Race report: Auckland ITU World Cup race

THIS RACE WAS AWESOME !!!!


I have to admit that I was pretty nervous going into this race as it was the first of 2 qualifying races for the 2012 ITU World Age Group Championships to be held in Auckland next October. This race doubled as a warm up event and a qualifying event so huge amounts of triathletes came out of the wood work to race this race.

As far as organisation went, I was very impressed with it BUT That said, this is the first MAJOR event that I have been to so I really have nothing to compare it to.

Canterbury Tri club about to ride the bike course

We flew up on the Friday morning, I put my bike together and relaxed the rest of the day. The Canterbury Tri Club members (about 15 of us) met early on the Saturday morning to ride the course and this was a really good thing to do. Took it easy for the rest of the day and the race was on Sunday morning.

Great idea to stay in a hotel with a lap pool and a hot tub!!!!

Race report.

750m swim / 20km bike / 5km run – Sprint distance around the Auckland waterfront – Stunning course and the course they will be using for the 2012 World Champs. Check out www.triauckland.co.nz for the course details and pictures.

My bike, the red Avanti

We racked the bikes on Saturday afternoon and our start wave was 9.17am the next morning – wave number 18 and the second wave of the Sprint distance. The swim was in Auckland Harbour and the day dawned as a stunner. 18 degrees and a bit of wind BUT the wind got a bit stronger as the day went on.

heading off towards the swim start

There was 30 in my age group and 106 in my wave start – my goal was to come out of the water top 10. I lined up on the far end of the pontoon to make sure that I had clear water so I could set into my stroke and then put the power on as I got more comfortable. This proved to be a great decision as I had clear water all the way to the first buoy and at that stage was in the front third of the field. I passed a few more on the second leg and rounded the next buoy to head for home in the top 10.
Put on a bit of power and exited the water 4th in my Age Group and in the top 10 in the wave of over 100.

That's me - the one on the far left of the pontoon

Swim course

750m swim – 11.49


Had a really good transition from Swim to bike as my bike was in a very good position in the racks.

Bike transition

Started out into the bike leg feeling good right up until I hit the first hill about 2 km in. I was still puffing after my swim effort and the legs weren’t quite there yet so I struggled with that first hill. I came right after a few more km’s and was reasonably happy with my bike leg – one thing that I really took away from this is that I need to do more hill work. The bike was an “out and back” type and we had a nice tail wind out but a head wind all the way home.


20km bike – 42.40

Been doing a bit of work on my transitions and this showed with my bike to run T2 – I was in and out super fast. Very happy.

The run was always going to be difficult as I had not put in the training needed to be able to run fast. I have been seeing a physio and an osteopath for the last few months to try and get my knee right – I refuse to lay blame on the fact that I have a bad knee, the reality is that I didn’t do enough strength work on this and I have this to work on now. Considering that I haven’t been doing much running of late, I thought that I had a good run.

Finishing chute - Done !!

5km run – 27.27


Total time – 1.24.48

21st out of 30 in my age group – the top 10 qualified and there is another 10 spots up for grabs in February.


One point to note is that our age group (45-49) was a very strong group. The winner was an ex New Zealand swimmer and all around sports person. His time was 1.03.45, not too far off the elites finish times.

The winner of the 45-49 Age Group World Championship in Beijing a few months ago was 1.07.47, won by Australian Mick Maroney.

Auckland ITU World Cup Age Group race

Race report to come soon but here is a photo of me running down the finish line chute !!!!

Season 2011 / 2012

I start my 2011/2012 Tri season this weekend at Lake Hood, Ashburton Sprint race


Back in May I entered this race Auckland Tri - it’s come around so quickly I can’t believe this race is in less than 3 weeks time.

I’m treating this weekend as a “training” race where I can try a race pace swim, T1, bike. T2 and a short run off the bike to see how I feel. I’ve been seeing a couple of amazing people who have been so helpful and all with the single aim of getting me to the start line in the best possible condition. I do not want to use my bad knee as an excuse but I do need to be cautious.


Thank you Sarah, Julee and Sonia – you are all AWESOME !!!! – this weekend will give me an indication of where I am, how I am placed and where I need to improve.

