This text was read by OCR from a scanned newsletter and has not been proofread yet, so expect odd characters and mistakes.
14 NOVEMBER 1993 By Shane Connolly When the alarm went off on Saturday, 14 November 1993 at 5:30am, I was seriously beginning to question my sanity. Preparations for the 1993 Tararua Mountain Race hadn't exactly gone according to plan and a month before the event, I had all but given up hope of finding a race partner. Luckily for me, Gerard Galvin: ‘came to the rescue and agreed to team up with me so the preparation began. ; The weekend before the race we completed the Tramper's Marathon route over the Butcher and Baker Tracks in the Orongorongos. Fortunately we found that our fitness levels and speeds were evenly matched. Race day arrived and on the way out to Kaitoke I had butterflies in my stomach. We were greeted by disappointment however, with the race organisers explaining that the event was postponed until Sunday as the weather was s miserable - snowing at Kime! Sunday moming saw us rising early once again. This time the Kaitoke roadend was buzzing with competitors and organisers. After a check of our race gear - polypro, wet weather gear, map, compass, survival blanket, water, food -we were registered. After a warm-up, we were soonon the start-ine where we were wamed thatit was again snowing at Kime and if things didn't change, we would be turned back at Alpha Hut. Westarted off with about four other teams of two. These teams had pretty well separated by the time we had reached Dobsons Hut which took about 45 minutes. It took another 25 minutes to climb on:to Marchant Ridge and on the way we stopped and had the first of our hourly food and drink breaks. Bananas and Power Bars (chewy bars) were the menu for the day.
Although relatively flat, the Marchant Ridge was quite slow and the track was well-covered with tree roots and mud. The rough terrain almost dashed our hopes when Gerard twisted his ankle. The damage wasn't too bad and we managed to keep going - with a bit more care. Along the Marchant things didn't look too good with the odd snow flakes drifting down.
Down from Hells Gate, the walk up Jacobs staircase left us breathless but we were soon at Alpha where we checked in with the SAR team and were delighted to learn to the race wasn't being called off. After a quick feed layered up - full storm gear - and walked up Alpha. It was quite bleak up there with intermittent snow, sleet, and 10 -15 knot winds. Saturday's heavy rain and previous competitors meant the track was very slippery and the going very slow. It took longer than I expected to ¢ross "the tops" and the snow-covered cross on Hector was a very welcome sight to see.
After reaching Field Peak, Kime Hut burst out of the gloom in a blaze of sunshine. We checked in at Kime (5 hrs 50 mins) and were given a hot drink and had a rest and a feed before departing in sunshine. The hard part was over it was all downhill from here, The run down from Kime was just a matter of holding everything together. We stopped for water at Field Hut but with the end of the race not too far off, it was a very brief stop. Tosee the finish line while descending from Field Hut brought much} joy toaweary body. At the finish ine we managed to break out of a shuffle to finish at Otaki Forks in 7 hrs 34 mins. It was a great relief to have finished the race. We had paced ourselves well, our food and water stops had paid off, and we were both evenly paced. Mud, tree roots, snow, sleet, sweat, and exhausted muscles!! Yes - you'd have to be mad! (When is next year’s race?)
Punters: Gerard Galvin, Shuffling Shane Connolly (scribe).