North Face 100km Trail Race Blue Mountains 2008

I love the Blue Mountains and would gladly live there if work wasn't so far away.
To get to run two 100km races just two weeks apart was a very special opportunity.
I hadn’t planned it that way; originally the NF100 was the focus race but these opportunities don’t come along too often.
After a great run at WE100 I was recovering well when a week later I picked up a nasty head cold. I then stupidly got a flu shot on the Monday of race week that saw my cold degenerate into a chest infection. Still I was too stubborn to listen to my body and went ahead with the race.

Race day was glorious with clear cold blue skies. I was overwhelmed with the turnout at the start line having driven up that morning. Blue Dog captured the moment when he commented, “Could this be the coming of age of trail ultra running in NSW”? I nodded in agreement. To pull 200 runners together for what would surely be a very tough 100kms in its inaugural year was simply sensational.

After a few cautionary words from RD Tom we were soon on our way up the road out of the car park. Wow, so many runners pulled away very quickly on the first hill. I joined Jonathan Worswick and Ian Wright for a chat and took it very easy. The plan was to assess where my chest and breathing were at whilst monitoring my HR. I stayed with Ian pretty much up to CP1 where I never felt comfortable. My HR was way too high and breathing was all over the place. I was thinking I was in for a tough grind. I looked for Whippet figuring Ian would soon pull away and it would be better to have some company but had no idea where he was. In fact I had no idea where anyone was and soon realised I was stuck in a pretty slow conga line along Federal Pass to the Landslide and up the Golden Staircase. There was lots of conversation with incredible mutterings of “26kms is my longest run”, “ I play a bit of soccer and am pretty fit” to “I have trained a total of 3 weeks for this”!!! I shook my head in disbelief; these guys were in for a world of hurt I thought.

After CP1 I shuffled along Narrowneck, struggling on the gentle rises but running fairly solidly on the downs. I would play leapfrog with Ian for a few kms along here before finding a better tempo and pulling away just before Tarros. Once at the bottom I was soon enjoying the singletrack through the gap and up Mt Debert. I noticed Kim Cook ahead and tried to catch him up, which I did as we turned onto the Mitchell’s Creek firetrail. Kim was good company along with another runner who ran WE100 but was running the relay today. I started to struggle again on the hills and was not enjoying myself too much as we neared the turn off for Dunphy’s and CP2.

The checkpoint was a quick affair where I didn’t hang around too long it was cold once you stopped. I grabbed a fruit bun and nibbled on it as I chased Rachel Waugh in the direction of Ironpot Mountain. Nice open country along here with a good fire trail gradually climbing before and abrupt steep climb to the ridge itself. I was not feeling anywhere near where I should on the climb, WE100 still evident it seemed. Eventually at the top we hit the out and back section along the ridge. Magic views off to the right to Tinpot Hill and beyond with the Cox River not far below where we would turn around. It was a good opportunity to assess where you were in the field here and I was rather surprised to see Dearne Fulcher on her way back having passed me a long way back. Rod and Rachel were also about a km ahead at this stage but I was slowly gaining on them. I soon caught up to Rod just after the wonderful off track section that involved a long descent off the mountain back towards Megalong Rd.

Rod and I both shuffled along Megalong Rd. I was surprised when he informed me that CRs Whippet and Brick and others were in fact behind us, I had assumed they were in front?
I hadn’t seen this section in training and was surprised with the climb up from Green Gully. It dragged on and on. Rod did mention a 4km stretch of nice downhill into the CP at Old Ford Reserve (52kms) though, which I looked forward to. Downhills were good, anything else and my breathing was ratshit.

I pulled away from Rod and passed Rachel before soon catching up to Terry Meahan who was obviously struggling. A nice warm welcome at the CP with lots of people around. I planned on some hot food here only to find there was only chicken noodles and soup available, bummer. My drop would have to do, creamed rice and a bottle of Gatorade it was then. The food re-energised me and I made better progress along the sixfoot track before a couple of relay runners came flying by, highlighting the actual slowness of my jogging at this stage. My mind wandered to the 12FT track in August where at this stage the race is almost over. I tried to get into a groove and just grind it out as I would then, but I was forced to walk a lot more than usual as I approached the foot of Nellies. On the climb the heavens opened up and it got cold, however the canopy kept me dry. I made reasonable progress to the top stopping every so often to catch a breath. I noticed a runner ahead just at the clearing but let him go as I had to stop to put my jacket on as the rain came down.

