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You get out what you put in.

- Unknown.

C2K event report (16 December 2013)

What a hard, yet awesome adventure. Coast to Kosciusko this year was a 'Mammoth' challenge for Justin and I as we attempted to cover the 240km trek together becoming the first married couple to run totally together. Side by side. Step for step. Christian and Julia Fatton had both competed in the same race, though they ran separately. We are really glad to have taken on this event, its challenges, and feel that we did conquer the mammoth; running united as a team.

Congrats to the many amazing efforts and the great finisher rate. There are just so many outstanding performances and stories alike to inspire. Everyone involved must be congratulated.

Well done Jess Baker for cracking the record. With the difficult conditions from Charlottes Pass, to the summit and back, to break the record was quite a remarkable effort. I am especially proud also of Sabina Hamaty coming in 2nd place. When, at Charlotte Pass, Sabina was only 500m behind I smiled. Sabina Hamaty paced herself beautifully through the event and finished strongly. In each of my previous C2K finishes (three of them), Sabina had helped crew for me and did a wonderful job each time. She knew the course, respected the distance and committed to her plan. On Friday 6/12/13 we stepped onto that same line as fellow racers and I know just how hard Sabina had worked through the year to prepare for this event. Congrats. Thank you again so much for crewing for me in the past.

In the men's event I was staggered by the thought of Ewan Horsburgh tackling that snow covered peak in darkness. Fancy getting to Charlottes Pass early enough to beat the sunrise on the Saturday! Well done mate. Obviously there are so many more great results and amazingly tough stories. I enjoy all the race reports and thank you for sharing your stories.


C2K is one of those 'special' races that ooze commitment and passion from the Race Directors and all the people involved. They care, know what the athletes need, and deliver.., with many years of experience and persistence you can always be assure that they are doing their absolute best to ensure the runners are catered for and have a great event. Well done on another great event Diane, Paul and your team.

As anyone who has run ultra's before knows, your 'crew' is instrumental in helping the athlete through the event. Justin and I carefully selected these people based on their experience and expertise in particular areas. You just can't do this type of ultra-run without a support crew and you certainly can't do 'your best' without an awesome crew. We had an awesome crew. Our four crew members worked brilliantly together and complimented each other beautifully. We were a team of six, right from the start. My heartfelt thanks to you Sandy and Colin Suckling, Debbie McGowan and Ken Self for your commitment, hard work and patience they have shown.

Sandy Suckling as our 'Master' had the team pit stops setup like a well-oiled machine (very cliche I know) but true. Sandy's (and Colin's) ultra-running experience and her ability to lead the team shone through many times. With measured amounts of praise, energy, concern, troubleshooting and boot to get going again when we needed it, Sandy kept the team focus and encouraged Justin and I to persevere and continue onward.

Our strategy was very well devised, calculated and measured. Our crew well prepped thanks to Techno Ken Self. Ken had crewed twice before and is an absolute whizz with numbers. Not surprisingly, Justin and Ken 'click'. His plan was great, though unfortunately our lack of decent hill training did catch up in the end and the cold wet conditions played havoc with my respiratory tract overnight making the last 80kms slower than we had hoped. We were unable to fully keep to the A game possibility, though I am quite convinced that the numbers are right. Shame on Justin and myself for the non-hill training. Next year we MUST do hills. Quite a simple philosophy. If you want to run faster, run faster in training. If you want to do hills better… do them in training. Time was of the essence this year and our commitment to other projects did not allow for appropriate time to be invested.

Debbie McGowan was our adopted Mum. We borrowed Deb from her family of 3 children and her husband Tony who was happy to hold the fort at home. Thanks Tony. As our Mum, Deb carefully prepared our feeds, checked if we were too hot/cold, gave us face-washers to clean ourselves and was fully prepared for our tantrums and tears. Sleep became one of those "I don't think so" type activities, and Deb watched with motherly dismay as our faces told the story of our pain in the latter stages.

Colin Suckling's job was to capture the journey. From the planning stage capturing our excitement, hopes, fears and nervous laughs. The joy and excitement as Justin and I progressed well through the plan set out by Ken. The pain and physical and emotional trials brought on by the accumulated kilometres throughout the journey, and the exhilaration of pushing on to the finish. Justin has prepared a short version for a documentary and we hope to bring you a more comprehensive version over the coming weeks once we have compiled and created significant memoir video of the highs and lows. Thanks Flicker.


Everything was going swimmingly. The first check-point floated by at the 50km mark at Cathcart. We talked Big Jack without too much concern and continued on our warm way. Despite a reasonably strong head wind, we were tracking nice and conservatively, still about 10min ahead of time. The big dead tree came and went with a little kiss, and we met the Monaro Highway still feeling rather fresh.

Our next marathon distance was always set to push us a little into Dalgety. We wanted a 4:40 marathon, though the descending started to take effect along this section. By the time we had reached Dalgety, my quads burned and calf muscles had taken exception to the two climbs. I have lovingly named the first major climb from the Highway (The Anonymous B**ch). By Dalgety my legs had taken a step (or many) in the wrong direction to feeling fresh.


At 100miles we hit the bottom of Beloka Range and my legs just did not want to play the game. We lost massive amounts of time in those 3kms of steep brutal inclines (over 16% in places), and neither Justin nor I ever recovered to be able to regain the "A" game pace. We were going to finish though and that was the only mandatory goal.

As night descended and the temperature dropped my chest became very congested and I started wheezing. As my breathing worsened and frequency of coughing increased, our pace suffered further. I was just not able to service my body's need for oxygen at anything like the pace we intended. Body wise I was not all that sore and tired, which was rather frustrating. We trudged on. Neither of us ever contemplated pulling out at any stage. Once, I admit, I feared that my breathing might stop me, though this was but a fleeting concern and I pigheadedly overruled my head. Determined marching became staggering and trudging from time to time and our smiles drooped, along with our sense of humour. But our Crew were always there to encourage us onward and upward. We ploughed on together – United. United together with our crew.

Debbie stayed at Charlottes Pass as pre-arranged and Ken, Colin and Sandy accompanied us from Charlottes Pass up to the summit of Kosciuszko. The weather was beautiful and the scenery spectacular. So clear and warming up rather fast. When 2kms along the track and we had already passed over some decent spans of snowdrifts, we knew we were in for a long haul. Not long before passing the highest toilet in Australia, Sabina caught and overtook me with words along the lines of "This is not right to be passing you". Absolutely it was right – Great effort Sabina. The final 4kms to the summit was nearly entirely snow. The path completely covered. With unstable tired and sore legs, a now sore ankle, shoddy breathing and only the tufts of mountain grass lining what is usually the path, negotiating each step was slow going. Thankyou to Ken for the loan of your walking poles. They served to stabilise me and stop me falling on numerous occasions. In crystal clear conditions we picked our way to the summit cairn. Camera flashing and video running, Justin scrabbled awkwardly upon this monumental rock. Proudly Sandy and Colin took some shots of this iconic setting on top of Australia. A few more pic's with Justin and I and our crew, then we headed thankfully for Charlottes Pass. Descending was much easier on my breathing, so we made up a bit of time and finished in just over 33hours.


Justin and I are happily married still and because of careful planning and training ourselves throughout the year to run in harmony together. 'Together training' included The TAN100, 24hr Centenary Walk, Two Bays and Canberra Centenary. Each dilemma and mental challenge was predicted, experienced and managed throughout C2K. Not at any stage did we bicker or lose sight of the goal of 'finishing as a team'. Heck – with those team tech-shirts, anything other than completing this together (if capable) would not be an acceptable outcome to us.

We are happy and now both proudly wear our Akubra hat prizes, though it has already been said that the baton again gets handed firmly back to me for follow up C2K attempts and Justin is raring to take on crew status again.

And the short version of how it unfolded:

Telomeres and pre-C2K nerves (26 November 2013)

Justin and I were recently asked to provide comments and have a photo taken for the Herald Sun for a medical article.

I know first hand how running has made an incredible difference to my life.  Increasing my wellbeing and energy levels on so many levels; so when medical reporter Lucie Van Den Berg contacted me and discussed the article, both Justin and I were in favour.

According to a research study, evidence suggests ultra runners ‘are’ extending their life by keeping "telomeres" longer - telomeres are a DNA marker. Apparently longer telomeres mean a more gradual aging process.  Evidence suggests up to 16 years longer life for those keen at the long-end of the sport.  Hmmm,  that means more stuff I can get done.  Cool.  Where do we sign.

Otherwise, life is a taper at the moment for both Justin and I in preparation for Coast To Kosciusko – now just 11 days away.  A lot has happened over the past few weeks and we are settling back into life after Ned Kelly Chase.  I am now packing in earnest and believe that preparations are tracking along nicely.  The tech-shirts look great, accommodation is booked and packing list determined.  Last weekend we were able to sit with Sandy and Colin Suckling (Master & Flicker) in our C2K crew.   With Sandy at the helm, I believe our four person crew will gel and complement each other really well. 

Sandy is our ‘Master’. Her passion and personal knowledge as an ultra-runner and ability to make quick decisions makes her perfect for the job.

