Box of Light is made possible thanks to these visionaries:
It’s almost 6am on Friday morning on the West Coast at Haast. The rising sun is just a faint glow along the backbone of the Southern Alps. The Tasman Sea rumbles and surges up the beach with fingers of white water clawing toward where Glenn Sutton stands. He reaches down and takes a handful of seawater, letting it flow through his fingertips before picking up a small black stone and placing it in his pocket. Then he turns and takes the first step home.
Home for Glenn is 427km away in Dunedin. He intends to run there, non-stop, in three days or less.
“I’d been thinking about this run for quite a while,” he explains. “And, to be honest, I wasn’t really sure I could do it. But the timing was right and mentally it felt right and it was the right time of year.”
Despite what Glenn describes as “very enjoyable” weather conditions, the 43-year-old encounters frosts on his first two nights out.
“We hit minus 1 temps both nights and encountered some low cloud in Cromwell – it was pretty tough, but you bounce back and the day gets better as the temperatures come back up.”
Glenn is no stranger to long distances, or extreme temperatures. In 2014 and 2015 he completed the Badwater 135 – a 217km slog through the searing heat of California’s Death Valley. It’s dubbed “the toughest footrace on Earth”. In 2016 he ran the 300km Alps 2 Ocean trail non-stop. So, this 427km coast to coast traverse is a logical progression.
“I thought it would take me three days or 72 hours, so I am happy to complete it in a little over 67 hours,” Glenn shares. “That’s a bit quicker than what I thought I would be. I came back pretty quickly from Lawrence – I’m not sure why that was – maybe the sunshine.”
He runs past the shark bell on the Esplanade at St Clair at 1:13am on Monday morning completing his journey in 67 hours, 13 minutes and 39 seconds. He continues on down the ramp to the beach where he meets the high tide of the South Pacific Ocean where more than 30 supporters, some still in their pyjamas, let out a symphony of hoots. Glenn bends down and buries his hands in the water. He’s knocked the bastard off.
He’s congratulated with hearty hugs and high fives. Members of the support crew are shedding a few tears. This has been an ordeal. Glenn claims it is his support crew – a bunch of the “6:15 pub runners” that got him through.
“Any pub, each Wednesday at 6:15pm we leave a pub in town, go for an hour run and have a handle afterwards,” he explains. “We have a wide range of guys and abilities and ages. It showed this weekend that we had four guys who supported me all the way and probably another 10-12 guys that came up during the journey just to help out, run a bit and contribute to it. It was a real adventure.”
The support crew includes Bruce Adams, Ronnie, Hamish Tyson and Nathan White.
“A wide range of guys and ages, but they all brought along something special and that’s what made it,” Glenn offers as he avails himself for a 1:30am impromptu interview with me. He’s had no sleep and hasn’t stood still for three days. He leans on my shoulder.
“The crew all slipped into their various roles of getting food organised or putting band-aids on my feet, or driving. It was perfect. In fact, I’d recommend them to anyone else who wants to do it,” he laughs. “Those crew of boys are very experienced – they know the drill.”
He admitted that, with only a couple of quick powernaps along the way, there were some dark moments.
“You have plenty of time to think about shit – work, family, kids, running,” he tells me, wincing at some unseen pain. “You have a few downers, you shed a few tears. There were a few times there that I just asked the boys to give me a few kilometres by myself – just a bit of 'me time' running without anyone else. You bounce out of the low spots, but, in the end, it is the support crew who bring you through. I couldn’t have done it without them. They’re giving up their time, away from their families and work.”
The journey wasn’t kind to his footwear either.
“The sole on the first pair of shoes started delaminating, so I’ll have to go back to the shoe shop and ask a few questions about that,” he laughs. “That was about the 200km mark or 36 hours in. At that point, I slipped into one size bigger, with fresh socks. Right now, my feet feel quite hot – I can feel blisters, but they’re alright. You have to expect something.”
He harvested some energy from all the people who “were texting and ringing the crew” as he ran.
“It was really cool to have so many people wanting to know what was happening and getting in behind it.”
Completing it was the highlight for Glenn without equal, but he said there were times during the run that he would never forget.
“Coming out by Wanaka – halfway between Makarora and The Neck, you’re up on these bluffs and the sun is going down and it is just me running along toward Hawea,” he recalls. “It was just magic – I let out a few yee-has – it was just perfect – the lake was a mirror.”
Hanging on to my shoulder, joking around on the Esplanade at St Clair, he seems full of vitality. I ask him if he thinks he could run any further.
“Who knows,” he says with eyes lighting up. “That would be something wouldn’t it?”
“I think you have to have these challenges in life,” he smiles. “I am lucky enough to have family and friends who support me doing these things and getting involved. I’m not one for sitting on the couch. I want to live life and get out there and push my boundaries.”
He smiles. It’s that kind of smile that sits somewhere on the spectrum between madness and “I’ve already got an idea for the next one, but I’m not going to tell you just yet”. I’m picking it’s the latter.
Three days ago he was on the beach at Haast. Now he is on the beach at St Clair. And he arrived here on foot. Surely only one questions remains?
“The Tasman Sea is warmer for sure,” he laughs. “I’m not sure why, but it is definitely warmer.”
See you at the beach ... Derek
PS With the first few dustings of snow you can be forgiven for getting sweaty palms ... yes, we love winter, too. Here's the cheat sheet on all the cool things happening up at Treble Cone this season.
Box of Light is made possible thanks to these visionaries: