Adventures in Wonderland

"Tut, tut, child!" said the Duchess. "Everything's got a moral, if only you can find it."

        - Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

So, what was the moral of the inaugural Wonderland Run? Well, more on that later, but firstly, for the uninitiated, the Wonderland Run is the latest trail run/community event/social media extravaganza put on by Big Long Run, aka Rohan Day and his band of merry men and women. That is, the people who brought us the Two Bays Trail Run and, until recently, the Roller Coaster Run (now with Mountain Sports). For Wonderland, Rohan was ably inspired and assisted by the well known and respected trail runner (amongst other things) Matt Bell.

 The incomparable Rohan Day (Mad Hatter) and Matt Bell (White Rabbit)

([Amazing] Photo credit: Tamsin Bearsley)

You can get the details of the run on the website here, but essentially, this was the inaugural running of the event and comprised two main races: a 36km and a 20km trail run through the Grampians (Gariwerd) National Park, based in the regional town of Halls Gap. And boy, did the town get behind this run! Cafes, restaurants, caravan parks, adventure gear stores, all got in on the action and welcomed around 400 runners and their families to their town.

I was sharing a house with a group of fellow Dandenongs Trail Runners and my long time friend Ruth. We'd all arrived on the Saturday, just in time to see DTR Narelle take out first place in the '6 months pregnant' category of Saturday's 8km 'flat' run, in a time that the majority of the Australian populace would only manage on a bike. The Saturday run is just another example of the Big Long Run team just getting it right. It really did seem to set the mood for the weekend and the fact that it was only 8km meant that people of all ages could get involved. 

After a low key Saturday night at the house, making pizzas, watching footy and drinking a couple of beers (you can see I take my pre-race nutrition seriously), race day dawned. It was warmer than I had anticipated, but after a lot of thought I still decided to wear my thermal top. I jogged the 2km to the start line as a warm up and as luck would have it, I bumped into fellow DTRs Cameron and Richard on the way.

DTR ready to go!

(Photo credit: Peter Mitchell)

The warm up had only increased my confusion about whether to wear the thermal or leave it with the rest of my mandatory gear which was being transported to the Mt Rosea carpark. I decided to wear it, concerned about the potential temperature difference between Halls Gap (240m altitude) and the higher reaches of the course (800-1000m).

The last thing to do was to drop my two 500ml bottles in the special needs box to go to the 21km aid station. Now, where was that box? I found Matt Bell, who advised me that it had already left! No matter, Matt said, he'd arrange for them to be taken there anyway. Legend! (Try that at your next road event, or even trail event, and see how far you get!)

Before I knew it, we were off and I settled into a reasonably easy rhythm as we started the first climb to the Wonderland carpark and, beyond that, The Pinnacle. (The race took its name from the Wonderland trail, one of the many trails that are found in the National Park.) 

And just after reaching the aid station at the Wonderland carpark, I witnessed something I never thought I would: deliberate, unrepentant, course cutting. 

Soon after exiting the carpark, you take a left on a trail instead of going straight. The five guys ahead of me went straight and the guy behind me called out "left turn guys". I thought to myself how it would be easy to miss the sign, so I held back and prepared to let them through ahead of me. All of them slowed down, then one of them muttered "this way's quicker" and they all kept going! I announced that they could cut the course if they wanted, but I was going left, and I led the rest of the group down the correct trail. 

And you know what? They missed out on one of the best sections of the course, squeezing through rock formations, climbing up steps, being completely immersed in the environment. And you know what else? It couldn't have been that much quicker to go the other way, because when we merged with the other trail, it was just behind the Gang of Five. I again informed them that they'd cut the course and should go back, but they were apathetic, and continued ahead. I was fuming! This is NOT what trail running was all about.

Part of what the cheats missed out on

(Photo credit: Matilda Iglesias)

As I was stewing on this, I was also stewing underneath that damned thermal top. It became too much and I decided to stop and take it off. A few people went past as I peeled off my layers, but it didn't take long and I pressed on towards the Pinnacle, over some rocky and increasingly technical terrain. Once we'd reached the magnificent views from the Pinnacle, there was some nice running down to the Sundial carpark aid station. This particular aid station was marshalled by the famous Mama Two Bays, and they didn't disappoint - you could hear them from more than a kilometre away! I went through Sundial with another DTR keeping me company (Bryan, who was doing the 20km), and then the courses split, with Bryan starting his descent and me heading towards the start of the climb to Mt Rosea.

Approaching the Sundial aid station with Bryan right behind me

(Photo credit: Kate Ablett)

Once you got above 800m, the weather changed dramatically. We were up in the clouds and the rocks we were running across were wet and slippery (as I found out when I tried to overtake a runner and my feet went out from under me and I crashed to the ground). Deciding that discretion was the better part of valour, I settled into a hike with a like-minded runner named Troy, only running every so often when it was safe to do so. This was without doubt the most technical terrain I'd encountered in a race. And if the climb was hard, the first kilometre of the descent was just as bad, with the slippery rocks slowing us down and requiring us to use our hands to shimmy down some of the course.

Rock scrambling on Mt Rosea

(Photo credit: David Hughes)

But the technical stuff soon gave way to a more familiar type of trail and I commenced the 6km descent to the Borough Huts aid station at 21km. I was running at just under 5:00/km pace, wanting to keep a bit in reserve for the final 15km of the race. I soon got to the bottom of the descent and the very welcome sight of another fantastic aid station, complete with a tea party offering cakes and biscuits as well as your more usual runners' fare.

