2011 The North Face 100 Ultra Marathon

Since the first year The North Face 100 Ultra Marathon was run by Tom and Al (AROCSport) quite a few of my friends have competed in it (and done extremely well in some case). Heather won the womens category in the first year in 12:45:00, the following year Julie won womens in a new record of 12:13:45. Last year Julie returned coming second in 12:24:52 and Lizzie came third in 12:48:55. David has also run the last three years coming in under 13 hours every time, and Gramps ran last year in around 13 hours.

So yes friends have done pretty well here over the last few years, however I am not a runner and hope I can still convince people of that fact (seeming less likely as time goes on), however I have never spent much time in the Blue Mountains so I have been thinking it would be interesting to see some more of the region. Knowing with the other events on this year I did not have the time to dedicate to becoming comfortable enough on foot to do this event solo if I had any intention of competing here I had to find a team mate and enter the pairs event.

Fortunately Aaron was keen to compete with me so after racing against each other at Jindabyne it was back to teaming up together at this event (Team name "Out of Range" as I lack imagination). This year David and Julie were lining up to compete solo again, my friend John Power had also entered solo and Randall and Pete were entered in pairs as a good Geoquest training run (kind of like Aaron and I), though Luke (another Entropic stalwart) was doing this solo. It promised to be a good weekend in the Blue Mountains with friends, the only real difficulty with the whole thing was running 54km.

Aaron and I headed up to Sydney after he got organised after a half day at work and arrived at 8pm, fortunately registration was running over time so we headed into the resort and were given our numbers and a bag of stuff. Not realising at the time that they did not hand us an envelope containing our timing chip. We headed back to the accommodation cooked a pasta dinner and headed to bed. Arriving at the resort on Saturday morning as I was walking toward the start line I began to wonder when they were handing us our timing chip, then I asked a few runners near me and they already had theirs. So I tracked down Alina after the race briefing and asked if ours could be found.

This was all cutting it fine and I watched as the first two waves (as we expected to finish somewhere around 13 hours I had intended to start in wave 2) go as I finally found a timing person and they ran off to get our chip. After the timing official had their exercise for the day running to get the chip I was able to make it into the Wave 3 start and settled in for a day in the Blue Mountains on foot. I have a well known tendency to begin races too fast so I was watching my HR and keeping it reasonable, though as I only had to do half the distance of most of those around me I could probably go a bit harder. I caught up to the back of wave 2 as the tail of that group entered the single track so I got to walk and chat for a while there.

We encountered our first spectacular Blue Mountains scenery in this first section so I took some photos while we walked through, then out into the streets of town again I made up some more time before getting into bunches down the stairs toward the first valley area. On the following section of single track below the Scenic railway I started jumping forward to bunches in front and by the time we eventually got to the fire road heading to CP 1 at 18 km I was surrounded by people running at a mostly similar speed. The views as we headed out along Narrow Neck were amazing, such a clear and sunny day. I chatted to people I was running near and enjoyed the day. My left ITB started to twinge a bit, something I had been worried about due to some injury problems in the lead up to the event. So I had 2 neurofen and can happily report I had no more problems with ITB or my injured right ankle region (which was low dye taped for arch support) for the whole race.

Interestingly Aaron and I both rocked up to this event a little under done. After Jindabyne he had a long break from hard training of any sort, maybe one 25 KM run and a few 15 km runs. I had some injury issues with my right ankle so had only one long run (42km with Dave and Julie) and a few 10km runs with friends since Jindabyne. (and I had done Jindabyne after a 3 month break without much exercise compared to my normal schedule too). So we were really both just here to see what the event was like and enjoy the Blue Mountains.

After passing through CP 1 where I pretty much waved hi to Dave Meyer as I walked through rather than stopping to chat I was looking forward to the ladders as it seemed to me a highlight of the running race, descending down ladders in the mountains in a running race. I admit that section and the following trail down was good fun and I enjoyed the descent. As my GPS was telling me we were around 35 KM I began wondering where CP 2 was, I thought it was at 34 KM. Turns out it is at 38 KM so we did get there. I asked Myf how Julie looked when she came through, she commented the lead guys looked fresh as if they were out for a gentle jog, and the lead women had been through 40 minutes before or so.

