Multi marathon madness

The Marlborough Weekly's Alex Roberton isn't one to shy away from a challenge, but the prospect of running The Spectacle gave even him pause for thought. Here he gives a first-person account of how he did.

I’ve always enjoyed challenging myself and seeing what I’m capable of, marathons, 24-hour mountain bike racing, rental kart racing, autocross and Motorkhana, 160km MTB races - I’m usually pretty relaxed in the run up to them.

The Spectacle Miler was the first event that’s really scared me, it was fear of the unknown and how my body would react that caused the most grief. Running is a whole different ball game because there’s nowhere to hide, it’s you and your legs, that’s it.

With a start time of 5pm on Friday 13th December (unlucky?) even beginning the race would be a challenge.  It was 25 degrees all day in Nelson and when you’re about to start running 163km and scaling 7000m of elevation that's a problem.

Guy Williamson drummed up a great atmosphere on the mic. The countdown from 10 caused some palpable panic from me 9,8... Am I trained enough for this? 7,6... What if I don’t make it? 5,4... Why have I ended up on the front row? At 3 I calmed down and a small smile appeared 'let’s just see what happens' I told myself as the clock struck 5.

The first marathon was probably the most fun part of the whole course, flowy descents and climbs were consistent and not too steep. This lulled me into a false sense of security as I was through this and into Saxton field in around 5.5hrs.

I stopped for my first real break and had some food while partner Holly filled up my water and generally looked after me. I never like to stop for too long, so I begrudgingly exited the chair and started on my way to Hackett car park aid station a mere 15km away. This proved a bit of a sign of things to come as the climb up through Silvan was relentless and punishing. It sapped the energy I’d recuperated and even the downhill section towards Hacket wasn’t enough to stir my legs into any kind of meaningful pace.

At Hacket I stopped for some Macca’s fries and tried to refill the tanks. My feet were on the cusp of pain at this point, so I asked Holly to get some plasters on to try and alleviate this. Even if they’re bad don’t tell me, I implored.

“Ooh sh!#! they look sore," said Bryan who hadn’t heard the first part of our conversation. Oh well, onwards we go.

Hacket to Browning, then onto Rocks was the most mentally challenging part of the course. I was all alone at this point and apart from the high vis wearing marshals at the small aid stations it was a lonely experience.

Taking the low water route, there were several stream crossings to contend with, not wanting wet feet, boulder hopping seemed like a good idea. Despite being awake for nearly 24hrs and having the co-ordination and balance of Bambi on ice after running 60km I soldiered on.

Fatigue was really starting to set in on the way to Rocks Hut, I started seeing a hut where there wasn’t one, highlighting my desire for this rocky, rooty nightmare piece of trail to be over and further frustrating me when it was actually a tree or pile of logs as I got closer.

As the sun rose, I finally got clear of Rocks hut and began the first of two ascents to the top of Dun Mountain. We were now sharing the course with 50km runners who gracefully skipped between rocks as I clumsily stumbled around looking less athlete and more zombie like with each step.

I rolled my ankle on the descent down from Little Twin which caused immense pain and led to me asking whether I could actually make it or not, I thought I’d be down at the Maitai dam hours ago by this point, so doubt was starting to creep in.

I hadn’t been using poles up to this point but thought it might be worth a crack, I found a big stick and started using that to protect my ankle and take the sting out of my knees as I carried on towards the dam. Fabiano Petroni was kind enough to give me some ibuprofen as well which massively helped my poorly left ankle.

Like Gandalf I paced towards the next aid stop relieved to be out of the hell of that section of course. I was ready to throw in the towel, but the positivity of the support crew and aid stop staff lifted my mood and inspired me to stay on track. Either you’ll get pulled out or you’ll finish Alex, no other option” I told myself as I changed shoes for a slightly gentler 20km section on the fire road through Hira forest. The heat of the day was brutal through this section, trees provided little shade with the sun directly overhead and the best course of action was continued progress to escape it.

As I descended into the Golf course it was nice to see Ed Shuttleworth cheering folks on and telling me I looked strong towards the next aid stop. I certainly didn’t feel it but it was a boost of confidence I needed as we approached 24 hrs of race time.

At the Golf course I was delivered some hiking poles to help me through the next 56km of the run. These were a godsend as they allowed me to better look after my ankle and relieve some knee pressure both up and downhill, a quick blast over Brook Street for the penultimate aid station where I changed back to my original trainers and fuelled up for the final slog.

The sun dipped as I approached Third House and was fully set by the time I reached the saddle, a vicious wind swept in as I ascended up Dun Mountain a second time.  While bitter my body temperature was high enough not to notice much of a chill, so I pressed on into the second descent down Little Twin.

This is where the madness really set in, I’d stubbed my toes countless times and with the state my feet were in the pain was agony, over approximately 200,000 steps you only need to misjudge a rock on a quarter of a percent of those steps to hit them 50 times. I know this because it’s about how many times I hit my feet over the distance!

The pain was huge and was closely matched by my desire to be through this race and tucked up in bed. Onto the Dam aid station again now with only 17km to go, I pushed on to get through the Pipeline section of the course and ascended over Tantragee to the final manned aid station of the course.

This was 6km from the finish and I downed some water and pressed on, now determined to finish strong. A savage climb up the Grampians made me grateful for the hiking poles earlier acquired and the descent down to Collingwood Street was achingly long as I protected my knees and ankles after 36 hours of movement, I certainly did not want to eat it within sight of the finish line…

As I got onto Collingwood Street my right big toe finally gave up and I felt an almighty squish as the nail departed its placement on my foot. Good thing there’s nine more…

No time to mourn this awful loss as I heaved my way towards the Church, the finish was so close now and I lifted my legs for the final sprint to the line. I was greeted by family and volunteers who were over the moon to see me and almost as happy as I was to no longer be running.

With that my Spectacle experience was over and I now start the road to recovery, it definitely falls into the category of Type 3 fun and while I wouldn’t wish doing it on my worst enemy, if you want an incredible challenge a Miler is definitely for you.

Key stats

44 starters, 28 finishers

16th place, 1st 18-29 age group finisher

160km, 7000m elevation

Approx. 200,000 steps,

Approx 16,500 calories burned