“As long as I can remember I’ve always loved to run. I remember at class in primary school, if one of the students was disruptive in the class the teacher would send us all to run around the running track or way across the field. This happened so often that I used to take my special running shorts with me to school in my bag just in case I got a chance to change into them to run. I just enjoyed running and winning. I hated to lose and never lost one cross country the whole time I was at primary school or college. I enjoyed track as well, the 1500m being my favourite.
We always had the annual local Fiordland Shield and Southland Cross Country school cross country in Te Anau. My first year at college when I was 12 years old, I was entered in my age group race and I won. Later in the day I was approached by one of the senior students from the college who asked me if I would be the 6th member of the girls team because they were one member short. I decided to go into this team and ran the race and ended up winning.
The most exciting thing of all is when I got the trophy awarded to me it had my mum’s name engraved on it from when she had won it at 18 years old and her final year of school. That was a special moment for me.
My home life wasn’t great growing up and going for a run got me away from the house, drama, and the stress so it was my time out and it was really an escape. When I went to high school, I got into the school running team. We competed against other schools from Wanaka and Cromwell through our running coach organising events for us outside the normal school events. We also travelled to the national cross country and road running champs several times. Travelling over New Zealand was always fun, and I’d always learn a whole lot from the other runners. Our running team always did well.
Because my family couldn’t afford to send me to the nationals, I had to do a whole lot of fundraising each time we travelled so I would not miss out. It was tough knocking on doors asking for sponsorship, but with the support from our running coach at the time, I made it happen. We did a relay run from Milford Sound out to Te Anau one year. That was a huge day for us all. We all ran together through the Homer Tunnel, our support van following behind with it’s lights on full beam so we could see.
At school I got interested in triathlons. I really enjoyed the sport, but it wasn’t too common within the schools then, which was tough, so that faded away sadly. At the age of 15 I entered the Luxmore Grunt coming in as the first local and winning a crock pot… this sorted my Mum’s Christmas present out that year! I ran the Grunt 5 more times and the Kepler Challenge twice. After my last Kepler I was in so much pain I didn’t run for about 6 months. My lack of experience with that distance and a serious lack of training had a lot to answer for. Relying on natural youth fitness was a major mistake.
I drifted away from running in the early 2000’s. I had lost my passion for it completely; it had become a chore and I just didn’t enjoy it as I used to.
2007 we had our first child and our second in 2011. While the kids were little, I didn’t run at all. It was either walking or hiking with the children and dogs on the trails. Then a few years ago, I bumped into a local lady who asked me to be in her team for the Spring Challenge women’s adventure race. I had never heard of it before. I competed in this event in Westport with her and a friend and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It sparked an interest in me that had been buried away for some time. I have since done several adventure races and now I really look forward to them each year. The next one being held here in Te Anau 1st October.
I have a very supportive husband who is there to cheer me on from the side-line and has been our #1 support crew at a couple of races.
In the last year I have focused a little bit more on my running which is a good way to for me to keep fit for my adventure racing in the winter months. It has been good meeting new people involved in the sports. I’ve just joined up with the local parkrun here in Te Anau too. It’s such a good motivator and something to work towards each week. My daughter has joined along with me which is neat being out there with her.
I entered my first 10km race in August and really enjoyed being back out there once again. I hadn’t run a 10 km run since I was about 15 years old, so this was a big achievement for me!
I think the reason I have returned to running is a need for time for myself. After years of running around after other people in various forms and now after a few changes and learning to say no, I run just for myself. One thing all the lockdowns and things taught us, is that not only do we not need to be constantly busy all the time but having some time absolutely to ourselves is super important.
I take our dogs with me when I can, to enjoy the beautiful scenery of Fiordland which I never take for granted. And they hunt possums along the way! There’s nothing more satisfying than feeling strong, fit, refreshed and healthy. Our children are older now and if I can stay strong and fit, I will always be able to keep up with them.”
Sacha @fiordland2
(Te Anau)
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