In 3 weeks time I have to be ready to step up and race the race of my life if I want to achieve my goal of qualifying for the 2012 ITU World Triathlon Championships in my age group. It started months ago but Sunday will be my first real test – I’ll let you know how I go next week.

Rugby World Cup 2011

I approach this weekend with trepidation – not really sure why but suffice to say, I was not expecting life to be like it is when the announcement was made 6 years ago for New Zealand to host the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

I remember watching the announcement draw live on TV back in 2005 and I remember jumping up and punching the air when Syd Miller, then IRB Chairman, read out those now famous words – “the host nation for Rugby World Cup 2011 is ………….. New Zealand"

And now, here we are 48 hours out from the Grand Final game between New Zealand and France. Pretty much everyone picked us to be there, almost no one picked France to be there (except my French Canadian wife) and I feel torn on so many levels.

So much has happened since that announcement, so much has happened here in Christchurch. The country is in party mode yet I feel like I’ve been given the invitation, told how great the party will be, bought the outfit and at the 11th hour, had my invitation so cruelly revoked.

I know, these feelings makes no sense at all.

While the rest of the country is partying, we are waiting.

While the rest of the country is partying, we are hoping.


But we will be partying this Sunday night and we will feel good when Richie McCaw lifts the William Webb Ellis trophy aloft – this will be a victory for the All Blacks, for every New Zealander but also for the folks of Canterbury.

After that, we will go back to waiting and hoping while the rest of New Zealand carries on.

Uh oh

Kinda freaking out (just a little bit)

The start list for the Auckland Triathlon next month have just been released, 199 entrants in the Sprint race, 29 starters in my age group and I did a silly thing and checked on the pedigree of my fellow age group participants and WOW, there are some pretty good triathletes amongst them.

This race is the first of 2 qualifying races for the ITU World Age Group Championships in Auckland in 2012.

A few weeks ago I went to the Canterbury Tri Club awards and dinner ( see previous post and I won Novice of the Year, stoked!! ) where Hamish Carter made a small speech and he made one particular comment that I will now share and more so for me – YOU can only control what YOU do and not what anyone else does, focus on this only and race your own race.

That’s why I’m only freaking just a little bit - this is a good thing though!

Old Photos

Had a shit day last week so decided to take a few hours off to do a few things and while at home I started looking through some old photos.

Have to say that memories started flowing back just like it was yesterday. The first open water swimming trophy, my first surfboard, some surfing photos from when we were a lot younger (over 25 years ago), a surf trip to Mexico, another surf trip to Fiji etc, etc – so many fun times.

So, in the interest of history (and for Julie, who loves photos) here are some old photos – enjoy!!

Andy and I - winners Brass Monkey Trophy, Mid winter ocean swim race 1984

 


My very first Board, mid 1980's




Me surfing a bay called Curio Bay, mid 80's

Very young at Oreti Beach, mid 80's



I took this picture while having a "drink and food" break in the boat - an awesome day surfing at Cloudbreak, Fiji. late 1990's



The lads at Seashell Cove Resort, Fiji late 1990's

Me after a big session coming back in the boat from the reefs

Fiji

Surf Camp, Baja Mexico late 1990's

Shipwreck, Baja Mexico

Sad to leave the surf camp

9/11

My thoughts and prayers go to all those who have been affected by the events of what happened 10 years ago today.

I was on a plane 10 years and 1 day ago, on my way to Canada.
I transited through Los Angeles on the 10th of September 2001.

September 10th was my dad’s birthday and I had planned this date to ask Sonia to marry me.

I did this on the evening of the 10th when I arrived in Cranbrook, BC.

She said “Yes”

As you can imagine, we were very happy.

I was half a world away from New Zealand and she was a long way from her hometown of Montreal, but we were together and incredibly happy – that changed less than 12 hours later when the world we know, changed forever.

Such a historical event, I’m sure everyone can remember exactly where they were at that exact moment in time. When they heard about or watched the events unfold.

I got out of bed early and turned on the TV – my body was on New Zealand time and I was wide awake – I was flicking around the channels when I came across what I thought was a movie but no, it was a live news feed from New York. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing and I called out for Sonia to come and see this. We sat there, eyes fixed to the screen with looks of disbelief on our faces. We watched as the second plane hit the World Trade Center and just felt sick.

