Mount Difficulty Race Report

2024 has been a busy time at Rationale, and the year had almost got away on us without some sort of adventure.

So, in true Rationale style, the Arrowtown office decided to sign up for a range of running events at the aptly named Mt Difficulty Ascent, based in Bannockburn, Central Otago.

This is a great event as it has a wide range of disciplines, that cater for the whole team, from a half marathon relay, right through to a 44km mountain ultra marathon.

We entered two four-person teams in the Rustic Run half marathon. This consisted of four 5.4km loops through the iconic Bannockburn sluicings, needless to say the competitive side of the office was on full display come race day.

Team Eat my Dust

• Carole Shuttleworth
• Edward Guy
• Helen Summers
• Benje Patterson

Team ACDC

• Annabelle Cullinane
• Craig McLean
• Dave Stone
• Chris Bowie

At the same time, Tom Lucas and Jimmy Sygrove decided to punish themselves by taking on the 44km mountain ultra, which climbs over Mt Difficulty and includes 3000m of elevation gain.

Both relay teams did an amazing job, with Eat My Dust taking out the mixed relay team event and bringing home another trophy back to the office! Team ACDC also smashed it, with everyone running strongly and having an awesome time.

Following the race the team went back to Kinross winery in Gibbston for a debrief, a spot of lunch and a drink with friends and family.

Meanwhile, Jimmy and Tom took off at 8am, and weren’t actually seen by the rest of the team at all.

By all accounts the race was very aptly named. Both Tom and Jimmy have done their fair share of unreasonably long events, and both agreed that this was a fairly tough 44km.

Tom came in just shy of 6hrs, clinching third place in the masters category! Jimmy had a particularly big day, coming in just under 8hrs, and was pretty happy to be able to sit down at the finish line with a warm pizza and a cold beer.

This was another great team outing. We genuinely see these sorts of events as a central part of our team culture. It’s awesome to be able to get together outside of the office, do something a bit outside our comfort zone and enjoy each other’s company.

Awesome work team, time to start training for next year!

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