Hunua Hillbilly – Unapologetically Tough

Auckland’s, maybe the North Island’s toughest Ultra? Quite possibly.

Well, finally, after overcoming the postponements for distancing 😷 (COVID) and then pest eradication, race day arrived for the Hunua Hillbilly.

After dosing off at 21:30, I gave up trying to sleep about an hour before my 02:30 alarm. Peanut butter sandwich and long black ☕️ in the cup holder I jump in the truck and head on down to the Hunua Ranges, Arriving at the start area I meet Pat, who had overnighted in a tent by the babbling brook, and Steff who had left home 45mins earlier.

After a second coffee and a heartfelt message from Dave on Steve Neary (epic trail runner and all round good guy) in whom the event was in memory of, we get the safety briefing, have a final Kauri Dieback rinse of our shoes and we’re off.

Into the easy 15k “warm up” section we’re all lulled into a sense of ease, this is looking pretty flat and runnable.

It’s groomed trails, paddocks and gravel roads. My $5 head torch (I discovered my normal kit was broken the night before🤦‍♂️) was giving a full 50cents of luminosity.

So I opted to sit behind other runners and use their light. Pat and I are chatting and Steff catches up, Steff and I are moving ever so slightly faster and pull away a little.

Leaving the first aid station on the second pass, we climb a gravel road for 3 kilometers and hit the first technical section.

Knowing that it wasn’t the hardest part of the race (from watching Dave, the organiser’s video the day before) my strategy shifted, from ‘hold back a little for the last 20ks’, to ‘hold back to survive the tough bit’.

My quads are burning on the the ups and shaking on the downs. We climb tracks like Pukapuka and Mangatangi with 15% – 25% gradient. I move ahead from Steff. as “Auckland Central guy” and I climb together for a bit, then “Brit with the tats guy and I” hit Auckland’s highest point, you can just glimpse the sky tower on a good day. We then drop down to the next aid station.

I get to the Mine road aid station dry, and top up my bottles. Heading out we then hit the TK scramble.

The orange markers are no longer pointing left and right.

They point straight up

We’re literally crawling up tree stumps and roots with our hands. I stop twice on the accent, head dizzy and heart pounding. There are a few 20 minute plus kilometres here as the accent is more climbing tree roots like they’re ladders 🪜than any sort of walking or running.

My arms are aching from pulling myself up and my fingers and nails caked in dirt from etching out grip holes. with the dizziness, I’m not taking chances.

From here there’s some ok ridge lines and I fall in, behind “Gandalf” (tall in grey hat) and “Mr airPods”. Gandalf having passed me with a “op, mr Orange is not liking Mine climb”, as I had paused to swallow my heart. He’s now my pacer. I didn’t really want the same comment at every hill so I stick just behind him and Mr airPods.

My strategy shifts. We run the ridge line together and I’m no longer counting KM, my new plan, try and stick with these two until we have under 400m of climb to go.

I’m mesmerised by Gandalf’s ultra shuffle, I can walk and jump almost faster, but hold back, as we’re still hitting steep sections. Between 42 and 47k, Gandalf took a tumble on the clay and lands on his glute on a hard bit. He recovers, but I lead and pick up the pace to run the downhills.

My quads aren’t coming back to me, but the flatter ridge line bit has stopped them shaking. I get a good run going on the gravel into the 47k aid station, the short gravel road section ending all too soon.

I fill my bottles and we enter the Wairoa Loop. it’s still around 400m of climbing to the finish according to my watch, but it’s wide, mostly boardwalk, stairs or gravel for the loop.

So I pick up the pace and bomb 💣 down to the bottom, crossing the swing bridge. I’m gutted that there is nobody around to double bounce.

I’ve saved 2/3 of my water for the climb. We cross a dam, I see there’s nobody behind me. I worry that the others have found a second wind too and that the 20+mins I made on the downhill gets eaten up on the climb, so I get my head down. I think I looked back 4 or 5 times as I went around the dam, trying to make sure.

Passing the repeater station my watch ticks over 3000 meters of climb, and worryingly over 57k. I can’t remember how far back the last blue ribbon was, and the aid station was due at 56k.

I’ve pulled both of my bottles out and removed the lids trying to get the last drops of Tailwind. Just when I consider turning back for the second time, I spot the big red arrow, pointing to the aid station.

I grab an electrolyte refill from Mark, mash the bottles back into my pack and sinch the straps tight.

The last 3.8ks is all downhill,

Bombing down the gravel road and some trails and I finally cross the line to the sounds of the finishing bells and Dave shouting me in.

It’s done, 60+k, 3200+m, 7.5k calories of brutal fun.

10/10 would recommend, but I’m going to do some hill work before I’m back 😂 🤣.

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