Triple Peaks Challenge 2010
By Phil Cameron
The Triple Peaks Challenge was held on Saturday 13 March 2010. The event consists of a 48 km adventure race starting from the Havelock North domain and climbing three peaks – Mt Erin (489 meters), Mt Kahuranaki (646 meters) and Te Mata (399 meters) and includes two crossings of the Tukituki river.
Our team consisted of Lance Pearson, Craig Mathers and myself. The weather was beautifully clear with amazing views at the top of the peaks. A large majority of the course is run over private farm land that is not usually accessible to the public. The course includes fences to jump over, and steep climbs and descends, with the course difficult to find at times unless you are following someone who knows the way.
I started the run at 7.45 am with all individual and team contestants. I was having a good run and was 12th at the top of Mt Erin. The drink stop was a bit of a shambles with just a big plastic container with a tap that the water dribbled out of – no cups were provided. By the time I had a couple of mouthfuls I followed 2 other guys over a fence and down a gravel track. After a few minutes I realised it was the wrong way, as there were no other runners in front or behind us, I yelled to the other 2 guys and we started the ascend back to Mt Erin – it cost us about 11 minutes.
The run from Mt Erin down towards the Tukituki would have been quite enjoyable normally but I was quite annoyed at losing all that time. But I was determined to get to the change-over point as fast as I could for my team.
I ended up being 32th person to complete the first leg. I finished in 1 hr 33 min whereas it should have been around 1 hr 22 min.
Craig took off in leg 2 for the run up to Mt Kahuranaki and passed heaps of competitors and finished his leg in 6th position overall. The 2nd leg is the toughest with the steepest climb and the longest distance (21 kms).
Lance was our 3rd runner and he started the 13 km run from Matangi Road heading up to Te Mata Peak and back to the Havelock North domain. He did very well to improve on his time from last year and finished in 5th position overall and 4th in the men’s team event.
It was a very enjoyable day and after watching many of the finishers, we went to the Loading Ramp to use our voucher for a free beer.
The overall individual winner was Brian Garmonsway in a time of 4 hrs 30 min. We were the 4th team home in a time of 4 hrs 35 min. The winning female team wasn’t far behind us in 4 hrs 38 mins.
This is a good event and caters for walkers as well as runners. Teams can be 3 or 6 members.
