older tours

the end of 2009 was a bit hectic.  but with trips all over the show and projects left right and centre i still felt it was time to take a look back and reflect.  here is a retrospective of the early tours.  slightly indulgent of course but plenty of good memories.  all original text is replicated here.

2005 season

photo captions in no particular order the tokyo international forum, graz and leutasch in march, ski touring with Markus Kroell, leutasch had a good season, lots of snow, sign points the way to our haus rodley in ahrn, locals kim and imke showing good form on the sleds, could be the start of a pro cycling career in italy? cinque terre, 5 lands and 5 towns nestled in amongst small bays and headlands - stunning. bike tours in leutasch can start in april still a bit muddy tho from all the snow melt+pauls corratec team car in the background, otzi alpin team marathon with mtn biking, running and ski touring climbing from 500 to 3100m. over night snow forced a course change for the run. the rover on the arlberg pass in austria cruise control is a god send on the autobahns. the red kite in livigno and below salvadeli still in pink (just) at the giro d'italia. this is the final climb of the day which included the 2700m passo di stelvio and di luca and simone are up the road with the columbian para winning the stage. new corratec bikes for sella italia and plenty of traffic. cycling back to livigno was interesting as hundreds of other cyclists and workers breaking down banners on the course mix with camper vans motorbikes and police. my team car and bike for the rest of the season in livigno at the giro. staying with friends outside the 3k to go banner. spot the deliberate mistake. my team car and bike for the rest of the season in livigno at the giro. staying with friends outside the 3k to go banner. spot the deliberate mistake. grabs - switzerland, from here you can see four countries: switzerland (of course), liechtenstein, austria, and germany. grabs - switzerland, from here you can see four countries: switzerland (of course), liechtenstein, austria, and germany. mollinella with its own leaning tower and my leingruber mercedes. ypical swiss - keeps his machine gun behind the bedroom door! 2005 is well underway and so am I. First up for me is to get into top shape – my work as an architect while back in NZ has made this quite a busy challenge but I have maintained (some) fitness in between multiple barbies at jacko´s and a few good nights out on the town. so now I am ready to build on this solid foundation of beer and steak as I go back to Europe and begin racing, training and whipping myself into some sort of shape. I have been supporting a campaign to save one of my training areas in Wellington and indeed the place where I spent many hours as I grew up putting in many MANY miles on beautiful rolling hillside over looking the Hutt Valley, Wellington and Porirua. Belmont Regional Park is in grave danger of being sold by its present owners LandCorp for "lifestyle" hobby farmlets. If you would like to help with our campaign just drop me a line. At the beginning of February I was asked by Ben Fouhy to team up with him for a crack at the Coast to Coast teams title. Knowing that the run is legendary for its boulder hopping and navigational challenges (both of which are hardly my strong points) I immediately agreed. While covering quite a bit of extra distance on the run I managed to stay in touch with the leaders on day one and the second day saw us come through for a comfortable victory, and I managed to surprise a few people with fastest bike split of the day. Since then I have travelled up to Japan to help pace a marathon and now I have arrived in Europe to put in the miles and prepare for the season ahead. I am targeting the World Track and Field Championships in Helsinki in the marathon and I am trying to improve on my 21st Athens spot. This race is a World Cup event also and has an extremely strong and deep field (5 athletes per country allowed) making it quite possibly one of the strongest marathons ever. 2004 had me race the World Mountain Running Championships 1 week after the Olympic Marathon. This year I get the luxury of 7 weeks between the World Championships in the marathon and the World Championships for Mountain Running. Its being held in New Zealand and so competing on home soil is a great chance and will be a big buzz that I am looking forward to. e u r o p e After a month in europe i have had two injuries, run a marathon and taken a fall down a bank on a racing sledge! bit of an up and down start to the season. when i first arrived there was 2-3 m of snow in my training areaofchoice in Austria. This quickly melted as the weather warmed and it leaves some nasty ice on the tracks so for a week or so I had to be careful but still managed a nice spill with a few cuts and bruises. also hurt my hamstring during a long run in the snow and so had to stay off any slippery stuff. luckily innsbruck is only a short 25min drive from here and 600m lower altitude so the snow was clear for running. In the last 2 weeks tho the tracks are now clear and easy for training, just a few patches of snow and summer is on its way with 15-18 degress here. the marathon i treated as a steady (hard) effort in just under 2hr 17 so was happy to finish it feeling ok and that training is now back on track. Well, the sledging incident came about as we tried an after dinner (and a few wines) late night run down a steep track under a full moon. i dissapeared off after failing to negotiate (see) a hairpin bend but it was a soft landing and hard work clambering back up through 2 metres of deep snow! europe  2005  april / may the otzi alpin team race kicked off the season proper with mtn biking, running and ski touring climbing from 500 to 3100m. over night snow forced a course change for the run. but the season really got going with a nice 8km 4 lap (giro) race in italy at ponte valtelina. this is north of milan and not far from mountain towns such as bormio and the swiss border as well. a solid field and no speed work of any sort saw me a bit sluggish in the beginning but came good later on and the 2 tight hairpin corners and a small hill on each lap worked for me and came away with a win and about a tonne of apples! luzern was the week after and i returned to try to defend my title but pipped at the post this year for 2nd on a hot night in this 10 lapper 8.5km stadtlauf around the old cobbled streets of the city close to the lake. europe  2005  may the first mountain race grand prix event was in the north of italy and its a nice race - a bit cooler conditions helped a lot this year and was great having another kiwi in the race, martin macdonald in the midst of 3 months touring europe with the kids. mini golf in seefeld saw me choke under the pressure and marty came away with an under par win over rodley back for the gp of bern again this year and it was another hot race. the field