Selwyn_Times: July 13, 2022
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• By Chris Barclay<br />
SAM HARVEY was running<br />
on adrenaline, undeterred by a<br />
weeping calloused wound on a<br />
big toe.<br />
His two remaining closest<br />
challengers in Christchurch’s<br />
ground-breaking endurance test<br />
were running on empty, as darkness<br />
fell over Spencer Park.<br />
It was no stroll on the beach<br />
for Harvey and 118 other competitors<br />
in the Krayzie Midwinter<br />
Backyard Ultra, the first time<br />
the ‘last man standing’ format<br />
had been staged in the city.<br />
Harvey achieved that exalted<br />
status, 28 hours 41 minutes and<br />
28 seconds after the field tackled<br />
their first 6.706km loop from<br />
7.30am on <strong>July</strong> 2.<br />
The 29-year-old Springstonraised<br />
ultra distance athlete<br />
ultimately completed 35 loops,<br />
one more than Queenstown’s<br />
Brandon Purdie and Dunedin’s<br />
John Bayne.<br />
Harvey had the relative luxury<br />
of coasting to the finish the following<br />
night, in spite of needing<br />
running repairs deep into his<br />
234.85km journey.<br />
“When I was going through<br />
that little moment of softness, I<br />
think it was the 180km mark,”<br />
he said, “a callus on my big toe<br />
came away, I had a chunk of flesh<br />
rubbing in my shoe.<br />
“I thought: ‘This could be my<br />
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz<br />
race over’ but I came into the<br />
race base, ripped my shoe off,<br />
wrapped it up and got back out<br />
there.<br />
“There was no pain. I thought:<br />
‘You marvellous bastard, you’ve<br />
fixed it’ and I just kept on with<br />
the positive self-talk. I found my<br />
groove and it was my race from<br />
then as far as I’m concerned,” he<br />
said.<br />
While supreme fitness was<br />
obviously a prerequisite, Harvey<br />
was fortified – and hamstrung<br />
– by a 10th place finish in the<br />
Southern Sydney 24 Hour Ultra<br />
a month earlier, winning the<br />
mind games was also essential.<br />
“I think if you endure a lifetime<br />
of suffering or mental hardships<br />
it prepares you very well for<br />
this,” he said.<br />
“I battled with some demons<br />
in the night, especially on<br />
Sunday morning. Going into it<br />
with the rig already busted up<br />
and broken down (from Sydney)<br />
gave me a pretty good handicap.<br />
“The voices in your head start<br />
saying: ‘You’re not good enough<br />
or maybe it wouldn’t be so bad<br />
if you quit. Your family will still<br />
love you’ that sort of s**t.’”<br />
Giving up was never an option<br />
for Harvey, who managed to<br />
rehydrate at the end of each<br />
circuit after making sure to<br />
conserve enough energy as<br />
Wednesday <strong>July</strong> <strong>13</strong> <strong>2022</strong> <strong>Selwyn</strong> <strong>Times</strong><br />
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Battling demons, still standing after 234km<br />
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LAST MAN STANDING: Sam Harvey in his ninth loop,<br />
taking on nutrition, and completing his 35th and final<br />
loop in the Krayzie Midwinter Backyard Ultra endurance<br />
test at Spencer Park. PHOTOS: SPIERSBRA/INSTAGRAM<br />
rivals wilted.<br />
“It’s better to just go slow, take<br />
it easy and not damage your<br />
body too much and have a short<br />
rest at the end of each lap.”<br />
Runners had an hour to complete<br />
each loop, giving Harvey a<br />
manageable target.<br />
“Because this course was so<br />
much flatter I buttoned back and<br />
did my casual 52-minute loops<br />
and let the bravado boys carry<br />
on doing their 45-minute loops,<br />
which ended up stinging them.”<br />
Harvey’s next assignment is<br />
the New Zealand leg of the Backyard<br />
Ultra world championships<br />
in October, where 15-strong<br />
teams from each country compete<br />
on their home track at the<br />
same time.<br />
Although a team event,<br />
each country’s lead runner is<br />
rewarded with entry in the 2023<br />
Backyard Ultra world championships<br />
in the United States.<br />
Harvey completed his first ‘last<br />
man standing’ event in Auckland<br />
last year, though his interest in<br />
long distance running goes back<br />
further to his teenage years.<br />
“I played rugby and I did boxing<br />
and triathlon. They require<br />
running and that’s the thing I’m<br />
actually best at so that was my<br />
focus,” he said.<br />
“All roads led back to<br />
running.”<br />
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