COWLING BATTLES GHOSTS, VIEWS HEAVEN ON OLD GHOST ROAD

Kate Dzienis • Mar 29, 2019

Contributed by Gayle Cowling, AURA member

On Saturday, February 23 at 6am the start list of 296 runners took part in an 85km journey across an historic gold mining area located in the north west corner of New Zealand’s South Island – the Old Ghost Ultra.

There are a couple of house keeping tasks that I need to address though before we get into the nitty gritty of my race report.

Firstly, the race was at risk with a recent cyclone threat but the day resulted in perfect clear blue skies with a slight breeze – no rain in sight.

Secondly, I’m not going to give you a history lesson on the making of the Old Ghost Road, but this abridged version will certainly help set the scene. Considered one of New Zealand’s great walks, the Old Ghost Road is not a ‘road’. In the late 1800s it was a dray road that led onto the Lyell Range from the gold mining township of Lyell.

That dray road ended on the watershed of the Mokihinui River which flows to the west coast near Seddonville. When the gold ran out, Lyell became a ghost town, the old dray road was abandoned, and the forest reclaimed it for more than 100 years.

In 2007, an antique map of the old dray road and a planned extension of it to the west coast was discovered. Eight years later the Mokihinui-Lyell Backcountry Trust reclaimed the old dray road (18km) from the forest and about 50km of new track was carved out of the steep slopes and open high country to join it to the old trail built by miners through the Mokihinui gorge upstream of Seddonville .

Voila, the Old Ghost Road was born.

Thirdly, on the Thursday before our flight to NZ, I came down with a chest and head cold. It turned nasty but I was determined to do the run, knowing full well there was no access to get me off the track without the aid of a helicopter at my own expense.

This race has an amazing reputation as a community-based event and I did not want to miss one minute of it.

On the morning of race day, the alarm went off at 3.45am and I went through the ritual of dressing from the neat pile of racing gear I had laid out the night before, taped my ankles and prepared my hydration pack with the mandatory gear, water bladder and enough food to feed a third world country.

It was a very dark 50-minute drive out to Seddonville, down a narrow dirt road that ended at a small enclosure nestled beside the Mokihinui River was where our adventure was about to start. I was kindly reminded by race director Phil at the briefing the night before that ultras bring together a unique and special type of person.

There is less than one per cent of the world’s total population that even consider attempting something as ambitious as an event such as this and I felt privileged and very happy to be one of them.

I also failed to study the course map in detail and realised once we were at Seddonville instead of Lyell the 30kms of ascending was now at the back end of the 85kms instead of at the beginning.

Once check-in was completed all the runners made their way to the start banner and formed a long line up the road in readiness for the quick count down to the start. As always, Nick kissed me, wished me luck, told me there was no shame at pulling out or turning around after the first aid station, then took off up the road a bit so he could film the start.

We were off down the dirt road to the entrance of the Old Ghost Road archway and the official start of the trail.

It is impossible to describe the surrounds of the first hour because it was pitch black, but you knew you were hugging the side of the river as you ran along the gorge listening to the raging waters below. The number of swing bridges and wooden boardwalks were limited to two persons so on several occasions you were held up waiting to cross them.

The first aid station was 17.5kms away at Specimen Point with quite a tight cut off time and I was concerned I was not going to make it in time.

We were deep in a rain forest with low fog sitting below the mountain tops as dawn broke and we could see the Mokihinui River below us.

As I ran along the rocky single trail with just a tiny bit of hesitation there were enough runners still around me to gauge my footing placement although my ankles didn’t seem to be co-operating and I was a little unsteady.

Knowing we weren’t too far out from the first hut at Specimen Point gave me a short burst of energy. The cut off time was 2hrs 45mins and when I went through in a time of 2hrs 10mins it didn’t feel as comfortable a gap as I would have liked going into the next long section. With how I was feeling I was quite happy to have completed the first 17.5kms.

I filled my water bladder knowing it was another 25kms to Stern Valley hut where my drop bag full of goodies awaited me.

The cut off time was 1pm which gave me well over 4.5 hours to complete but I was struggling with both energy levels and breathing, and I knew that I would get slower and slower.

I also knew we were in for lots of undulating terrain because till now it had all been very runnable with a bit of elevation gain thrown in. For what was meant to be the flattest section of the course, I was surprised when I checked that we have done over 1500 metres of climbing.

The first few swing bridges forced all runners to stop and adhere to the load capacity. It gave me time to rest, breathe and smell the sweet scent of the rain forest before I bounced my way along the swing bridges like a kid on a trampoline.

The next 12kms was very similar terrain criss-crossing over the river then steadily climbing to our next vantage point looking back over the mountain range. As I hit 22km I felt completely done, lethargic and unable to focus with a runny nose and constant cough and those dark thoughts crept in. As I clocked over 30kms in 3hrs 53mins, I had subconsciously made the decision to continue forward.

