Big Bush, St Arnaud, M60, Long, 1st. Steep, thick beech forest with random boulders. Nice. Interesting putting your foot down and not knowing what was going to happen - solid footing, twist, slip, punch through a few cm, get grabbed. The shoes were not ideal - needed metal dobb spikes. Came through for my first national long distance age group win. It was pretty easy in the end - I was basically slow and careful through the bush and opened it up on the easy street/park finish. Lost around 1 minute early on number 3 - I knew there was an extra gully not on the map but couldn't make myself go to the right one quickly enough or in the right direction. Also dropped around 20 seconds near the end when I drifted off a small path. Ended up 13:40 clear of Lizzie's Dad (who won the Oceania Long near here in 2009 - I was 5th that year after winning the sprint and middle earlier).
Cuisine NZ - freshly caught trout from Lake Rotoiti on toast.
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Winsplits