Alpine 100 Mile Challenge 2010

My race was a mixed bag.

What a cracking tough course that was. I am still getting my head around it all. I was familiar with the B2H 60kms but that was it, so would have to rely on the GPS and maps to get me around the remainder. And what a ‘remainder’ that turned out to be.
Climbing out of Bogong Village up the first hill (Spion Kopje) I soon realised I was not going to figure at the pointy end with a reasonable hitout at 6FT seven days earlier making itself known. I tried to stay with Pipi, Ourimbah, and Beaver but it just wasn’t happening. No worries I resolved to having a good solid enjoyable race.

I was enjoying the predawn running once at the top of the climb, the 4.30am start affording a beautiful dawn over the high plains towards Warby Corner.
Ran well down Duane Spur to the beautiful Big River (shame to think it is infected).
I wasn’t taking any chance with the water, steripening everything and popping purification tabs in the bladder too.

The conditions on the day were perfect and we were treated to near perfect visibility when we summated Mt Bogong with views off to the higher Snowy Mountain peaks and Mt Kosciuszko. I chatted for a bit with the volunteer at the cairn who mentioned he would see me the next day at Blairs Hut. These guys were legends for coming out and helping out.
The descent off Quartz Ridge was spectacular with a knife edge scramble along the ricks before a ‘highway’ cleared trail to the river. I ran with Damien here. We hit the river stopped to refill and were joined by Pbig and another 100km runner. The climb up Timm’s Spur was probably the easiest of the day with its long gentle switchbacks taking us back onto the high plain and into Warby Cnr once more. So with the ‘tough’ north loop out of the way it was off to Mt Loch and Hotham via Langford’s Gap.
Maggot was doing a sterling job crewing for Whippet and I and had a nice minestrone soup ready at Langford’s. I struggled up to Omeo Rd (seems to be the way at B2H too) but soon found better legs along the pole line to 333. A herd of magnificent Brumbies stopped to stare at me as I hobbled on by. Swindlers Spur was a drag, I was thankful I had my poles as I hauled myself up to Mt Loch just after dark. Another refuel at the very cool and blustery Mt Loch car park and then back into new territory. I stuffed around a little once at Diamantina Hut and then found the trail heading off to the Bon Accord Spur. This was probably the best part of the race for me. With a 1200mtr drop to the town of Harrietville along a wonderful single-track, I felt good here but was running out of water and food. I hoped Maggot would be there to meet me, but knew there was a chance that he might not make it shuffling between Whippet and I. As I dropped out onto the road in the town, the mellum mothership came screaming down the hill, just in time! Unfortunately Whippet was on board with a blown knee, bugger. I spent a bit of time here refuelling and then set off for the climb up Mt Feathertop along the Bungalow Spur.
I had been running alone since Warby Corner earlier in the day and as I climbed Feathertop I could see a trail of lights off in the distance behind me. The weather started to turn as I approached the turn off for the peak. Thick fog/mist rolled in and I found it quite difficult picking up the trail to the summit. It was now blowing a gale too and to be honest was getting a tad dangerous. I finally reached the second peak (true summit) and turned to descend. This was when it got a messy as I couldn’t pick out the trail or see the ridges for a bearing. Before I knew it I was deep in a gully. This became apparent when there was a brief break in the cloud. Bugger! I looked at my GPS and tried to navigate back up to the spur. This involved a rock scramble with some treacherous footing. With wind gusts I was being blown about quite a bit and at one stage was ‘saved’ by my poles. I eventually made it back to the trail and safely made it back to the Diamantina Spur turn off. Fun and games were only just beginning however as I again lost the trail to the Diamantina Knob where we drop down to the Kiewa river. I was rightly pissed off as I ended up bush bashing through saplings off to the side of the main ridge. What an idiot! I lost a good 50 minutes here before finally getting to higher ground and picking my way to the correct descent point.
It was dawn by the time I reached the river and the trail to Blair Hut and I was very tired. I stopped before the climb up to Weston Hut and had a good feed knowing this climb was a big one. When I eventually arrived at the top and made my way to Pole 333 there was no one there. I turned left and headed north toward Tawonga Huts, looking forward to more sustenance from Maggot.

When I arrived I felt like I was cooking in the midday sun, only to find Mal and the volunteers, huddled around an open fire? They offered me some tea and a slice of fruit cake which went down well. I applied some sunscreen and asked Mal how long to the finish. He mentioned 21kms or so, crap! I somehow figured 15kms at most. Not too worry I was still enjoying the trails, so I popped the IPod back on and made for the Fainter Trail, passing the final 100km team near Jack Hut.
The remainder of the run was a mix of walk, run, shuffle with a strong downhill finish bouncing the poles down the final firetrail back to Bogong village.

I received a nice reception when I wasn’t expecting one finishing in the arvo.
Congratulations to all involved. Impressive runs by the podium place getters, delighted to see Pipi finally crack his potential on a big run and take it out, with Darrel and Andrew stepping it up a notch again. These guys are training the house down and did NSW proud. Brian (BJ) finished strongly with a fine 100 mile debut and should do very well at Western States, definitely one to look out for in future races. Well done to Delyth too, taking out the female course record!

Later that night all I could think about was the guys and gals still out there particularly my mate UCB and Tank Girl. I was rapt to be awoken at 2am when Dave stumbled into the cabin with that look on his face you can only have after running for almost 2 full days and nights. Magic!

Thanks to Paul Ashton for enabling the single push 100 mile event this year. I do believe this is the toughest trail 100 miler in the country with my GPS giving the following stats.

Total distance = 156.8kms
Total ascent = 7236m (using elevation correction plug-in in Sport tracks)

Thanks too to all the volunteers and sponsors of the MIND charity.