We, like many millions of people around the world, felt so helpless.

What dawned as the happiest day of our life, quickly turned into one of the most sombre days that will remain with us forever.

We sat together in each other’s arms alone, miles from home, miles from family and friends but together

Kia Kaha New York

Absolute Legend

It's not every day that you get the opportunity to meet and chat with an absolute legend of the sport - what would you ask?

Hamish Carter and me

I've been interested in triathlon for a long time BUT it's only been the last 2 years (this will be my second season) that I have actually been competing - I love it, it's great fun.

I joined the Canterbury Triathlon Club because I really didn't know much about it - I came from a swimming background and have never been a runner but I was keen as anything.

On Saturday night I went to the annual Canterbury Tri Club dinner and awards, I've met so many great people through tri and it was a fantastic evening out (I went last year as well but only knew 2 people)
I got the biggest surprise when I was awarded with "Novice of the Year" - considering I didn't even know that I had been nominated. I'm 45 years old and not too old to be a novice - very cool indeed!!!

The guest at this year’s awards was a true legend in the sport of Triathlon - Hamish Carter, Gold medallist in the triathlon at the 2004 Olympics in Athens. He gave a wonderful speech and we all had an opportunity for a Q and A session which was very entertaining and then after the dinner and awards, we all got a chance to chat with him - what an amazing guy and very giving of his time.

He told us of his disappointment in the Olympics in Sydney 4 years prior to Athens where his full intention was to win the Gold medal - in his own words, he had a "shocker" race that day BUT it made him come back stronger and more prepared for Athens.

I went to the pool the next morning and “smashed out” 2 km’s at pace – felling really good about things after the pep talk from a champion.

Definition of Irony

Yesterday was my birthday and we took Friday off so I could drive my wife up to the ski field to "play with the snow" (she's Canadian and misses it)

Sonia up Mt Hutt on Friday

So what happens last night - it starts to snow down to sea level, 18 hours later and its still snowing and we can't get to work.

Classic Irony huh?

Our driveway Monday morning

What else to do except get my skis on?

Facebook

This is something that I thought was a waste of time and effort – and what would a 45 year old want with this sort of thing??

I have a young person who works for me, she is 22 years old and she is probably one of the nicest “Generation Y” people I know.

Anyway, off the point of the post – she said to me on many occasions that I should try this Facebook thing as it was a heap of fun and she said that she’d be my “friend” – I caved and joined the on-line community. I have not looked back.

I am not one of these people that accepts friend requests from people that I do not actually know just to try and have many “friends” – the “friends” I have on Facebook are actually “my friends” – some I have not seen in a number of years, some live on the other side of the world and some live next door to me. I even have a page for our business with many people “liking” our business.

I have an old flat mate who is now married, with a new baby living in Vancouver. I have a friend who is living and playing music in New York. I have a friend I met while on tour in Norway last year. I have a friend who lives in Wellington who I used to surf with 25 years ago. I have a friend who is lives in Colorado who I used to work with when I lived in Queenstown. I have friends who live on the Gold Coast in Australia and I will be catching up with them next month for a few beers and a good old chin-wag. I have friends who live in the same city and we share an interest in sport. I have more friends with a personal tale to tell, whose company I very much enjoy.

My sister is my friend.

My wife is my friend.

I am indeed blessed with many friends both in real life and on Facebook.
Yes, I am a fan and I enjoy keeping in touch with my friends.

Travel

I love planning trips and wouldn’t you know it, this is what I do for a living. They say – “do something you love and never work another day in your life”

Being in the travel industry, you’re always thinking about your next trip and look at the best options to suit. We all know that time is precious and this goes for our own leisure time as well.

Everyone thinks they want the cheapest price where in reality, they want the best deal based on what they want to achieve out of their own leisure time – this I get and understand completely. I am the same way and assume that so is everyone else.
So earlier this year (if you’ve been following my blog) I took a small group to Rarotonga for the Rarotonga International Triathlon – it was awesome.

