Keep moving forward - Coburg 24hr

The last eight, nine years has found me very much in the competing wilderness with only three ultras to my name. All very mediocre results. Reasons for this. Lack of training, my last job and the hours spent helping the sport I love. All my choice I should add.

At the end of last year I decided to go back to my origins, so to speak and enter the Coburg 24hr. I also decided that I would raise money for Legacy with the 24h. I did end up raising 450 dollars which all helps.

Training for the event.

Probably didn’t start seriously until after the Jan holidays and peaked with 4 half marathons in March. More on course for the LBG carnival in June in Canberra. But knew I had to do Coburg as it may be longer before I got into the arena again.

Week before the event.

Took my car in for a service. Bad news when I went to pick it up. The steering wheel assembly was stuffed and the mechanic didn’t recommend a long journey. Umm. After some discussion with my lovely wife, Belinda it was decided that I would get the train down and leave Laura , daughter, and her friend behind. They were going to be my crew!

Journey to the event

Started at 2am on the Friday morning. The alarm went off and Belinda dropped me at the train station for the 2.49 train to Melbourne. Probably had another 2hrs sleep on the train. Arrived at Southern Cross station at about 9am and was amazed by the new station in place. I was like a young lad arriving in the city for the first time!

I then found the connecting train to Carrum where Sandra Howorth lives.

Sandra was competing in the event as well and offered to put me up and share crew space for the race. Sandra got home about 4pm and after packing her car we headed to the event with her son, Jordan.

We got to the track about 6pm. Set up the tents and then headed to Curly Joes for the pre race pasta party. Had a very nice vegetarian pizza and it was good to catch up with some old friends. We got back to the track about 9.30pm, set up the rest of the camp site and then bedded down for the night.

Race day.

Woke up at 5.30 in a very cold way after having a very restless night. I had used the sleeping bag as a doonah and underneath on the camp bed was as cold as. Stumbled to the clubrooms and had a cup of tea and a shower to warm up. The track quickly took shape as competitors and crew turned up. The weather was perfect and looked like being 25 degrees in the afternoon. It was good as well when my good friend, Arun Bhardwaij turned up from India. It was good to catch up with a few other friends as well that I hadn’t seen for a while/

The gun went off at 10am and the 45 runners ans walkers were off. First 6hrs went off well. I was a little bit over the planned total of 30kms and 100km seemed possible. It was good to see the help that other crew members were giving all the runners and walkers in the field. Deanne Nobbs and the gent looking after Davo are two examples. They were looking after their own runners, but positioned near the drinks table and making sure that people could get cups of water and gatorade. That’s the spirit of the sport.

I then stopped for a massage and about 5pm I stopped and had a bowl of lasagne in the track canteen. Was starting to feel empty in the stomach, so thought I better have some thing substantial. It was during that break that ultra legend. Stan Miskin had a gentle dig at me for stopping and wasting time.

At the time I did think stuff you, But it did stay in the back of my mind.

Got back out on the track and life was ugly. The bodu was hurting and negative joe was with me feeding a ton of bad thoughts into my head. Why was I here and what was I doing. But life settled and I got my marathon up by the 9hr mark.

I then realised that some of the pain went away when I concentrated on posture and standing straight. I then had a couple of good hours and brought up the 50km before the 11 hour mark.

It was then time for another massage. Got back on the track and the, you have done well why don’t you finish now and come back another day demons surfaced. The 12 hour turnaround happened, I did a few more laps and then retired into Sandra’s car for a few hours.

It was about 1.15am when I woke up and got back on the track. I was walking very slowly, but was managing at 7 to 9 laps an hour. I remember Tim Erickson making me a cup of tea in the officials area because Im special. Thanks Tim. Also took another ten off and used the canteen for another break and cup of tea.

The second half of the race saw blind runner, Nick Gleeson start his twelve hour run. He was in lane three and had an escorted runner with him. Nick has run several marathons, run Comrades, climbed Mt Kilmanjaro and several other experiences in his life. He has definitely “seized the day” in his life and made it very extraordinary. Nick was to complete 70 plus kms in his 12 hours and there was a few of us inspired by his participation.

At 5am I had my final massage from Michael and it was perfect. I got back on the track and the legs felt good, relatively. At about 5 to 6, I made a decision that I had to earn some respect for myself and also finish with a decent total.

At 6am, overdrive kicked in and I sprung to life. The body felt good and it was time to have fun. The aim was to get in the 70s and maybe 80kms. The next two hours I did 11 and 12 laps and thought, umm, maybe 2 marathons. I asked Bernie Goggin how many laps and thought yes why not.

It was disappointing to see Tim Cochrane retire with three hours to go and 186kms to his name. The word was that he was injured, but at that stage of of the race, I would have thought he would have gone for 200kms! The Aust 24hrMaster, Mick Francis ended up winning the event with 234kms. This was an Australian Personal Best for Mick.

I went through the 80km mark between 8 and 9 where I did 13 laps. By 9am I had 210 laps up which was 84kms. I then brought up another three laps before thinking yes and the body went ughh. The next two laps were a stagger, before I thought, lets have fun. There was only 20 minutes left and fun I had.

Sandra and Jordan had been feeding me over the last hour. I asked Jordan to be with me for the last five minutes just in case the body went at the end.

I remember getting the dump bag with about 8 min to go and going past there twice more. Bang the gun went off and I dropped the bag. I had done 87.73km and there was a small tear in my eye. I had given some respect back to myself. I worked out this was by best total in the last 8, 9 years.

Lessons learnt

You need a crew to do your best at track ultras.

Miles in the legs is essential

My pre taping and vaseline worked on the feet There is no point coming off when its cold and all your stuff is cold and wet …perhaps use the warm canteen area in future.

My asic walking shoes are good.

A big thanks

Belinda and Laura

Tony and Jesper. My sms motivators.

Sandra and Jordan

Brett who did the Canteen run (the quick chat we had did wonders)

Tim Erickson

Geoff Peters and Clarrie Jacks

All Coburg officials and helpers

Next on the agenda.

I will be doing the 20 mile walk at the LBG carnival in june, then the Wagga marathon in August. Then Coburg 2009.

Keep moving forward.

PS - Just got home and read Tim Erickson’s race report and provisional results. Apparently I won the Gordon Burrowes Award for the gutsiest performance by a runner or walker during the event. Thanks Coburg. I am truly humbled.

Full results and report from the race