sat on me and couldnt hold off everyone so setlled for 2nd. early start the next day and we legged it across switzerland stopping at davos for running and then to livigno (italy) for the giro. livigno is an interesting place, all roads in have borders, inc italian as it is tax free here, petrol is 50 euro cents per litre (ie half price) and things like sugar, meat, clothes, purfume, electronics, booze (inc the dreaded braulio) etc etc have no tax. of course you are only allowed to take about one bottle, and 200 euro worth of electronic goods out of there.....but come on.....this is italy! watched some pre season testing at the hospital in sondolo for the xc schi di fondo squadra on the biggest treadmill i have ever seen, about 4 x 6 m. dangerous stuff since now they want me to come back and do a test to compare with the mens team. up to stevlio and drove a nice pass down - umbraille and passed from italy to switzerland to italy to austria to switzerland to austria all in a few hours as its the fastest way back to leutasch believe it or not had to get over to graz for servicing the car and had it all looking good and driving back in the rain a lady ran into the back of me on the autobahn - so its hassles all round with the insurance. not so much damage except mysteriously the gas struts in the tail gate have lost their gas and its hard work holding the boot open over to the french side of switzerland and its yet another hot hot race in there. 35 degrees on the startline at 4.30pm and i tried not to push too much at the start. nice race and some massive hunks of rock to take back home plus did a couple of bombs in the thermal baths with marty's kids - just to show them how its done mind. foolishly decided to drive to the other side of switzerland at night and ran another nice small race the next day - again really hot but nice event and a long line for autographs after. europe  2005  may the first mountain race grand prix event was in the north of italy and its a nice race - a bit cooler conditions helped a lot this year and was great having another kiwi in the race, martin macdonald in the midst of 3 months touring europe with the kids. mini golf in seefeld saw me choke under the pressure and marty came away with an under par win over rodley back for the gp of bern again this year and it was another hot race. the field sat on me and couldnt hold off everyone so setlled for 2nd. early start the next day and we legged it across switzerland stopping at davos for running and then to livigno (italy) for the giro. livigno is an interesting place, all roads in have borders, inc italian as it is tax free here, petrol is 50 euro cents per litre (ie half price) and things like sugar, meat, clothes, purfume, electronics, booze (inc the dreaded braulio) etc etc have no tax. of course you are only allowed to take about one bottle, and 200 euro worth of electronic goods out of there.....but come on.....this is italy! watched some pre season testing at the hospital in sondolo for the xc schi di fondo squadra on the biggest treadmill i have ever seen, about 4 x 6 m. dangerous stuff since now they want me to come back and do a test to compare with the mens team. up to stevlio and drove a nice pass down - umbraille and passed from italy to switzerland to italy to austria to switzerland to austria all in a few hours as its the fastest way back to leutasch believe it or not had to get over to graz for servicing the car and had it all looking good and driving back in the rain a lady ran into the back of me on the autobahn - so its hassles all round with the insurance. not so much damage except mysteriously the gas struts in the tail gate have lost their gas and its hard work holding the boot open over to the french side of switzerland and its yet another hot hot race in there. 35 degrees on the startline at 4.30pm and i tried not to push too much at the start. nice race and some massive hunks of rock to take back home plus did a couple of bombs in the thermal baths with marty's kids - just to show them how its done mind. foolishly decided to drive to the other side of switzerland at night and ran another nice small race the next day - again really hot but nice event and a long line for autographs after. europe  2005  june into austria this time and staying with our paraglider pilot from last years dolomitenmann in halstatt. we visited the oldest salt mine in the world at 7000 years but the high light was the slides and the great looking outfits they give you to wear in the caves, plus not forgettingthe two japanese girls who decided in the middle of the tour that it was time to go now as they had a train to catch! the race up the feurkogel was nice and incorporated the austrian championships and was plenty steep up the ski piste. good to see flo heinzle, markus kroell and helmet schiesel all putting in good performances before the european champs road racing out here can be tricky, especially in italy. they have some very nice races but only some races are classed as international and the rest either local or regional mean that i am not allowed to run - unless i am in an italian club and basically cut ties with any club or federation in nz. this happened again on the 11th of june. there was a nice race in trentino - quite close to austria but instead i had to drive 5 hrs to near bologna and marinella where i raced at 10.30 at night! it was a very good feild thoand a nice race with 14x750m laps making something over 10.5k. however i struggled to get myself fired up - or i should say, i struggled to stay awake! back to austria and some good training in leutasch every day 2hrs in the morning plus and then some easy training on the bike or some tour de swiss watching in the afternoon. a quick trip back into italy for opening night of opera in verona, a great spectacle in the colluseum with candles and where people watching is almost as interesting as the opera itself. very passionate crowd and warm even at 1am when its finishing. combined this with a small training race near to verona but up in the hills above. it was a nice consistent but not steep climb and then over rolling hills where they have cross country skiing in winter - looks a bit like belmont regional park. a morrocan athlete was there to keep me honest. we will be eating cheese for a year too! europe  2005  july A busy week included trips to frankfurt, chur in switzerland and vienna for a press conference. time to get back into the training now after too much time with the bum sitting down or putting diesel into the wagon at around $2 per litre. had a worrying moment barrelling along at 240kph and the engine died - well it didnt stop but one second there was power and the next i am struggling to break 100! fortunately it seems the computer chip that was put in to boost horsepower must reset itself at high speeds (and they call this a safety feature??) and so a quick stop and go and its business as normal ok, now i am over to heligenblut