Jumbo-Holdsworth Trail Race

As part of (i.e. pretty much all of) my training for the Tararua Mountain race (now postponed until next summer), I ran the Jumbo-Holdsworth Trail Race. The race is about 26km and goes from Holsdworth Lodge along the Atiwhakatu track to Rain-gauge spur, where it climbs to Jumbo hut and the Jumbo Summit. From Jumbo summit the trail turned south, over Mt Holdsworth, and the weather turned to crap. Freezing cold rain and strong, gusty wind; enough to knock you (me) off my feet. I don't know how the smaller runners coped with it. From Powell Hut, the trail was below the bush line again and the weather was fine. Coming down from Powell Hut, I stuck to the runner in front of me and kept up the pace most of the way down, though I did take a tumble just before Rocky Knob (it turned out later that I cracked some ribs in the fall --- all part of the fun really.) My final time was 3hrs16:13 and 13th placed in my grade, 20th, overall. Good enough considering all the training I hadn't done. It was also my first run using a fancy pair of compression tights. I can't really say anything about whether they helped with endurance, or aided recovery, but they sure were nice to have on along the tops in the freezing cold wind.

Jumbo-Holdsworth Trail Race