Taupo Frisbee and Kawerau King of the Mountain

 The Taupo hat tourney went really well for me. I was on a really good team. Somehow we had chemistry on the field even though none of us had played together. The draw got messed up terribly. There were supposed to be 5 rounds each team against all of the other 5 teams, but they messed up the first two rounds and couldn't get it fixed so there had to be 6 rounds 5 on Saturday and one on Sunday before the semi-finals and finals. My team (LOL, it was a YouTube themed tourney) had to play all 5 of our games on Saturday. We won the first 4 but in the fifth the team we played had a bye in the round just before and we were just too tired to put up much of a fight.

On Sunday we were the number 1 seed out of the rounds so we made the semi-finals straight away and didn't have to play till noon. It was supposed to be 11 but they messed up the playoffs draw as well; terrible management by self admission from the tournament director.  Although I wasn't too happy about the hour at the time, it worked to my advantage. The hour gave me a chance to properly warm up and stretch. I played one of the best games of my life in that semi-final. I had 6 layouts, 3 for D's, 2 for scores, and the best one on offense, but not for a score.  I didn't play quite so well in the final (my first one ever) and the teams fundamentals fell apart for long streaks and ended up losing but it was a great tourney and I had a ton of fun. Sorry not too good of pictures from that weekend; at least none that make sense.

On this past Saturday, I ran in a mountain race called Kawerau King of the Mountain. I was thinking about doing it and said so Friday night downtown to one of the other teachers. The school just finished their assessment from the Educational review office (The administration system is way different down here) so the principal put up a $350 bar tab for the teachers and staff. The teacher I was talking to said "Well I live up in Kawerau; you can ride up there tonight and stay on my couch and race in the morning." At that point I couldn't back down, but the more I found out about the race the more I wanted to. Not until about a Km into the race on the side of the mountain clawing my way to the top, and starting to get my second wind, that I was glad I decided to compete. The race itself was about 6 or 7 kilometers long round trip and the vertical rise is about 800 meters, so just insanely steep. The winner finished in 48 minutes I finished in 1hr 25 but I was pleased with that time. It took me 58 minutes to get to the top, the same time that the winning woman finished in.

I don't think I have ever been sore like this before. The pain is only in my quadriceps but it feels like they have been shredded to bits.

There is more information, pictures and video @ http://www.kawerauharrierclub.co.nz/mount_frontpage.php I am in picture numbers 339 and 340. The video of me is a little harder to find, it is the last video in the sixth set in the sixth set and is 52 seconds long. It is worth a watch. I almost take some guy out.

The other teacher also snapped this photo of me as I approached the finish. As you can tell I am completely exhausted at that point.

I forgot to mention that I made the local paper. The caption on the picture says:

"HE'S THE BEST" Alaskan student teacher Thor Jones is a hit with students from Whakatane Intermediate