While you are reading this post, I will be sat in a little caravan in remote, hilly, bush clad Coromandel on the eve of an 8 hour adventure race…nervously pouring over maps with butterflies in my stomach! This is my first 8-hour adventure race, with four 6-hour races under our belt it was apparently time to up the anti (yes, thank you Catherine😜). Our team, “Hopscotch Mafia” consist’s of my two good friends, Catherine & Simone. Our other friend & the 3rd team member is wisely joining us as support crew this time around. A girls weekend then, but perhaps not your average girls weekend!

The race we are doing on Saturday 7th March is called Raiders of the last arc the catch phrase is “enter the unknown” which I find unsettling and exhilarating in equal measure! The adventure races we have done in the past have included a rogaine/orienteering section (I love this part) requiring some map, compass and strategy skills- basically a giant treasure hunt! We typically run between the stations, as you generally get a bit of a rest walking around, staring at the map and searching for the station. You also complete mountain biking sections- usually through farm land or on forestry roads, with a few big hills thrown in for good measure! And then there’s mystery activities. One of my favorite memory of a mystery activity was when my friend Catherine had to wade around in the duck pond, wet up to her waist searching for the right decoy duck🦆 which had a code on its bottom. 😂 It still makes me laugh thinking about it!

These photos are of our team doing the Whangamata 6 hour race last year. It was a total mud-fest on the bike (as you can see, and a lot of bike pushing…) and yeah it was hard at times and we went the wrong way once, but we still had the best time!!!

I was nominated in that race to wear the wrist tag (which you need to get “punched” once you find the station) so it was me 👇scrambling down the hill or sidling around the pond (Catherine was hoping to get pay back but to her dismay I remained completely dry!) 🤣🤣🤣…

So why on earth do we this to ourselves? Wouldn’t a girls weekend at the caravan with a good book and couple of bottle of vino be better you ask???? To be honest we do usually end up asking ourselves that very question around hour 5! But there are a few reasons:

1. I love adventures! Going somewhere new with my mates, doing something a little crazy. That’s what its about!
2. I love the training that leads up to our event! Having a plan and buddies to do exercise with get’s me out the door, and it holds me accountable because my team is relying on me to keep up!
3. Then there’s the actual race day where you have to dig deep and push on through the hard parts, and where you realize that you are indeed stronger than you think, and that you can do freaking hard things! 🤔What else can you do, you start to wonder…Perhaps a 12 hour race?🤣😋

So spare us a thought on Saturday, because Hopscotch Mafia will be “entering the unkown!”😮… our mystery activity clue said we all need to bring lifejackets & glow sticks!!!??? Thinking I might be getting wet this time around!🤔😆🏊‍♀️

If I have reception during the race I will try to post our progress via Facebook so don’t forget to find us there too!🤙 #blood, sweat & tears