The running year that was 2011

2011 The running year that was.

It was a big year for Australian ultra running with a paradigm shift in not only the popularity and increasing number of entrants at events but the way runners now train and prepare for races.

The competition at the pointy end of the fields has increased with faster and dare I say younger runners moving across to the dark side. Social media coverage of events has improved out of sight too with Facebook, Twitter updates and now our very own version of irunfar.com with the boys at ultra168.com providing a wonderful portal to all things ultra. Gear selection has gone up a notch too; runners are more prepared for the elements with the latest in lightweight gear for all occasions. Nutrition – runners understand the need to nail down your nutrition as a huge component to race day success. Exciting times indeed, and then we had the influx of foreign runners on our shores with team Salomon racing TNF100 back in May. A very well oiled machine they would go on to dominate the big ultras overseas with wins at WS, HR, UTMB and Leadville amongst others. This was perhaps the biggest shift in the sport globally with the organisation of a very well drilled team and crew showing the distinct advantage over other competitors. I am sure a lot of rival companies will have been taking pointers from Team Salomon in preparation for the year ahead.

Back home there would be no 100 miler Grand Slam with the demise of the GOW100 miler. However there was still plenty of racing on offer with record numbers in attendance at most events. The biggest undoubtedly the North Face 100k race in May with 850 competitors.

Personally my year was a very pleasing one. With PBs at most events including my 4th Triple Crown of Glasshouse 100miler – Great North Walk 100miler and Coast to Kosciuscko 150miler. In fact I believe I was the only person to complete it this year which was rather surprising given the interest in the Grand Slam the past few years. I also managed to knock a whopping 4hrs 18 mins off my fastest Triple Crown accumulative time. Interestingly although I ran personal best times at each of these events I ended up with 6th, 10th and 6th positions at each race respectively. The times I ran were good enough in the past to podium at each race, in fact win a couple of them a few years ago! This is a good indication of the shift in quality at the events now and the growing maturity of the ultra scene as a whole. We are still in an ‘infant’ state on a global scale but are growing very rapidly.

Another pleasing year on the RunningWild committee organising fun trail races in the Blue Mountains. The growth in the sport indicative by the numbers turning out at our events! This was one of the most pleasing aspects of my year. We have had a dud end of year due to unfavourable weather cancelling a couple of our events but we are now looking forward to a better second half culminating with the impressive Solitary Ultra in April ’12.

Goals for next year: I entered both Hardrock and Western States lotteries but alas was not so lucky this year. As such I have my eye on another overseas miler pending some favourable planetary movement. I will likely snap up an entry to the NF100ker in May and then focus on a Gold medal (sub 24hr-time) at GNW for the remainder of the year. This will likely mean giving GH100 in Sept a miss and maybe heading down to GOW for the 100ker as a litmus test on my prep for GNW in Nov. I am also planning on a shift to a more regimented training schedule with the re-introduction of some structured speedwork and hills. I have run just over 5000kms for the year and to be honest there was very little speedwork in there. I still improved times with my approach but would like to see if I can step it up a notch more in 2012. Looking forward to it