RUNNING – BLAIR WITCH STYLE

Running through the bush at night. Phwoar! Extreme, I know. Thanks.

Headlights are mandatory. Glowsticks are not, but still very practical. X-terra’s third race for the season was a 10km dash up and about Makara Peak.

By golly I was excited. I’d never run through the bush before at night. I feared for my ankles, but during the build up, I was looking more to the sheer adrenalin rush.

So did it rock my anklet socks off? Ahhh, well not quite. It was fun. But there’s a slight logistical problem of having 190 runners on one skinny mountain bike track. It means you’re only as fast as the person you’re following. Overtaking is not an easy manoeuvre. You have to ask, and then wait until the person in front can pull over, and then you have to gun it over the track’s side, and hope it’ll stay straight and wide enough for the move. All a while, visibility is nothing but a small circle about 3m in front. Oh yeah, watch out for the tree roots, overhanging branches and those “suprise! corner!” moments.

On a few occasions the bush gave way to a 4wd track. It should have been a chance to hoof it. But that whole lack-of-vision thing. It’s like running with your eyes closed, but worse because what you can see reminds you of the Blair Witch Project.

It was an enjoyable run. But it’s not really racing. I finished in an average time (1:13) and all I could think about was how fast I COULD have done it if people weren’t in the way. Or if I could see. Or if I wasn’t spooked. But then again, that wouldn’t be twilight racing, would it?