Husband Colin is ‘Flicker’.  Predominantly along to capture the event, though as an ultra-runner himself and having crewed for Sandy previously he will also be a great ‘gofer’ as he terms it and cover all other jobs as required.  Colin will capture the tears, fears, and, hopefully, triumphs along the way.  The agro, pain, thoughts and feelings of everyone involved in the event are critical to its success and we hope Colin can capture all that.

Ken Self is our ‘Techno’.  What Ken can do with number is astonishing to me.  He is the ultimate data guy.  Records every calorie, ml, gradient, pace, temp.  He has been part of my crew on two previous occasions so knows the finer details of the course.

Debbie McGowan is our ‘Mum’.  Adopted for the duration.  Debbie’s family is supportive and will tackle life while Deb is with us.  Debbie offers nutrition, preparation and ‘cuddles’ when we need them, with the odd gentle (or not so gentle) “get up and get moving" overtone.

Thank you all our crew for the effort you have put in so far and for your commitment to this journey. 

After some decent training mileage for over 10 weeks now (averaging over 100km and with additional strength training) my run mileage has now reduced significantly.  With only 70km last week, 50km this week and then a few gentle trots in the few days leading onto the start line in Eden on the 5th of December.  
Strength sessions have also ceased and it's smooth sailing to that start line now. Woo Hoo I can’t wait.   Fidgety nerves sometime rule.  But with good sleep, good nutrition and a desire to do well, we will do what we can.

Ned Kelly Chase (27 October 2013)

The last few weeks have been consumed by organising the Ned Kelly Chase. I've managed to get some decent running volume in there as well avergaing about 100km per week. I'm trying to drop a couple of kilograms ahead of C2K as well so the pace has been painfully slow and the fatigue in the legs is building up.

Below is the NKC event report which really details the event well. Mainly written by Justin but with input from me and doesn't really need extra explanation. If you prefer a more readable .PDF head over to the results page on the NKC website - www.nedkellychase.com.au/results.html.

The next couple of weeks for me will involve a lot of strength work, slow running and generally finding "relax" time before the C2K taper begins in earnest.

In 2010 we decided that Wangaratta was going to have its own ultra.  For no good reason other than we lived there and we wanted to do it.  We had this revelation pretty much straight after the success of that years Wangaratta Fun Run (10k and 5k only) when we’d decided that organising events was as much fun as participating in them.  Plenty of hard work, but satisfying.

We looked at our surrounds and it didn’t take long to decide that both Ned Kelly and the Murray to Mountains Rail Trail were key features unique to where we live.  Combined, they gave us the material we needed for a flat, fast, accurate event; and symbolism that we could use for both geographical identification and event marketing.

With the polarisation that the Kelly Gang brings even to this day, we couldn’t just have a run or a race either.  It had to be a chase. The concept was born, and the chase was on. 

We started going through all the boring stuff at least 12 months out from the proposed event date.  Course planning, two lots of council approvals, Vic Roads approval, Vic Police approval, Murray to Mountains Rail Trail approval, Department of Sustainability and Environment approval, insurance and AURA sanctioning.  Then eventually formal course measurement to the AIMS / IAAF standard.  Time consuming stuff.

Eventually the details were finalised and we built the website and developed some basic marketing.  We conceptualised everything we could that related to the Ned Kelly helmet shape as an icon and ended up with the medals and shirts that everyone seems to love.  The rest came together from there and the entries started rolling in as Shaz particularly started targeting friends and Facebook contacts directly and making as many phone calls as she could to encourage interest and entries.

We were stoked with the early interest.  We felt a bit out on a limb with some of the NKC innovations – trying to finish close to 2pm, RunNBike as an option, celebration after the event, that sort of thing.  But fortunately those concepts were quickly embraced and they seem to have been a success.  We’ll change a few things next year, but those three are here to stay!

At one stage we looked set to hit 50 solo 100km entrants.  We ran an eye over the other 100km events on the AURA calendar and realised that this was a terrific return – especially in the first year.  In the end we had 44 starters in the long event (with a few withdrawals prior to the event generally with injury) and a total of 150 “heads” across all events.  For year one, we were happy. 

For year two though, we’re going to try and push entries past 100 in the 100km event and see if we can’t really increase the numbers in the other events too.  The more finishers the better the atmosphere at the park will be, and hence our desire for growth.

We keenly watched the weather forecasts as we neared the event and kept putting out feelers for anyone that had a line in to the weather Gods.  Finally we were seven days out and Weatherzone was getting us excited.  Near perfect conditions were forecast with an overnight low of 6 and day time high of 19.  We’d been spruiking the course as flat and fast – which it was – but clearly good times could have been so easily undermined if the day was either pouring rain or scorching hot.

The forecast held nicely through the week and we ended up with a slightly lower overnight low – about 3 degrees, and then 19 degrees at 2pm.  It felt a bit warmer, but that was ideal.  Strong results followed those fast conditions and some good benchmarks have been set for the 2014 event.

First over the line, but punished by our penalty system was “I Love parkrun”, aka George Mihalakellis.  A huge PB for George, and fortunately his 11:39am arrival didn’t take us by surprise due to my diligent vollies at the 96.5km aid station letting me know of his pending arrival. I was hopeful not many others would follow so early though.

They didn’t, and though George had nearly 30 minutes to warm down before the next finishers arrived, the smile on his face hadn’t diminished one millimetre.

Funny, but it was right then that we also believed we had a good formula here.  No matter your ability, you could finish with the big crowds at the prime time of the day if you could estimate your finish time fairly closely.  We were rapt.

Next over the line was the RunNBike team of “It’s been a while”, Caroline and Brian Jones.  We saw their initial entry time estimate of 3am (meaning 11 hours) and wondered if they were either out of form or had lost a heck of a lot of fitness since we saw Caroline power through her first 100km at Coburg a few years ago.  She went on to represent Australia at the 100km level and we knew Brian was no slouch either.  So for that pair to arrive early really came as no surprise.  But we punished them with time penalties too, so all was well.

RunNBike teams continued to come across the line then, possibly due to them all overestimating the time it would take.  Being a novel event type there really wasn’t much to go on for time estimates and so most teams adopted a prudent approach.  I think that next year we will see some much closer estimates off the back of “real” results from this year.

Actually on the RunNBike, most teams seemed to adopt a strategy of 10km on, 10km off.  It will be good to hear in depth from some of them about how the legs were toward the end.

The first relay team to cross the line was “Richies Racers” and they arrived at 12:21pm with a finish time of 11:21 (1am start).

The 100km entrants started to pour over the line from pretty much right on 1pm.  Robbie Anderson was the first of those, closely followed by Tim Erickson and Michelle Thompson who walked the course together in 11:58:54.  Plenty of the “runners” out there would have loved to achieve that time.

The first female runner over the line was Susan Jaques, arriving at about 1:16pm.  By this stage the crowd in the park was really building and we estimate that the numbers at the finished peaked just over 200 around 2:15pm.  That made for quite an exciting finish area.

Then from 1:30pm entrants streamed regularly across the finish line.  The mix in abilities was perfect and exactly what we had hoped for.  Jess Baker, at 1:29pm managed 9:29 in the solo 100km, then the “Ned Aint Dead” RunNBike also at 1:29 finished in 7:29. 

They were followed by Jason Anderson, Wayne McMonigle, Daragh O’Loughlin, Moritz auf der Heide, Lachlan Fraser and Roger Hanney all within 9 minutes of each other, and all solo 100km entrants, but with finish times of 13:34, 12:06, 10:08, 7:39, 9:41 and 11:13 respectively.  Yes, we were stoked with the formula and how it was all panning out.

By the target 2pm we’d had 32 finishers out of a max 79.  We lost 8 solo 100km entrants along the way, and a couple of the relays substituted cyclists too.  Well, we didn’t lose the 100k-ers, but they had to DNF.  Thought we best clarify that!

At the official 3pm cut-off we started to dig into the results and realised that we were only short a few entrants.  Our cyclist sweeper Tony was sticking with Bonkers (Cassie Smith) and she was just behind the fourth member of the relay team “Runny Honey’s” from Benalla.  Catherine dug deep and worked though some injury issues to finish at 3:13pm and that was a great result for the “Honey’s”.  Cassie was never giving up in this one either and when she finally crossed the line at 3:33pm as a solo 100km entrant we were very pleased.

We ploughed through the results and fortunately having put some formulas in place to help calculate penalties and determine winners we were at the Town and Country nicely by 4pm and ready for the presentations.  Well, Shaz was already there organising things and I (Justin) was given a lift by one of our vollies, Ken.

Unfortunately entrants and their entourages had other late afternoon plans it seems and most started to arrive at 4pm; so we delayed the presentations by about 15 minutes.  At five minutes to four o’clock though Shaz and I were a bit worried that everyone had gone home.  “Oh no”, there goes the big celebration!

When presentations finally got underway though there were 200+ people packed into the lounge area of the pub and already we’ve decided that for 2014 we’ll get people to sit down in the dining area when they arrive instead.  We can take a bit longer with presentations then and we also have better PA facilities.

