I feel incredibly fortunate to have so many wonderful women in my life; some of the women I feel most fortunate about are relatively recent additions. Many of our greatest adventures start by taking a chance with a new friend, and this is one of my favourite aspects of life. This brings me to WOW: Women Of Wonder. I want to write about the trials and tribulations of my female friends. I'm no scholar, but I enjoy the process of putting thoughts down on paper and seeing a story unfold; besides, I've got many tales to tell! For now, here's one about a gal that ditched a closet full of high heels for a closet stacked with running shoes and created a new world of fun for herself.
I may be bold when I say that my hairstylist is more badass than yours, but I'll go for it. This affair started on the side of a mountain here in Queenstown. I'll never forget how the scene unfolded: I was out cycling on my road bike...it was a summer day, blistering hot, the smell of melting asphalt igniting my nostrils as I was out suffering...I mean, enjoying myself with some hill repeats up The Remarkables' access road. As I was making my way back down on one of my cursed laps, possibly the first one, I came upon a beauty who was making her way up the twisting pavement on her two-wheeled steed.
My eyes lit up, another woman on the same quest.. could my eyes clouded in sweat be deceiving me; perhaps it was a mirage?! As our eyes met, we somehow stopped simultaneously to say hi and things transitioned to us having a wee yarn about our favourite shades of lipstick and the latest fashion; you know, what all women talk about when they get together. It was love at first sight! NO, there was none of that nonsense, but we did chat briefly about how our day was unfolding, why we were both slogging it up a mountain access road, and how bloody hot it was. I was training for Coast to Coast and she mentioned something about having a day off from running, as her feet were aching a bit from an 80km trail run she had done the day before. WHAT? Silent thoughts in my head were, "why on earth would you be out on a bike ride the following day?" I mean, I would have been comatose, my feet up on the couch with a bowl of ice cream melting on my lap. Then again, I am a bit of a lazy athlete. Regardless, we connected via Strava (the sporting app and now possible dating app), and since our first encounter, our friendship has blossomed into a wonderful adventure bouquet. This is how I met Becky Nixon, the badass babe from Hull, Yorkshire, England.
To pay her bills and a slight addiction to running (when I say "running," I mean ultra running), Becky happens to style hair by day and somehow doesn't seem to sit still when she's not at work. She exists in two states: she’s either in the salon or frolicking up in the mountains. The love affair for this lass with her outdoor pursuits is a spicy one, just like any good relationship ;)
If she's training for an ultramarathon, then she’ll rise a few hours before the sun makes an appearance, hit the gym for a weights session, or run anywhere from 5 to 35km. If it's winter, then the routine is to get a few runs in on the ski slopes before most folk are having their first cup of coffee or tea. After work activities might include another run, maybe a spin on the bike, or throw in some night skiing just to end the day on a good note. And that’s just the normal dreary days, not the big sessions!
So, how did a gal from Hull end up having a slight obsession with moving the dial on her running limit gauge? Becky is a hard bird to track down for a chat over tea and a scone, so the only way that I could trick her into divulging her race experiences to me, has been to tag along on a few gals' dates in the local hills.
Like many of us that now call NZ home, it started with the good ol' NZ working holiday visa. Some say "tena koutou" (goodbye) after the year, and the rest, well, we've convinced NZ to let us stay and contribute to the tax system in exchange for getting to frolic in paradise. Upon arrival to New Zealand, Becky merged into Auckland CBD life for a few months. It was a fun time but she felt a void in her life. The word on the street was that there was some fun to be had down south in the mountain resort of Queenstown, so off she went. Within a few days of having her feet on the ground in Queenstown, a job was secured at a local salon. This same salon is now her baby, where she holds the title "boss babe" at Frankton Hair along with a bevy of other hairstyling babes.
Her days off were spent doing all the wonderful adventure things that the area has on offer. The party lifestyle was bliss, youth was in full effect, but something was missing. Surely there was more to life than fancy shampoo, salon talk, and daiquiris on the weekend. Capricious men were wasting her precious time, and the dating scene was starting to look like a bad hair-dye session. Gyms were starting to become a thing, so she signed up and got involved in all those gym class sweat sessions that were on offer. Some trainer bro at the gym bragged about all the sporting achievements on his CV, one being an Ironman triathlon, and sure enough, Becky started to think, "I'll give that a go."
