Bogong to Hotham 2006

They say ultra runners have very short memories, how true that is.
Climbing Swindlers Spur, 51km into this gruelling run, I swore to myself I’d never do this again, it’s just too bloody relentless, climb after climb on a hot day with no sign of last years cooling alpine breeze and cooler temps, and of course a gob full of flies to boot.

Three days later and I can’t wait to get back there again to bang the proverbial head against the wall. I think Kelvin summed it up at the Mt Hotham cairn when he said
“This is the toughest one day ultra around”

My goal this year was sub 10hrs after posting a 10:02 on debut last year.
With all the talk of early starts the night before I decided to head off at 5:30am and take advantage of cooler conditions with a hot day of running forecast.

I started in a small pack with Blue Dog, Kelvin and Louis Cummins. There was just enough light to not warrant a headlight. We ran the first 2km to the Staircase at an easy pace before the climb up Bogong. I settled in just behind Kelvin hoping he would pull me up at a decent pace. It turned out to be hard work getting there with sweat dripping off the brim of my cap very early on. I (stupidly) followed Kelvin past the turnoff for the cairn losing time, only realising my error when I saw Sean and others coming down from the summit. I turned back up the mountain for the summit furious with myself. 1:43 and 4 mins behind last years split. Touched the cairn, greeted the volunteers, had a quick look around and I was out of there.

I think the stuff up had a positive effect on me though, as I charged down the mountainside toward Cleve Cole passing numerous 5 and 5:15am starters.
It felt so good to finally run after 1.5hrs of tough climbing.

I filled my pack from the tap inside Cleve Cole before been sent on my way to Madison Hut. Not long after I bumped into Tim and Andrew who were refilling at the creek looking way too casual, having a good old chat. I would of loved to have joined them for the climb up Bogong with, I would of assumed, plenty of banter happening.
Upon arrival at Madison Hut I introduced myself to Pastyboy, good to finally meet him.

The descent to Big River (T-Spur) was especially hard this year with a lot of undergrowth and sheets of tree bark lying about. I almost tripped several times and was very lucky not to come a cropper when I rolled my ankle. I thought I was moving along quite well however, when all of a sudden I heard the sound of snapping leaves and the rustle of feet. Andrew came screaming past muttering “I’ll see you at the river”. He did this at Glasshouse last year too, a sight to behold; I have never seen anybody move so fast downhill.

We arrived at Big River just under 3hrs so I was back on track with last years split having made up for lost time on T-Spur. The tree crossing the river looked smaller this year making it more difficult to cross? I watched another runner nearly fall off as he tried stepping across the log and then another bumming his way across. With my legs feeling quite stuffed from the T-Spur descent I decided to mimic the latter. I filled up the Camelbak and just as I was about to start bum hopping across the tree my Garmin wristband came undone. A quick repair and I was on my way.

And so the climb up Duane Spur was upon me. I slogged it up the climb for a few hundred metres when a bounding Magnus Michelson, who was flying up the mountain, passed me. A short while later I almost trod on a black snake as it wiggled its way across the trail right between my legs! Somewhat startled I pushed on.
My lack of food to now (I had stupidly only eaten a powerbar thus far) was starting to affect me and I felt very low on energy.
I was alone now shortly before the top, when I started to think I had lost the path somewhere along the way. The trail had grown back quite a bit since last year but I still felt I was on some side trail as I neared the summit. I stuffed around with my map and compass before deciding to continue. Luckily a couple of runners came up from behind reassuring me I was on the correct trail.

When I finally reached Ropers Hut and the dunny I continued to the right as the snowpole line suggested. I soon realised this was not right and backtracked. I stuffed around losing more time here before a few more runners came through. We took a compass reading and realised south would have us turning left before we found the 4-wheel drive track. I don’t recall having any problems here last year?

Having lost a lot of time it was going to be touch and go as to whether I would make the 5:30 split at Langford Gap. Running along the trail skirting Marm Point was a battle again this year. I saw a couple of runners ahead and just like last year decided I would have to try and bridge the gap to them and stay with them.