in austria to watch the european champs in berglauf. its a really proffessional and well organised event. i have been busy helping out with kids races and giving the organising team advice. the races were of a very high standard with deserving winners flo heinzle in the mens and andrea meyer the women´s. all the athletes are looking forward to coming down under. i ran the open race, which included the regular race and runners - now about 800 starters. some photos of this race are on the previous years on tour info. had some flooding on the drive back and even some snow over the road back from heligenblut. a sponsor event in ramsau for suunto. i also had the opportunity to check out europes largest outdoor trade fair in friedrichshafen. all latest clothing, climbing, tramping and gadgets on display. next up was an interesting excursion out to sicily. expected some high temperatures but pleasently surprised by nice conditions and very nice old town of castelabouno. its the oldest road race in europe with its 80th edition this year - big festa but didnt see any mafiosi, just molto sympatico locals europe  2005  august finished marathon prep with a final blow out weekend. a race for leingruber outdoor team where lele manzi ran a 12km up and down cross country leg, me, i ran for 7km with 1000m climb up to the top of a ski piste and through forest tracks early on and then i handed off to a downhill mountain biker. We had some rain so made conditions for them pretty dicey but he got down the 5km course in about 8 minutes! Finally a cross country mountain biker finished off and we were comfortable winners in the end with a 5 minute cushion - bring on the dolomitenmann! a run in the snow at telfes (yes it is august but it doesnt feel like mid summer) before jumping on a plane for helsinki for the world trasck and field championships i arrived with said guerni the defending 800m champ from algeria who was complaining about the athletes who put on the show are given the second rate treatment while the iaaf 'family' are chauferred around like pop stars. certainly true when it came to athletes seating in the uncovered area of the stadium. its a good stadium though, designed by finnish architect alvar aalto for the olympic games in 1952(?). all the field events are on the inside of the track so you really feel close to the action helsinki is a very nice city, its in the far north so weather can be changeable and it certainly has been. i arrived in heavy rain and the next day was 25 degrees and then a huge lightning storm caused the cancellation of some of the track programme. i was out running when the lightning hit and had to stop under a bridge for fear of getting hit as it was coming down all around me - spectacular (and loud). team spirit is good with big b's 4th place and our mid distance guys giving it an excellent shot of making finals. dissappointment for craig in the walk getting dq'ed which was a shame. mellina was really close to making the pole vault final and val villi is in awesome form breaking commonwealth records in qualifying! kim smith ran a smart 10k race which was v fast almost breaking the nz record on a windy night. tatts is up here as team coach looking after all the distance guys, looking forward to a new hip and counting the world records he has witnessed, another to the stella russian simbeyeva (excuse the spelling) in the pole vault - signalling to her coach that this time she was going to get it - that's another 100 grand US plus the 60 for the title. its nice just to raise the bar 1 cm - not so easy in the running events! speaking of which the marathon for me was not so good (to put it mildly) and the thought of dropping out did cross my mind at the odd stage. at 25k i stopped to be sick but ended up continuing just running in to finish. a very nice championsip tho, spoiled a bit by the weather (where i was caught running in the middle of a lightning storm, v scary) and plenty of good action. a few eyebrows being raised about a certain non smiling, bahrainien by way of morocco. europe  2005  september now its full on time to get ready for world mountains in nz. not easy in the time available and a few niggles that have cropped up and now need addressing. starting with a run in susa where we again stayed at the bolaffi equestrian centre 15km outside of torino. then kitzbuhel to race once more at franz pukl's road race up to the top of the famous ski resort. met johann muleg if you remember from salt lake city olympic games the german competing for spain who was unbeatable - turns out of course he got busted. at 85kg he was only 10mins behind me going up to the kitzbhulerhorn. then on to the dolomitenmann - our leingruber team are defending champs so pressure was on and it was a real testament to the proffessionalism of our outfit that we got across the line again first with no mishaps and christian our paraglider took a huge chunk off the record speeding down at 80kph in a parachute! here for the first time in weeks i felt strong racing and was the turning point in my bid to defend the world trophy. i backed up the next morning with a half marathon in the italian dolomites at the drei zinnen. just managed to finish before it rained but thankfully the sun came out for the long walk down and we left with about 20kilos of apples and massive cakes left over from the after match - pity really, couldnt polish off that lot in the one day i had left in europe but they went to good homes. and so to finish off the year i flew back to nz for the world trophy. its very strange after a long flight to be back home, in the supermarket and bumping into helmut schiessel from germany. it seemed very out of place, but was a real pleasure to be able to welcome so many great people from all over the world who i know and race overseas to my home town of wellington mild weather and huge turnout and support for the event was fantastic. so many people have worked so hard to put this together and the level of organisation and support as well as media and crowd support was a notch up from any previous world trophy i have experienced. i felt it was now up to me to do my job. the parade of nations was well recieved and marching down lampbton quay was again a strange but nice experience. most impressive for me was a race day where 10000 people were out on the course yelling and screaming at you to give it your best. and they didnt leave disapointed with 2 golds for Kate and myself and a real highlight was our mens team silver medal - our best result ever and a great reward for the years of effort that mike wakelin and callum harland have given to the sport and vindication of the selection of dale warrender who stormed through to 6th place. ben revels excellent run shows there is young talent and phil costley was able to provide the platform both during all the team camps in the lead up and on the race day to secure our result. what a fantastic way to finish off a very challenging year for me.