The next trip we have planned is a business trip next month to the Gold Coast in Australia (also known as Surfers Paradise) SO as you can imagine, I’ll be banking some quality surf time. I only surf in the summer at home now, the cold water just does a number on me so this is just what I do now BUT that’s not to say that I can’t take a trip overseas in winter and get my fill of waves. The plan on this trip is 2 days of meetings stuck in a conference room and the rest of the time, hopefully a different type of room (a green room, one hopes) we are going across 2 days before and staying for 2 days after the meetings so there’s 8 sessions at least if the conditions permit and I’ll plan to hit it early before the meetings on the Thursday and Friday.

I have had many years of travelling with boards and am quite used to it but on this occasion I’m planning on renting a board. I’ve been checking out rentals etc and have found a great option of a company who will drop off and collect the board to the hotel I am staying at and the price is very reasonable. I’ll post the details etc after this trip if all goes well and give them the kudos but until I experience it, I’ll keep it on the “down low”

I also have another business trip later in the year but you could also call this a bit of a small holiday – we are going on a cruise from Sydney to Melbourne. It’s a 2 night cruise on Princess Cruise Line. I’m taking the wife as this will be a very nice “introduction” to cruising. Our office has received an invitation to attend this on the basis that we are a very good supporter of this product and we have achieved the status of an “Emerald Agency” with Princess Cruises. There will be a few meetings and I would suggest that more than a couple of drinks and functions to attend. Should be a hoot and it’ll be nice to get out of dodge for a few days. We’ve added on a night in Melbourne after the cruise as Melbourne has awesome shopping. With Christchurch basically having no CBD (Central Business District) we have to get the shopping fix somehow?

I’m a firm believer that you have to have something to look forward to and there is no better thing than travel. Travel is fun, it broadens the mind and it can make you either crazier or saner than you are right now – this is a good thing, right?

Bugger !!!

More earthquakes this week.

On Monday we had a 5.5 and then 80 minutes later a 6.3 - I do not mind saying that I was scared shitless this time.

At last count we have had 6851 earthquakes since last September. I was in the office with my staff when the 6.3 hit on the 22nd of Feb and it was very scary BUT this 6.3 a couple of days ago was just crazy.

I was in the car with my wife on our way home, stopped at traffic lights when it hit and it's very difficult to describe but I gripped the steering wheel and just about put my foot through the floor stepping on the brake pedal so hard. It was like 20 big blokes were on either side of the car rocking it back and forth, I kid you not.

We watched as scaffolding fell to the ground from a shopping mall that was being repaired from the last quake in Feb. The cars around us were all over the place too - we even thought that the street lamp post was going to fall over - this may sound unbelievable but the lamp post moved like it was made of fibreglass swaying left to right – we thought the tip of it would hit the top of a vehicle, that’s how much it was moving. CRAZY !

We were strong and resolute after the February one but not anymore. I have had one quake too many now.

What to do now?

It's done people - I've entered the race

ITU Triathlon World Cup 2011 and Age Group Race


Sunday, 20 November 2011 7:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. (New Zealand Time)

Auckland

Queens Wharf, Auckland CBD

Auckland

New Zealand


Your registration is complete.

Thank you for your entry to the 2011 ITU Triathlon World Cup Age Group Race in Auckland!

We will keep you updated with all developments and activties around the event and look forward to welcoming you to the start line on 20 November.


Thanks again

The team at TRI Auckland

Race Report - Rarotonga International Triathlon

Rarotonga International Triathlon 7th May 2011

1.5km swim / 41km bike / 10km run

I took a small group of 10 people with me for this year’s event with 7 competing and it was a wonderful group of awesome people – we were all at various levels of ability but everyone had the same goal – to finish and we all achieved this goal.

the group, 7 competitors and 3 supporters

What an amazing event in a spectacular destination – Rarotonga, set in the idyllic South Pacific, an island set inside a tropical reef abound with sea life.

Boiler swim (boiler in the distance)

This event was a festival of events over the week starting on the Thursday evening with The Boiler Swim, an 800m swim out through a reef passage and around the “old boiler” of a steam ship wreck and back to the beach.

The swim started about 5.30pm out the front of Trader Jacks Bar and Restaurant so there was quite a big crowd in attendance and I’m sure half of them were wondering what the hell was going on when we all turned up to swim from the beach right in front of the bar.