The trail skirting Bonnie Doon Falls before Stuarts Rd is very pretty. I was now looking forward to the next CP as you do, this time Echo Point 66kms and hopefully some hot veggie soup. I almost missed the turnoff to the Katoomba Cascades Walk continuing straight ahead before turning around upon noticing a well placed cross at the intersection. These walks along with the Cliff Top Walk are some of the most beautiful in the area with fabulous vistas right across the entire Jamison valley. I could see Kedumba Walls off to the left knowing I’d be climbing them in the next few hours and to the right was the Narrowneck Peninsula we’d ran along earlier in the day, wow we had covered some country thus far, what a privilege.

There were numerous tourists still about but it was getting colder now as the exposed cliff top yielded to the biting late afternoon wind. After what seemed like a very long kilometre 65-66kms I rolled into CP4 at Echo Point. CR Barney (Chris Graham) who had crewed for me at WE100 was there, this time crewing for his mate Sir Runalot.
The CP seemed to be well camouflaged amongst the hustle and bustle of tourism, a good thing I guess as this is exactly what the event organisers were looking for. Chris got me a hot cup of coffee (again there was only chicken noodles and soup). I grabbed a few gus and left after putting on my beanie.

I was psyched now knowing this was the homeward stretch. I picked up a couple of runners on the Giant Stairway and was surprised at how good the legs felt on the never-ending staircase. At the bottom I figured a good solid run would see me possibly pick up a few more runners along the Sublime Point Ridge. I was happy to be here still in daylight and hoped to make it to start of the Kedumba Climb before nightfall. Having run this trail only 2 weeks prior from the opposite direction I was aware there would be plenty of early downhill to take advantage of. And this is how it panned out as I passed 3 more runners before crossing Leura Falls Creek and another just before Jamison Creek. The views back to the 3 Sisters and across to Mt Solitary in the fading light were awesome. I switched my headlamp on as I began the long haul up the pass. The climb was a killer though and I needed to stop a few times just to catch my breath and give the legs a break. I looked behind to see if there were any lights from behind but there were none to be seen. I was definitely losing time here. Once it flattened out I noticed a couple of runners a few hundred metres ahead of me. As I trundled in the CP at the hospital (86kms) it turned out to be Sir Runalot and Chris.

I sat down after retrieving my drop bag and quickly fished out a cuppa macaroni noodles and had one of the volunteers prepare it for me. I was very hungry at this stage, which probably contributed to my energy slump on the climb. The macaroni was very ordinary but it went down well, hunger is good sauce.
I left the checkpoint in front of those that came in with me and ran well along the bitumen road to the turn off. I was again in unknown territory well at least I hadn’t covered this last section in training, I did walk the National Pass some years ago so kinda knew what to expect. After some rather nice singletrack initially the trail then becomes a series of wet steps and boggy marsh where I managed to land ankle deep at one stage. Shortly before the Nature Track, Chris and Sir Runalot caught and passed me at speed. I was impressed with their pace, I tried to hang on but they quickly opened a gap. I noticed another light from behind and with just under 4kms to go I didn’t want to give up a place, the competitive side was coming out. I managed to bridge the gap to Noel and Chris but was passed by the runner behind. Back onto the bitumen and now no more than a couple of kms to go I realised Chris and Noel slowing a little. It was on a nice descent and this was my chance to give it everything and go for broke. I opened up the stride and passed them just before the bottom and continued running up the other side. I now had the runner from earlier in sight but was running out of road. The Resort came into view and I pushed hard thinking the finish line was close, little did I know we had to go bush again and then loop around the back of the resort before reaching the finish line.
I heard some cheers for the runner ahead and realised I was almost there.
One more uphill on grass and then finally the finish in 13hrs 48mins.
I was more relieved than rapt to finish. I had pushed my body hard whilst crook and now I just wanted to lie down.
I quickly went inside and grabbed a blanket as my body temperature plummeted and began the recovery process. I spent a couple of hours there watching the runners come in.

A wonderful event, well organised and well attended on the day. Thanks Tom and Alina, the SES and all the volunteers.

4 days later and I am now on antibiotics for a rather nasty chest infection. Lesson learnt: I will not run with a chest cold again. (no really)

Hopefully this event will be on again next year. I reckon I could go sub 13hrs on this course and that’ll be the aim then.