2004 season  - "best form of my life"
 

photo captions (in no order what so ever) This shot is taken on the Fukuoka to Beppu expressway. i thought i should include a shot as this is the most expensive road i have ever used at 100 nzd for a 3 hr trip! the japanese version of graffiti. below the sliding images show: 1. leutasch valley, a shot taken from half way up the small local ski field 2. a snow shoeing expedition with the "jocks." adam (a true blue scottish lad) and the mudge sisters, angela and janice 3. the top of the skifield at the rosshutte looking down on seefeld, spot the local in the deck chair geting a good winter tan! winter to summer shots in leutasch. one of my training routes takes me around above seefeld and out to mösern with these stunning views over the inntal. in the distance are the arlberg mountains and beyond them is switzerland. above, skiing at heligenblut (austria). below, at the home of alpine skiing taking on the austrians on their home turf, in their favoured event - giant slalom. needess to say it was also the site of a crushing defeat for me but i did the big yell in the starting gate like the pros and presented the prizes in the evening. kim rodley and wyatt, like fish out of water - but at least we look the part! soelden cantilevering lookout platform at 3300m. langlauf in leutasch. top, same shot as above in spring, just six weeks later. right, molten church and farm buildings. left, the hohe munde from ahrn in leutasch. below right, opel meriva (p.o.s.) with the last of the winter snow. below left, the fleet in graz. above left, yes, this place really is that good for training. tracks wind around the hillside, in and out of forest and high above the inntal valley above right, looking towards home base of ahrn below, snow melting on spring flowers in leutasch. top right, a day on the glacier at 3000m+ with ski instructor ernst and his wife rikki. above, the piste at 3200m. he shots: 1. three kiwis, wyatt, aish and hendo all in black lead the way at bolder boulder 2004, 2. abdi, mike aish, gillard (aus), alan culpeper (usa), meb (usa) eventual 2nd place man and wyatt, 3. the pack disintegrating, wyatt tucked in to the right beppu oita manichi marathon - 1 feb '04 well no race number sewn on this year but a great marathon racing day so no excuses there. really just a mediocre effort after having a very relaxed first 30k and then running out of gas. with troopy pacemaking (in between serves at starbucks) it should have been all on. the whole field struggled though and while it got very cold in the second half i soldiered on to the finish. i wound up first of the overseas invited athletes in 5th place, so posso wasnt a happy chappy with the rest of them (all sub 2hr 10 runners) and to top it off the other pacemaker got pulled off the course after he took off and tried to win the thing! This year was the first time that the pacemaking was announced and so their contracts forbid them to carry on to the finish. graz - feb 04 on to europe and dotted down in graz. not one of the most pleasent journeys after feeling very seedy on the flight and ended in hospital (for the second time this year). we managed to rule out asian bird flu so spent the next week shaking off the viral infection before easing back into some running. leutasch valley - mar 04 this is the leutasch valley in the tirol region of austria. the mountain on the right is the hohe munde and just to the left of this is the direction of seefeld (former host of the winter olympic games) in the distance are the mountains of the khutai area and on the far left poking up is the kleine ahrn spitze and the direction of mittenwald in germany (a short 10k drive from this area) it is a popular place for cross country skiing and hiking and this makes it a nice area for running with over 250km of marked trails where you can run flat or hills as you want. A minimum altitude of 1100m is a bonus these shots are taken during march and the temperature hovers between minus 4 and plus 4 degrees during the day. about half the trails are cleared and groomed for walking use and the biggest hazzard out running are old fogies out walking and the odd out of control cross country skier above are my trusty steeds for 2004 (not the girl). the racing sled and the other cane wagon, the opel zaffira supplied courtesy of opel in graz and leingrubber personalberreitstellung. it goes pretty good in the snow and ice with snow tires making a big difference to grip and as long as you are ready for a few slides you can go almost as quick as in the dry and finally the background image is from skiing the glacier at soelden (3300m) and looking out from austria towards italy and the dolomites the shot above is taken from the leutasch valley and shows the hohe munde. this is a quite famous mountain due to it being used as a training climb by the first guy to climb without oxygen and solo a peak over 8000m - nangapapa in the late 30´s. left and below are examples of the training wegs (trails) i run on the ahrnspitze is in the background (below). usa, may-june 2004 left, a different day and a different continent. racing the bolder boulder pro teams race in bouler colorado. the kiwis packed real well for 4th place behind team usa, kenya, and ethiopia. i came home 4th overall. its 1600m altitude and there are a couple of rises in and out of the football stadium which can really send you over the edge into the lactic zone a prime after 4km when we return to the stadium for the first time was lost by the kenyan for not fifnishing inside the top 10. it can be a brutal race! i decided to stay a few days and train with kim gillard (australia), 15th at bb this year and he was running races with me in zurich, lucerne and bern a few weeks before. its averaging 200-240km per week now and running close to the edge thats for sure. . . . off to LA for a night and a race over 5km on the road. 14 of us started in the elite field, a columbian, me and 12 kenyans - it felt like i was running the kenyan road race champs! made it up to a 4th place finish with a fast last 400m in 13min 38 so happy enough with that considering i have done absolutely no speed work - just mountains of mileage. spent a week training in vancouver following and catching up with friends there and had a stab at the legendary grouse grind making the vancouver sun with a time too fast for the computer system to handle! it turns out the electronic tags at the bottom and the top have a minimum time of 25mins (to cut out people who swipe at the bottom, take the gondola to the top and swipe it there). well, the guys there were able to sort it out. in actual fact they reckon that even using the gondola you cant get up there that fast! it´s only 3k but u climb 853m in that distance - now that is steep. europe, june 2004 back in europe again via salmonella dub in london, lost baggage, then over weight baggage on ryan air (read the fine print!), credit card overcharges and a calf injury. car crash - i drove totally off the road into a paddock and still the guy wiped out my drivers mirror! (thank god they don´t have fences like in NZ) still, it´s good to be back in austria and summer seems to be arriving now. after an easy 10 days nursing a calf injury (i never was much of a nurse) i headed back into the long training, easing into things