We departed Christchurch in the early hours of Friday with a small tremor farewelling us a few hours before. The Customs Officer at Sydney Airport greeted us, on seeing our destination of Katoomba on our declaration form, with "its cold there , they had snow last night."
As we had a day to explore, we looked at some of the stunning landscape that I was going to run through. The support crew were all keen and ready.
The pre-race briefing on Saturday was introduced at 6.10 am with a welcome from an elder of the local Guddungarra people giving hints about what to do if approached by an emu ( stand next to a short person as they always attack the shortest) and some suggestions on which plants we could and could not eat. We were advised that 150 of us were not expected to finish.
The 900 runners self selected themselves to start into four waves (elite/fast/average/slow)
I set my watch/GPS to start in the slow group, and at 7.02am we were off.
We soon caught up with the average group as the large field concertina-ed into a single file once we bottlenecked on the single track at 6 km.
The morning temperature was 2 degrees C with a moderate wind. Thermals were worn from the start. The rising sun reflected off the sandstone cliffs of Mt Solitary as we ran underneath the cliffs of Leura and Katoomba
14km saw the runners having to pick their way through the debris of an old landslide. So far I was feeling good as I had not really run much yet. Pleasingly I was managing approx 6 km/h on this tricky track.
At 16km a steep staircase , (Golden Stairs) took us up to a broad 4WD track, and the first Check Point at Narrow Neck (18km). The terrain was high and gently undulating with a fantastic panorama.
The early chill disappeared so I rolled up my sleeves on Narrow Neck Plateau
Fixed ropes were in place for the descent of the Tarros Ladder at 28km. Because of the queue, I decided to take a 300m alternative route which gained me a couple of places.
This is the welcoming sight of Check Point 2, Dunphy's camp (38km). There was a gear check to ensure that we had a head torch and a back up.
Iron Pot Ridge was the next feature, and these Gundungarra people encouraged us with drumming sounds whilst we climbed uphill, and again as we passed them on the way back down from the ridge. This was now 43 km and I was smoking the trail with my new grippy trail shoes sticking like glue on the firm but dusty downhill track. I even temporarily caught up with Lisa Tamati (a famous NZ ultramarathon runner) !
The support team were cheering in full voice at Checkpoint 3 (54km). This is the intersection with Six Foot Track ( route of another well known Aussie run) and I was pleased to have hit the time of an average runner ( 8 hrs 17min). Tepid noodles never tasted so good.
The next stretch was 11km back to Katoomba. This consisted of 7km of gently rising track and then the 2 km of brutally steep steps going up Nellie's Glen to get back onto the plateau.
I got to the top of Nellie's Glen just as it was getting dusk to look back across the country I had spent the past 10 hours traversing.
Check point 4 ( 65km) saw the team help me prepare for the next stage with a change of shoes and socks and arranging the compulsory fluoro jacket.
I was all set now for a style attack on the night life of Katoomba. The next leg of 24 km to Checkpoint 5 was the longest. This started off well enough with 5 km of jogging along the flat edge of the plateau in the dark. The view would have been stunning but as it was dark that had to wait to be revisited the next day from the comfort of a car. The steep Giant Stairs of 900 steps started to make an impact on my thighs as I dropped down to the Jamison Valley. A lot of people began to pass me on the first of two bad spells on the run. Although the rest of the downhill was not very steep, my thighs became very sore on the descent. This was compounded by a feeling that something was not right and I tried to eat and drink as much as I could handle, to remedy that feeling. Only when I came to a marshal point with a gloriously burning brazier did I realise that I was actually very cold ( it was -1) and no sooner after putting a fleece top on, I was instantly better. This was a big relief as I then fast walked the 600m uphill, in the company of another runner much more positively, as we both encouraged one another to get back up on the Plateau.
Check Point 5 saw a lot of cold people being warmed up by gas heaters and blankets. Having got this far, the next 11km ought to have been easy - of which the next 5 were . The last 6km however presented me with the most demoralising " short " run I have ever encountered. Usually towards the end of a run you experience a growing sense of anticipation as you nudge to the finish line. WRONG! This was down, then up, then down , through mud, then up then down then up and then, I think, I finished. In 18 hrs 39 minutes and 56 seconds. Bronze buckle. Yay.
Down but not beaten.
So what now?
10 months of running and training are now at an end. That has added up to 3286 km and 376 hours on my feet since August 8th 2010.
There are 3 endings to this adventure and they are all happy.
The first is that for me, running makes me immensely happy, content, and very fit. The converse is that not running makes me grumpy and and suprisingly stiff. There may well come a stage that I won't run but hopefully that will be a long time away.
The second is that running for Beating Bowel Cancer Aotearoa has helped raise some very useful money in order to increase peoples awareness about combatting this very common disease, and which in many many circumstances can be cured. My sincere thanks to all of you who have contributed to this cause.
The third ending is that my sister, Carol is nearly a year post-treatment, is back working and sailing, and is now disease free.
And that for me is the best ending of all.
Kia Kaha.
