Mount Doom

At 5:30am, just over four hours after we went to bed, we were up again, ready and raring to go for our next challenge. Well, ahem, up and ready to go anyway. There wasn’t much raring from the group at that time in the morning.

Today we would do the famous ‘Tongariro Crossing’ which up to a thousand people do every day and hence why the early start. The crossing basically involves going up a mountain, along the top and then back down again, however what makes it so special is the fantastic scenery when you reach the top.

We weren’t just ‘doing’ the crossing though. Not content with hiking the 7 or 8 hours from one side to the other, the group had decided to run it. Yes run it. Less than twelve hours after my 10,000m effort I was feeling a little sore to say the least, but was determined not to spoil the party.

The route started off fairly flat, and despite our early start we still had to overtake a number of eager beevor walkers who had beaten us to it. It wasn’t long however before we got ahead, and with most of the guys racing off, Chris, myself and one or two others took the pace fairly steady, stopping to pose for photos and look at the scenery.

The route started to really climb steeply after about 20 or minutes of running, So much so that some of the time we decided to walk to conserve energy. It was actually quicker anyway at some points.

We reached the summit after about 1 hour 15 of running. We later found out that the summit was used as the setting for the Mount Doom part of Lord of the Rings. Having not managed to get through the films without falling asleep this means little to me, however the others were suitably impressed. Maybe next time I try and watch it, I will recognise it! The view was pretty spectacular and I was glad that my calves had not swayed me to wimp out on the run. The first section of downhill was a little tricky and we got a chance to test our skills at ‘scree running’ although actually ‘scree walking’ would be a slightly more accurate description. We were so good we had to stop at the bottom to empty half the mountain out of our socks and shoes. The long gradual descent then began which was much less testing and we were able to cruise down the other side.

After just over two hours of running, Chris and myself decided to call the running a day and walked in the last few kilometres, and were met with the cheers of the guys who had finished a little ahead of us. It only took us just over 2 and a half hours and by 10am the whole group was relaxing in a hot thermal pool in the local village, much to the disbelief of the lady on reception. ‘You’ve already done the crossing this morning!?!’


Me running across the volcano basin


Chris conquoring Mount Doom


7hour walk done in under 3. Too easy ;)