Today I gave the Port Hills a rest and headed to North Brighton - Waimairi Beach for a change of scenery and to check out potential locations for the upcoming 'A Quickie on the Beach'. After having struggled considerably up the hills trying to find suitable tracks that loop back, I was pleasantly surprised to find Waimairi Beach is pretty much a perfect spot! There'll be a couple of Chariots of Fire runs - one heading off north up the beach and back, as well as one heading south and back. The mountain bike section of this event will involve riding parallel to the shoreline for a good section before heading into Bottle Lake for a loop then back to the transition area for the final run. I'll explain in way more detail don't worry, I still have to map it all out for exact distances. Will post that as soon as it's done. I'm also keeping the MTB section off the beach because I doubt many people will be keen riding through loose sand or walking on it and caking their cleats with the stuff. Oh and HAPPY NEW YEAR!! Hope you had a great time and here's to a great 2013, I have the feeling it's going to be a doozy. Once the next few Quickie Events have been signed off, you're going to have some really great fitness goals to work towards!
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Well I sure hope you had a great day today, hanging with family & friends or whatever you were up to.
Only just got a chance to sit down & blog, it's been flat out all day! Get any cool gears? I was very spoilt & received some shoes & pedals for my MTB so that'll help me stay on riding over bumps a bit better. But we all know it ain't about the gifts it's about... the food. So I hope you had some tasty treats. A mate of mine told me he & his brothers have started a Christmas tradition where they head off for a run first thing in the morning to balance out the indulgence during the day. Not a bad idea at all. But I'll look at starting that next year maybe. That's it for now, will post more info regarding the next events which are going to be awesome! I hope this finds you all really well & catch you in 2013! When this freakin Quickie in the Hills course is plotted I am going to pop a bottle of bubbles for sure. Something really top shelf like Bernadino or maybe an Aquila, and crack open a bag of chips. Yeah. One of the main 'issues' with creating a cool course is having it loop back to the transition or start/finish area after each leg. I don't have to do this of course, but for the smooth running of the event I'd like to keep it this way - makes it easy for competitors to arrive, park, race and leave all from one location. Spectators can hang out there too and cheer on their racer every time they come through. The thing about these tracks up the Port Hills is they're 'almost loops', they coud be awesome circuits, but they don't quite connect together at the bottom of the hill. It might mean I'm going to have to introduce a very small section of on road, just to link it all Anyway, I'm not complaining, I'm just letting you know. You probably don't really care, and that's fair enough, you should be more worried about getting on your bike for a ride up the hills and heading out for a run! Right, as you were. While I'm still scratching my head, plotting A Quickie in the Hills course up the Port Hills, I'm embarking on the city event route as well, just to really confuse myself. This one's going to be a toughie, as I'll have to involve quite a bit of traffic management no doubt. Of course that also means forking out substantial amounts of cash...While I've considered getting my traffic controller's certificate (to Level Two) I think I'm probably best to bite the bullet and enlist the services of professionals. I'd rather get this done right than make any potentially harmful mistakes! So the picture here shows the Red Zone as it currently stands. I rode my bike around it, staying as close as possible to the perimeter, I didn't go down the ReStart Mall though. I'm thinking this will have to be a looping course, as it's only 5.83km in total, and I'm wondering how I'm going to fit in a bike stage if I decide to go with a duathlon. Maybe this one would be easier just to leave as a short run? Would be great for attracting people from out of town who are into a bit of fitness and want to see where Christchurch CBD is at. I'm thinking out loud here... With The Quarter Pounder done and dusted, it's full steam ahead with the next Quickie Events. Yes that's right, plural - I'm going to be working on three at once, so I can line them up in the new year. This is probably how most event companies do it, and I've been a little slow catching on, but hey I'm still new at this. Right now I'm plotting a course for A Quickie in the Hills - a duathlon up the Port Hills. As always it's proving a bit tricky initially, as I want to stay off any roads but there are quite a few crossings, as well as some sections of single track are slightly dangerous, so I need to work out where the runs take place and where the biking happens. I need to think of keeping the course awesome and enjoyable whilst trying to minimise risk of any spills. Of course up there, potential bails come with the territory - that's what makes it freakin sweet! I shot this time lapse on the Port Hills with me mate Simon Waterhouse, who gave me a lesson to try achieve the best results. I think it came out alright. Be nice to complete a Quickie Event with the sun setting like this ay, imagine the photos we'd get as you cross the finish line! H I have to say, when I turned up to South Hagley Park on Sunday morning I didn't have high hopes many people would turn up to the event. It was blowing, pelting down and freezing. An entrant text me asking if it was all on to which I replied with "we're here, but you're welcome to stay in bed". It was a rubbish start to the day weather wise. The way I saw it was fellas had entered this race, paid money and well, runners are a hardy bunch, someone was bound to show - even one person - we'd have ourselves a run. And someone did! It was actually the dude who text me, and when he arrived lo and behold it stopped raining! As more people turned up the weather got better and the sun even came out. It was meant to be. Bang on 9am we fire the start gun (me saying 'start') and 20 fine Canterbury gentlemen took off on a 10.5km journey of urban foresty park goodness. Three loops around South Hagley Park sounds like a walk in the um, park but I can assure you, when you've got 19 other guys vying for that coveted 1st place spot and all that frickin sweet glory, things change man. The good news is everybody finished. Even better news is, there were some very healthy looking times! Mike Dent took out the 1st place honours with a speedy 44:24, quite a distance out from 2nd (Chris Vanderkolk) and 3rd Paul Cox who had a sprint finish 3 minutes back. For all the race results check them out at The Quarter Pounder results page. Well done to all. Post race, Rachel from Bodyworks Massage and Doctor Rob Williams from Menz Medical were kept busy with leg rub downs and check ups of the blood pressure and blood sugar level variety. It was great to see so many of the entrants take advantage of the check ups, and I'm pretty sure no tests came back too dodgy. All in all it was a great day. The weather came right, the runners turned up and had a great trot, sponsors were happy (thank you heaps Icebreaker for your awesome support!) and bloody hell, I think I'll put it on again - but quarterly. Thank you to all who helped out - Jon Coursey, Gretchen McKinley and Bevan Triebels Hadler, I couldn't have done it without yous. Just a quick post as Team Quickie waits at the domestic departure lounge on our way back to Christchurch. We're hungry! So why not post about eating. Yeah that'll help.
Basically what we want to say is eat a healthy meal tonight! And then again tomorrow, give yourself good fuel to burn for Sunday morning. Can you tell we're not nutritionists? HA it's true, but a big plate of veges & some chicken has to be good for you right? Remember to pace yourself! Complete Performance give you some tips on what to consider when it comes to the all important pacing. Don't blow out too early, but don't hold back too much - so much to think about. Hi there, how's that training going? Here is a picture of some delicious tuna with some cucumber. Just to the left of that piece in the front you can see some gurnard, equally as tasty. On a completely unrelated matter, to maximise funds raised for Movember at The Quarter Pounder I'm going budget on a few things. Don't worry, your Quickie Event experience won't be negatively effected, you may see some things from the previous event that you recognise though. For example, I'm going to use the left over race bibs from The Quickie in the Forest, so save on printing new ones - they're made out of a special water proof, tear proof paper. So that's one way I'll hopefully be cutting costs and having more to donate to Movember at the end of the day. p.s. If you would like to czech out more information on Movember, check out the Movember website and by all means donate some dollar bills! Can do all that online. |
AuthorHello Morgan Williams here, thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoy the site, and the events appeal. Any questions just sing out! Archives
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