Race day started an hour ahead of schedule with a 4.00am wake up call
from Anne who had set her alarm on daylight saving time!! Both
Grant and I were up and at em ready to attack the day when we figured
out that we still had an hour of shut eye left before we needed to be
up. Doh !!! All too soon it was 5.00am the correct get up time and we reluctantly dragged ourselves out into the cold but clear weather to get organised for the day ahead.
The temperature was around zero so there were plenty of
discussions about what to wear for the run. At 6.10am we left the
hotel and headed down to the 6.20 am briefing. Before we knew it we
were lined up on the startline in the 3rd wave ready to go. Ten nine eight seven .... We were off ... what a feeling after so much build
up. It was great getting underway.
The first few kilometres took us through the quaint town of Leura then into the start of the first of many single track sections through rainforest - the views were stunning and it was hard to keep your eye on the track ahead as the scenery was too good to miss. The pace through this leg was a bit erratic as there was a large number of people on the track and people moved at different speeds depending on the terrain. This worked fine on the smooth surface but was a bit of a pain on the technical stuff where we are most at home and would have liked to have moved a bit faster.
The first checkpoint was at 18kms and it was quite a nice feeling to
know we had completed one stage of the course. We filled up our water
bottles and grabbed a handful of lollies and fruit as we passed through.
Now to the next leg of the journey woo hoo.
The next stage was more of the same with fantastic views, firetrials and single bush tracks. Once again there was a bit of stop and start on the single tracks and steep ups. The famous Tarras Ladders were on this leg but we were too impatient too wait and took the 300 metre detour option. We were feeling relatively comfortable on this leg and made good time.
Checkpoint two was at Dunphy's camp on a grassy opening and once again we were pleased to be there. It's funny how you look forward to the next checkpoint as they don't really mean anything and are just a place to refuel. But I guess they are another step towards the end and show you that progress is being made. Once again we filled up bottles and grabbed some food before setting off on leg three.
This leg was a bit different from the previous legs as the terrain had
flattened out a bit along Ironpot ridge. It included a steep climb up to an out and back on a single track which was a bit annoying as we had to keep pulling over to let people past and avoid head on collisions. The presence of some aborigines playing music, some more spectacular views and a couple of horses made this section a bit more bearable but it wasn't my favourite section of the race. Part of the reason for my lack of enjoyment on this leg of the race may have been the fact that my ITB started
playing up. Five kilometres before checkpoint three I couldn't bend my
leg and couldn't run without wincing in pain. I told Anne to go ahead
as I was planning to pull out at the next checkpoint and waved her off. After she left I stretched, took some pain killers, then pulled the cuff of my long johns up tight on my knee. It hurt like hell but I discovered that after doing it I could kind of run and could swing my leg forward without wincing in too much pain. I caught up to Anne just before the checkpoint and told her I had decided to continue. She thought I was crazy to continue considering our next event the Geoquest 48hr Adv Race was only a month away, but just rolled her eyes knowing that pulling out is not in my nature.
This was our first checkpoint we could meet our support crew Mike. It
was lovely to see him and to pick up our food supplies for the next
leg. It was a great feeling knowing we were over half way having done 54kms to this point. There was a jazz band playing here and a group of supporters who gave us a massive cheer which also lifted our spirits. After a bit of a chat with Mike and Emma we set off again to tackle to last but the toughest half of the race.
Not long after this checkpoint we were faced with a hard stair climb up the six foot track. It went on a bit but we were feeling relatively strong and made reasonable progess. Before long we were at the next checkpoint at 65kms where we met up with Emma and our gear. Unfortunately, our food packs were still with Mike back at the previous checkpoint so we grabbed whatever we could find and headed back out onto the course.
This next section of the course took us through some grasslands to what is called the Giant Stairway and we found ourselves plummeting 700 meters down steep steps to the valley floor below. It was just on dark now but we had a real sense that the scenery was pretty amazing as we were still able to make out the shape of the Three Sisters. Luckily the steps had rails on them and I was able to lower myself down with my arms taking the pressure off my knee. Once at the bottom of the stairs we were spat out onto a forestry road which continued our plummet down. At the 85km mark this all changed and we embarked on a 640m climb in altitude over 8kms up road - it was a hard slog. Running the last kilometre or two into the next checkpoint was a mission as we were starting to feel the effects of the race now and were struggling a bit to get food down and keep pace. However, with a bit of digging deep we made it to the final CP. Wow only 11kms to go. Mike was back and met us at this checkpoint so we gave him a big hug grabbed some supplies, ate some two minute noodles and headed out for the final push. Both of us were feeling less than flash at this point with nausea and a few hundred metres up the road my noodles made a reentrance into the world - not ideal!!
This leg was tough and we felt like we were going backwards, the 5 km signs turned into 1 km signs and excruciating long periods of time seemed to pass between each one. For most of the race we had been passing people but on this leg the shoe was on the other foot and what seemed to me to be hundreds of people storming past at high speed. All I could do was grunt "go for it", man was it hard. Finally, we heard the sound of the mic at the finish line and dragged our sorry arses across it 16 hours and 49 minutes after we had started.
Been there, done that, got the T-shirt and the bronze belt buckle!! I know there is a saying that goes "never say never" but I am pretty sure this was a one off .... I guess time will tell :)
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