Running events

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Catchment Ultra recce

Date: 22 June 2018
Distance: 50km
Time: 9:08

There was a time in my life when I thought it was pure madness to run anything further than 27km by yourself in a training run. It already took some brain gymnastics to run anything further than a 21km and not get a medal. But to run ultras you have to also do long training runs and while training for a 5-day stage race back in 2008, we finally got our heads around 23+km training sessions – without medals! We have always tried to do our extra-long-runs (e.g. further than 27km) at events. Events to me is not necessarily a “race”, but often just a LSD training run with the added bonus of having aid stations along the way. Continue reading →

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Ring of Fire (ROF) Volcanic Ultra

Date: 7 April 2018
Distance: 72km (we measured 76km)
Time: 18:15

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Hundreds of headlamps snaking up the mountainside.

Forty-five hours after we finished the most gruelling event we’ve ever done, and I’m still at a loss for words. Not even a few glasses of the best kiwi wine could help get the creative juices flowing. So here I am, wondering what to make of it all and where to start.

When I first caught wind of this new event on the calendar, I was intrigued. Not just because circumnavigating the mountain in one go has been on our to-do list for the past seven years, but also because the acronym “rof” is actually a word in my home language that loosely translates to “rough”. I thought this was a very apt description for an event of this calibre, and it obviously sparked my interest. Continue reading →

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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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Chasing the cut-off – Jumbo-Holdsworth Trail Race

Date: 27 January 2018
Distance: 24km
Time: 4:42.08

Race briefing.
And away we go!
Very early on, runners were queueing at a foot bridge, but since we started off so slow, we only had a wait a short while.
The first seven or so kilometres were all runnable. After the bridge we were by ourselves the whole time until we reached the massive uphill.
A one-person swing bridge where I was reduced to a walk.
When the imposing uphill started, we finally caught up with some other runners.
Gerry was feeding us every 20 minutes or so.
Up and up and up we went.
Finally above the treeline, but then into the fog.
Tall grass and scrub made the going difficult. Not that it seemed to bother most other runners.
Scary bits on the ridgeline.
I thanked my lucky stars that it was foggy, as I’m sure the drop-offs on either side would be very scary!
i decided to rather walk all the edgy bits.
Sidling around the ridge.
Another drop-off to the right. I was secretly shitting myself.
On the edge.
Nice to see a volunteer up on the ridge.
This is more what I thought it would look like at the top.
Into the mystic …
Another ridge to sidle along.
One is quite exposed on the mountain (nevermind the runner in front of me that exposed himself!).
Gerry seems happy that we reached this point.
Having some solid ground on either side of the path is much more comforting.
Foggy path.
One of the more runnable bits at the top.
Sweaty and tired, but happy to be heading downhill for a bit.
Finally we reached the volunteer at Mt Holdsworth.
Mt Holdsworth trig and a friendly volunteer.
Back on the ridge, and finally going down.
Don’t slip!
You couldn’t see too far ahead – possibly a blessing in disguise.
Happy days.
Starting a tricky descent.
A steep descent brought us to the Holdsworth Hut.
Lots of steps on the first stretch down the mountain from the hut.
And of course back into the forest.
The Gentle Annie Track is quite runnable.
Mt Holdsworth in the back.
My quads stopped working at some stage.
We still had a long way down to the start/finish.
Whoohoo! Not far now.
Happy to be so close to our first Jumbo-Holdsworth finish.
“Flying” for the last bit.
Clearly we didn’t go fast enough. Too much energy still.
A fantastic finish to a great race.
Grub on the house! Loved the veges!
Is there a prize for the dirtiest finisher?
Prize-giving in a beautiful spot on a lovely sunny day.

For the past seven years, this event has been on our to do list. But every year there’s something preventing us from entering; too much traveling and sitting over Christmas, too much eating and not enough training, injury, it is always this, that or the other. Finally, this year we took the plunge, very last minute I might add. We only entered five days out from the event (my apologies to the organisers). Continue reading →