Endurance run on snow, ice beckons

ADVENTURE: Tauranga woman Nicola Wearne is strapping on her crampons for the Polar Circle Marathon in Greenland. PHOTO/JOHN BORREN

Tauranga's Nicola Wearne will soon strap crampons to her shoes and don a bright orange shirt to run in the Polar Circle Marathon in Greenland.

Ms Wearne, an enthusiastic adventure runner, is running the marathon this month and will wear an orange shirt in support of Arthritis New Zealand, a charity close to her heart.

She has rheumatoid arthritis and will use her time in Greenland to raise awareness for the charity.

"Rheumatoid comes and goes. I can have a couple of weeks or days when I'm really quite sore, then it will mysteriously disappear," she said.

"I've had lots of friends who think I'm crazy and that I should be going to Fiji or Ibiza. But I've grown up in that environment where you're always doing this stuff. It's quite standard for our family to do adventure sports."

The marathon was recommended to Ms Wearne and she managed to get one of the 200 spots in the run. It takes place on an ice cap and Ms Wearne will tour the course the day before the marathon.

"That's probably going to be reasonably frightening because it's probably going to be diabolical. It's all snow and ice, then you run out on the ice cap. It's 6km to 8km on the ice cap. That's why they advise you to wear crampons. There's a section where it's kind of tussock with snow."

While it was called a marathon, it was more of an endurance event.

"It's in a part of the world that's always changing. There's wildlife. We get to see the aurora lights. It's a place in the world you would never normally get to see.

"I like peace and quiet really, that's what appeals to me about this. There's only about 200 people taking part, that's quite a contrast to the New York Marathon with thousands of people."

Although she does not particularly enjoy running on the road, Ms Wearne took part in the New York City Marathon in 2011 for the experience.

"I like trail running. You see the world in a different way when you run like that. Often for these events they open up pieces of land that you would normally never go to."

She decided to run for Arthritis New Zealand to give something back to other people with arthritis.

"I'm now having a good experience and feel like I've got off quite lightly. A lot of people don't do as well. Arthritis New Zealand are a great institution to be involved in."