I had an awesome swim finishing in 7th place overall, 5th male out of a field of over 60 and I won a prize (a very nice tee shirt and a bottle of wine) – my time was 12min 03sec

Boiler swim race start

After the race it was back to the Edgewater Resort (where we all stayed and where most of the events were held) for a pre-race Pasta Party – a fun event of carb loading and a couple of beers, pretty relaxed I can assure you!!

Friday was a rest day but we all went out to Muri beach to have a swim on the swim course – it was quite windy but so nice to swim in the lagoon “sans” wetsuit as the water was so warm. Not much happened for the rest of the day.

Saturday dawned and wouldn’t you know it – wind!!! BUT this was to be a good thing. Most of the locals were hoping for hot conditions as this is what favours them as this is how they train – we even got a really good rain shower during the ride.

We had a ride organised for us to get us and the bikes to the race start about 10km away so we arrived at the venue early which was nice, we all just got ourselves organised in transition. I don’t train with food so I didn’t want to try this in a race scenario BUT I did load up on liquids. They were expecting it to get hot but thankfully, it didn’t.


an hour and a half to race start

Once my transition was all sorted it was off to get numbered and start to get my head in the right space. This was to be my first ever Olympic distance event and I had never even run a 10k before so I was a little nervous going in. I had a very realistic expectation of what I wanted to achieve – my first goal was that I wanted to finish, I knew that I could swim 1500m and ride 41km and I had run 5k events so even if I walked, I wanted to finish and my second goal was to finish in under 3 hours.

I had worked out in my head that the swim would take me half an hour, the bike should take me an hour and a half and the run should take me about an hour – I’ll put my results with splits at the end of this report.

Everyone headed out for a warm up swim but this was more about seeing how much current was flowing through the lagoon – the event was timed to go at full tide to reduce the drag BUT they didn’t count on the wind. There was a very strong current but it was the same for everyone and I knew how comfortable and confident I am in the ocean so I didn’t let it concern me at all. I was thinking that this would sort out the pool swimmers as I had a chuckle to myself.

pre race start

Race briefing over and after a short prayer (they are very religious in the Cook Islands) we were off. I stuck close to the locals on the right side of the course on leg one as I thought they would be the ones that knew the conditions – this proved to be a mistake on the first leg, they were thinking that the current would help “push” them but it was the opposite and the first leg of 590m was just a hard out slog into waves and wind and the frontrunners all came together around the first buoy. The second leg was going with the current so it was all good to stretch out and get a good gain and managed to pass a few people and around the third buoy I was in the lead group. The final leg was the longest at 690m and it was just like a drag strip with everyone going for it. I exited the water in 7th place so was very happy with that.

pre race prayer

Time check: 1500m in 26.08 in tough conditions, 7th place after the swim











T1 was a blur – running up from the beach there was so many people forming a chute all the way to transition. It was awesome to hear everyone screaming and saying “well done, going great” – got into transition and it was so nice not to have to take off a wetsuit. Super quick T1, on with the helmet and shoes and away.

fast transition T1

and off on the bike course

The bike section was a full loop of the island (31km) and a small loop of the airport and main town (10km) – the first 15-20km of the bike was going along great, right up until the point that one of my hands slipped off my tri bars and my seat “twisted” so I needed to stop and fix it. Quite a few people passed me while I was doing this but shit happens right?

We also had a really good shower of rain – it cooled me down nicely but made for tricky riding conditions.

The rest of the bike was good but the last 5km I started getting a really sore lower back, I had to sit up plenty of times to stretch – the roads were very, very rough so that’s what I’m putting it down to but it could have been the fact that I had to pull my bike to bits and put back together so it may not have been set up correctly.

All in all, I was very happy with my bike.

Time check: 41km in 1.28.19, 38th place in the bike.

T2 was also pretty much a blur – I left the bike shoes clipped in so as soon as I racked my bike it was off with the helmet, on with my visor and running shoes and away – brilliant transition.

