Butcher turns in top run

Masterton endurance athlete Graeme Butcher was part of the Oxfam Trailwalker New Zealand team which finished a close fifth in the Oxfam Sydney Trailwalk100km event raced in Sydney last Friday.
They clocked in at 13hr 1min, chasing home ACT Mountain Running Association (11hr 59min), Sunhing Cosmo Boys from Hong Kong (12hr 17min), Sydney Striders (12hr 41min) and Steam Sports (12hr 54min).All told 430 teams started and 413 finished.
The event, which required all four team members to complete the course together, started in the Hunter Hills and followed the many bush tracks and Great Northern Walkway through to Ku-ring-gai National Park and back to French's Forest. Teams had to complete the course within 48hrs.
Butcher was joined in the New Zealand squad by Jack Koenen of Auckland, David Keen of Christchurch and Al Cross of Wellington and they had just two days to sort out race strategies and try to get an understanding of a course which most of the Sydney teams had the advantage of knowing well.
Managing the New Zealanders was former world-class endurance runner Sandy Barwick, and also present were five Oxfam staff from this country who were there to learn the processes of a major event in preparation for their own 100km trail walk race, to be held at Taupo in April 2006.Several Sydney teams and at least one Hong Kong team are expected to be part of the entry there.
Butcher described the Sydney course as "very tough" with many twists, turns, hills and rock faces. Teams needed to follow markers placed every 100m to 200m to stay on course, and if a marker was missed it was easy to get lost and be forced to back track??not a happy prospect in such an arduous race.
The New Zealand team started well and followed the ACT side into the first checkpoint.
"We decided they knew the course well so it was easier to follow them rather than try and take the lead at that stage," Butcher said.
By the end of the second stage, however, the New Zealand team were in front, with the ruggedness of the terrain testing all competitors.
So rugged was it, in fact, that one runner from another team broke an ankle within the first few kilometres and Butcher himself rolled both his ankles before the 20km mark and was down to a hobble for a short period, "They were anxious moments, I can tell you," he said. "When you have to finish you don't need that sort of thing."
The start of stage three saw Butcher change shoes to avoid slipping and he was not the only New Zealand runner experiencing difficulties. Koenen had a big cut in his head from running into overhanging rocks.
The NZers reached the 49km mark in over six hours, were one of six teams on race record pace, and within 5mins of each other at the halfway point.
Butcher said the tactics of the New Zealand team at this stage revolved around concentrating on their own performance, and not getting sucked into pushing the pace when they weren't ready to do so.
"We were always aware that we all had to finish, and we had to develop our tactics accordingly," he said.
Having said that, all the New Zealand side went through bad patches and unfortunately, they happened at different times.
Butcher spent about 10km during the middle of the race feeling very uncomfortable, while Keen's rough patch persisted for the last quarter of the event. He vomited severely during the last leg and the team had to nurse him home over the last couple of kilometres.
"When that happened stage time and placing became rather irrelevant, the whole concentration was on helping him (Keen) to the finish," Butcher said. "It was his first 100km race and he showed tremendous courage to make it to the end."
So spent was Keen that he kept vomiting after finishing, and was eventually taken to hospital where he was diagnosed with acute renal failure and was hospitalised for a night.
Butcher said the final 10km also posed additional problems as the sun had gone down, and the runners found it difficult to find the markers pointing the way through the bush and hills. The last 10km took almost two hours to complete.
There was satisfaction in the New Zealand camp at their finishing time and placing, and they were the subject of much attention from the Australian news media who were impressed by their efforts.
Butcher is optimistic their performance will encourage many other New Zealand runners and walkers to try their luck at the Taupo event next year.
"I would love to take a Masterton team there???we have quite a few athletes who could manage it ok with the right preparation," he said.
For Butcher, it will now be a case of hanging up his running shoes for a brief period, before building up for the New Zealand ultra marathon championships in February 2006 ? Taupo being the venue for that event as well.