with a 3hr 18min training effort at the graubunden marathon in lenzerheide, in switzerland. i was rather glad i saved a bit for the last 10k since it climbs 1400m up to the rothhorn at 2853m the last 2k in snow, ice and steep rock were walking material but having 16 minutes in hand it was a nice view and i just ate as much food and coke as i could get my hands on at the finish! a 3 week block of solid training followed by the grossglockner mountain race in austria. soon after this, another spell in the krankenhaus (that´s a hospital) had me filled up with a few bags of i.v. and i was back on my feet again a week later. a forced layoff and a nice visit from bridget followed up with a visit to watch the "kaiser" - jan ullrich go head to head with Paul Crake in a ´show´ crit in mayerhofen, tirol (austria) and that was the break i needed to get going again. i use the term head to head very loosely since the result of these races is decided before the start even though most of the public think the racers are going at it hammer and tongs. the berglauf grand prix in telfes race saw race director ernst kuenz lose his race carver skis when i broke antonio molinari´s race record from 1996. this is certainly one of the toughest records on the mountain running books and was my fourth attempt at it so its good to be back on the bike (so to speak). It´s a race on the border of luxembourg next and this is the fitness test that the games selectors need before letting you into the village. i have now buggered my foot but this is of minor inconvenience to me right now. unfortunately from July - November 2004 was not able to be saved from the old site. this included photos and text from the athens olympics, my first dololmitenmann with liengruber etc

2003 season

photo captions which are in no order: below is the hafen hotel, flash hotel close to the start of the hamburg marathon. unfortunately my room had fantastic views of the carpark and not the river elbe that this side faces. the marathon runs along the road in the foreground. almost decided to hire this instead of the peugeot for europe this year, but unfortunately common sense prevailed. pics: quality nanas. martin cox (england), myself, and marco guiardo (italy) with the grossglockner behind. the last long climb. and a part of the organising team (heide and claudia). the shot right is the postlingberg, a hill overlooking the austrian city of linz with markus zuhlbruckner. this is the finish for the 4.5km linz race. cross training seems to be a big part of my mtn running this year, the hardest thing about water skiing was getting into the skis. also did a spot of paragliding down from the finish of the course in telfes (austria). much easier than walking down. far left vtt in the stubai valley. hard at work in sauze d'oulx. approaching the half way point in Lauterbrunnen and the sprint is on for the prime. an illustration of mountain running:(left). this is kim rodley, former valley´s man and now resident in the leutasch valley (austria). he is near the finish line in the appropriately named extremelauf. it shows that mountain running is indeed quite tough. above is the telecabine, nicknamed the coffin. the cable doesn´t slow down to hop in so you must stand on the board as shown and the first person jumps in and then the second must get in. if you are a little slow on it you get a healthy push from the guy behind and he slams the door as you sail out over the edge! thomas and jono in the leutasch valley, austria, looking a bit younger! beppu - february '03 a spot of pacing for a marathon in beppu, oita, japan. ran to 31k but the highlight was the hovercraft ride and our poor interpreter slowly turning green. pretty cold there flying into osaka, kansai was freezing in the middle of a wind swept bay. a nice race and orgnised with typical japanese efficency - like getting to the start 2.5 hours before the gun and a japanese lady who sews your number on your singlet - how cool is that? hamburg - april '03 training had been focused on the hamburg marathon and leading up ran the 10000m at inglewood, racing to a new pb there. ran the carlsbad 5000, reported to be the worlds quickest 5km on the road. quite a feat really as i was surprised how hilly and slow the course was. if someone can crack out a 13 flat 5k there then that is worth 12:45 odd on the track easy. a bit short for me considering my marathon training but a nice race all the same. on to germany and a 10km in paderborn, a bit of biffo saw 1 guy go down with 500 to go, i got the feeling the kenyans didnt like some white fella taking it to them! quick 220+km/h bursts on the autobahn were other highlights of a good race plus an authentic italian gnocchi from wilfred's village made for a memorable time. brilliant course and atmosphere as thousands line the streets and the course wends its way along the mainly flat streets of hamburg. 20,000 plus people run and start in three different places. a slight headwind made it tough on the way back - didn't seem to trouble the spanish winner who ran 2hr 07m 27s. I ended up in 7th in a time rather slower than that with my excuse being i ran through the drinks tables instead of past them, would have made quite a picture i would imagine. still struggling with the drinks too, keeping them down i mean and had a repeat of berlin at the end, stephen blair can shed some more light on that one. almost decided to hire this instead of the peugeot for europe this year, but unfortunately common sense prevailed. race zwei in mittenwald germany at the border of austria is a pituresque town made famous by a violin making industry 350 years ago and by being on a trading route through the alps pretty steep one and includes a bit of slippy scree stuff and you run through a 450m long tunnel at the top through the rock. accommodation was provided by the kiwi/german couple of imke and kim rodley living in the leutasch valley just over the border in austria and tliving in an area of 250km of cross country ski trails which make excellent summer training too. a short race in linz on saturday evening and then to telfes for a sunday race and 350km of driving in 2.5hrs in between was a busy weekend. switzerland next, and managed to get a cheap motorway vignette so i can whizz thru the country instead of visiting every town along the way. raced in the 31km sierre-zinal course de cinqs 4000 montagne where the hot weather made the course pretty quick this year and ran to the first sub 2hr 30 time in the races history. course climbs over 2000m, most of it in the first 12km and descends steeply toward the end dropping some 800m with bits in between on nice panorama trails. a few sore legs after mean having to rest up and drink the excellent valais wine instead of soaking up the heat on the trails. ermatt not quite the same day as in the photo above but still good for running and over 1000 people took part this year. the race heads up round the right side of the matterhorn and then comes back to finish below the ridge in the foreground had a couple of great training runs here as well running near where this shot was taken (above). the matterhorn had a big rock fall earlier this summer because of the warm weather melting the ice on top. the swiss are also in the middle of building a ski lift on to the glacier to the left of