However the damage was done and after the excessively long section along the aqueduct I reeled into Langford in 5:35, absolutely shattered.
I knew I had to sit down and eat some food and try to recover before continuing. I sat there as Tim and Andrew’s wives Tanya and Wendy filled my pack and got some oranges for me. Mel turned up offering me an icy pole that went down a treat. I ate half a can of creamed rice and grabbed some salt n vinegar chips for the slog out of there. At one point I really did consider dropping at Langford but DNF was not happening today. I figured a run walk and eat regime to Omeo Rd should see me recover.
True enough not long before the Cope Hut the food had started to kick in. Mel was there again and after accepting another icy pole, I mentioned a craving for electrolytes to which she produced a cold bottle of powerade from the combi fridge. My God did that help. I was a happy camper now and determined to run most of the Bogong High Plains. I did too, occasionally mixing in a walk break. The tussocky grass and uneven terrain was playing havoc with my feet though and hot spots were beginning to form. Shit, I realised I had forgotten to reapply some bodyglide back at Langford Gap. Ian Wright passed me shortly before Cope Hut looking very strong as usual, commenting on the unusually warm conditions.

The views around here are awesome, this barren landscape affording unobstructed views to distant peaks including Mt Feathertop.
I could see 3 runners ahead in the distance; the gap between us would remain the same all the way to Pole 333.
It was a nice surprise to receive a round of applause and some cheers coming from a homestead off to the southwest near Mt Bundara. I was buoyed by this and felt a surge of energy that carried me up the rise and across to Pole 333. The flies along the High Plains were especially woeful, I’m sure I ate a dozen or so, you just had to keep moving to minimise the amount of the buggers that enveloped you. I recalled laughing at those who wore fly nets over their caps questioning if they were ultra runners or beekeepers? Well they had the last laugh; I’ll be putting one of those suckers in my pack next time.

I rolled into Pole 333 checkpoint and asked the guy there if there were many runners behind me, who had made the cutoff and continued, he replied that there were a few.
I grabbed a banana and a Mars bar for the trip to Dibbin Hut. My feet were killing me with every foot strike, such is the rocky terrain, and I felt every pebble through the soles of my 2100s. Another lesson for next year will be to wear a pair of trail runners. How Tim or anyone for that matter can get by on a pair of KT26s is beyond me, must be my “girly” feet are just not tough enough.

The descent down to Cobungra gap is one of my favourite sections of this run, the landscape turning distinctly greener and lusher the lower one descends and all of this along a fairly decent trail. I headed straight for the river to fill the pack and take a couple of Nurofen in the hope that might stifle the pain in my feet. I pulled out my splits from last year only to realise I was still a good 10 minutes behind, my hopes of sub 10 hours rapidly diminishing. I checked in with the radio guy there and crossed the river for the climb up Swindlers Spur.
The two runners who were away in the distance back along the High Plains were now in sight, but I didn’t have much fight left in me. I’m sure I didn’t suffer as much on this climb last year, in fact I recall getting a second wind here, but not today, it was going to be a head down, suck it and see affair. Approaching the top I did eventually catch up to the guys in front. We walked the last incline, not saying much to each other, not that much needed to be said, we knew how each other felt.

Once at the top and back on some terrain that marginally looked flat I decided to get a slow trot happening. It wasn’t a very fast trot at all, but enough to put a gap into the 2 guys behind, to which I was delighted. I ran straight past the volunteer at Derrick Hut, calling out my number as I did so. Finding a good rhythm again, I managed to pass 2 more runners before Pole 60.

Took a sharp left and the final section to Mt Hotham and the finish. I tried to run all of this but the slight incline had me walking again. I remembered from last year to stick to the snow pole line and disregarded the 4-wheel drive track. I caught up to CR Pbig here and we said g’day. The last 1.5km was a killer on the feet and a lot slower going than last year. There was some road works happening and what used to be a dirt trail to the bitumen road was now rocks and shale, not very runner friendly.

I hit the bitumen and laughed at the sign put there suggesting runners “run up the bitumen” when really there’s not of gas left in the tank at that stage. The final climb to the summit and the token run up the final 100mtrs to try and impress the people already there.
It was done; I was relieved and immensely satisfied to finish today.

10:14 on the clock so I’d come up shorter than expectations, but given the heat and my stupidity with first half fuelling I was rapt to finish.

I learned a lot on this run. Most of my training was done on very little if any food in an effort to teach the body to burn fat, but I just simply forgot to flick over to race mode and make sure I was getting enough in. I had no problems with eating, I just forgot to! I was happy with my second half especially the run across the High Plains and a reasonable finish once I’d reached the top of Swindlers Spur.

This run is by far the best trail run in the country and as others have said deserves unparalleled respect. I will be back to break 10hrs.

I had a ball again reacquainting with Team “Mellum” from Glasshouse 100 and catching up with a bunch of other crazy runners. The atmosphere and camaraderie at these events is unique.

Thanks to Mike Grayling once more and the wonderful efforts of John and Olga Lindsay promoting the race and of course all the volunteers who do a remarkable job.

Long may this race remain on the calendar.