Ever wondered what it takes to conquer the penultimate NZ adventure race, GODZONE? We asked LUPA Crew legend Sommer O’Shea to take us through her Chapter 9 Rotorua – 2021 GODZONE adventure. She took on the 592km Pursuit journey, with over 10K vertical metres to cover in the mixed disciplines of hiking, mountain biking, and kayaking across 8 days with 3 fellow team mates – none of whom she knew before embarking on this epic adventure of a lifetime.
Do you love the outdoors? Are you after the ultimate adventure? Well, don’t look any further…GODZONE is it!
I’m your average joe athlete. I’ve competed in few 6-12 hour adventure races, done the 2 days Coast to Coast and a few other ‘low key’ races. I’ve always loved the outdoors and trying new and exciting things; but was never ever an “adventure racer”. I ski, kayak, road cycle, mountain bike, run, hike and love all things that get the blood pumping. I don’t feel like I excel in any of them but I absolutely enjoy all my time doing every one of them. I am a fitness professional so I live and breath a challenge and finding people a challenge to conquer. I needed something post traveling to get me back into my own routine. GODZONE, oddly enough has been on my to-do list since I was 18 years old. Having a strong influence from my high school PE teacher Glen Currie (Kathmandu Coast to Coast race director) I had always been intrigued about this almighty race. After seeing a social media post of someone looking for a team mate, I thought “it’s now or never” and took a chance. Within 48 hours I was paying for my spot into this adventure race (with a loan from the bank of Mum and Dad because I was flat broke from travelling).
WHAT IS GODZONE?
GODZONE is New Zealand’s only multi-day non-stop expedition adventure race. It involves hiking, mountain biking, kayaking and pack rafting mainly. You are given a course with different stages that you need to navigate with a map and compass. You do have support crew that can meet you at TA (transition zones) were you can sleep, recharge, change before heading off again! There are two different section or divisions you can compete in for GODZONE:
- PURE – this is the ultimate longer course event (it was 700km this Chapter); or
- PURSUIT – a slightly shorter course; but has a maximum completion time.
Pre-Race
I was part of a team of 4 – Jason, Tom, Matt and I. We were all new to this kind of Type 2 fun so we had plenty to learn; but also we were new to each other with only Tom knowing Jason and Matt separately. Team dynamics were either going to be hit or miss… Luckily for me, it was a massive hit and we ended up forming a great team!
At the time I began training for GODZONE I was also training as part of a Tandem Team for Coast to Coast. This was great as I had a partner to keep me company for most of my training since the base fitness work I needed was quite similar. My training involved a few big day and weekend missions; along with some adventure races with my new team. These adventure races didn’t go so well, one we arrived in last and the other we didn’t finish. We were still getting to know one another along with map reading skills. We were absolute rookies! But basically all our training involved hikes, mountain bikes, pack riding, kayaking and plenty of fun adventures.
Leading up to the race, I was busy with work putting in some long days leading up to the race to ensure while I was away everything would be up to date. Looking back, it would have been better to take some chill time before the race; so there is my first piece of advice for you all.
The Race
There is one critical element to GODZONE; logistics. From organising your support crew, your gear, all the food, spares and equipment, planning the routes and thinking about contingency plans… the list goes on and the planning and preparation for your race logistics can really make or break your race. None of us really knew what we were getting ourselves into but we spend two days before the race putting food packs together, sorting our gear, putting bikes together, gear checking and planning routes. It was all full on but we were as ready as we could be for day 1. We would be one of 16 Pursuit Teams to take on the challenge; and we ready to just do our best to finish this race.
Day 1
At 9am we started in waves out of Rotorua (COVID regulations were in play) and got stuck into the two stages of the day. The excitement was high; but it was tough simply because our bodies had to get accustomed to the constant moving. We mountain biked, hiked and paddled our canoe some what endlessly that day; eventually arriving in at our second TA at Tarawera at 3am for a compulsory 6 hour stop.
Day 2
We rolled out straight into a mammoth mountain 135km bike all the way into the Uruawra’s. Not long into this bike, I took a fall off the bike and ate a good bit of gravel. At the 90km mark, we entered a single track bush trail through the Redwoods and it was beautiful. Soon the light faded and then the rain came on in. I started to question my sanity at this point as to how the next 6 days could unfold and if I could really finish this race. This is where the first true hurt locker began and the first thoughts for all of us of wanting to give up. It was another really long day as we arrived in the pouring rain at 3am to our unassisted TA for all 4 of us to squeeze into a 3 man tent for some fitful rest.
Day 3/4
After our quick 4 hours “sleep” we had some fresh motivation to head out and attack the new day. We had a 21km Rogaine to complete first before a mountain bike into an assisted transition with our support crew. Check point one took quite a bit of time but this didn’t get us too down; there were so many people out looking for it. But in short we spent a lot of time lost and we certainly covered a lot more km’s than planned. It ended up taking us 36 hours to complete; while the fastest time was 10 hours. This really tested us as a team. Our pack horse, Jason, had only packed only 10 hours of food for this part, but I had packed a few things extra things which we could share and keep each other going. It was difficult though because we really didn’t know how long we were going to be out here.
After refuelling and repacking at our self-assistance transition we were only a 70km mountain bike ride away from seeing our super support crew. This was so key to our motivation knowing they would be waiting for us; and we were looking forward to a ‘proper meal’. Everything was pretty smooth sailing until around the last 15km’s when Jason had some troubles with his bike and we ended up have to tow and run the bike the rest of the way. We kept positive and kept pushing through even though we were thinking that we may have just missed the cut-off times as it was taking us much longer that we wanted. We arrived into TA to find out we were were actually in third and the cut-off time we thought was applicable was only for the long course! We were beyond thrilled and our happiness carried on while we ate a hot meal. This was the mood and morale boost we really needed.
