Loop the Lake 2021
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Finn
| Sat Apr 17, 2021 [Show, Download GPX] Loop the Lake 2021 | 23.93km 2:35:43 | 9.22km/hr 504m ⬆️, 498m ⬇️ |
A couple of friends had mentioned that they wanted to do this race up by St Arnaud, and my parents had done it a few times so I was keen. We booked a house, but in the intervening weeks everyone else pulled out and it just ended up that Jen and I were going to go up for the weekend. We drove up on Friday after work and arrived quite late. On Saturday morning I got up early to go register for the race and Jen was exhaused so slept in.
The race goes in the anti-clockwise direction around Lake Rotoiti, and both starts and finishes by the boat ramps near Kerr Bay Campsite. It was a frosty and cold morning but I took my layers off just before starting because I am always too warm while running.
The race starts on Mt Robert Road where it does a suprising amount of climbing and undulating around the side of the lake. From there it turns off onto Lakeside Track where it descends right down to the lakefront which it then follows all the way to Coldwater Hut. This section of track was really nice - the track is pretty good and the going is quite easy.
Maybe 1km upstream of Coldwater Hut the competitors cross Travers River, arriving on the far shore in front of Lakehead Hut. It had been raining in the previous few days so the river was up higher than the race directors would have liked. For that reason a rope was strung across the river and we had volunteer assisstance to make sure that we didn’t get into trouble.
Heading back towards St Arnaud on Lakehead Track the footing was better, the track was more well formed and there were a number of little bridges to help with minor creeks and the like. My legs were starting to get a little heavy on this last section but the pace didn’t drop too much. There is a minor hill right before the end - read: sub 20m of climbing - but I feel like that hill would be hard if you were completely pooped.
I cruised over the line in 2:35:43 and was pretty happy with that time. In the future I think I’ll aim for sub 2:30 but who knows!
