Hellgate Gorge Fatass Run-46kms

They don’t come much tougher than this one if you are looking for long climbs and long descents. This run starting at the Black Range campground will be familiar to a lot of runners as it undulates its way to the Jenolan Caves House, the last 10kms of the fabled Six Foot Track. But for most that is where it becomes a whole new experience. Having never seen this side of the Blue Mountains I was keen as to line up for this run. 2P did a great job promoting it with his contagious enthusiasm for all things fatass. I won’t go into too much on course description as Scott covers it quite succinctly in his recce report on the website.

10 of us turned up, some camped overnight- Tim , Marie Claire, Dawn and Martin from memory, the rest arrived the morning of the race. It was a glorious drive up from Sydney, with thick banks of fog swallowed up by the impressive gorges either side of the Caves Rd. I just had to stop to take a snap of the rising sun burning away the early morning dew.

The run began from the “Hellgate Tree” at a leisurely pace as we passed a few campers who were making their way to the Caves.
The gnarly undulations to Caves Rd were easy pickings given the freshness of our legs. I ran with Rod and Tim for a bit and then as Tim backed off (looking after his ankle) Rod and I stayed together. We made good progress to the Mt George firetrail and ran steadily down the hill arriving at Caves house in just under an hour.
We had a quick pitstop at the loo before continuing onwards toward the Jenolan campground. Running along the trail next to the river was delightful. I had the waypoints programmed into the Garmin, which was telling me how far the turnoff up the ridgeline was. Along the way we crossed the river a few times, which was a little confusing; at one stage I could have sworn we were returning to the Caves House. But sure enough at the final creek crossing at the locked gate Scott appeared with table out and an aid station already set up.

A quick chat, some Gatorade and a mouthful of jelly beans and we were set for the climb. Scott pointed us in the right direction and off we went. I looked back and commented that there was a trail to Scott, tongue in cheek, he just smiled as if to say “just you wait and see” The ground was very loose as the climb steepened and at one stage Rod and I were on hands and knees grabbing tree trunks to haul ourselves up this mother of a climb. We looked up and time and time again were disillusioned only to find another false peak. No switchbacks here just straight up the ridgeline, great stuff! Eventually (well 800mtrs and 24minutes later) we emerge onto the firetrail and turned west heading toward Mt Whiteley. The hills don’t stop however as it continues to climb, it flattens out a little and then climbs again to Kanangra Road.

Finally we get a decent run happening again along Kanangra Road, its dry and hard packed surface churning up a dust cloud as a couple of 4WDs pass by.
Scott is waiting for us once more at the Blood Filly fire trail at Mt Lakeman and I dearly hope he has picked up my handheld, which I assume I left on his aid table back at the last pitstop. However he knows nothing about it and then it then dawns on me that I must have left it in the loo at the Caves House…bugger. Luckily I had the 2ltr camelback and Scott was there helping out. We stopped and chatted for a bit, Scott informing us that we were in for a nice ride along some wonderful trail for the next few kms. He wasn’t wrong; the trail was pure heaven, a long gentle descent on soft shaded singletrack through some wonderful bush. Rod hurt his ankle here and eased off the pace a little urging me on.
My intention today was to run one lap with an additional 20km to the Caves House return, so I figured I’d better get a move on. I had to get back to Sydney for Sat night so two laps was out. I picked up the pace jumping across the muddy ford and climbing out and up to the Moorora Boss Firetrail. The trail undulates for few kms before staring to drop. The views were simply spectacular and most definitely some of the best I’ve experienced in the Blue Mountains. I stopped and wished I had a decent camera to capture the moment. Scott mentioned in his recce that the surface was very bad but I loved it. Sandy and soft I was making great progress flying down the endless switchbacks. I couldn’t help but think Scott had got it wrong or was he exaggerating?
My illusions were shattered not long after as indeed the ground turned to sand/quartz mica with loose gravely rocks and treacherous footing. I slowed down considerably and was smugly thinking how great my trail shoes were coping with the terrain when bam, I lost my footing a slid and fell knocking both knees in the process. Not a huge spill but enough to shake you up a bit. No real damage just a cut right knee and sore left knee.
I slowed right down and gingerly continued on the never-ending descent.
I should have looked more closely at the topo to realise the drop is nearly 850 metres.
I could hear the Jenolan River below but it seemed to take an eternity arriving there. The trail did improve a few hundred metres from the bottom. I took my shoes off and emptied the contents… mostly sand. The water felt fantastic on my feet as I decided to stop for a bit and have some lunch. My quads certainly felt like they’d been worked too. I looked at the map again knowing there was a mother of a climb out of there back to Black Range road. The topo didn’t lie.
The next 4kms would rise nearly 700mtrs and again a lot of that was the direct way, straight up ridgelines with no switchbacks. I set off in a good frame of mind thinking this is exactly what I need with Western States coming up. I began to tire a little as I climbed and my knee was now starting to stiffen up from the earlier fall. I also noticed a snap, crackle and pop type sound emanating from my left knee. It really didn’t sound too good so I tried to ignore it. The climb goes on and on, reminding me of the ascent up Mt Bogong. I was also starting to run out of water and looked forward to the aid drop Marie Claire and Dawn had put out earlier at the Black Range intersection.
Feeling relieved, I finally made it to the top and looked around for the drop. I couldn’t find it but then remembered Tim mentioned it was near the locked gate so I turned back, found it and refilled.

The final 6.5 kms along the Black Range were tough but I was happy to run nearly all of it and found some strength once I’d recovered from the Moorora Boss climb.
The last sweeping bend to the campground and beautiful downhill to the finish most welcome. I ‘d long ago decided that one loop was enough, my stiffening knee solidifying that decision. Stopping the clock in 5.39 at the Hellgate Tree, there was no one there. Scott was obviously still out looking after the other runners. It was such a different place from the bustling of the start earlier with campers and runners milling about.
Scott turned up 10 minutes later and I we ended up sitting around enjoying a chat and some more lunch whilst the others arrived.

All up 10 very tired but happy runners finished as our very generous crew/organiser grinned as each one remarked on how tough the run in fact was.
This is one helluva course and to be honest would be a very tough two lapper, maybe next year? Thanks 2P, you got a ripper of a run happening there!