T2 - off on to the run course

The run was always going to be my “issue” but I just took it easy and felt pretty comfortable for the first 5km, in fact, one of our supporters did my km splits for the first 5km and I was running 5 minute k’s for the first 5km – stoked!!! BUT I really struggled for the last 5km – I just had a few words with myself and said, “one foot in front of the other, simple stuff, you can do this” – they had the kilometres painted on the road and I’m pleased to say that I only walked through the aid stations to take on water and electrolytes and a big wet sponge – they were great. When I got to the 8km mark I knew I could do this so I gritted my teeth and kept plodding along. I checked my watch and thought that I’d go close to my goal of around 3 hours so I just kept going and tried to lift the pace BUT I had nothing left in the tank so I just said to myself, just keep going at the pace you are now and we’ll see what the result is.

about 4km to go

I turned off the main road and into the driveway to the park where the finish line was about 500m away and was met but my screaming wife saying “GO, GO, GO – you’re under 3 hours – you can do this” so I gave it one last kick and I could see the finish chute and better yet, I could see the clock above the finish line so I pumped the arms one last time and crossed the line – Rarotonga International Triathlon 2011 – DONE !

Time check: 10km in 1.05.08, 36th place in the run.

Oh yeah - how good is that feeling!!

Official results:

Steve Marshall – 2.59.35
32nd overall out of over 100 competitors
10th in my age group out of 15 ( 40-49years – incidentally, 1st, 2nd, 9th, 10th and 11th place overall were all in this age group )
1500m Swim split – 26.08
41km Bike split – 1.28.19
10km Run split – 1.05.08
92 individual competitors (43 female and 49 male )
20 teams

Last comment:
What an amazing place for a race, it was a very well run event and we had plenty of down time to enjoy the hospitality that this South Pacific Island had to offer – we’ll be back next year for sure!!

**BHAG**

Big Hairy Audacious Goal – is a term that we have used in business and in our personal lives and I am about to reveal one of these to you now.

I am in training and have been for a few months and the other day I booked tickets to Auckland for a "qualification" race in November. I’ve told a couple of people in confidence but I am now putting it out there so to speak.

My goal for 2011 is to qualify for the 2012 World Age Group Sprint Triathlon Championships - this is what I’m training for.

I have it written on my wall in my garage where my weights are, I have it written on my Road ID. I have a race in a few weeks in Rarotonga and this is an Olympic distance triathlon race and it will also be the longest race that I have done. I really have no idea how long this will take me but I’m thinking around the 3 hour to 3.15 mark – I’ll keep you posted.

It’s been so frustrating in the last few months with not being able to surf as the ocean has been out of bounds due to raw sewage and they think that it could be like this for a number of months. I have a trip planned to Australia in June so will take my board on that one and get some “ocean time” in between “meeting time”

Earthquake update: the CBD is stuffed, they have just earmarked another 96 buildings to demolish, the roads around our suburb are still buggered, so much so that we’ve bought a 4WD vehicle – great for inner city driving.

I was sent this list the other day and I thought it was so funny, so what better thing to do than share this with the group.

It’s called – You know you’re from Christchurch when?


• Geonet / Christchurch QuakeMap is your homepage

• The rest of the country offers you a place to stay

• “Munted” and “buggered” are official technical terms

• You go 'pfffff' when Wellington has a 4.5 earthquake that's 40km deep

• You see a nice park in another city and think it would make a good evacuation point

• You sleep in one suburb, shower in another and collect water from yet another

• When you drive on the right side of the road and no one thinks it's wrong

• You are happy two Policemen came for a visit

• When your bike becomes your best friend

• You think it's fine for a soldier to be stationed at the end of your street

• You see armoured vehicles driving down the road

• It’s normal to greet people with “do you need a shower?”

• A bucket of sh*t is no longer that old car you drive

• Instead of rushing to the clothes line to get clothes in when it rains, you put dirty washing on the line in the hope that it will rain enough to clean them

• Going to Wellington to escape earthquakes makes sense

• Your doctor recommends having a few stiff drinks before bed to help you sleep

• You have tied the pantry, liquor cabinet and all the cupboard doors closed and it's not to keep kids out

• You prefer to sit under the table instead of at it

• You think electronics that have "shock proof" should say to which earthquake magnitude

• You know and actually understand the terms and conditions of your House and Contents insurance policies

• You can see irony in claims about houses made of “permanent materials”

• Your en-suite has a vege garden, dog kennel and grass

• Your teenagers are only too happy to sleep in the same room as their parents

• You stop using the term “built like a brick sh*t house”

• Dressing up to "head into town" means putting on a hi-viz vest, hard hat and boots

