Moonlighting
Had a great adventure race with a twist yesterday.
Friday night camped under the stars at the beaut Moke Lake.
Early morning chopper pickup from campsite to fly into Skippers Canyon.
Then raced the 30k Shotover Moonlight Adventure Race, starting from the Shotover River at Skippers, along sheep tracks, historic gold mining water races and high country mustering routes, thru the magnificent Ben Lomond station, back to camp at Moke Lake.
I had a special reason to get a move on, to finish the race just in enough time to catch the last plane home to Wellington, followed by the train to Paekakariki to be met by Maree and Mia at the station - and then complete the last 20metres to the village pub “finish line” for a nice cool beverage and family dinner.
It was a close-run adventure and nice to make it home!
Many thanks to the event directors at the Shotover Moonlight run, and the various helpers I had along the way. I had a wicked chopper ride from Dougal and the team at Heliworks. Thanks heaps to Ruth Croft for popping up randomly in the last 5k to give me a cheery spur-on and telling me to keep going and hurry up! Gapped it thru the finish line, said a big thanks to the race director, packed down my tent and gassed it to the airport. I made the final boarding call with seconds to spare, having had no time to change out of my race gear, so I must have been quite a sight (and smell) at the airport. Thankyou (and apologies) to my fellow passengers for giving me a wide berth.
Special thanks the kind staff at AirNZ for the restorative water and chocolate bar, and cuppa tea!
Most of all, thanks to my lovely wife Maree for holding the fort at home and for putting up with this sort of carry-on...