So the show rolled on through the presentations and we are very pleased to now list the winners from the inaugural Ned Kelly Chase event below:

Moritz auf der Heider, German, was the standout performance here at NKC.  He lives on the Gold Coast now and maybe we can convince him to obtain Aussie citizenship so we can coerce him into our Australian rep team?  That 7:39 isn’t the quickest 100km in Australia in recent times, but it’s a quality performance that would have placed Moritz 17th in the all-time Road Rankings for Australians, and 7th best effort by an Australian in Australia.  All assuming he was an Aussie of course!

At this time it’s appropriate to thank Ian Cornelius and his large contingent of entrants from the Gold Coast / Brisbane area.  Some months ago Ian contacted us and said he was going to bring a bus down from the banana state.  We thought he was kidding.

Not only was he serious, but his raiding party took most of our Victorian bling back North with them.  Make it a bigger bus next year Ian and be ready for an onslaught from the South.  We’re already working on some fast names.

Shannon-Leigh Litt, the current New Zealand 100km champion won the female event.  Her time was 8:46:42.  Such is the camaraderie of longer distance runners that Shannon-leigh was able to procure the extended “crew” services of an entrant that had finished his 25km relay leg.  We think Shannon thought Justin T was a marshal as he had his reflective vest on along the Snow Road and so she was quite quick to drop bottles at his feet and politely demand a refill at the next aid station!  Thanks Justin T for doing that and Shannon-Leigh rest assured that he enjoyed helping you out.

The best “accurate” time award went to Kevin Muller.  Finally a Victorian won something.  Based on the penalty system Kev’s time was the best of those that weren’t already placed in the top 3.  His 8:58:41 is well down on Kevin’s best, but with 11 ultras for the year and nearly 1350 “racing” kilometres under his belt when he arrived on the start line, we think the time is superb.  Helps further when you consider Kev ran a 100km event the weekend before too.

The RunNBike produced some sensational results with the top three well under 8 hours.  That might not seem super-fast for a team, but remember that each of the pair had to run an average of 50km and cycle gently for 50km. All the while with the bike staying behind the runner at the time.  We think the 7:09 by Sammy and Anderson – also a part of Ian’s raiding party – will take some serious beating especially when you look closely at the underlying running credentials of each.

The second placed combination of Ian Hornabrook & Lionel Taylor was also from Ian’s mob and their time was especially impressive considering Lionel has very little running background and was a part of the trip mainly for his bus driving skills.  With a late illness however he needed to step up, and with a final time of 7:29:47 for the pair it was a quality step up indeed. Incidentally Ian wins “Ned beard of the event”.  Check out the photos on the Facebook page and you’ll see what I mean.

Third place in the RunNBike went to a local connection with Nick Creek and his brother Andy completing the course in just 7:44:06.  Nick is a Wangaratta resident and completed his first marathon just this year.  We were a little sceptical of the Creek Bros. starting time of 6am, but Nick assured me that his brother was faster than him and that he had been training well.  They were well organised and planned on a 10km on, 10km off strategy and history will now prove that they got it right.  Well done guys.

David Eadie and Nikki Wynd – each former Australian Ultra Athletes of the Year looked the team on paper to beat in the 50/50.  This proved to be the case and their impressive time of 8:01:07 might have been even better had Nikki not put the handbrake on Dave deep in the second half to try and avoid time penalties.  Yep, little birdy whispers let us know!  Better start later next year you pair – assuming you’re not in for the full 100.

Sonia Condron’s time in the second 50 should also be recognised.  She was faster than Nikki and if we’re right had been told Nikki’s time from the first half.  The benefits of “live” timing!  As Sonia did the second half she focused on bettering that time of Nikki’s and no doubt had to dig deep to achieve that goal with the margin in the end just 5 minutes.  Sonia and Andrew also placed second outright in the 50/50 event.  Third place, and first of the male teams went to Gabor Jakus and Ben Clark in 9:15:48.

The first female pair was also locally connected with local lady Lisa Beazley teaming up with Western Sydney resident Carol Adams.  This was Lisa’s first time past about 25km and with some encouragement and support from Carol along the way managed 5:28:45.  Carol achieved a 50km time of 5:49:52 in their combined effort of 11:18:37.

“Steele Legs” won the relay in a time of 7:21:12.  A nice play on words with the team name this group also had some locals within it.  Warwick Hutchinson (Wokman), Chris Shanley (Shags), Craig Hadley (Hags) and Paul Hill (Knobby) combined well with splits ranging between 1:39 and 2:08 for their respective 25km legs.

The next three relay teams were all separated by less than 3 minutes.  It was here that the penalty time system came to the fore with the second best “raw” time team of “Warby over 50’s”, being relegated.  Their raw time was 8:15:39, but they arrived at 12:45pm, and so ended with an adjusted time of 10:13:42!  Might be some justice in there anyway as their last minute substitution due to injury was well under 50 years old.  Nice time from Cameron Bishop (Little Bish) in that final leg though – 1:54:44.

So second prize was awarded to CRTM who arrived at 1:47pm in 8:17:51 and thus escaped any time penalties.  Third place went to “Run Like the winded” headed by Australian 50km representative Natasha Fraser.  Like CRTM they started with the 5:30am group and were “really” only 42 seconds behind then when they crossed the line.  That must have been a great battle all day.

First all-ladies teams was “Girls Day Out”.  Starting at 4am, Leanne, Nicolina, Kylie & Sussan all showed terrific support of each other through the entire day and deserved their quality performance.  Their final time was 9:37:13 and easily eclipsed their goal.

A quick mention here to the two teams from Shepparton who showed great support all the way through the event lead up.  The Runny Honey’s from Benalla battled all day too and managed a finish outside of the formal cut-off due to injury in the last leg.  They refused to give in though and so well done on getting over the line girls.

All entrants deserve a special mention and fortunately each had the opportunity to finish at the “glory” time of day.  We’re thankful for the support of everyone that entered and hope that we managed to provide a high quality, entrant focused event.  As runners ourselves we knew it was important that we try to understand the runners needs and deliver those first.

This leads me to the support team.  We had 20 support vollies in the end who worked tirelessly through the cold night and then the day to encourage and support entrants.  We are blessed to have this great team in place and if you haven’t done so already, please watch the slideshow on You Tube that shows you who they were and thanks them for their support. A copy is also on the Facebook page, or the direct link is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=089rVNx8Nz0

Our team of sponsors have also been terrific and we’re grateful for their support.  Torq Australia and Hoka one one are brands that Sharon and I use personally and so we were more than happy to engage their support and sponsorship of this event.  Whitty Produce is a grain trading business that operates across SE Australia, is based in Wangaratta and may not appear on the surface to be connected to ultra running.  But manager Wayne McMonigle entered the NKC as his maiden 100km and wanted to support the event as well.  We’re grateful for your support Wayne, and indeed the support of Genevieve from Torq, Roger from Hoka and their extended teams.

Already we’re analysing the event outcomes and looking for ways to improve.  We welcome your feedback and hope that if you have some thoughts or ideas you will share these with us.

Due to potential traffic issues on the Snow Road we are almost certain to take that portion out next year.  We can then achieve a 100km course wholly on sealed cycling paths and even flatter than it was this year with the removal of both the Gapsted Hill and Henley Ridge.  We can achieve this by having an out and back to Everton and then an out and back to Oxley / Milawa.  Hopefully this will enhance the event too as entrants will not only chase each other down, but pass each other and thus get the chance to see who they’re chasing and who’s chasing them.

Again thanks for your support, and please consider coming along next year.  If you can bring some extra friends too that would be awesome.

More details about all things Ned Kelly Chase – should you need them – are on the website and Facebook page.  We encourage you to have a look at www.nedkellychase.com.au and www.facebook.com/nedkellychase

Yours always in ultra-running,

Justin & Sharon Scholz.

Relay for Life (5-6 October 2013)

What is Relay For Life? It's a unique event where teams of 10 to 15 challenge themselves in a relay style overnight run or walk. I thought this would be a good opportunity for the Wangaratta Marathon & Fun Runs to show some support to the organisers of the event, despite not really fully engaging in the fundraising aspect. we raised some funds, but in the future years I think we can probably raise a bit more!

Thank you to everyone who participated as part of the Wangaratta Marathon & Fun Runs / Ned Kelly Chase Team. Most of our WMFR committee were able to join in, along with a good number of friends and so our baton was always in circulation.

Debbie and I arrived early and set up base camp with the gazebo, large tent, chairs, snacks and team banner. Approaching start time we were joined by Justin and Jasmine, Fiona, Wendy, Jess and her family, Nick and his girls and later by Wayne. There were very organised teams with all sorts of bright paraphernalia clad tents and we took some time perusing these over the many hours that we circulated. Most of our team:

The event was very well organised and seemed to go smoothly. Our team circulated at our preferred times, with Jasmine and other children delighted in participating in all manner of activities that were conducted as part of the event. There was an assortment of vendors and activities designed to occupy the entire family and support the participants.

Everyone in our team had their own challenges in mind.

