by Nick Carroll – Owner of the Beach Series
In mid October of this year I decided to join a good friend, Dave Williams, on an adventure that he was using as training for his cause – Sea2Summit7. What ensued was three days of running from Whanganui to the summit of Mt Ruapehu, woven in with some sun, some rain, a white-out blizzard, a collapse on the side of the road, a bit of vomit, a fair few swear words, but an experience and adventure for one of the most worthwhile and essential charities – the Mental Health Foundation.
Firstly, what is Sea2Summit7? This is the brainchild of 30 year old Dave Williams, a Beach Series 7km Coastal Run participant and a good friend from university days. Dave has set out to climb the highest peak in all 7 continents. WOW you may be thinking? But wait there’s more… He’s not only climbing the highest peak in every continent but he has to run a marathon a day from the nearest ocean all the way to the base of the mountain, and then climb it… Some people set goals and then some people set GOALS. What’s even more humbling is that this is all to help raise awareness and funds for the Mental Health Foundation; a cause dear to Dave and one that he’s been affected by personally with friends and family suffering, and some losing the battle, with depression.
Dave has conquered four of the seven peaks to date; Koschiuszko in Australia, Elbrus in Russia, Kilimanjaro in Tanzania and Aconcagua in Argentina, and remaining he has Denali in Alaska, Vinson Massif in Antarctica and that little bump in Nepal known as Mt Everest. To try and paint a picture of the scale of Mt Everest, those who’re not too bad with their geography may be thinking ‘Nepal, hmm that’s a landlocked country?..’, yes you’re correct. This adventure will consist of 34 consecutive marathons from Calcutta in India to Kathmandu in Nepal, and then a 3-4 week hike to Everest Base Camp, before even attempting to summit the highest mountain in the world.
So, back to the ‘training’ adventure. We planned to run 126km from Whanganui to the Turoa Ski Field carpark in two and a half days and then summit Mt Ruapehu by the end of the third day. Sounds pretty easy compared to conquering Mt Everest.. It wasn’t..
Two weeks before Dave was to go on this mission he asked if I would like to join him on his first big adventure after having 6 months off after an ankle injury.. I said yes before really giving it any thought or consideration. Ah well, I was going! Two weeks of 7km daily runs later and we were on our way (four of us) to Whanganui in a campervan.
Day ONE – Day one started with a few photos next to the ocean at Whanganui before the three of us started running back towards Ohakune/Mt Ruapehu. Everyone felt good and was running well, and all pretty over-confident that the ease of running would last all three days… Our plan was to run 50kms a day, but broken down into 25km in the morning, a break for 3-4 hours and then 25km in the afternoon – a schedule Dave had used successfully on his previous missions. After the first 25km and the 3ish hours of having something to eat, a stretch, a roll of the legs and an hour’s kip the three of us headed off again in the afternoon for the second 25km. By the end of day one we were all pretty tired and sore, but still feeling pretty confident that we’d all get through this unscathed.
Day TWO – After an extremely deep sleep we all woke to another 50km ahead of us. After some breakfast we gingerly headed out of the camper and back on the road. Now, I’ve run marathons before, but I’ve never run two marathons in two days. Starting on a cold morning after running 50km the previous day is a bit like a 1980 Honda Civic trying to get up a hill with a dodgy clutch that won’t let you get out of first gear. Day two started with a walk, followed by a mix of skipping-shuffling then after a 1km or two we were into a slow jog.
Early on into Day two the confidence had somewhat subsided and we were all battling along, but making good progress – spirits were high you could say. Then, as Dave and I were running behind Caleb we noticed his body shape had changed from straight up and down to what could only be described as an ‘S’. Something was wrong. Caleb was in quite a bit of pain, one shoe had blown out and he was getting whiter and whiter. Halfway through kilometres 50 to 75 he decided to pull the pin, and took the positive that he’d completed his first ever marathon!