the matterhorn, something of an engineering feat when you consider that glaciers are continually moving. a change of scenery in geneva to catch up with former scottish harrier hunter nottage was next. tried to get a ticket to see alinghi - the movie, but all sold out as they are big heros in swizerland. from geneva i headed into france stopping at the lake beside annecy and then to albertville. over one big alpine pass and then over another, the col du iseraan which rises up from val des irere. this is the highest pass in the alps at 2770m and there were plenty of cyclists making the grind up to the top with signs every 400m showing elevation. a very fast descent in the pug as time was getting tight and then up and over the col du mt cenis at 2450m which drops into the val di susa and italy. driving like an italian now means driving with headlights on at all time as this is the new law. the mt cenis road takes you down almost 2000m to susa. there are quicker ways to get from geneva to susa but the tunnels, frejus or mt blanc are 30-40 euro each way and french and italian motorways are très expensive. made it 5 from 5 in susa this year, it doesn't seem like i have been here 5 years in a row but the results sheet says otherwise. no kiwi team here this year and the yanks beat the italians to take the trophy with the big hat (challenge stellina). stayed in italy at one of the 2006 olympic games sites, the ski resort of sauze d'oulx. it is 1560m high so was sucking it in a bit. ran up to col du bassette at 2470m high where you can continue on to sestriere. in winter you can ski 30-40k up and down the valley here, not skiing the same run twice. Had a good cycle around a loop taking in a few of the tour de france climbs. you can tell you are on a road that le tour has been recently because there is paint all over the uphill side and the descent has been newly asphelted. the jungfrau marathon starts in interlaken and this year i was able to take part since alaska world trophey is not in the plan. had a course recce on wednesday using train and feet and then on thursday took the first train to the jungfraujoch or top of europe train station, the highest station in europe at 3450m and the viewing platform is almost 3600m. pretty nice area looking down on a huge glacia and stopping in the train at the eigerwand, half way up the north wall of the eiger. this is a 2.5hr trip each way and while my train pass for the week was free from the race organisers it normally costs about 200 nzd to take the trip up and down! during the race along the course were some ex-pat kiwi supporters and a lot of bands, cow bells, horns and bag pipes as you climb the last section on a steep ridge with 1 km to go. plenty of people out watching and running through wengen (site of the longest downhill world cup run, and had a chat with peter mueller the swiss champion who could do it at speeds over 150kph) was a bit like the old cycle race thing there as people lined the streets urging you on. a very well organised race, hot showers and massage at the top and massages en route if you so desired as well. lots of drink and food stations and the distances were posted every 250m! two sprint primes along the way kept it interesting and the ethiopian runners contested the first at 3.8km and then i had a go at the second but the ethiopians were wise to that and snuck in ahead just before half way. at 25km the race leaves the valley floor to go to wengen and gets pretty steep and relentless toward the finish. the last km is downhill just to make your legs totally cramp so its a tough event. stayed in the jungfrau region after the race at a small town called murren, a two stage gongola ride on the schilthorn bahn. no cars here and a quick descent on the mtb sees you drop 700m vertical to the valley floor. this is an area popular with b.a.s.e. jumpers with the odd one not opening the chute in time. this village is perched on this cliff edge and a few too many beers at night and walking the wrong way could end in disaster. there is also a triathlon here a few weeks earlier which covers over 5000m vertical climbing in a 12 hour race and the duathlon in zoffinger (10k forest run, 150k hilly bike and 30k mtn run) is next weekend. . . . . . a change of scenery running wise saw me head back to tubingen where two years ago i took 3rd place in this stadtlauf which runs through the old town. each year there is a festival here with its sister towns in alsace provence, france and umbria, italy and this brings in a few thousand people keen to sample the wine and food. this year it was announced that dieter baumann would compete for the last time (barcelona 5000m olympic gold medalist). this is his home town so a sunny day saw more than 50,000 people lining the 2.5km course which we run 3 times. i had the distinction of being the last white guy ever to beat dieter baumann in a race and took 3rd place again behind 2 kenyans and in front of one more with dieter taking 5th. warming down we were surrounded by thousands of people, quite amazing really. a quick stop in to see the iaa auto show in frankfurt joining the many thousands of people organised in typical german eficiency and then a quick 500k drive over to bergen hitting a new peugeot record for me of 195kph. downhill and the little 1.4lL engine near the limiter. also gave the abs a good testing at one stage. . . probably the hardest climb in a mountain race i have done. a very steep last 2 kilometres which made the grossglockner glacier climb look like a walk in the park. very funny coffin chairlifts on the way down also made for some good humour. in the photo are lucio fregona, the race organiser (a. stuffer), and gerd frick the race finishes at 2685m at forcella sassolungo and climbs 1475m in its 19.1km. spactacular all round views of the marmoladas and over a hundred paragliders and hang gliders up there. a few hardy souls tackling the 3200m vertical rock face above our finsh line too. i was tempted to take a week off but a very nice race in the val gardena, a part of sud tirol in italy (otherwise known as the dolomites) presented itself and from the profile it looked pretty spectacular. and so it proved with great weather and probably the hardest climb in a mountain race i have done. a very steep last 2 kilometres which made the grossglockner glacier climb look like a walk in the park. very funny coffin chairlifts on the way down also made for some good humour. in the photo are lucio fregona, the race organiser (a. stuffer), and gerd frick the race finishes at 2685m at forcella sassolungo and climbs 1475m in its 19.1km. spactacular all round views of the marmoladas and over a hundred paragliders and hang gliders up there. a few hardy souls tackling the 3200m vertical rock face above our finsh line too. managed a new land speed record when my german friend let me drive the bmw z4 he was testing. reached the speed limiter of 250kph on the munich - garmish autobahn, in the wet! it was all pretty safe until he switched out the traction control through some twisty corners. . . .nice bib kim. the final race of the season in bergen, and the seasons have changed. raining at the start and by km 5 it was snowing. last 2 k it was slip and slide to the finish in a white out but can´t complain since weather this year has been fantastic.