Fiona and Wayne decided to start in the wee hours of Sunday morning as practise for their very early starts in the Ned Kelly Chase. Both decided to start at 2:30am which was funny as we did not actually get a 2:30am due to the clocks going forward with daylight savings!!! Debbie was determined to stay moving overnight and cover whatever distance she could during this time. Wendy and Jess similarly wanted to do their long runs, while Nick wanted to test the 10km run, rest 45 minutes theory x 5 to simulate his RunNBike strategy for the Ned Kelly Chase. My intention was to run 50km on Saturday and 50km on Sunday as a fat burn. And Justin intended to cover 100km himself throughout the time without a particular strategy other than to "do it easy".

Armed with our various running and walking plans we all set out zig-zagging through the predominantly walking teams. Every 30 minutes or so the participants were asked to change directions. Justin and I smiled at this regular direction change declaring that the non-seasoned relay folk must have short attention spans to need this novelty of ‘change’. In 24 hour ultras we ‘might’ get to change every 4hrs if we're lucky, or in the case of the World Champs you just go the same way for the entire time.

The spectators and children were well occupied by the various activities. These included bag decorating, dress up contests, quizzes (where Jasmine won a camp chair and spot light for answering questions), zumba classes, live music and karaoke. Jasmine and Bonnie participated in the karaoke sessions and did a great job of Katy Perry’s “Hot’n’cold”. Not exactly the track she wanted, or knew off by heart, but the girls did a great job and had a great time. At midnight they watched a movie, then headed off to the tents for a sleep while we continued to circulate.

Jasmine with friends at Karaoke and on Sunday morning with some big moths:

It was lovely seeing so many happy faces jaunting about enjoying the challenge, the social interaction and general festivities. My 1st 50k felt exhausting but okay and I ate minimally (just fruit and weak cordial or water). This was always going to make the Sunday 50k difficult and I suffered pretty badly through general exhaustion/fatigue from not replacing the fuel I used and the multiple long distance events still in my system. As the night progressed I became nauseated and dehydrated, despite walking mostly. At one stage I wanted to stop. Hips, lower back aching, nauseous and sleepy - I sat dejected for about 20 minutes considering my options. There was no distance target involved in the event of course as this was just training and not an event. But I'd declared to myself that I would cover 50km each of Saturday and Sunday and after the DNF at Canberra decided that I really ought to do that. No-one but me and perhaps Justin would even care, so choosing to go on was just a matter of commitment. So I sucked it up and completed the 50k with about 20mins to spare in the event. A rather pathetic time for the 2nd 50km, but I did it and I am glad that I did not give up. My slowest 100k stint for a very long time. Probably ever.

Justin comfortably covered 100kms in a very depleted and fatigued state from the high volume of long distance events over the last 6 months too, but by getting the jump on me early he was able to sit down and eat breakfast with about 4 hours to spare. I was jealously watching him tuck into bowls of crunchy nut cereal and cold fresh milk.

It was great to see Jess Arnott at the group group, and she managed to run her furthest even in this relay. Somewhere well over 20km! Young Jack McGowan did a great job himself walking and running much further than he would have anticipated. We estimate a minimum of 8km and possibly as much as 10. Nick Creek covered about 60 kilometres in 10k bouts as practise for the Ned Kelly Chase later this month and that was also his longest ever run. Interestingly, noted that he was ‘stis way through 35 kilometres, which for him of late is reduced mileage and is set for his 100km debut at NKC. Wendy Cook is also on debut in the 100km and found the grass and continuous oval circling challenging for her achillies and lower calf muscles. She still managed marathon distance as her last long run before going into her taper. Fiona Adams covered about 20 kilometres (and was rather unimpressed when her Garmin battery died at about 17kms). Brilliant efforts all round, no doubt inspired by the reason we were there - to remember those we have lost to cancer and raise a few funds to help with research to prevent others from suffering similar fates.

Debbie McGowan returned to the track in the morning and walked with me determinedly. Deb’s intention was to build her already brilliant milestone achievement of just over 20.25 kilometres (over double the distance she had ever covered in a single session) that she did during Saturday. She was out there again and determined to fit in another 20 kilometres to reach 40kms. What an awesome effort. With determination she covered this distance. We ticked off the kilometres 38kms, 39kms, 40kms, but she did not stop there. She went past 41kms and then on to a MARATHON!!!!!!! What a great effort Debbie - truly inspirational. The team baton is now proudly displayed in her home. Photo of Debbie:

There's still time to enter Ned Kelly Chase:

100km Canberra Century (21 September 2013)

DNF excuses ….

It's always great fun to socialise with runners and thankyou Kerrie for your hospitality and care throughout our entire Canberra weekend. Justin and I appreciate this immensely, even though my day didn't go as desired.

5 days and 16 hours after our 24hr Centurion Walk ended, backing up for Canberra Century was to be the last test of ourselves both physically and mentally before C2K in December (240km). As part of trying to get my body in reasonable shape to tackle the Canberra hills I had taken the week very easy. I only ran twice and felt like crap each time so maybe Canberra was a step too far for me at the time.

Perhaps I was optimistic to think I would complete the Canberra course, but despite my failure, I am happier to have tried than not, especially as our entries showed our support for the Sri Chinmoy team who always have given so much to the sport. Unfortunately I wasn’t committed to this event mentally though. I was not prepared to hurt, not prepared to suck it up and take the mental and physical stress. So I chose to pull out at the 2nd checkpoint (53kms).

Oh, I have plenty of excuses - DOM’s from the previous weekend, general lethargy, tight gluteus and hamstrings, sore toes. All the usual "stuff". All the "stuff", in fact, that I've pretty much had during the nearly 50 ultra events that I have successfully completed. But really I just couldn’t be bothered hurting and had a poor mental attitude to this event. Simple.

Justin was in no better shape than me and he got through the 100km. His time was crap (for him), but it was never going to be good. It wasn't meant to be. It was meant to be tough, and he tells me it was. And because he got through, that kind of proves further that "attitude makes the difference".

Anyway, here's some more excuse-sounding dialogue. The event started at 6am and we soon hit the first of several steep hills. My calf muscles burned, my ascending pace was painfully slow and my HR was ridiculously high – in ‘another truth’ not sustainable which lead in part to the blow up - mentally and physically - even though my psyche was making a half-assed attempt to convince me that it's ‘only’ 100kms and I should be able to get through. Justin expected and accepted my physical limitations and lack of mental determination and tried to be positive and support me through the early stages. This was part of Justin’s mental battle - to pace himself to my capabilities on the day, remain calm, content, focussed and supportive. He mostly achieved this and tried his best to encourage me to continue after I declared that I intended to stop at CP2.

My pace on the flat was okay (not express, but okay considering my lead in) though with my running gait affected by trying to protect my increasingly sore feet and a tight lower back; fatigue and disorientation hit early. At 29kms I'd decided that I was going to stop and despite all the support and encouragement Justin imparted, I did. I was relieved that Justin chose to continue and complete the course though and this probably eased my guilt a bit.

For Justin to overcome me stopping and his personal discomforts from back up events was truly inspiring and showed his perseverance. He's "petrified" of C2K, but I'm confident of him getting through. Despite my failure here in Canberra, I too am now looking forward to my fourth summiting of Kosciuszko in early December.

Anyway, Kerrie Bremner met me at CP2 and then we encouraged Kevin Muller and Justin through at the 3rd checkpoint and then at the finish. I am proud of Justin. With me slowing him down for the first 2 stages, he powered on and achieved a negative split for the second half. We both then enjoyed a relaxed evening with Kerrie and headed home on Sunday.

So partly annoyed with myself, but also content in the knowledge that we don't always have good days. Sometimes they're mental, other times physical, ocassionally injury or sickness related. For me on this occasion it was all in the head.

24hr Australian Road Walkers Championship (14 / 15 September)

On the 14th & 15th of September Justin and I participated in the 24hr Australian Road Walkers Championship event.

What a wonderful event Peter, Terry, Tim and Lois and the entire Centurions Walkers 24hr event - congratulations. Your care for the sport, genuine consideration for the walkers needs and attention to little details are just great – thanks.

Our aim for this particular event was to cover 100miles together, not pushing the pace, just nicely getting over by a few kms. Justin and I remained together for the entire event as practice for doing C2K together in December if selected. We were step for step except for one toilet stop.

Thankfully the weather was perfect. Neither too hot or cold overnight, and only heating up for the final few hours on Sunday as the story may have been a lot different had I started coughing and suffering from the sniffle I had leading into the event. The previous Monday the headaches and sore throat started, Tuesday to Thursday I did basically no training and Friday's jog had my HR 20bpm higher than I would normally be for the pace. So I started feeling rather deflated, but committed to walking a minimum of 100miles if I could.

After a trouble free drive and our crew set up we were off at 2pm on the Saturday. The first few hours trundled on and before we knew it the evening was upon us. I am so glad that the weather wasn't cold or wet, as we only had to put a long sleeved top on (under our blatant advertising Ned Kelly Tech-shirts) around 11pm. These tech-shirt are really so comfortable and for someone that usually chaffs badly and even more so when walking, I was surprised at just how chaff free and comfortable they remained for the entire time.

