No soft options of a morning run, back for lunch, then an afternoon run for us - Saturday was a full on 6 hour session on the rugged southern Waitakere trails, followed by another 4.5 hours on Sunday on the more northern trails.
Hosted by Mal Law of Running Wild, the group gathered on Friday night at Mal's bach at Karekare: Vicki, Simon, Christine and Keith, Lizzy, Heather and myself. Mal put on a fabulous barbeque, with more than enough for all of us hungry runners to eat. The evening was capped off by a lovely sunset.
The Saturday dawned... raining! It looked like a dreadful day to be out running. Sure trail runners don't mind getting wet, but this looked like we would get soaked through in very short order. But the weather behaved, and by the time it was time to start the rain had stopped.
The first day consisted of a 27km loop south along the Hillary Trail to Whatipu, then up over Omananui Trig and back to the bach. Gorgeous downhills, soft sand along the beach, big climbs, bush, slippery clay, technical rooty sections, and stream crossings. What a fantastic place for trail running! And not a bad place for photography either...
After post-run drinks, chippies, and snacks Mal put on another superb barbeque, this time with some perfectly cooked lamb. We all slept well that night!
On the second day we split into two groups. The majority of us ran north, again along the Hillary Trail, but it was noticeably easier running than the day before. The other group also went north, but drove to Piha and ran a loop from there. We met up where the track dropped to Wekatahi Creek and then all ran out to the road end together. The groups separated again and finally met up at the Piha cafe for a very late (mid-afternoon) cooked breakfast!
The weather behaved, with the rain not arriving back until the last hour of the second day. It arrived quickly and set in while we were doing our second-to-last hill climb of the day, but with the warmth and the absence of wind was quite welcome. Down to White's Beach, then back up again because the intended track is impassable at high tide, then the long run down the soft sand of North Piha Beach all the way to Piha. It was a great way to finish the weekend.
Maps
Day 2: NorthDay 1: Heading South
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