Dave and I headed off again on the road to Ohakune, chatting and laughing as we ran. Another 5-10km into the run and the chatting had ceased and we were head down trying to get to the 75km mark. Running behind Dave I all of a sudden noticed his right arm start to flail around – ‘odd I thought..”, but thought he must have been trying to get a bit of O2 into the lungs. But then what came next was similar to seeing the NZ Walker Craig Barrett at the 2006 Commonwealth Games. Anyone remember that? Dave first stumbled, then the knees buckled in unison and finally collapsed in a heap on the ground on the side of State Highway 4. Oh-ooh! I picked him up, arm over my shoulder, both had a good laugh and tried to walk it off. We had a bite to eat in the camper and Dave, saying he was fine, took off again running by himself. All slightly concerned we followed behind Dave, me on foot and the other two driving in the campervan. From a distance we again saw the mysterious right arm start to randomly flail about out the side.. followed by the inevitable collapse in the ditch on the side of the road. Dave’s run was over. As they helped him into bed in the camper I carried on for the remaining 5 or so kilometres before having a welcome break for 4 hours. After the run Dave was informed by his Physio that his ankle injury had altered his running style, causing a limp which resulted in muscle spasms. This then resulted in his legs seizing up to the point he could no longer run, and game over…
The second half of day two consisted of me running by myself while the campervan leap-frogged ahead every 3-5km where they would meet me with welcoming lollies. I made it through the rest of day two unscathed but definitely ready for the home cooked roast we had waiting for us in Ohakune thanks to two good local lads.
Day THREE – Day three started with me being driven back 7km out of Ohakune to where I had finished the previous day. Sigh… I was dropped off in the dark and left to ponder life as the sun rose above my destination, the summit of Mt Ruapehu. I was now very sore, the left knee strapped, the right achilles strapped and full of Panadol, the body wasn’t working.. But with the end in sight, literally, I walked and hobbled on. Getting in to Ohakune (again…) I had eggs ready for me before I tackled the Mountain Road up to the Turoa Ski Field Carpark. I was only walking now, but I was fine with that, the views were amazing, and not being in a car meant they could be better enjoyed. I made it to the carpark after a few hours and traded the tights and running shoes for snow gear, crampons and an ice axe.
Just a mountain to climb and we were done! Both of the boys were back now for the fun part, and they were giving encouragement like never before! We all made it to the top of the 6-seater chair lift (climbing, not on the chair lift I might add) just in time for the weather to turn on us. We were now in a white-out. Only one way to go though, UP! We battled on, following ski tracks from previous skiers and snow boarders. We eventually made it to the top of the mountain, well what I thought was the top, before being pointed out the 50° icy, snowy slope that we had to get up to get to the actual summit. After a bit of humming and harring as to whether falling off the mountain was worth it, we all figured we’d come too far to not give it a go, so up we went on hands and knees, with ice axes dug deep into the snow.
We didn’t slide off the mountain and lived to tell the tail! The final steps to the summit were an incredible experience, like standing on top of the world looking over the shear cliffs, lakes and clouds below. We’d completed the first ever Sea2Summit of Mt Ruapehu!
After a few quick photos in the blizzard, we were off back down following the ridge line. We were now in a full white-out blizzard and following our GPS watches back down the mountain. We popped out of the clouds at the top of the 6-seater chairlift where we graciously accepted a lift halfway down the mountain on the chairlift before walking and sliding the rest of the way to the awaiting campervan, and ice-cold beer!
A humbling adventure and experience that not many would get to experience or achieve. But more importantly it was an insight (albeit smaller on scale) into what my good friend Dave is so passionate about, and sacrificing a large part of his life in supporting a cause he feels so strongly about.
If you’d like to follow Sea2Summit7, as Dave takes on his three remaining overseas adventures, you can join his Facebook community, have a look on his website or, more importantly, help Dave support the Mental Health Foundation by donating a few dollars by clicking below.
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Sea2Summit7 – Dave Williams
Facebook: www.facebook.com/Sea2Summit7
Website: www.sea2summit7.com
Donate Here: www.sea2summit7.com/donate-to-mental-health
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Until next time. Dave has rumoured a new adventure that I just ‘must be part of’ – we will see 😉
cheers
Nick Carroll – Owner of the Beach Series
nick@beachseries.co.nz
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