The field seem to 'race' out of the blocks in the first few hours and by the end of the first hour I was in 3rd position for the female competition and Justin was in 7th position for the male competition. My HR settled 130 -135bpm, which was a little higher than normal, but maintainable. Carol Baird and Karyn O'Neill set out quickly and held 1st & 2nd until about 8hrs into the event. Carol had what appeared to be a great start, I think she was ahead of me by 8kms at one stage before she was forced to slow and then retire unfortunately at 85kms. Karyn had some foot/blistering issues and had to spend some time off course to fix up her foot issues. This allowed me to nudge in front of Karyn after about the 9 hour mark. Once Karyn was back underway though, her walk pace was quicker than mine, so at one stage I thought she might well catch me by the end. With continued foot issues hampering her progress throughout the later stages of the event, Karyn struggled in the later part of the event and I am so glad she was able to complete her 100miles and achieve a PB. I managed to sneak into 1st place about the 15 hour mark, and maintained this position.

This meant I received my second centurion pin (walking 100miles in 24hrs), 1st place for the 100km Race Walkers Australia (RWA) medallion, a 1st Place trophy as the female winner in the 2013 100km RWA 100KM Championship's & name added (along with Peter Bennett as the male winner) to the perpetual trophy for 2013 WRA as well as a Australian Centurions 24hr trophy as the 1st place female.

Fluid wise I took a minimalistic approach for the entire event and relied on the event provisions mostly. I probably paid for this in the later stages of the event by becoming unreasonably dehydrated and in the last few hours when it actually heated up I felt rather awful. I was nauseous and drank coke for the first time through the race. I'm a sweet tooth, so chocolate, lollies, cakes, sports drink all went down well though I was hankering for some non-sweet foods by late night, so the lasagne went down a treat, and a pie in the wee hours of the morning was great. I was rather nauseous through the morning, but the egg & bacon prepared by Rudi went down okay. The combination of unfamiliar race food, dehydration and effort finally caught up with me after finishing, and it was a good 6 - 8hrs before the nausea abated. This was the first time I was not in a fit enough state (in a very undignified state of bringing my race food up) during presentations.

What a trooper – Peter Crumps effort (nick named PISA due the horrid lean he developed in the last ½ of the event) was inspiring and painful to watch. The number of times poor Pete had to take time to be straightened up by the masseur and his committed crew, knowing the battle he was undertaking to achieve his goal of 100miles was incredible. He had to just keep going and a credit to him that he achieved this and became Australian Centurion number 66. Welcome to the club Peter.

Peter was well in control of 2nd position for a greater portion of the event. With his alignment issues and own personal battle it became apparent that Justin could feasibly catch Peter and attain 2nd position. So though we hoped to ease off the pace and comfortably walk to the end, we needed to keep the pace up to help Justin move into 2nd place. Once we had a little distance we then just maintained enough vigilance to retain these positions for the remainder of the event. Peter Bennett put in a consistent and well controlled effort for an impressive 185km.

Our friend Tony McGowan showed guts and did a great job. Only nine months ago Tony first decided he was going to lose weight and get fit. He set his fitness and weight loss goals and has done an awesome job at diet and exercise achieving so far 24kgs weight reduction and now consistently training. Our families often meet up and our discussions often lead toward fitness, lifestyle, training and up-coming events. Tony had walked with Justin a number of times and Justin found Tony's walk action to be relaxed and balanced, so we suggested that he could enter the 24hr event with us. The following week, Tony surprised us by actally putting that entry in! Armed with this new goal, Tony shoved in as much walk training as he could in a very short lead in time. Off the minimal base of 1 x 30km walk and a few 10km walks at varying paces, heaps of planning, questions and dedication, Tony endeavoured to attempt 24hrs, wanting to learn as much as possible from the experience. Supportive and enthusiastic Debbie (Tony's wife) helped with preparatations. With Debbie's assistance as an awesome crew, Tony managed to walk for 9 hours. After a sleep, he then returned to the ourse and managed 72.5kms by the finish. What an enormous effort Tony! Tony & Debbie should be very proud of their achievement. Already Tony has mentioned options for a 'next time', YAY.

Debbie was great as a crew for Tony, Justin and myself - and always offering positive vibes, always smiling and ready to jump to any request we had. Thank you Deb. Our lovely daughter Jasmine as always helped throughout the event too. Very good team effort I say.

I was sore Monday and worse Tuesday, but am slowly recovering…

Shepparton Marathon (25August)

WANGARATTA RUNNERS ARE AWESOME

On the 25 August, 2013 our Wangaratta Marathon & Fun Runs contingency travelled to Shepparton to participate in their annual Running Festival.  Our list of participants covered over 500km in total, with 11 in the  marathon, two half marathon, seven in the 10km or 5km events and 1 person needing to pull out at the 14km mark due to injury.  I hope you have a speedy recovery Ian.

We had a great time and I was so happy that Wendy managed to sneak in under 4hrs for the marathon. Congratulations also to Nick who posted a massive personal best with a blistering 3:15:05.  And a huge well done to Wayne, for taking off more than an hour from his previous, and first marathon here in Wangaratta in February. Bring on NKC Wayne ;-)

Lisa also ran very strongly in the HM. A huge personal best for her at 1:39:37 and well under her target time. Tony ran extremely well and went under the 60 mins barrier.  Top job.

Debbie managed a personal best too. Congratulations to everyone who challenged themselves on the day.  I have probably missed some personal bests amongst our group as there were so many. Just a fantastic effort by all the Wangaratta crew.



Later the same day back in Wangaratta we congregated for the Wangaratta Marathon and Fun Runs Inc. AGM & Committee Meeting.  Many of these lovely aforementioned people attended in a show of great support plus numerous other community-minded and committed people attended. 

With our newly elected Management Team and additional Committee Member involvement we are setting up for a huge event.  With the budget now in place and most of the planning done, the real leg work begins.  With our sponsor support, community support and the support of our fellow runners who are ready to help with the delivery of the event, we believe we can achieve our target of 2500 entries across all categories. Entries open Sunday 9/9/13 with a 4 hour super-early-bird special from 6pm.

WMFR are proud to be able to extend the program further in 2014, with better courses, medals for all finishers, including 2km primary children and the introduction of a new initiative called the Personal Challenge.  This Challenge offers up to 200 free entries in the 5km or 10km to people with a BMI of over 30 who are committing to losing 5 kilograms by the event date. 


Ned Kelly Chase is also rocking along well.  With our hard work and a great sponsors TORQ Australia, Whitty’s Produce and HOKA One One we are set for a great challenging and yet social and supportive event weekend.  Please consider supporting our sponsors where possible. The Teaser has been well received.

We now have 106 paid entrants, along with a whole host of WILL ENTER promises and so the event is growing quickly. It would be great if we could move that number to 200 by event day to really build the excitement and atmosphere at the finish and at the presentations and dinner. Please consider an entry HERE.

Also a reminder that this event comes with huge, customised medals, customised event bibs and a dinner tickets. Tech-shirts are available for purchase at near cost to help spread the word! All the details are on the website, but here's a few pic's of stuff associated with the event:

Thanks to everyone who is helping us by spreading the word about Ned Kelly Chase and helping the event become an ULTRA PARTY.

Personally, my running is going very well at the moment. I'm generally happy and slowly but gradually experiencing less and less discomfit in the glute / happy and lower left calf. Fingers crossed the slow progression toward full recovery continues. This also has led me to completing some faster sessions lately and it is most enjoyable to be able to run quickly and to then feel strong at slower but solid paces.

I am also now offering training and guidance services for runners and others looking to increase fitness and / or lose weight. I like to build a close association with those I help and ensure that needs are very specific to individual goals. I've been both "heavy" and I've been at the top of my sport. If interested in knowing more, visit my Personal Training section.

Next up for me (and Justin) is the 24 hour Centurions Walk event on 14/15 September. We hope to walk a controlled 100 miles side by side in preparation for C2K (if selected).


Tan 100km report (11 August)

Let me start with Justin's Facebook post from 2 August. A post which I had no direct input in:

OK, here's the year. Gulp. Sunday week is the Tan 100km with Shaz. Step for step. 25/8 is Shepparton Marathon. Proper hard hit out at Shaz pace. 14 & 15/9 is Centurions 24 hour event. Yup, joined at the hip and hopefully get 100 miles with a focus on C2K 2nd half pace. Hopefully Canberra Centenary one week later, Ned Kelly Chase 27/10 as RD's, then slow Marysville marathon early November and finally C2K as the first husband and wife to spank that mammoth together. Big program, but all events will be carefully managed with the eye on the C2K prize.

OK, now that I know what's coming apparently, here a report from the Tan. Part one of the madness:

Justin has run the TAN100 four times now and last year set his 100km pb there of 8:35:58.

I, on the other hand had not completed the 100k previously, having generally just crewed due to injury or opted to run the shorter distances (1 x stress fracture, 1 x 24hr WC too close and 1 x 50k option because I was in preparation for another WC hit out).

Both Justin and I wore our HOKA One One’s:  See a very cool pic attached of the HOKA brigade courtesy of George Mihalakellis.  Justin’s feet were really very good in his new HOKA's and he has decided that he will run C2K in them. At least on the sealed sections. 

