Dunedin's temperature was 35 degrees which was the hottest day of the summer. 350 walkers participated in the walk. It was the second time I had done this walk so knew what to expect. I was delighted with the way I walked to the Papanui Inlet and was in 10th place. The boat ride across the inlet worked out well with hardly any waiting.
I managed to walk briskly along Victory Beach passing two more walkers. A funny incident was when the woman beside me was talking on her cellphone and entered a seal's space. The seal barked and moved towards the woman causing her to do a hasty retreat. She said, "Deserves me right for using my cellphone". There were a number of sealions and seals on the beach monitored by DoC staff. I still felt good.
The four wheel drive track was alright but when I reached the goat track I hit the wall. I had to stop often up the hill and was breathing heavily. This was the pattern for the last 5kms. For the first time I struggled and finished in 3:06:51 which was 28 minutes slower than two years ago. I was the 28th walker home (15th in 2009) and 9th male.
The problem was I did not do as much preparatory walking and lack of water. I took no water on the walk but decided to rely on the drink stations. The Otago Daily Times reported on its front page that two walkers were airlifted to Dunedin Hospital - one for dehydration and one for severe heat exhaustion.
It was my pleasure to take my car to the Papatowai Challenge. In my car were Danny, Keiran and Peter Hughes, a runner from Caversham Harrier's Club.