I refilled water, had some sports drink (I think it is a good idea to carry a bidon of sports drink as well as a pack with water if possible, I was hanging out for sports drink for a lot of this run), grabbed a fruit bun and a gel (a note for Tom and Al, they really need Jelly Beans as an option at the aid points as all other lollies are not vegetarian friendly being full of Gelatin, the other note I think I need to make on that angle is to have some UHT soy milk available at any location where they have tea or coffee with milk to pour in, which seemed to be CP 3 onwards). and then headed out to finish.

The climb out of this CP was hard work however we got onto a ridge line with an out and back section so we could see the people ahead of us coming back which was cool, and then we had a slippery steep descent back down to the Megalong valley floor. After this I was watching the distance tick off looking forward to 54 KM. I had seen Randall as I was coming back on the out and back, I wondered how I was ahead of him (I later learned he had run the first 18 KM with Luke to keep him company which is cool) and then had started running harder. I started the final long climb up toward the end of my leg and had to walk most of it to avoid cramps. Randall caught me at the 50 KM mark and we had a chat as we both started running again (top of the climb), however I could not hold his speed without cramping so let him go. Around 51 KM I ran out of water, fortunately it was largely easy downhill to the finish from here and I just settled in for 6 to 7 minute/km pace so as not to cramp.

I ran into the CP handing over to Aaron at 7h5m which I thought reasonable for the first 54km. I gave him my dry bag of compulsory kit, my phone (Telstra Next G remote area phone, so better coverage) and the timing chip. He then was able to get going within 3 minutes or so (which for us is a pretty faff free transition). I chowed down on noodles and fruit chatting with Randall until I felt a little cold and in need of warm clothes. Changed and wandered back to get more food and wait for Luke to come in while eating. After Luke passed through remarkably happy and calm Randall and I headed off. I realised I had by now missed Aaron coming through CP 4 but headed there anyway just to see how people were going.

I then headed to CP5 and met up with Randall again just a few minutes before Julie powered through this CP heading on in her chase of 1st position. Efficient as always Julie was organised and quick and would have been less than 1 minute in the CP except for forgetting to get her head torch and reflective vest on (it was still light when she came through). In and out in 2 minutes I think Julie was the fastest runner I saw through here the whole time I hung around. In typical Julie fashion she was running her own race, needed no help at the transition, was not there to chat or faff and was out of there really fast. After the race we learned she thought herself to be in third at this point. We knew she was second but did not tell her at the time or the split to first.

David came through around 40 minutes behind Julie, he was pleased to hear that Julie would be coming in under 12 hours and headed out on his own mission to knock some time off his PB. Aaron came in not much later, only 2 or 3 minutes in front of Pete. Aaron seemed happy though he said the previous few KM were the hardest of the event climbing back up from the valley floor for the second time. He headed out just as Pete arrived. Pete was worried his ITB and legs in general may get injured long term if he kept going so decided to pull out there to ensure Entropic would be able to race at Geoquest in 4 weeks. So we all headed back to the resort to see where/when Julie finished and wait for David and Aaron.

Julie was outside grabbing some food and tea when David finished so she dragged him inside into the warmth smiling and happy to knock 20 minutes of his PB. David had a remarkably fast final 11 km, looking at the splits he made up 10 places or something in the final 11 km. As he described it he was sighting head lights ahead and then wooshing past them. We had a little while to wait for Aaron and he finished 50 minutes after David to get us home in 13h9m. I did the first half in 7h9m and he did the second half in 6h a great run from Aaron and an interesting and tough day out in the Blue Mountains.

Julie seemed remarkably able to get around the place after the event, as did David. On the other hand I am hobbling around like and invalid and only after stretching class today was I able to get up and down stairs without seeming as if I am in dire need of an elevator. As nice as the country we got to run through was I think it may be more fun to camp out there or do rides there than try to run the entire thing in one go. At least from my perspective the 54km I did was remarkably achievable with not much preparation so I was happy with that. It was fun racing with Aaron and to finish all I can say is how awesome it was seeing Julie beat a strong international field home especially on a day she felt under prepared and was out to have fun .