I have always respected Anderson Street personally, and I believed that with my very limited hill training of any descript ‘the hill repeat’ was likely to affect my legs.  Justin and I (as preparation for C2K a hit out), had decided to run together - side by side as we intend to do for the entirety of C2K if selected.

Body wise I felt OK considering I was just off the Sydney 24 hour where my right ankle suffered, and the Adelaide 12 hour just 2 weeks later where I ran 105km. Entering the TAN100 was a bit daunting but we were only planning on a modest time and was comfortable that I'd get through. We had one eye on a sub 10 hours times, but it didn't matter if we made that or not, our primary focus trying a few "team" approaches that we hope will help us in C2K.

We ran pretty much the entire 100km with the exception of power walking (at the bin) about ¼ the way up Anderson St.   Part of my plan for the TAN was also to reap the benefits of a long run with minimal nutrition input – to help lose some of the ‘extra baggage’, I’m lugging around at the moment.

The first 50km felt okay, though in reflection, based on my nutrition limitations and lack of hill preparation I do think that we pushed a bit too hard in the first few hours.   This I paid for this in the later part of the event where energy levels were very low and aches and pains crept in.

As time and distance increased so too did the tightness of my gluteus/hammy and lower back, which shortens my stride length.  The strapping on my right ankle helped a bit, though did cause some chaffing and irritation of the skin.  

At about 8hrs we decided that trying for a sub 10hrs would be challenging, so we increased the walk portion marginally looking for a relaxed finish somewhere around 10:15 - 10:20.

On the last lap however, we were caught up by Annabel Hepworth, so to maintain 2nd position in the event I decided to pick up the pace and slog out the last few kms – (Thanks Annabel for the incentive to move my tail) Our daughter Jasmine came with us that last lap and we had promised her we'd take it easy. The last 3km were at 5:02pace so hopefully she will forgive us for that faster pace sessions. Good training!

I was very impressed with the female winner Felicity Copp who came in nicely under 10hrs (9:39:39).  Justin and I finished with 10:08 something and Annabel was just 1 minute behind.


Felicity, Annabel and I at presentations: (courtesy of Ash Bartholomew)

Rick Cooke had an outstanding day with a sub 8hr 100k.  Well done. 

As always, catching up with everyone along the way was great and the event ran smoothly thanks to Brett Saxon and his Trails Plus team.  P.S. Brett - Love the photos upload.

Darling Jasmine was our crew for the day and did a great job.  She ran 4 laps with us showing off her Thirty Birds running outfit. Here is a nice pic of the three ‘Scholz’s. (courtesy of Ash Bartholomew).

Adelaide 12 hr report (13 July 2013)

This report is 3 fold… Jasmine’s first long event, Justin’s 24hr and an attempt to cover 100km in the 2nd 12hrs, and my possible attempt to improve my current Australian open 12 hour road record.  My record set was in France in 2010 and was a split in my eventual 24hr world championships distance of 224.885km. It's fairly soft in my opinion and I will surpass this total at some stage.

But not this time! 105.6km in 12hrs was okay… but not what I hoped for... 

Incidentally - This is only the second time I have ever actually ‘entered’ a 12hr race.  The first time was at Coburg in 2008 (that fateful day that changed my life… read autobiography blurb for details) where I ended up completing my first 24hr and qualified to represent my country with 184km.

Preparedness wise I felt rather underdone for Adelaide.  I wasn't fully recovered physically or emotionally from my Sydney walk effort and had a small injury in the right ankle.  It had been continually sore in training and general life since Sydney but I relied on the ‘what will be will be’ mentally for this event.

My theory was that if my legs felt good I did want to improve my 12hr road distance and that Justin would be able to crew for Jasmine and I for the first 4hrs (his 24 hour started at 10am, the 6hr and 12hr started at 6am).  Most importantly to both Justin and I though was to support Jasmine’s first long run attempt.

In the days before the event, we socialised with our friends in Adelaide.  It was great to catch up with the Kelly's and we thank them dearly for their hospitality from Wednesday evening.  Jas (left) with the Kelly's:


Ever since Jasmine helped crew for Dad last year in Adelaide (where he walked 100miles for the first time) Jasmine had maintained that she ‘wanted’ to try the 6hr event.  After ignoring her initial declarations, and after much additional pestering we decided to support her venture.  We set a somewhat challenging training plan and ‘if and only if’ Jasmine maintained her training and the desire to take up this challenge we would allow and support her starting.

Justin and I decided that we not, and would not permit Jasmine to set a "target distance" goal for the event.   Each time she asked “How far do you think I can run at Adelaide?” We’d respond.  “What's important is that you are commited to a challenge such as this. You are already amazing just to want to try.”  We asked her what success was in her eyes. Was it based on distance or effort?  We posed questions such as “Why do you want to do this and what do you want to get out of the experience.”  Distance was of no relevance to us.  Her commitment to training and her desire to ‘want’ to run for ‘that long’ already makes her a champion in our eyes, though communicating this to a 10yr old is somewhat difficult.

We had no idea how far she would run and it didn't matter.  Jasmine decided her challenge was to keep moving (run or walk) for the whole 6hrs. We explained that she could stop at any time to take a break and it was her choice, and her choice only to decide to run, walk or stop. Noone had any right to judge her effort other than herself.  The only ‘rules’ were that she did her training and that she did not unreasonably muck around during the event and cause issue for other entrants. 

Jasmine nailed her training and prepared herself for the challenge.  I expected Jasmine would take time off at some stage and become disinterested, being only 10yrs old this was expected. and no doubt she would start to feel some tiredness and soreness that she wasn't used to.

The Friday before the race (and through the entire night) there was torrential rain in Adelaide.  The caravan we were stayed in did not hide the sound of the rain and we found sleep difficult as we were so preoccupied with the expected wet & windy conditions for the following day’s event.

It was still raining considerably on race morning.  Not exactly the introduction we had in mind for Jasmine’s first long event - though a great learning experience none the less.  So at 4:30am we all donned our wet weather gear and headed to the track nice and early.  Thankfully the rain had all but stopped at start time and we were away - peeling off the wet weather layers after the first lap.  In fact the conditions were basically perfect.  Moist underfoot, but it was not too muddy and the rain stayed mostly away.  Cloud cover kept the sun off our backs too and so the temperature was very pleasant.

Right from the very start in Adelaide my ankle was slightly sore (as expected) and became increasingly tender throughout the event.  I had tried to rest the ankle in the "taper" week, though walking seemed to cause more discomfort than running. My diet was atrocious in the lead in weeks too incidentally.  This lapse into bad eating saw me on the start line a good 2kg heavier than I should have been for a decent attemopt at a 120km+ result. Pic's from early on of Jas and I:



Anyway, my starting pace was just quick enough to allow me to surpass my record distance, though slower than I had hoped (5:20pace).  By 3hrs I found myself wanting pain relief, and at 4hrs I did take a dose of paracetamol.  Despite this pain relief my ankle was still worsening slightly as time progressed.  Slower, controlled running (on my toes and leaning further forward than my usual gait) was tolerable but my hamstrings and calf muscles became tight.  Maintaining the required pace for a PB became difficult.  The predicament for me was whether to increase pain relief, risking further injury and potentially causing a considerable disruption to my training for future key events, or back off to a gentle jog to ‘limp’ over 100km for the 12hr.

I discussed this with Justin when stopping at the 6 hour mark for Jasmines presentations and we decided that there was no sense in pushing now. C2K is the focus for second half 2013 and a decent injury now could jeopardise that. So I backed off the pace and decided not to take any more pain relief for the remainder of the event.  After about an hour of listening to my music in sullen resignation I kicked my subconscious into gear and started to chat with fellow runners.  This was enjoyable and an opportunity to give our Ned Kelly Chase event an unashamed plug to the myriad of potential entrants on the Adelaide course!


Having made the decision that 100km was a reasonable target, both Justin and I stopped for presentations for the 6hr, then we continued on our way.  Jasmine did awesomely. 43.513km!!! WOW and she achieved her target of not stopping for the duration apart from one toilet break and about 2 minutes to take some stones out of her shoes. Good on you Jazzi – I am such a proud Mum.

I walk/ran for several hours and each time I was running my left hamstring and glute became tighter and uncomfortable.  Walking seemed to alleviate the hammy and lower back discomfort, but my ankle was actually sorer walking than running.  At about 10hours in, I realised that only one runner (Louise) had any significant distance on me.  On the other hand I knew Tory Toogood was on the same lap. This meant that I needed to adjust my plan to maintain second place.  Just before the 100km point Tory was only a matter of metres behind me.  I decided 2nd place was “NOT” going to change to 3rd place, so I took a paracetamol pill and made this ‘unscheduled pain relief’ my excuse to keep running.  Sorry Tory…. I guess the competitive side of me spurred me on.

Unfortunately Justin had hip/ITB issues and decided that considering Jasmine’s girl friend could not stay the night, it would be best to retire and head home early.  Damn long drive back to NE Victoria, so starting on our way Saturday allowed us to stay at Tailem Bend for the night and arrive home Sunday in the early afternoon. This was better that getting home very late Sunday when Jas had to be at school monday. Here's some video of Jas and I during the event:

There were a range of really solid results at Adelaide. Well done to Louise Nickson for a great effort of 110.5km and Tory also for her committment to getting past 100km.

