It’s ultra good for flying Kiwis

Post date: Oct 31, 2011 7:24:28 PM

After years of telling everyone how important it is to

“listen to your body” and “not to over train,” Val Muskett’s late-blooming youthful exuberance got the better of her while training for the Commonwealth Ultra Championships in Wales -- she over did it.

To be fair it was the 10th and probably last time Val would represent New Zealand as a full international and she had a goal to break two age-group records on the way to setting a personal best for the 24 hours.  But with six weeks to go she found herself at the physiotherapists with a grade one tear to a quad and suffering from patella femoral syndrome. Basically she had run so much she had not only injured herself but changed her running style so her left knee was no longer tracking correctly. Two weeks of no running, physiotherapy, acupuncture and worry followed and by the time she set off to Wales her longest run had lasted  a mere two hours.

Also representing New Zealand in the 24 hour race were Matt Bixley, Alex McKenzie and Wayne Botha who had all achieved the qualification distances. The 24 hour event is an individual and team race with athletes striving for individual placings as well as the first three runners totalling their distances for a team effort. With three runners selected it appeared prudent to go for a fourth runner to “back up” the team should anything untoward happen. The fourth man recommended to the selectors was Bryan McCorkindale. Bryan is a 59-year-old who still breaks three hours for the marathon  and had clocked a very slick 16hr 16min for a 160km run. Bryan’s name was put forward to the selectors and after a great deal of discussion he was on the team.

The championships were held in Llandudno, North Wales, a picturesque seaside resort that like many coastal areas is often buffeted by strong wind. The course was a 1km tight loop with 500m straights and tight turns at either end, the prevailing winds meant athletes ran 500m into a headwind and then 500m with the wind at their backs.  (Strange how runners never feel the following wind, just the headwind!)

The race started at noon and the runners settled into their rhythms. Some, like Matt, run for a distance and then walk while taking on sustenance and others, such as Val, try to set a pace and keep to it and feed on the move – never stopping.

To achieve her world records and personal best Val had set targets throughout the race and at the marathon distance was more than five minutes behind schedule, and suffering. The men were running their own races with Matt to the front and the others maintaining a steady pace.

After a comfort stop and then an enforced stop to change her timing chip, Val decided to “give it a go”. She went through 100km five minutes faster than she needed to and was running with grim determination. As the 12 hour mark approached it became clear she was going to break the record by more than 2km so the three officials followed her for the last three minutes to make sure the mark set was accurate. Val’s last big effort meant that two of the officials had to rest before returning to the officials’ tent. Val did one more lap and then came in for a rest and a serious chat. It was then I decided to pull her from the race, something I have never considered before. She had achieved another world record but her knee and ankles were hurting. She could probably have broken the 100 mile record – she had more than six hours to cover 42km, but at what cost. The tracking problem would get worse not better and she could run until she tore her quad again. So I pulled her from the track, once again removed the chip from her shoe and gave it the officials – her work was done. She couldn’t re-enter the race so she went to the hotel to rest and then came back to cheer the men in the morning.

The men’s race was unfolding, Bryan was running well and had moved in to second or third (varied) overall with Wayne just behind him, Matt was suffering but still running and Alex was going through a real bad patch.

As the night wore on it became obvious that Matt was in some discomfort and when Val returned to the track and removed his calf guards it revealed a discolouring on his shin. It appeared a calf twinge he felt the day before had bled through the night and left him bruised and sore. He decided to continue with a target of 200km.

Macca (Alex) had gone into “who dares win” mode. The army senior staff sergeant had put his head down and battled on; the outcome was he had pulled back on Bryan and Wayne and was running well.

Aside.

I have never been one for statistics. All I wanted was the team to do well, but one of the crew members helping the team (Miriam), was into statistics and with eight hours to go pointed out that there was only 1km between the first and third men’s teams and we were in third. I passed this off and said the important thing was to keep them running. Throughout the night Miriam kept bringing me updates and I was quite dismissive of them. With just over two hours to go Miriam again approached me with statistics and this time was more adamant  I looked at them, We were now in third place and unlikely to get any higher but the Australian team was coming back at us at an alarming rate and if things stayed the same they would beat us by just under a kilometre. This was not going to happen!

The Race

Bryan, Wayne and Alex now looked like a bicycle pursuit team. They were spread over  80m and all running the same pace – we had got the message to them that the “Aussies are coming” and we had to up our pace. Wayne had also been given strict instructions not to talk to any more of the athletes, a trait he has. So with cap down and eyes fixed Wayne ran in silence, Macca looked as if he was going through East Timor with a pack on his back and Bryan looked … well, Bryan didn’t look, he was shut down running on empty and showing no emotion, pain or happiness. He was at work and working,

The Australians now had a man in second who was chasing first and two others who were after good distances to make sure they qualified for the Worlds in Poland. The Kiwis were running for survival.

When the hooter sounded and the men stopped – Miriam the statistician came up with preliminary results. The New Zealand and Australian teams had completed the same number of full laps but the Kiwis had eight extra minutes worth of running and the Australians four minutes – so who had done the most in the last few minutes – the Aussie chasing the second place or the determined Kiwis.

Bryan didn’t know, he had no recollection of going for the drug test after he had finished. He was all in. Macca had the strength to threaten me with death if he hadn’t got a medal and Wayne was taking the opportunity to smile and talk to anyone and everyone.

Commonwealth 24 Hour Race Team Results 24 Hours

Men

1st England                   668.335 Km

2nd Wales                     664.244 Km

3rd New Zealand         661.624 Km    McCorkindale, Botha, McKenzie.

4th Australia                  661.125 Km

5th Canada                   595.093 Km

6th Scotland                  490.296 Km

 New Zealand Men’s individual placings and distances

4   Bryan McCorkindale  222.374km

5   Wayne Botha                222.295km

8   Alexander McKenzie   216.955km

14 Matt Bixley                  201.309km

Val Muskett 12 hours 114.173 W55 World Record.

(old Record 112.365- Sue Ellen Trapp USA 2001)

This meant the New Zealand men’s team had raced their way to a bronze medal, Val had broken the 12-hour over-55 women’s world record and Bryan broke the over-55 men’s world record for 12 hours and set a 100 mile as well as finishing fourth in the Commonwealth championships. Not too shabby for a man who had come along to be fourth runner and back-up for the team.

All that remains is the athletes to get the accolades they have undoubtedly deserved, but as it is with ultra runners they may have to run a long way and wait a longer time for that to happen.