beach to the finish line at Brighton.

We were travelling along the tops of the Eyre Mountains enjoying the vistas and discussing how bloody great it was to be doing GodZone and what an awesome adventure it was. Next minute....we were attending to a badly infected toe of one or our team mates, suspecting the worse-case scenario of septicaemia kicking in. A team decision to get medical help seemed to be the right choice. At this moment the team felt emotional as we had all hoped to carry on to complete our goal. The PLB (personal locator beacon) was set off and our race finished here.

What have I learned from GodZone?

• What an epic adventure into some of New Zealand's wild West Coast outdoors! I have always wanted to travel from the Cascade River into Big Bay to visit a friends white-baiting stand via an inland route. So that is ticked off!
• I wish I had given GodZone a crack when it first began.
• There is so much to be learned from these events about yourself, working together as a team, including the support crew. I am still learning!
• I have reached new limits of physical pain and sleep deprivation. It makes you appreciate that every-day life is easy living. 
• I gave GodZone a crack. As a team we tried our best.
• When you sign up for GodZone you have to accept what the dice rolls at you. You have to accept the decisions you make at the time under trying circumstances. 

You might ask why we do this crazy self torturous race? And why are there so many of us out there that want to do this event!

• Because it is a test of mental and physical strength. To be able to battle on under the most trying conditions leaves you feeling nothing more than satisfied that you gave it your best shot. While we were out on course, one of my discussions was that maybe this is what  war felt like, only, without the fighting and gore. It makes you appreciate what our soldiers may have endured during times of battle on top of just survival. 

I would like to thank the organisers and volunteers who allowed us the privilege to be able to race under the current pandemic circumstances and land owners to access their private land.

I would also like to thank my sponsors for standing by me even when the desired result wasn't accomplished.

Most importantly to our families, friends and support crew who allow us to live our dreams.

My Forever faithful big sister Trish,
Thank you for your support!