• Discussing toilet habits with total strangers is an everyday norm

• Wee boys don't get excited when they see (another) digger or a dozer - but all the adults in the street cheer wildly

• You know what that extra gear lever on your 4X4 is for

• Metservice includes a graph for dust

• You have dust mask tan lines

• You can use the term "liquefaction" in everyday casual conversation, even your 3-year old can

• When a massive group of students appears in your street, you feel overwhelmed with gratitude instead calling the Police. What’s more, the students leave the street in better condition than when they arrived

• The answer to where anything is ... it’s on the floor

• You smile at strangers and greet people like you’re one big family

ABC's of Travel/Surf Guy

A welcome relief from the earthquake posts - here's a light hearted look at me.

Enjoy

A. Age: 44, will be 45 in July but have had heaps of comments since I have lost a bit of weight that I look like I’m early 30’s (which I like!!)


B. Bed size: Super King – love it but I don’t seem to get much between my wife and the dogs, I get only a small section.

C. Chore you dislike: dusting, hate it, always have, always will

D. Dogs: Papillion’s – we have 2, Oscar (black and white) and Rusty (red and white) – they rule our roost

E. Essential start to your day: sugar free V (don’t do hot drinks)

F. Favourite colour: yellow, my car, tee shirts, road ID – if only I could get a yellow bike I’d be set!!

G. Gold or silver: White gold.

H. Height: 6 foot

I. Instruments you play(ed): never have – you might say that I’m “musically challenged”

J. Job title: Company Director – we own a travel agency

K. Kids: never will, not interested, don’t like them

L. Live: Christchurch, New Zealand

M. Mom’s name: Geraldine

N. Nicknames: don’t have one but in the 80’s when you could only put a 3 letter name on space invaders when you got the high score – I’d put “Bob”

O. Overnight hospital stays: Yes. Last one was last year, knee surgery

P. Pet peeves: People who are late (I’m never late) and people who moan about stuff – either shut the f&*%k up or change it – easy?

Q. Quote from a movie: “Goose, it’s time to buzz the tower” – Top Gun

R. Righty or lefty: Righty

S. Siblings: I have a brother 2 years younger than me and a sister 2 years younger than him – sister has 2 kids.

T. Time you wake up: 6.00am weekends as well (we have small puppies) – I am a morning person

U. Underwear: McPherson Men briefs (Elle McPherson)

V. Vegetables you don’t like: sprouts and broccoli

W. What makes you run late: nothing, I always leave plenty of “wiggle” room.

X. X-rays you’ve had: both knees, ankle, back, shoulder, hands, wrists and hip – yeah, pretty much all of me – I had a head on smash on a motorbike (with a car) when I was 18

Y. Yummy food you make: I cook a mean BBQ

Z. Zoo animal favourites: love the tigers

Update

Hi all,

Time for a short update – what a couple of weeks huh?

My leg is covered in bruises from the accident I had last week – (see previous post about the shit-head that drove into me and knocked me off my bike) but getting better by the day.

Pleased to report that Sonia and I are fine (or as fine as we can be given the recent events) but as you can imagine, we are both incredibly tired, stressed and a bit frustrated with the position we are in. I guess these feelings are all natural in these times we are now living.

We have power and running water BUT the city are still advising us to boil all water so as you can imagine, we are all having a great time. The biggest issue for us right now is sewerage – it’s all busted and not working. Now I don’t mind camping one bit but 2 weeks of crapping in the back yard in a hole dug in the back garden is getting pretty old!!

We do have a porta-loo at the end of our street but it seems so far away??

We went to a meeting by city officials yesterday – the mayor, representatives of the fire service, police, health service, social services and a few others were all in attendance to give our local area an update on what we can expect in our immediate future in our local area. About 500 people turned up to the local park to hear what was said and to be honest, not a lot of new info was passed on to us. The main thing we took out of this meeting was that the waste wasn’t likely to be fixed very soon – in fact, they think they are talking somewhere in the vicinity of 6 months.