I was encouraged to see the 50km marker as it meant I had now completed 35kms in a time of 4hrs 49mins and were we about seven kilometres away from Stern Valley Hut. I struggled with the incline, but with the encouragement of a fellow runner that sat behind me, we emerged at what was called the Hanging Judge.

We were not done with the climbing as we entered back under the protection of the forest canopy continuing to zig zag up to Solemn Saddle. The body was starting to reject fuel and I knew I needed to find a safe place for a toilet stop before I began my descent down into Earnest Valley.

The sun was warm now and in Earnest Valley there were no trees for protection. My coughing had gotten worse and I was re-assessing my total time for the event. Stern Hut was at the end of the valley and in a time of 5hrs 51mins I had made it to the halfway point.

Earlier that morning the helicopter had transported all the drop bags for the runners to this location and as I approached one of the volunteers was standing there holding my drop bag for me. I took a seat and allowed myself to sit for five minutes.

I had easily made the cut off time for this checkpoint as it was only 11:51am – over an hour to spare. Next aid station was a 4.30pm cut-off and only 13kms away. That told me my legs were in for a world of pain where would be continuously going up. I also knew that in this section were the infamous 302 skyline steps.

Not too far out from Stern Hut we crossed Stern Creek over a couple of swing bridges. I had managed to complete about 48kms and my mind started to wander as my breathing became more erratic.

The climbing was not over yet as we still had about 5kms to reach Ghost Lake Hut.

My mindset had changed dramatically over the course of the last 30kms and it had everything to do with the scenery. I had to remember it was not just about that final destination but the journey I was going to take to get there, and I knew the best was yet to come. I had seen so many amazing images of the Lyell Saddle, which was what convinced me to try this event. I wanted to be the one in the photo on that ridge line, but it would be another tough eight kilometres that stood between me and Heaven’s Door.

On the way up I passed the 30km marker and took the time to look back across the mountain range. Then the ground flattened out and I hit boardwalks as it took us past Ghost Lake and a trail up to the hut.

It was going to be roughly 13kms to Lyell Hut, so I filled up my water bladder, grabbed some chips and a couple of lollies and headed off on the last three kilometres of climbing to the highest point of the run. I had now been moving for 8hrs and 50mins and had completed a staggering 55kms. Looking back at 5am this morning it was unfathomable we could run this in a day.

Here comes even more raw emotion because what was daunting for many others who knew what was ahead was pure ecstacy for me as the tree line disappeared and the alpine mountains of granite and tussock grass was all I could see. Another runner was kind enough to stop and take a photo of me at the Tombstone.

We followed the Saddle before passing an emergency hut just before the start of our 24km descent to the finish line. We had been sitting at over 1200 metres for a good 15kms and my breathing had turned into weezing along this section of the course.

Thank goodness for these views as a distraction.

Even if you tried, there was no way you could convince me that this wasn’t the most incredible place in the world right at this point in time. It really did feel like we were close to the Gods and Heavens Door proved it.

At 1340 metres above sea level this was the highest point of the course. It was all downhill from here, but I was certainly over the loose granite rocks under the feet shifting with every step you took.

It did not take long before I had descended back below the tree canopy of the rain forest and the single track had once again returned to soft soil, tree roots, fern leaves and the tweating of the little robins flying around your feet.

I had been reduced to walking as my right thigh/hip was niggling me, my left hammy was sore and breathing wasn’t getting any easier. Lyell Hut was only another three kilometres away where I could fill up with one last water stop before the final 18kms to the finish line.

As the Garmin clocked 10 hours I was pretty sure I had about 19kms remaining – still on track for a sub 13 hour finish. I was now measuring my distance by the hour along with five kilometre increments. I was through the last aid station at Lyell Hut in 10hrs 21mins and had completed 67kms.

I was elated to get into single digits in a time of 11hrs 28mins as I passed the 10km marker. I had re-estimated a 12hr 45mins finish based on my current time.

Thoughts of contemplation were now running around in my head, this event had been quite a challenging run for me, being sick has not helped and with five ultras in five months, it may have been a bit ambitious for me to tackle it without properly resting the body – the cumulation of training and races was starting to take its toll on the body.

To my dismay the four kilometre marker was missing and soon after another runner Keith came up behind me. I stopped to move over for him to pass but he was content to sit behind me and chat as we adopted the walk/run approach for the next three kilometres. Truth be told there was less walking and pretty much all running – the company was just what I needed as I led Keith across that final swing bridge and up a short flight of stairs before running across the finish line in an official time of 12:44:57.

The medal was placed around my neck and Nick was there to greet me with a big hug. Would I do it again? It was too early to ask me as I was not in the right frame of mind to answer it without being influenced by how I was feeling.

But maybe, just maybe next year I should come back and see how I go when I am feeling healthy.

Pictured: Gayle Cowling enjoys the views at the 2019 Old Ghost Ultra. Photographs – Supplied.

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