True West Adventure Race – True Coasters
11 Mar
True West is an adventure race that is based on the West Coast, this year it was in Haast.
Our team “True Coasters” Dad (Brian) Me (Nate) and Tim entered in the 12 hour adventure race, which is usually a minimum of 12 hours and a maximum of 24 hours to complete the race, the course is kept a secret until the race briefing 12 hours before where we were then issued with our maps and the checkpoints we had to collect along the way (13 checkpoints in total) using only compass and map to navigate the race.
We had to carry packs with compulsory gear, (first aid kit, sleeping bag, tent fly, sleeping mat, thermal clothing and raincoat) each team had a GPS tracker attached to the pack so the teams could be tracked online the race had a huge following overseas. The race consisted of Rafting, Biking, Hiking, Pack rafting, more biking and running over and navigating the wilderness of Haast
We started the race at 6:30am with a raft down the Jackson river into the Arawhata and down to the river mouth, a transition onto our bikes and a bike ride to Jackson Bay, We then ran up and over the hill into the Smoothwater river where we made our way up the river and had to find a way through the bush to Lake Ellery, The hike was a real challenge, Dad showed Tim and I how to navigate the map through the thick bush using the compass and following the contours of the land, we had two checkpoints to find through the bush, we got through this in record time of 1.5 hours, we then used an inflatable kayak to paddle 6km across the lake collecting another two checkpoints.
After another bike, raft and then run along the beach (through gorse, mud up to our waist and thick bush and a swim across a creek) we got our checkpoints and finally reached the Waiatoto river and the last bike leg of the race.
Approximately 30km of biking to go and a few more checkpoints up the Okuru valley, we hit one of the hardest parts of bush, we had to carry our bikes through around 500m of thick dense bush up and down banks to find the check point, we made it to the road and had a clear run home.
The last leg of the bike was the toughest knowing we weren’t far away but all our energy was gone.
But we finally got to the finish line at Haast and came across the line 1st out of all of the 12 hours teams in 9 hours and 59 minutes! We traversed about 102km in total.
Nate Crossman.