Hands up anyone who has camped for 6 months?? NOT ME
I shouldn’t complain too much as we still have our house and our puppies are fine (our street is buggered though) but I do feel incredibly stressed and I “pity the fool” (see I can still use a funny reference to the A Team) that rubs me the wrong way because they might just end up wearing all the bent up stress and rage that I feel is currently just simmering under my rather cool exterior. Since the earthquake (22FEB), we have had heaps of decent aftershocks so there are plenty of people just wandering around with a kind of blank look on their faces, everyone looks stressed and tired – here’s a statistic for you, between the Tuesday (day of the quake) and the Friday, 38,000 people flew out of Christchurch. Up until yesterday, they predict that this figure is now close to 60,000 people have left town – CRAZY HUH!!!!

I am trying to stay as strong as I can but this is proving to be quite a challenge – I have responsibilities and these are to my wife and puppies and our house, we also have a business that employs 5 people so I am also responsible for these people and their families – this is tough as there are so many businesses that have ceased to be in Christchurch and there are so many that face a very uncertain future. People will hold onto their cash and this may have a huge impact on our business but we are back up and trading, we are busy which is good and as the city or the CBD is effectively closed for the foreseeable future, we may be ok – time will tell so wish us luck.

Shit

Fuck - as if we don't have enough shit going on - this morning I was hit by a car on the way to work - I was on my mountain bike as the roads are so congested with all the damage from the earthquake.

I am fine, just a little banged up, grazed knee etc - could have been a lot worse.

I'm just very, very frustrated right now!!!!!

All I want is a surf and/or swim.

Earthquake update from Christchurch

Hi guys,

First, thank you to Sis and Jill for your thoughts after you heard about the earthquakes here last Tuesday.

This might be a long one as I have a few photos but I'll start with the story.

Our day normally begins with me dropping the wife (Sonia) off to her to place of work and then on to my workplace, this whole journey takes us about 45 minutes but after the quake the journey in reverse took 4 and a 1/2 hours.

I was sitting at my desk in the office when the quake struck and the office moved about 5 feet back and forth and shook for just over 30 seconds. The official measure was 6.3 - BUT - this one was centred within 10 km from the city centre and only 5 km deep. As of right now, the death toll is 146.

Our back room at work

Back to the office, things were falling off the shelves, brochure shelf units fell over, some light fittings fell from the ceiling and as soon as it stopped shaking,

I made sure that the staff got out and away from the building.carpark before we wen't back in to secure a few things, lock the safe and get the hell out.
There were some pretty good aftershocks as we were all standing in the


I sent the staff home to be with their families and said I'd be in touch (this was Tuesday) and headed to pick up Sonia. She works on the 5th floor of a building and I was very concerned for her safety and all I wanted to do is get to her. I did after a couple of hours as traffic was crazy with everyone getting out of the city. I found her and we just stood there and hugged - it was very emotional.

We then headed home to see what sort of state our house was in and we could not get within 3 blocks of the house. Some roads were impassable and our street was under water.

Just around the corner from us

We had to roll up our pants and wade in. The water was halfway up our driveway and had not reached the house which we were very happy about. We got inside and we had crap everywhere. Stuff had fallen over, all our draws werer open, we have cracks in some of the tiles in the entrance hallway and our puppies were very happy to see us.





This is our street looking right from our driveway

That night I got out in the street and managed to clear the drain and shovelled a heap of the silt away - enough to clear most of the water at the end of the street. All that seemed to follow for the next few days was digging and moving the massive amount of silt from the liqufication that had occured - just crazy scenes!!

We were without water, power, sewage or cell coverage for days, got water on Friday and we got the power back yesterday - still no sewage as yet.

Looking left from our driveway

This is the entrance to our street

This is lookingup our driveway, you can see the water line 

Our digging work

A spring appeared in the middle of our street

Sonia pointing to our street lake

our sleeping arrangments in the longe - close access to the table

So much more to say so will add more later - a very close friend is staying with us for a while as her house is totally wrecked and unliveable. We spent 2 hours this morning getting everything out of the house for her and it is probably due to be demolished in the next few days - so sad. Here is a couple of pictures of the cracks in her house.

Her garage seperating from the neighbours wall

 

her wall - the whole house moved

you can see where the deck and wall has seperated from the house

So sad for her but pleased that we can provide a roof over her head. She is a very special person that would do (and does) anything for anyone, we are just lucky that we can help her out and she will be welcome to stay with us for as long as she needs. This is her second home but it may take a while for the puppies to adjust as they seem to think that this is their house !!!