New Zealand 323km Multi Stage Ultra Marathon
Well here I am about to begin my 5th multi stage ultra marathon… if you told me last year after race 1 in Namibia that I was going to be continuing on this year with more races I probably wouldn’t of believed you. But turns out I actually love this ultra running thing so here I go again, but this time it is even further. Yep it is the same amount of days but an extra 73km’s!
A massive bonus with this race is that it is just a small jump across the ocean for me compared to the races last year being on the other side of the world… say goodbye to jetlag!
So Pre Race Packing has begun and below is a picture of my first attempt at getting my gear organised a few days ago… since then I have culled and re-organised many a times. Then when I arrive in New Zealand I will do it all again when I receive my proper race meals from Back Country Food for the week. Massive thanks to Back Country for providing me with all of my meals which will keep me going.
Go time is Wednesday!
I am flying from Brisbane into Christchurch on Wednesday 20th and meeting my Videographer Colin Clarke. My main sponsor Jaybird has decided to send Colin to each race with me to capture all the up’s and down’s of the week! Colin also joined me in Antarctica so I am very excited that he will be travelling with me again.
Here is a training video Colin captured in Sydney 2 weeks ago.
From there Colin and I will drive to the small seaside town of Oamaru. Over the next 2 days I will be meeting with other competitors, settling in, having mandatory bag checks, registration for the race and briefings. On Saturday 23rd all competitors will be bused to the base of Mount Cook to camp the night before starting on Sunday 24th.
This race is called Alps to Ocean because we start at the base of Mount Cook and finish in Oamaru by the Ocean. There will be a lot of varying terrain and lots of undulation. The weather can change from very hot to very cold within minutes and it can be sunny one moment and raining the next. So over the space of a week we will be enduring an almost incomprehensible amount of kilometres, not much sleep, limited food, lots of blisters, aches and pains… pretty much the time of our lives…
Sunday 24th start day… approximate distances below
Day 1 – 57km’s
Day 2 – 50km’s
Day 3 – 88km’s
Day 4 – Rest day
Day 5 – 45km’s
Day 6 – 54km’s
Day 7 – 29km’s
Click the following links below for viewing and updates on how I am doing throughout the race:
I am not 100% sure on the race coverage or updates that will be available as I won’t personally have any connection throughout the week (WOOOHOOO – AMPED to be off-grid for 7 full days!).
In this race I won’t be able to receive any blog comments or emails like last years races but I still really appreciate you all following along via any of the links below.
My Facebook and Instagram should have pretty regular updates posted to them for your ease.
Thanks so much and happy following!
JB xx