2002 season

photo captions - in random order crested butte, colorado. more hippies per square metre than u can shake a stick at and a nice ski town. in the backgorund (left) is mount crested butte with nicole jefferson and myself in front. to the right is downtown crested butte with cruiser bike - way cool. The distance team from left to right: Me, 'Shrubbo' Craig Barrett, Craig Kirkwood, John Henwood, Sir Murry Halberg, Tony Sargison, Mike Aish, Phil Costley. Sarah Ulmer on her way to Pursuit Gold. martin cox and billy burns each side both from england. mr bolaffi's quad bike, torino, italy. swiss ferrari's, sion. matterhornlauf ziel, zermatt, switzerland. barrage tseuzier, vallais, switzerland. farm houses, zermatt, switzerland. world trophy, innsbruck, austria. castle, sion, switzerland. mages from bergen. 1, the berglauf gp final. on the podium - includes marco degaspari, jahn blaha, martin cox, emmanuel manzi, paul crake, antonio molinari, marcus kroll. 2, demedenko and i overlooking the chiemsee from the hochfelln. 3, snow with 1.5k to go. snow at zinal, switzerland. the last mountain race, wmra gp final at the smarna gora in slovenia. world trophey, innsbruck, austria. gunnison colorado (4 weeks, 7 june - 11 july) tour 2002 is based around my participation in the commonwealth games marathon in manchester, england. starting with a half marathon in christchurch, new zealand, which completed some solid training domestically, i then travelled to the states for a spot of altitude work. en route i ran the steamboat 4 mile road race in a town near chicago called peoria - famous for being the home of caterpillar the next few weeks have been spent in gunnison, colorado. as the world cup soccer rolls on and tiger woods wins his 8th major i am living in a town at 7708 feet and sucking in the thin air. this is a college town where a lot of kiwi runners have done some time at school - and their legendary feats are still retold by the locals the peachtree road race is americas biggest 10k (55,000 participants) and is run on the 4th of july holiday. needless to say the national anthem was played with the biggest american flag i have ever seen, helicopters buzzed about and the pace, like the weather was hot. ahtletes were put up in the ritz in fine southern style and generally this is a great race and made a good side trip to the training in gunnison. UK (4 weeks, 12 july - 8 august) here for the commonwealth games. i arrived in stockport, manchester with the first item on the agenda being a brewery tour - such is the importance of the brown stuff in the uk. a good games with plenty of good events, highlights include: the track and field programme, paula radcliffs 5000m, and the enthusiastic crowd. road and track cycling. a solid run from me with a 6th placing in the marathon, tantalisingly close to more. lowlights include: losing half my pictures on my new digital camera - hence the lack of english pictures here. europe (7 weeks, 8 august - 13 october) the first race on the mountain tour for me is the sierre zinal race in the valais canton of switzerland. bad weather forced a shortening of the course from its usual 31km to 12km, the first time this has occurred in the races 29 year history. 20cm of snow fell on the course the day before with temperatures well below zero degrees. the race now went from sierre to chandolin which was a climb of 1600m making it a steep race. this suited me just fine as 2 weeks after the marathon i wasn't too sure how i had recovered. i managed a win here but it was bitterly cold near the finish and as it was 2 people died after completing the race from heart attacks - who said running was good for your healt! staying in switzerland i then raced the matterhornlauf in Zermatt. a flatter course but still tough with the altitude finish of 2600m. here i managed a new record on a beautiful clam day with great views of the breithorn, monte rosa and of course the matterhorn itself. one week later and leaving switzerland for the north of italy the challenge stellina grand prix race in susa was next. the course follows the liine of a battle from world war one and as such holds special significance for the local people. for the first time in susa wet weather meant the course would be slippery, so i let the tupu´s have a blat (these are specialist nike studded mountain running shoes i had some input into the design of). tough going on the smooth, wet rocks but great in the mud further up. it was a nice surprise to reach the finish and find i had run a new record - the cooler conditions helped. another place and another race the following week in oberstaufen after catching up with friends from bergen. this one a steep 6km and good short sharp effort 2 weeks out from worlds. a cannon at the start scared the living daylights out of us with no prior warning. one second we are standing on the startline chatting and the next we're off up the hill at pace. the course record dated back to 1983 but conditions were again cool with some light rain and the track had been improved for this year making it a quick course. i managed the record by over 3mins to run under 30mins so was a good confidence booster and the organisers couldn't believe it when i emerged out of the mist at the summit! on to the world trophey and a good team of kiwis in innsbruck, perfect weather - except for the 3 hours covering the race! a tough race course, but at the end of just under an hour i came out of the mist on top. following the world mountain trophey, races in linz (austria), bergen (germany), and ljubjana (slovenia) finished off the season. The slovene race was a tough one with its steep technical uphill and short flat out rocky downhill section with a grunty climb to finish. staying on in europe due to kl stair race changing their date i filled in the time by running the munich city marathon and with the weather packing up it was time to head home.

2001 season

photo captions in no particular order: some much needed sustenance before the sierre zinal 31k race in the form of wine and raclette. from left is a former winner of the race and local guy, me, phill, paul and billy from britain, and the race organiser augustin. left over cheese came in handy for the ears when the band struck up. the matterhorn race finishes at a place called schwarzee. the matterhorn then towers right above you. he boys at race end, from left, paul crake (aus), me, daniel greene (aus), martin cox (england, sometimes). top of the course, the drei zinnen peaks in the background and a stream of runners near the 2600m course summit. left, only 3 more strides to go . . . . . . . and right the drei-zinnen with anna pichtorova from the czech republic. strasbourg cathedral, the french are good at that sort of thing. the prize for 24th place at the berlin marathon.....in the passenger seat beside me sits a former tangerine vest wearing stream machiner - brendan cole now residing somewhere in the uk in between side trips to latvia and lithuenia. this image as a shot from the norman foster designed reichstag at the german parliament. below, outside 'zoo station' on the U2 line. a series of shots, a small car dealership in berlin, stephen blair, former 4.02 miler now turned championship cyclist looks right at home in downtown (west) berlin, the sony centre roof in potsdamer platz (former no mans land between east and west), the bombed out church. the little green and red man. at left is check point charlie with b.cole site of a great pizza place and much history. at one point berlin destroyed much of the reminders of the division between east and west above, the green man and the subject of much controversey at pedestrian crossings. spot the odd one out......porsches at the zuffenhausen factory. last race of the tour: the smarna gora in lubljana, slovenia. very cool place and good beer (all shots were taken to keep sponsors happy). clio looking devasted in strasbourg as i return her to the depot, never to get another good old fashioned thrashing yes, once again i am on tour for another session in europe. this time competing in some of the grand prix mountain racing events while putting in some