Off-road running

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We’ve Gone Nuts – Tasmania’s 101km adventure run

Date: 3 March 2018
Distance: 101km
Time: 20:56.25

When a 100km event allows 28 hours (the norm being 20 hours), heed the warning sign. For some reason, I thought this event was flattish and not too technical. Not sure how I got that idea in my head, but that was what my head was willing to cope with. With a massively long cut-off time, you could potentially walk the whole way and still make it. It would be a great way to lure newbie ultra-runners (and allow walkers) into this sort of distance. The event terrain in a nutshell, as described by the organisers – “Tasmania’s Gone Nuts 101 Adventure Run will commence on one of Tasmania’s most recognised and visited icons, The Nut, at Stanley, in Tasmania’s North West corner. The race will hug coastline, climb through Rocky Cape National Park and traverse rugged coastal bush and calming temperate rainforest. You will be challenged by diverse landscapes, encounter native wildlife and birds, and witness some of the most spectacular coastlines imaginable. In this part of the world, rolling green farmland drops over cliffs into the pristine waters of Bass Strait. The beaches are also as diverse as they are unique, with sections of long white sandy beaches, small crescent shaped bays and rugged rocky bays formed by volcanic eruptions millions of years ago.” Sounds nice, eh? Unfortunately, I apparently chose to ignore words like “cliffs”, “rugged rocky”, “climb”, and “rugged coastal bush”. Continue reading →

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Queens Domain parkrun – Hobart (Tasmania)

Date: 24 February 2018
Distance: 5km
Time: 29:06

A field of 150 participants on a rainy day.
The first short out-and-back stretch to make up the 5km course.
Hard to imagine you’re in the middle of a city.
A lovely course that should be great on a good day.
Gerry on the 600 metre stretch of trail.
Wet, wet, wet.
The turn-around point at the carpark, near the start.
A new track surface being tested by runners.
By the end, the camera was all wet and frosty too.

Who would have thought that Hobart houses one of the most impressive art galleries I’ve ever had the pleasure of visiting. The Mona (Museum of old and new art) – originally (and officially still) called Monanism, is a antique, modern and contemporary art museum, founded by David Walsh, a Tasmanian millionaire. From the outside the building seems to be on a single level, but once inside, a spiral staircase leads down three large levels that are built underground into the Berriedale peninsula in a labyrinthine style. In contrast to the Guggenheim Museum in New York where visitors work their way down with a spiral, at Mona visitors start at the bottom level and work their way up. Entry is free for locals, whereas overseas visitors pay $28pp. Continue reading →

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Risdon Brook Track – Hobart (Tasmania) – unofficial parkrun and then some

Risdon Brook reservoir.
A lovely sunny day.
Heading up one of the hills.
A Tasmanian Native-hen (Gallinula mortierii).
We passed quite a few other track users.
A great outing.
Some welcome shade.
The dam wall.
Close encounters with a wallaby.

Our training took a turn for the worse the past couple of weeks, so the thought of a 101km event in 9 days time, is making me a wee bit nervous. After 19 hours of traveling, we finally touched down in Tasmania, and decided to walk the 1.7km to catch a local bus into town where we had to pick up the rental car. At $11 for the both of us, it seemed a much better option than the airport bus at $40 for us two. Besides, we needed to do some form of exercise after all that sitting. Continue reading →

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On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me …

The Big Christmas Feast – A Greatest Virtual Run Challenge, raising money for kids on the spectrum

Date: 1-12 December 2017
Distance: 200km
Previous GVR: 2017

My middle name is procrastination. And Gerry’s first, middle and last names are procrastination. Maybe it is just a severe case of student syndrome? But, it only took us until well into the first of December, the day the challenge started, before finally entering. It might just be a classic case of an already out-of-hand hectic life, with work, this time of year, and all that jazz that the fun things in life tend to be ignored and end up falling by the wayside. Luckily we had two minutes of sanity to quickly enter. Continue reading →

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Three bridges and three ditches

Date: 9 December 2017
Distance: 21.1km
Time: 2:12.20
Previous: 2010, 2014

Still going strong despite ramping up my kilometres significantly this week. [Pic by Jonesy’s Photography.]
Registration.
Still had my fleece top on. Briefly considered running with it!
Bill doing race briefing.
Crossing the first bridge (Dublin St Bridge) going upstream.
Some cloud at the start with little bits of blue/sunny sky peeking through.
It’s going to happen, and Gerry can’t come with. 😦
One of the three cheeky ditches.
Participants lazing around after the event.
Trying to get the stupid phone app to keep going. It asked a million questions and then paused!
Passing over Cobham Bridge, looking out to the sea.
What looked like a boat with two fisherman, turned out to be a little sand bank in the low-tide river.
Pack n Save as the main sponsor for the marathon.
Kowhai Park next to the Whanganui River.
Gerry came over for support and a photo after my first lap.
Prize-giving.
Another one of the ditches. They are far steeper than it looks on the photo.

The Whanganui 3-bridges event was only the third event we’d done in NZ (in 2010) and I still have fond memories of the day. We only did the 10km back then, but having done the Mountain to Surf marathon in 2008 during a visit and tour of the country, and the Kahuterawa Classic 7km also in 2010, we were starting to get a feel for NZ events. Continue reading →