Day 5/6
The day of the almighty 80km trek through the Kaimanawa Range. This was a world of pain, my darkest hours. I’ll keep it short; but it was a cold night of sleeping on the tops for 3 hours, I shed quite a few tears, we made our way down some sort of creek/waterfall and there was a hell of a lot of climbing. I felt like I went up and down, up and down; for 60 hours straight. I honestly didn’t think I would make it out of the forest alive. I kept my head down and pushed through. I really have the boys to thank for taking most of my pack and lightening the load on my shoulders and keeping my spirits high. We were all in a world of pain and really questioning it all – but at least we were in it together. I don’t know if I will ever enter the Kaimanawa again. It was pouring with rain when we arrived late into transition. Our amazing support crew had a shelter with a fire, even sushi which was a real hit. The support crew were really the team superstars after enduring such a gruelling mental and physical trek. I pretty much slept the night under the shelter they made as the rain had made its way into the tent. After a few more hours of sleep… or not so much sleep as down time; it was time to head off again.
Day 7
There were now only 4 teams left in the Pursuit – 12 teams had pulled out and we were currently sitting in fourth. A short bike leg would get us down to the beginning of our mighty paddle of Lake Taupo. Literally across the whole length of Lake Taupo. It took us 9 hours to cross the Lake; and this was hard on sleep deprived bodies. All four of us had skin covered in cuts and grazes; we had aches and pains all over. Our bodies were sore; but we just kept on paddling. The last hour was rather frightening as we battled waves and winds from the nasty weather that was coming in. We could see the shore line so we kept at it; excited to be greeted by our the support crew stars again. We made it!
There was a lot of sugar consumed on this paddle; and it’s safe to say Redbull and a whole bag of lollies got me through. I felt rather sickly once we got on shore and I did find it hard to eat the wonderful warm meal Matt’s mother had prepared us – but we still had more distance to go on our bikes and I made myself keep eating so I could make it. We thought we would have a relatively short and easy bike into the next TA; but it wasn’t long after we started that Jason’s bike broke again. It made for a long ride into our next TA; but we found out that the team sitting in third we’re lost on the paddle.
Knowing we were the fourth and final team in the Pursuit Category as the other 12 teams had pulled out. We made it to TA to find out that the team in third we’re lost on the paddle leg ahead. I was really mentally fatigued (thinking there were sea-lions in the country side…) so as a team we decided it would actually be best to take some rest now so we didn’t make any mistakes into the finish and could put in our best effort.
Day 8 – THE FINAL PUSH!
We got up early after some sleep. All my skin grazes were infected; swollen, yellow and pussy. We were lucky as Matt’s Mum was a doctor and had brought along some antibiotics so we could keep on top of all our first aid. We were ready to finish this race. I gave myself a wee pep talk and I was ready to be off. First up was the canoe, we absolutely nailed this and it felt good. Soon enough we saw the team that was in third and we edged just ahead of them. The race into the finish was truly on; our high cortisol levels somehow became higher again. From here until the finish line, it was a race for third place. This was hard, 8 days deep on minimal sleep and rather sore and exhausted bodies. I swear the last 30 minutes I was either crying on the inside or was actually crying. The last hill Jason pushed me up it on the bike, Tom and Matt following behind. We were all pedalling as hard as we could to get to the finish line. We made it to that line third by a mere 40 seconds after 8 intense days of racing.
The finish line, these are finish line feels I don’t know if I will ever get again. It is a mammoth event and if you succeed, and a lot don’t; it truly is a feeling like no other. As GODZONE say’s – it is a race like no other. Throughout the race there are so many high and low moments that you spend with your team. I was lucky our team was solid and we stuck through all the lows and embraced the highs together. Our support crew was thrown in the deep and they did a stellar job running around after us and making sure we had what we needed all the time. Trust me it is a lot of gear to sort and lay out for transitions along with all the food required for hungry adventurers.
Post race, honestly was hard. I ended up with injuries after injuries leading to not a lot of training and somewhat lost to when I could return to these adventures I loved. Partly my own fault, I went straight back to my normal, long days, teaching classes and aiming to try and train for the next event. In hindsight – rest and taking things easy for 8-12 weeks would have been the best thing for me.
My Advice
1. When the going gets tough, you just need to keep moving. Of course within reason, listen to your team mates. Sore feet? Stop sort them, rest, eat; and share the load around.
2. Do some BIG multi-day missions to get the body ready, although I don’t know if you can really truly prepare for racing this big on limited sleep.
3. Team work does make the dream work. Learn to trust your team. Be open and support one another.
4. Take your time post GODZONE. Don’t just jump back into training. The body and your mind has been through a lot and it needs a long time to recovery. Rest, start low and progress slow back into movement!
5. You Support Crew are superheroes. Our’s were beyond amazing and superb. Tom’s parents and extended family alongside Matt’s family provided us essential support, food, good vibes, the drying of clothes, fixing of gear and goodness knows what else went on behind the scenes. Nothing was ever a trouble and the beers and champagne for the finish line was a super bonus. Find people that are happy to follow dots, think ahead and bring those good vibes.
Will I go back; yes I would love too. When? Well I have not returned yet for a few reasons – needing time off work, recovering from my injuries (finally back to my normal and working towards the Longest Day for C2C); and I think I’m maybe waiting for a new team? But if you are after an adventure challenge and something to push you both physically and mentally to your limits then this is it! So put GODZONE on your bucket list, find a team and get amongst it. It’s an almighty challenge and a great character builder that you wont regret. The next GODZONE is due to release its location on 1 June for Chapter 12, which will begin February 29th 2024.
Sommer O’Shea