Today the Scots College cross country team took a trip to Karori park (a local track about 20 minutes away from school) for a 10k, five-man relay. Upon arrival the weather was ominous. The clouds were peeking out from behind the hills like glaciers through a mountain valley. Initially it was cloudy and the track was muddy but, like clockwork, the rain came before the race.
I was the first runner in my five-man team. The crowd was alive and chattering, but not really paying attention to the race. The over 16 (age) category went first, given a one minute head start. As I walked up to the starting line, I was a little nervous and already soaking wet. The crowd was so loud I couldn't even hear the starting call. Having a ten second disadvantage, the run was already starting poorly.
The track went on the inside of a paved path at first, through the main drainage path of the feild to aquire maximum muddyness. As we rounded the first corner about 700m into the race, sveral people wiped out and landed on their stomachs. It sounded a bit like thunder, though only five people slipped.
After another few hundred metres, we crossed a stream and into the sight of the steepest hill I have ever seen in my life. Luckily, we did not have to tackle it head on; we cut across the face of it. The hill was about a 75 degree slope and two people slid down, 20 metres into the brush, having to climb back up the face to avoid disqualification.
After this, we ran up a monotonous alpine trail, about 30 degree incline, hurdling logs and ascending in a serpentine fashion. Then, came the fun part. We galloped down the mountain, reaching top speeds, gaining the momentum we needed to run past the oblivious crowd and to touch the second runner.
The whole ordeal left me very muddy but luckily the rain helped wash me up.
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