preparation for the berlin marathon at the end of september. so far the diary reads a bit like this: I travelled from New Zealand to Kuala Lumpur to run at the menara tower in early august. this worked out nice since KL is half way on my journey to europe. The result was a win, but i couldn´t better last years winning time of 10min 24s where i was 7 seconds slower this year. stair running is a fairly intense exercise. this particular race takes me around ten and a half minutes and involves a 600m dash up from the bottom of the hill to the tower entrance and where the laste 150m is across tiles which i like running on soap when they are wet as happened this year. inside the tower it is just a solid 8 and a half minutes where if you go too hard too early you can really suffer - judging your pace is a major thing here. on to europe and i flew into geneva on the shores of lac leman. i upgraded this year from the sewing machine engined twingo to the turbo powered 1.5l deisel clio (face lift model). a pretty racy machine and tested to 185kph on the german munich-salzberg autobahn without threatening to fall apart as my previous steed felt likely to. the first euro race was a long run - treated as a long training workout the sierre-zinal (or course pedestre cinque 4000) race is a long one at 31k. it is also tough as it climbs about 1500m in the first 8k, not many races climb this quick. to give some idea a steep race is normally 1 in 10 ie 1m elevation gain for 10m horizontal distance. the middle section flattens and you can see five 4000m high peaks as you run (hence the name cinque 4000). here i finished 3rd behind the crazy descending billy burns from england and the record breaking mexican, ricardo meicha (excuse spelling). i ran a not too bad 2hr 38 and the winning mexican about 7mins quicker pics here show my brilliant sponge dropping technique as you run in and out of small farm villages along the way, and the final 100m into the `zeil´ at zinal. just over the range from the sierre zinal race is the matterhorn and i drove down from zinal (1700m) to the main valley of vallais and then a few km up it changes to german speaking and so becomes wallis. Then a drive up to the end of this next valley we find the town of zermatt, no cars allowed, just battery powered mini vehicals that travel deceptively quick and quietly and attempt to wipe you out as you run along the quaint narrow streets standing at the end of this valley is the towering matterhorn at over 4400m and the scene of numerous climbing accidents and deaths every summer. the matterhornlauf was on a changed course from when i last raced it, longer but flatter and more interesting at just over 10km. here i broke away early and won with a new record rom the englishman martin cox. team altitude and attitude 2 took out the teams title with yours truly, martin cox and the australian paul crake (very multi national). the matterhorn race, spectacular, zermatt - the town at its base which is 1800m high and well populated by tourists of an asian descent, wealthy holiday makers and the little electric cars of course. there is a rather nice beer garden up here at furi which is about 2600m high, the matterhorn is something like 4478m high. picked up a bit of a cold so the training in st moritz was shortened. the next race took me and my clio to the north of italy and north of torino near sestriere to a place called susa this is a traditional italian town with a number of roman buildings and bridges still in existance. the race is tough and hot, every year we sem to start a little earlie, this makes it easier for the heat, but not for the sleep! the course follows an old battle during the first world war and at the top veterens have a service before prize giving this year i won comfortably, a little slower than last years record, with martin cox and antonio mollinari in 2nd and 3rd spots. last year the kiwi team of myself and aaron strong (2 counting members) backed up by callum harland and simon maunder took out the teams race - the first time ever that the italians have been beaten. over to bergen in the south of germany and then the following weekend is a race in austria at the ski town of kitzbuhel, very rich, and very nice digs at the weis rosel (white horse hotel), salmon for breakfast - really. the race is on road, unusual for top class mountain running but right up my street with a win by one and a half minutes from bily burns of england. very misty near the top and it was hard to even see where the next part of the road went. the prize giving must rank as one of the longest i have been to, an amazing amount of ostentacious trophies that only an austrian could love!! hence many an englishman was seen depositing them in gardens around the town! the day before this race i dropped in on a friend and ran his race too, an easy 10k but worth a mention because of the white porcelan that is famous from that part of austria, gmunden. this year being the second time i won this race i got to keep the trophey, a huge piece of porcelain. now how am i going to get this home........ The Drei Zinnen (tre cime) a good website for the race, certainly the most well organised and proffessional event i have been at in mountain running. 250 volunteers apparantly, and 1000 athletes and this is only the fourth year it has been going. the race is in italy but really a region called sud tirol which encompasses the mountain regions of austria so everyone here is speaking ze deutsch. On to Tubingen - not - tubbingham, germany a small town near stuttgart with a 7.5k road race round the streets and through a park. it is 3x2.5km laps and has a hill and some cobbles as well as a sprinkling of kenyans. i was a bit of a surprise for the organisers who were well chuffed with my 3rd place. this is also the home to one dieter baumann of toothpaste fame. This is a subsection on berlin and my first international marathon, a really interesting place with still a lot of changes going on even 10 years down the track from when the wall came down. supplies for the marathon......being the only kiwi in the front pack, the flags on sticks would seem like a good idea, until you poke your eye out that is grabbing the bottle at the first two stations was an art form i never quite managed either

2000 season

photo captions, in a random order: (above) growing up in the hutt valley, this shot taken from the western hills where our house was. the shot is taken in torino near the train station which we only found when simon maunder asked every young lady (ciao bella) he could find for directions. the twingo (looking cool, calm and serene) after scorching to the top of a swiss mountain pass. in the background is a glacia and the chick on the left is looking round to check if anyone is watching as she goes to take a pee. the kiwi's kicked ass by demolishing that table of bananas in the background and more than a few beers at the post race festivities following. the boys on top of the kitzbuhelhorn, (yes Megan is one of the boys). From left is Aaron Strong, Paul, Megan Edhouse, Simon Maunder and Callum Harland. postrace festivities at the wies rossel (white horse) hotel. cinquatori, in the fore gorund, meaning 5 fingers also famous as the place where the opening scenes of stallones cliff hanger were shot. a 'cow fest' in bavaria. villages have a day to celebrate the end of summer when the cows come down from the mountains from their summer grazing. today the cows still come down but it is more an excuse to consume copious amounts of beer - perfect. going home - less than 30 mins from paris and the end of a fantastic tour. here´s a bit about my tour at the turn of the millenium. the climax and undoubted highlight came when i won my second world championship. we also had a lot of fun along the way, racing week in week out in a different country, with a different language and lots of good (different) food! the kitzbuhelhornlauf is a mountain race run from the ski resort of kitzbuhel up a 11km access road climbing some 1200 odd metres. it is fairly unique on the mountain running tour by being a road race

a typical new zealand highway - whakapapa, north island