Kev Muller's 6hr was great - 75.421km and was backed up by an amazing 48hr this weekend… 406km+, wow what a back up!!!!!!

Emma Vaughan did exceptionally well to get past 200km. The first 200km total at the Yumingo 24 hour event. And she "chicked" all the boys which is just the icing on the cake. Go girl.

Everyone else out there also deserves a cheer.  As ultra runners, we are all pushing our body. We fight personal battles that only ultra runners can comprehend.  Most of the world thinks we either ‘must be raising money for charity’ or are ‘just mad’.  I really hope that most of us do run because we can. Running is what make us feel good and satisfied with ourselves and celebrating our accomplishments and achievements together is very special.

Sri Chinmoy (Sydney) 24 hour - Walk report (15/16 June 2013)

For many an hour over the past 6 years I’ve admired and circulated round and round with Michelle Thompson walking at a seemingly impossible pace.  Michelle’s training had earned her numerous walk records in this and previous years and I was amazed at her strength and determination. Here's Michelle at Coburg 24hr in March:

Thanks to Justin’s successful 100mile effort in Adelaide last year and Michelle’s inspiration I thought it was time to try a serious walk myself. To have a chance at the 100mile I knew I’d need to change my walk technique, so I decided to try to mimic Michelle’s walk style.  To the non walker I noted particularly her fast cadence and major hip wiggle. Michelle is such a strong walker and has taught me basically all I know of female walking.  In saying this, my ‘technique’ has a huge way to go to emulate that of Michelle, but I still thank her for showing me that walking fast was possible.

After Justin also attained a great PB of 214km running at Coburg 24hr it was settled. We decided that as husband & wife we had to each attain 200+ kilometres running and 100+ miles walking in 24hr events in one calendar year.  This meant I needed to run over 200km in the Netherlands and then we both needed to walk over 100miles at Sydney.  By all our reckoning this would make us the first married couple to achieve this feat.  So I was up for the challenge … all bets on…JP from Coburg 24 hour in March:


Justin was adamant the moment I stepped off the course at the 24hr WC event in the Netherlands I was to be a ‘walker’ for the next 6 weeks.  This ‘no running break’ sounded like a good plan to me.  He also assured me that my ‘comfortable walk pace’ which was about 8:30min/k would rapidly get quicker as training ramped up.  The first 10 days after the WC’s my legs did not work properly as expected.  By about the 3rd or 4th day in Paris though I was back being able to walk reasonably for more than a couple of kilometres.  Despite these early days of reduced volume, we then walked throughout Paris and got some reasonable training done – including one day where we walked 48.5kms and visited many of the major sites of Paris. (video link)

Once home in Australia we increased the mileage and were walking twice a day at varying paces – generally on the grass aths track and very much with a focus on technique improvement.

On the morning that we left for Sydney we walked 5km at just under 7:00min/k pace prior to leaving and were stoked at how comfortable this felt.  My heart rate was about 140 - 145 at the end of 5ks.  Justin’s fast pace was well quicker than mine, so I expected to go out slightly slower at Sydney, but by all accounts I was determined to do the best I could.  I felt confident of finishing the event strongly too thanks to my 10 x 24 hour running efforts, 3 x C2K finishes (240km) and a 48 hour effort (333km).  I believed the latter part of the race was where I would catch up to Justin if he allowed his pace to drop off.  My confidence increased over those final weeks of preparations too as I noticed my comfortable walking speed increased.… though how many 10k walks could I do back to back?

The day arrived and we were as rested as we could be… Billy Pearce, our brilliant crewman was set with all our instructions.   Thank so much to Billy – his experience and dedication was wonderful and so lent reassurance and confidence to both Justin and I. To keep the Coburg 24 hour theme going, here's a shot of Billy competing there back in April:

At the start I felt pain and tension down the shins.  This shin splint feeling saw Justin lap me early (within about 15mins).  I expected the discomfort though and knew from training that the pain would go (eventually).  But being impatient, I requested an ibuprofen.  This worked well and I managed to pick up my pace to 6:40 – 6:50 per km by about the end of the first hour.

Despite being marginally slower than Justin early in the event I was determined to minimise the number of laps he put on me and felt from early on that 100 miles should be achievable.  It’s never done till it’s done though, and many have tried and failed in the past so I had a healthy respect for the 100 mile distance.

I was a bit worried that my fast walk technique would not be ‘allowable’ so I made sure that each time I’d catch or be passed by a walker I asked them to keep an eye on me.  Fortunately the Centurions allow a “street” walking technique and so even though I may not pass the test in an official “race” walk I was fine for the purposes of this event.  It helped too that long-time race walking champion and fellow Centurion Tim Erickson was in attendance as a spectator and 12 hour entrant and could scrutinise me first-hand.

At one stage I was looking down too much and Martin Fryer suggested I needed to look up and force my hip to the ground slightly earlier.  I adopted his advice and this also had the added benefit of reducing lower back pressure that I was experiencing.  I was astounded that this technique also resulted in my HR climbing over 150bpm – heck that’s running intensity.  I didn’t expect to be at this intensity, so I started eating custard and rice puddings so I could neutralize my stomach as I do when I run.  I had thought that the lower intensity walking would allow me to not need these foods, but the higher intensity demanded attention and modification in this area.

At about 8 hours into the event Tim Erickson and Michelle Thompson arrived on course.  Tim seemed okay with my walk style and was very encouraging.  At 50 miles I was still well under the required pace for the age group record.  To my shock however, Michelle informed me I had just beaten her open record for 50 miles.  I had no idea and was rather aghast, considering Justin and I only considered the age group records.  On my arm I had the average lap time required for each of the age group milestones, however I never expected to be at a pace to achieve the open ones. 

After finding out about the 50mile record I soon had Justin take yet another lap out of me.  Each time Justin passed me, the next few people maintained the encouragement of “you’re nearly catching him”… lol...  He’d lapped me – not the other way around, but I did appreciate the encouragement from spectators and fellow competitors. 

When Justin lapped me soon after the 50 mile mark he told me his target was now 100km in 12hrs and mentioned that it may be possible for me to do the same (a feat not many women had ever achieved), so with renewed vigour I maintained the pace.  I may have even sped up a touch.  Tim Erickson sidled up to me at one stage and warned me not to ‘try to keep up to Justin’ as my walk form was suffering and that I needed to slow down slightly and concentrate on that form.  My explanation was very direct to Tim at this stage… I hope he didn’t mind this direct explanation, something along the lines of – “Justin is 4 or 5 laps ahead.  I’m not trying to keep up with him, though I am going to try for the 100km in 12hrs.  I’ll try to slow down slightly and concentrate on a good walking form however.”  With this Tim gracefully left me to concentrate on pushing my pace to achieve this new goal.

Annoyingly though, Justin didn’t seem to need to stop often enough for me to catch up (shoes, toilet, whatever)… and I had controlled my fluid intake really well to avoid stopping myself.… probably better than any other event I had competed in.  At the start (reflecting on the frequent toilet issues I’d faced in the Netherlands and in other races) I decided only to drink when I was thirsty, not at religiously set times to increase caloric intake and avoid dehydration.  I’d make sure I ate enough calories, but only drank the volume of TORQ drink my body felt it required - without the urgent need for a toilet break.  I managed to limit those stops to just 3 times in the first 12hrs, which reduced wasted time considerably.

Billy was great.  His experience shined through on many occasions.  One such example was when I put gloves on - he then ensured the tops of the TORQ gels were removed before giving them to me without any prompting at all.  He offered extra clothing and hot foods at appropriate times and was literally always on call at the table.  Even though Justin and I both requested items in the ‘next few laps’, Billy nearly always had them ready the next time we passed.

I knew quite early in the walk that my 2nd toe on my right foot was going to be an issue.  It was blistered and sore to the touch.  But there was no chance I was ever going to stop to fix it.  I did briefly consider the magic spray (antiseptic/ aesthetic) or a change of shoes but that would make only a marginal difference and the stop time wasn’t acceptable to me - especially as Justin hadn’t been stopping as I secretly hoped, allowing me to reduce the deficit to him.

Each time I reached a target, the next target was hard enough that I couldn’t afford a considerable pace decrease… so I needed to push for each new goal and did not allow excuses to invade my headspace.

Justin’s effort was great.  He managed to attain the 24hr Age Group (35 – 39) record ending with 189,678km and placing him 2nd outright for the 24hr male event.  The record he broke was held by Australia’s first Centurion Gordon Smith, and was set 75 years ago in 1938.  I’m claiming some of the glory here too as Justin was adamant that he was not going to be ‘chicked’ by his wife in this event and thus my keeping the margin small spurred him on to that great result!!

Justin also stopped briefly when I reached 100 miles and again when I broke Michelle's 24 hour record. We stopped briefly at this point for a photo:

As with all Sri Chinmoy events Justin and I have participated in, the level of care, understanding and directorship of the event was great.  The dedicated happy volunteers were always encouraging and the catering was divine (especially the orange, almond and chocolate cake). 

