27 – The North Island Champs, Can we do a Quick 160?

So the pressure was building.  Not only were we trying to do a good time, and trying to be super-efficient at crewing but we also got a notice to “the WEG focus squad” – that was pretty exciting.  As well as having everything right for the ride there was a mandatory squad clinic being held as well.  This was to include fitness and strength assessment of riders and groom… it ended up being an introduction to planking and other exercises, as well as general talk and a walk through the first kilometre or so of the course which was on tar seal through a little village next to base.

We had only two horses going.  Lace of course in the 160 and Emma’s young one Flint, doing a novice 80 on Sunday.  I think that may have been the year Shimar was concentrating on his eventing career, and Henry had been a dickhead in the paddock and hurt his shoulder, Kerry later thought he may actually have cracked it!.. but thankfully he made a full recovery after two months off.  Emma had picked up a ride on Mark’s horse Deputy in the 120 on Saturday, and Kerry was riding Arahi Liquid Amber in the open 80 on Sunday, so it was to be a busy weekend.

Unfortunately Flint was slightly lame when he got off the truck and did not improve, so did not even make it to the pre-ride vetting, but learnt a lot by sitting in his pen all weekend and going to graze on the road verge.

In order for it to be easy for the selectors to keep their beady eyes on us there was a special area reserved for us in the vet-gate crewing area (we weren’t allowed to call it strapping anymore) “Crewing from this area will be mandatory”, “Your crewing techniques and procedures will be closely observed by the selection panel”…. Gulp!

Rupert had been along to the courses at Taupo and was really keen on trying to qualify Blackjack.  So for the first loop he was right there setting the pace, quicker than I had expected! 

It was a beautiful course.  Raised tracks beside the canals that are in and around the flat Waiuku farmland near the Waikato River Delta.  Counties club, who were running the ride, had been very clever, they had held a raffle – $100 per ticket, to win more money back – and they had used the $3000 raised as a donation to the community, effectively bribing the farmers to let us ride on their farms and have all the gates open! 

The one very memorable thing about that first loop in the dark beside the canals was the fish, there are lots of coy carp in the Waikato river and they were jumping, so there were regular large splashes.  As well as this they are major pests and it turns out hunting them at night is a local thing… by shooting them!  Not close to us, but still surprising!  Apparently they also use bows and arrows but those are silent.  It was a full moon, so I guess a nice night to be up in the wee hours of the morning. (the ride started at 1:00am)

At one point near the end of the loop Angela and I made a course error missing a double back as we came out onto a road, and so lost a bit of time going the wrong way and back tracking.  We surprised someone coming home from a party!  It was then that I realised that even though there are signs out saying horses, no one in their right minds – including me before I started endurance – would expect that that sign meant horses in the middle of the night!  However we were still first in on that loop having done it at 17km/hr.  Lace vetted first in just 1:46. Yay crew!  Even then we were too slow… HR 56.

We had a couple of minutes lead on Angela so Lace and I set off on the next loop cantering along the stop banks on our own.  The moon was amazing so I turned off my headlight, hoping to make it that little bit harder for Angela to see where we were.  She caught us of course, it was always going to happen. 

As is often the case with the dark loops the second loop was the same as the first, and we did it in pretty much the same time, just a little slower as Rupert and Blackjack weren’t with us to drag us along.  Again Lace vetted really well – 1:29, HR 55.  So again we were heading out on the next loop in front. 

This loop took us once again along the stop banks and then out to the forest where we were going to have outpost vetting.   Lace was really traveling well and it took Angela much longer to catch us, we ended up doing that loop a bit quicker – 20km/hr – and consequently our lag time was a little longer but still pretty good – 2:26. 

My crew had it sussed, not only had they brought out all the normal necessities – food for both Lace and I – but also an Ezy-up for shade and Kerry had brought her massage chair!  I had a massage during the hold… at an outpost vetting… in a proper chair!!!! Talk about spoilt!  Lace found the next loop in the forest, finishing again at the outpost base, a bit harder.  With her tiny hooves she finds soft sand hard.  We were also having trouble finding water, there was a trough brought in but it was fed from one of those cubes and the cube had had molasses in it so they thought it did not need to be cleaned out completely as horses like molasses… except Lace, she doesn’t.  And certainly not in her water when she’s thirsty.  So that ended up being our slowest loop at 14.7 km/hr.  She also did not vet well taking nearly 5 minutes.

Then Heather turned up having totally missed the bit at briefing where they had told us about the outpost vetting!  So our team swung into action and crewed for Time, gave him a bit of feed and fed Heather as well!  Luckily there was plenty of grass too, so Time was ok.

On the next loop back to base was when Sue and Chilli caught us up.  And the outcome might have been very different then had Angela and I done things a little differently.  We took a wrong turn, all three of us.  There was an arrow that was ambiguous as you approached at a canter.  So instead of turning right we went straight ahead, and then there were markers belonging to another loop.  We hesitated, discussed it, Sue said firmly she was continuing on that track – Angela and I really not sure.  So I rang Richard – thankfully I had taken my phone, I normally don’t but they had recommended we did – and Richard quickly established that we were on the wrong track, and so we rushed briefly after Sue and called (yelled) her back!

Those last two loops Angela and I did at 17.4km/hr, but Chilli had vetted really well at the end of the fifth loop and was traveling better so we didn’t see him and Sue again!  Once again Angela caught up with me, I thought I might have had her that time, but I think Lace had sort of got used to riding with Shay and was sort of waiting for him to catch her!  So we wandered up the last hill to a trough at the top only about 50m from the finish and then Angela decided to make a slight dash for it and get second.  I let Lace finish her drink and then noticed two horses coming along the track below us and thought it time to finish! Crossing the line in third, overall speed 17.3km/hr, 9:13:40

One thing I noticed after that ride was that I was not nearly as tired as I had been for the 160 at the Nationals, my fitness programme was paying off!

Sue also won the BC but it was leaked to me that Lace was a very close second.