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Testing her own resilience
Next year Dr Lucy Hone will tackle something that has been on her radar for more than a decade.
The Kathmandu Coast to Coast.
Known for her work building resilience in schools and workplaces, the co-founder of the New Zealand Institute of Wellbeing and Resilience and an adjunct senior fellow at the University of Canterbury, says she looks at any challenge she takes on through a psychological lens. And the Coast to Coast is no different.
“It’s something I’ve thought about doing but has always felt beyond me. When the kids lived at home, time was a big barrier, I didn’t have enough time to work and train. And I was terrified of Goat Pass - I’ve done a lot of running over the years but I’m not comfortable climbing over boulders and I wasn’t sure I’d be able to get down that riverbed.”
The inspiration and belief to give it a go came from a discussion with another member of her gym, Koha Fitness, in Christchurch. “She had completed the event and told me it took her two years to train. She recommended I meet with Richard Greer from Team CP who had helped her. The other thing which helped me decide to do it was discovering we could do it in tandem. I persuaded my husband to do it with me, I knew that with him by my side I could somehow get through it.”
“Then we met with Richard and he broke it down for us, telling us that Goat Pass is walkable in 8 hours and the cut off is 11 hours. So, even in the worst-case scenario and we had to walk it, we would still complete it in time.”
Hone has been researching resilience for well over a decade now, starting initially at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, which in 2009 was the only place in the world she could study the field. There she learnt from the best of the best, among them the professors responsible for teaching the USA Military to be as mentally fit as they were physically fit.
Returning home to Christchurch, she put her doctoral research on hold during the post-quake period, turning her attention to support her home community – working with government departments and all sort of organisations teaching them the mental skills that science shows boost community and individual resilience.
Then, three years later, on Queens Birthday weekend, her own resilience was tested in the extreme, when her 12-year-old daughter Abi and friends were killed instantly when a driver sped through a stop sign and crashed into their car.
Knowing and trusting the science and the research, but not really knowing if it would work in the wake of such a tragic personal loss, Hone began to write a blog testing the tools of resilience throughout the weeks and months after Abi’s death. The blog went viral, resulting in a book deal and publication of the best-selling Resilient Grieving.
More than seven years on from the tragedy, Hone says she knows from the research and her own experience, the importance of understanding the ways of thinking and acting that help each of us navigate adversity. Thinking tools that she’s now spread out to the world, thanks to the huge success of her TED talk, 3 Secrets of Resilient People, which went viral during the Covid pandemic, making it NZ’s most watched TED talk and ranking in the top 20 of TED’s talks in 2020.
Hone says without a doubt her work gives her a mental advantage when it comes to taking on big challenges like the Coast to Coast, but when it comes to the physicality, she says she’s feeling her age and is no doubt of the size of the mission ahead of her. “I can overcome the mind games. I have that self-belief which I can draw on from past experiences. I’ve done the London Marathon, half marathons and the Grape Ride, but I need to put things in place to overcome the physical side, I’ve got a very busy start up business and my body’s not feeling as good as it used to. I’m tired all the time from training and it’s a juggle to keep progressing but allow time for recovery too. Plus we’ve never white-water kayaked before, so that’s a really steep learning curve. I don’t think I’ve ever been as scared as I was that first weekend on the white-water but we’ve practiced lots on the Estuary and each week it gets a bit better. “My husband has some injuries at the moment so we’re just taking it a week at a time, following Richard’s training schedule with two bike rides, three runs and a kayak a week and trusting that’s enough to get us there. We catch up with Richard regularly too.”
There is one strong piece of advice Hone has for anyone contemplating a big challenge like the Coast to Coast.
“Work out your motivation – you’ve got to be really clear on your ‘why’ first up. Then write a list of what we call barrier’s and enablers in psychology – all the things you are worried about, the hurdles you need to overcome, the things stopping you from saying yes or that get in the way of your ability to train; then work out ways to overcome these, break the big ones down to make them achievable, find workable solutions and get help where you need it.”
That’s why, on summer afternoons, she hopes you’ll be able to find her, out on the beach in Sumner, climbing over those big boulders, learning to trust her footwork, getting better at it - one rock at a time.
The media team don’t usually let me near the article and press release aspect of the Kathmandu Coast to Coast, and technically, at this time of the year, I should be revising the Health and Safety Plan and finalising operation issues. But one of the reasons I love this job and the event so much is due to the ‘Elite Category’. So, I’m going to pull rank and share my opinions on the race this year.
How would you celebrate 30 years since receiving a life-saving liver transplant? By lining up to tackle the iconic Kathmandu Coast to Coast, of course!
Surviving a perilously close encounter with mortality, Campbell Gray, an inspirational 20-year-old from Jervoistown, Napier, is poised to leave his mark on the 2024 Kathmandu Coast to Coast.
In what promises to be one of the most thrilling showdowns in recent history, the Kathmandu Coast to Coast anticipates an electrifying battle in the Women's Longest Day category.
In a remarkable display of resilience and determination, renowned amputee Shaz Dagg, also known as Limb-it-less Shaz, is attempting to make history as the first female amputee to complete the Kathmandu Coast to Coast as an individual.
In a strategic move to foster the next generation of multisport athletes, The Kathmandu Coast to Coast, New Zealand's iconic multisport event, proudly announces the introduction of the 'Elite Youth' division in the Two-Day individual race.
There’s almost a sort of “Hotel California” thing going with the Kathmandu Coast to Coast: “You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.” People get hooked, and they keep coming back, either working their way through the various events and age groups or targeting personal bests year by year. Two-time champion Kristina Anglem did manage to check out and for the most part, has left, but not before generating an awful lot of goodwill with fellow competitors, officials and general supporters. Competing initially under her maiden name, Kristina Strode Penny only raced the Coast to Coast on four occasions. Still, she certainly cast a long (warm) shadow over the race and ushered in a new younger group of women who would dominate the event in the years to come. Growing up in Wellington, Kristina’s initial sporting passion was gymnastics, but she retired at the ripe old age of 11. “After that, I always yearned to be out in nature. I would take myself off for walks or runs along the eastern walkway. Wellington is loaded with walkways.” Her two older brothers were keen on bashing about in the outdoors, and one arranged for a mountain bike for his sister. “I rode all the trails, and around the same time, I got into rock climbing and joined the Wellington Tramping and Mountaineering Club.” Helicopter parents in the new millennium would be horrified by the teenage Kristina’s next move into outdoor sports. “We lived by the sea and got given an old kayak – an old canvas thing that I laugh at now. I would take myself out into the bay and figure out how to roll, then off and yonder in the sea! Looking back at some of those things now as a parent, I’m glad my Mum didn’t have a clue what was going on! I’d paddle out to these rocks and come back – miss the Picton ferry by chance!”
Are you a high school student in New Zealand with a thirst for adventure and a love for the outdoors?
In our second episode of Season 5 Richard Greer from TeamCP provides some key insights including how to best manage your bike, running and kayaking training six months out from race day, along with an event update from our Race Director Glen Currie. Plus, we have previous podcast guest Sophie Beaumont sharing tips and tricks for first-time athletes. Listen online here
The Kathmandu Coast to Coast, New Zealand’s iconic multisport event, recognises the invaluable role of New Zealand's Backcountry Huts in ensuring the enjoyment of all those who experience the wild places of Aotearoa.