Overall the entire event was great for me walking a total of 187.653km, breaking 5 open records (all were held by Michelle) and 7 aged group (35 – 39) records.  I placed 3rd outright for the 24hr female event and managed to become the first Australian woman to walk more than 100km in 12 hours (100.8km).  I didn’t quite manage to break 20 hours for the 100 miles (20:06, though I was never trying for that) but believe that one day I might be capable of this.

The efforts of Justin and I also placed us as the 2nd and 3rd best tallies in Australia, something that we weren’t aware of either.  And it seems that we have indeed become the first married couple in history to achieve the 200km running / 100 miles walking double in a single calendar year. Here's the top 10 distances achieved in Australia:

Thankyou to all the people involved for yet another grand effort. and a special shout-out to Steve Jordan and Anyce (Kip) Melham who also achieved 100 miles walking in this event and each became Centurions. Here's a photo of the four Centurions at the finish:



The Sydney event was actually a running race and there were some terrific running results achieved. Special mention to Trevor Allen for going beyond 200km again and to Larissa Tichon and Sarah Richardson for their first and second places in the 24 hour and each achieving an Australian rep team qualifying distance of 190+km. In the 12 hour event there were some amazing results.  The battle between Jo Blake (137.216km) & Rick Cooke (135.729km) was inspiring and Tim Erickson's walk effort was exceptional resulting in 4 x M60 Records (6 Hours - 56.436km, 50 Miles - 8:57:06, 100 Km - 11:39:37 and 12 Hours - 102.330km). Tim also placed 3rd male overall in the 12hr comp!

For full results of the Sydney event, checkout the Sri Chinmoy RESULTS (PDF)
For a full list of what becoming a Centurion involves, please visit their website - www.centurions.org.au
To go directly to the Age Group records list for walkers (PDF), try this LINK
And for a short video of our walk effort in Sydney, here's a You Tube LINK

24 hour World Championships (11/12 May 2013):

Congratulations and tribulations to the efforts of all the Aussie Team.  Thanks sincerely to our crew members, team management and supporters.  A special mention to the efforts of all the team and especially those that attained PB’s.  Malcolm and Bernadette posted huge PB’s as well as a nice PB for John – congrats folks.  Ewan, David and Allison posted solid performances and poor Rick needed to focus his attentions on his son who became ill shortly before the event.  For me I’m content with 206kms as this qualifies me for the next WC’s. 

For me the first 12hrs of the 24hr went exactly to plan.  I was focussed, well prepared, committed and tapered to perfection. 
Regressing to final prep - I believe the flights were timed perfectly arriving 16 days early, and number of days easy cycling (7 x 53km per day on average) were ideal to loosen the legs.  We arrived in Steenbergen a day earlier than in previous WC events where we cycled to, giving 6 days final light running and rest.  I believe this amount of taper, rest and final running volume work well for me.

Apart from a few emotional trials travelling from Paris to Steenbergen, the tolerance bucket by the start line was reasonably low.  We arrived in Steenbergen Monday afternoon, spent Tuesday grumpy but resting and we were off to the team accommodation on Wednesday.  Thankfully by late afternoon we were settled into more appropriate team accommodation in Bergen Op Zoom – but that saga is a whole other story.


I was blowing a gale for some reason (out the back end)… both Thursday & Friday.  Not sure what caused this, but it was most uncomfortable and led me to taking 2 x diarrhoea tabs prior to starting and one at about 4hrs into the 24hr event.  Still my rear end did not survive this turmoil and was sore and chaffed early into the 24hr event… I know – too much info there. 
Frequent toilet breaks plagued the first 10hrs.  I didn’t want to stop for anaesthetic spray unless it was intolerable, so disregarded the relatively minor discomfort and continued to do so for the remainder of the event. 

Headspace wise I was very focused… I was there to play the game and I delighted in taking the supreme racing line – shortest line at the corners where possible and enjoyed watching others taking the wider line.  My pace was good enough and my head was in a good positive space.  I played the ‘hide and drag’ game – actively seeking cover into the aggressive head winds – I was totally in race mode.  Why I particularly harp on this point is because this positive mindset is a huge mental change for the better from the previous 2yrs WC/CC’s where injury and depression played huge roles.

I ran comfortably and easily with my Hr just above 150bpm to start with.  Carb loaded this is not unusual and the kms clocked over nicely.  Justin administered pain relief as per our pre arranged intervals, and crewed in general extremely well.  With 2.331km laps and not stopping at the aid station did not leave a lot of time for communication.  At one stage I let Justin know I was too full and peeing too often.  The rainy, windy conditions didn’t help and got to the point of needing toilet breaks every 2nd lap wasting way too much time.  I was already throwing half or more of my drink away each lap as still felt too waterlogged.  I hate waste – it bugs me.  The plan was Torq drink every 2nd lap & other laps hard food alternating from sweet to savoury.  I never really got too nauseous to eat, but did probably drink too much for the conditions. 

My windiness issues continued; the burning and chaffing associated with acidic burn was awful – but ignorable. DON’T GET COLD!!! Shortly after dark the skies opened up.  It rained patchy most of the time until wham – in one lap I was soaked (along with nearly everyone on course).  The lap just before the major downpour Justin offered me a coat, but at that stage I was warm enough, so did not take the damn thing… big mistake.  Many other runners were stopping to don jackets etc. often unsuccessfully to keep warm.  Runners forced to stop often did so for large chunks of time and sometimes spent time defrosting in the drying rooms.  The black 2XU jacket under my wet Aussie top did not warm me up at all and my gloves soon became wet quickly and difficult to remove when required.  The next lap though when I put on the light blue rain jacket over the top of everything I was warming up again.  With my loyal ‘snood’ headwear also I was warm again and on my way. 

As the time elapsed the kms clocked up and the pain and discomforts increased.  Through a particularly bad patch I requested my music.  Music helps focus my attention away from the discomfort of running.  Justin was great and had them ready the next lap…, but the earplugs wouldn’t work.  Curse it all.  What seemed like hours later, (due to the long laps) I finally had Justin’s music device but because of the short battery life, it ran out long before the end of the race as I entered a bad mood.  Perhaps the music stopping initiated the bad mood and refocussed my attention on my aches and pains? 

I needed to increase pace to ensure 120km at 12hrs, so I pushed a bit harder.  Thanks Dave for providing wind cover for me for a lap.  I really appreciated your help.  Upping the pace did exhaust me to some extent and looking back I probably pushed too hard for the last couple of laps at this time.  The best thing at this stage was the thought that I ‘should’ manage a PB… 230km a real target.  Regardless of the pain level, I am happy that I truly felt a PB possibility at the 12 hr point.  In dryer conditions my 2nd half issues may have been kept at bay.  We’ll never know.

After the half way mark and as the early morning hours proceeded, my chest became congested and my breathing suffered.  Shallow breathing and a persistent cough not only broke concentration, but also made toilet stops that much more desperate.   My hammy and glute ached on the left particularly and lower back and hips and knee followed.  The muscle discomforts were expected and did not bother me too much,… but restricted depth of breathing wasn’t.  Even though my chest was not in pain as such, the amount limited oxygen supply sucked.  Symptoms worsened whenever it rained and was further exacerbated when the wind picked up.

At about 100miles I had slowed considerably.  Coughing frequently and struggling with toilet issues I trudged on.  This stage was mentally tough, frustrating and rather embarrassing.  Once I stopped and coughed up a smidgeon of blood.  Only a small amount, though coupled with the short breath I had the horrible premonition that I might wind up in hospital… (Like with Brisbane 24hr).., but this time overseas, and in a foreign speaking country.  No good news here…. Honestly I got scared… grr I hate fear.  But already limited in breathing I scared myself into walking at the perceived intensity where my breathing issues did not seem to worsen.  I wonder if this was the correct choice.  My pace had slowed to where, without a pace increase, (extremely unlikely) 220+ had slipped away, so I had to make 200 safe and I could do that walking easily enough.  So I did.

I didn’t want to know where I was in relation to Bernadette before I slowed down, because not confirming ‘her lead or lag’ allowed me to disregard her run.  I was physically exhausted (lacking energy), had sore legs which jarred the knees and hammy each step, so I wonder now if my respiratory issues were a convenient excuse to slow down?  I tried running on my toes, but this sent my quads and calf muscles into cramps, so somewhat miserably just marched around.

Nutrition wise I believe the TORQ sports drink was good for me: went down okay and tasted acceptable.  I was sick of it late into the event but mostly due to the frequency of the toilet breaks.  Gels went down but were awfully sweet.  I noted that with the recovery powder, my muscles recovered very quickly.  Caffeine consumption worked well – no real tiredness/sleepiness issues throughout the night.  I am used to the tired feeling and it does not pose too many issues.  Salt and vitamins all intake good.  Pain relief kept at reasonable pre-planned levels.

I am somewhat relieved that I managed over 200km and am so glad to be a part of the Aussie team.
Justin made video's of the whole team effort and of our holiday. Links:
Aussie Team Effort:
Shaz & Justin Holiday:

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