Within a few months, she had signed herself up to the local Motatapu Marathon, and that tickled her fancy, so she soon followed that up with a few other local races and then somehow decided that a full-distance triathlon was a stupendous goal. She dove in at the deep end and immersed herself into triathlon training. With the Taupo Ironman ticked off her list of "no end," she looked at focusing on running past the marathon distance. Running seemed to be a bit easier to focus on than the triathlon game. With only one discipline, less gear to burn through on the training benders, it was a solid choice. This was now her medicine - running; before work and then again, and all after a day of being on her feet at the salon! 50km training days soon became the norm, a 30km training run was like a skip in the park. Running in the mountains filled her heart a little more than perfecting salon highlights and it soon became her raison d'être. She has definitely adventured along more trails and seen the summits of more mountaintops in NZ than the average Kiwi.
The running community happens to be a lovely bunch of like-minded out-of-their-mind (in a good way) humans, so it's easy enough to get talked into a few multi-hour training runs and then before you know it, you're packing your bags to race in another country along with your new running friends. Such a great way to holiday, chicanery at it's best! So far, Becky has run in a generous handful of overseas races:
UTA (Ultra Trail Australia) 100km x 2. Anyone who runs in Australia gets bonus points...the amount of wild critters that can end your day!
UTMB ( Ultra-Trail Mont-Blanc) 171Km x 1. This is one of the most difficult running races in the world, Becky just did it for a good time out in the hills and in under 37hrs. No one even parties that long without a break!
Throw in some running race adventures in Wales and Scotland, and then add in a few weeks of off season "holiday" time in the mountains of Nepal.
As far as racing on domestic turf goes, Becky has probably done every running race in New Zealand. To list a notable few:
The Great Naseby Water Race, 100 miles (160km). She cracked that one off in 18hrs 15mins and holds the women's record.
The Routeburn Classic, 32.3km. She's raced it multiple times and has run the track just for a fun training day many many times.
The Old Ghost Ultra. 85km and 2700m of ascent.
The Kepler Challenge, 60km and 1350m of ascent.
The Northburn 100 miler and 100km, "a few times." 10000m of ascent. Cry me a river!
The Ultra Easy 100km, lots of ups and downs on that one and it's usually baking hot out.
Mt. Difficulty Ascent Marathon x 2. That race scrambles up, down, and a bit more. Most competitors don't finish under the 5hr mark.
The Queenstown Marathon. I'd call it a “Kiwi flat” race, a few wee bumps along the way.
The Southland Marathon, she took 1st overall woman in that and bagged herself a box of Speights for the win.
New Zealand 24 Hour Championship 2019. How far do you think you could run around a 400 meter track for 24hrs straight? Well, Becky knocked off 186.4km. Many cups of tea were had for that. She took out the women's division, with second place not even coming close at 131.2km. Becky happened to be 3rd overall nutter for that event!
I write about Becky not because of her accolades, but because her tenacity while racing is remarkable, and I have seen this first hand. Earlier this year, I was fortunate to assist her during one of her 3 laps for the Northburn 100-miler, an ultramarathon held on a high country sheep station with a large marquee pitched as home base to house masochistic athletes as they streamed in at various hours of the day and night to refuel for the next lap of the race. It was 11pm when she rolled in for her final lap. She was feeling the effect of the sleep fairies by 100km, and I'll add that the fairies are no joke: they do crazy shit to a sleep deprived mind, like making you unsure if you’ve been sitting for 20 minutes or have just sat down, or make you question whether you need to eat or hydrate, or even make you wonder where the hell you are. You get the picture, this is why you have assistance: it’s assurance that you’ll have enough supplies to survive when you go back out into the proverbial abyss.
At the end of the day, life should be all about the ability to enjoy the trail that we pursue. If you're not keen on that trail, then it's OK to shift gears; either up or down, take the high route, take the low. It's even OK to not be on a trail; go off trail and get caught up in some thorny stuff but just keep moving. Whatever you do, make sure you know what your worth is, be like Becky Nixon and fall in love with what it feels like to be alive and free, whether it’s effectuated in a pair of runners or not. So, the next time you're in the salon chair, just think, you might be in the hands of a secret superhero, a devious dominatrix, or a straight up badass bitch :)
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