But there was a reward for his hard slog and trying to keep up with the women for several days while carrying all his own gear.
The resulting documentary, The Adventure of Racing, has won best documentary prize at this year’s New Zealand Mountain Film Festival.
Wallbank said in an interview with the Otago Daily Times last Saturday, he wanted to follow the story of a women’s team because he had noticed most adventure racing teams were predominantly three men and one woman.
Rab Wahine featured three women — Wānaka’s Emily Wilson, Taupo’s Emma McCosh and Nelson’s Georgia Whitla — and one man, Aaron Prince of Christchurch.
Under racing rules, it qualified as a women’s team and finished fourth overall, the highest result for a women’s team in a multi-day world championship.
Wallbank said getting the footage was not easy, despite being "Wānaka fit" (that essentially means being able to run up a hill for fun).
"As for actually doing it, it was hard slog, carrying my own gear, hanging on for dear life, while trying to produce a film."
Wallbank shot the footage solo, with the only supplied material being aerial footage taken from helicopters during the race.
Winning the best documentary award and having it screen in a world premiere at home in Wānaka was a real honour, he said.
"Being a local, I know that this festival has been running here over 20 years and [organisers] Mark and Jo [Sedon] have put it on the map. They have put so much love, sweat and tears into it," he said.
"I thought it was done really well ... Racing has a lot to understand, but we can all relate to people. Their story and their adventure getting to the start line was very powerful ... I am very passionate about adventure racing and there is a lot to get out of that, but it is hard to articulate it all in 20 minutes," she said.
Wallbank was also one of two film-school tutors, working with aspiring film-makers, at the festival’s two day film school in Wānaka.
If people wanted to make films, they should just pick up their phone or camera, come up with a story and do it, he said.
"You don’t need the best gear, don’t need flash cameras. The story is gold," he said.
His next documentary will be a short film about another Wānaka local. He wants to keep it under wraps for now.
"It is outdoor themed, but has a very, very deep story running through and some of it will pull on the heart strings," he said.
Other Wānaka winners at the film and book festival included Finlay Woods and Craig Murray, who won the Hiddleston MacQueen award for Best New Zealand-made film, with Terra Incognito.
Both are overseas and could not be contacted for comment.
The guest speaker was Italian climber Simone Moro, who talked about his bid to pioneer four 8000m ascents in winter in the Himalayan mountain range.
The book festival featured Words and Wine events with Christchurch writers Colin Monteath (winner Nankervis/Bamford award for NZ Mountain Book of the Year), Victoria Bruce (winner narrative award) and publisher and speed flyer Sequoia Smith, of the United States.
By Marjorie Cook and Rhyva van Onselen