I grabbed my bottles (thanks again, Matt) and headed off for the final 'flat' 15km around Lake Bellfield then back into Halls Gap. I'd ran most of the course on a family holiday here in December and knew (a) what a grind this section was and (b) the location of five horribly steep pinches on a fire trail on the eastern side of the lake. I settled into a sustainable pace exiting the aid station and passed a couple of guys before being passed myself by Tash Fraser, 2nd placed woman in this year's Two Bays ultra. 

On the way to Lake Bellfield

(Photo credit: Matilda Iglesias)

Tash built up a lead of a couple of hundred metres going around the side of the lake and I thought that was that, because she was running strongly (or at least, she was relative to me!). But when we reached the pinches, which hit you one after the other like a set of waves, I noticed myself slowly reeling her in (we were both also passing several others, who had perhaps not realised how hard this section is, relative to how it looks on the profile).

The Wonderland 36km profile.

[The nasty red pinches barely discernible in the foreground]

(Image credit: Les Corson)

I passed through the Brambuk aid station with about 5km to go only 10-20 seconds behind Tash and managed to pass her on one of the small rises on the trail, with maybe 3km to go. Knowing there weren't any hills from then on and that Tash would be running strongly on the flat, I gritted my teeth and pushed hard. I rounded Delley's Bridge at the northern end of the course and from there it was a completely flat bike trail for about 1.5km to the finish line. 

Running hard towards the finish line, I was greeted by three incredibly enthusiastic girls, cheering each runner home. It was a terrific way to conclude the race and I crossed the line in 4:09 with a massive smile on my face.

Finished!

(Photo credit: Tamsin Bearsley)

Ruth, Chris and Narelle were all there with very kind words, as was trail running good guy Ashley Bennett. I asked Ash how he went and he responded "pretty good" and then at Rohan's prompting, stood on the top step of the podium to be presented with his first place prize! So yeah, "pretty good". And here I must pause to note that Ashley stuck around to the end of the race and handed his winner's prize of a voucher for a new pair of shoes to the final person who crossed the line. An absolute class act and that's why Ash is generally regarded as one of the nicest, most humble guys in our trail running community. 

It was whilst I was giving my housemates a debrief that Narelle mentioned that fellow DTR Les had rolled his ankle and pulled from the race. He was over by the first aid tent, ankle strapped, rugged up in warm clothing, talking to another DTR, Andre, who in contrast had destroyed the course with a typical display of mental and physical strength, to finish 9th overall. 

I went over and provided condolences to Les, who was using this event as one of the final lead in races to his shot at redemption in this October's Melbourne marathon. It was August last year that a trail event had done in his other ankle and derailed his marathon plans and now he was experiencing a wicked sense of deja vu. You can read more about Les's Wonderland experience here.

It's occurred to me that I haven't really done justice to the course. For the record, the first half of the course is spectacular, both the views and the trails. The second half is less of a feast for the eyes, but it certainly has its moments (see below) and is a real mental and physical test after putting yourself through the wringer climbing up to 1,000m and back down again. And true to form, the volunteers and aid stations are the best in the business - as with any Big Long Run event. A sincere thanks to the vollies (with a special mention to the incredible photographers) for helping make it such a special day. Put simply, this is a 'must run' event for any trail runner in Victoria. If you're interstate, put it on your list, too, and come see how a trail run should be organised.

Andre rocking it on the 'unspectacular' (cough cough) part of the course

(Photo credit: Lorraine Aitken)

We spent a few hours milling around the finish line, cheering both friends and strangers across the line. It's probably the longest I've ever spent at the finish line post-race and I loved every minute of it. After deliberating with the DTR crew and one of the runners who was with me at the time, I decided I'd report the course cutters to the race organisers. Maybe nothing will come of it, and maybe nothing should (they didn't gain any time, after all), but it came down to principles - they were told they were cutting the course and they didn't care.

Together again

(Photo credit: Cheryl Martin)

And so, the inaugural edition of the Wonderland Run was over. From my point of view, the event was a resounding success. Rohan, Matt and anyone involved in putting the race together should be very proud of themselves. Let's hope the 2016 edition is as well supported as the 2015 race (I'm sure the local businesses would agree!). On a personal level, I was very happy with how I ran (I'm sure the course recce in December helped), but as always, since I'll never challenge the fast guys and girls, it's more about the experience than the finishing position. 

That's all well and good, but are we any closer to finding the moral of Wonderland? I don't think there is one, but I don't say that to disappoint the Duchess. What I mean is, we'll each find our own moral in this tale, and in the many other stories you can find on the Wonderland Facebook page. I can almost imagine an extended Tea Party, with all the characters from Carroll's novel trying to make their voices heard:

"Course cutting must be eradicated!" asserted the Mad Hatter. 

"Trail runners don't dob in other trail runners!", countered the Dormouse. 

"Start steady, finish strong!", advised the Mock Turtle. 

"Don't get to the finish thinking, 'if only I'd gone harder up Rosea!'", muttered the White Rabbit, looking at his watch. 

"Avoid trail running in the lead up to road races!" warned the Dodo. 

"Running trails like this remind you why you run in the first place!" cried the Caterpillar. 

"Don't forget how quickly you warm up when running!", reminded the March Hare. 

"Nothing beats spending time with like-minded friends!", winked the Cheshire Cat. 

"There's nothing wrong with a little bit of healthy competition!", shouted the Queen of Hearts. 

"Isn't trail running wonderful?", Alice thought to herself, smiling. 

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My Suunto Movescount file: http://www.movescount.com/moves/move74725284

For two great videos of the run, check out the efforts of Marcus Pain and Peter Southton

Visit the Wonderland Facebook page for more excellent photos, many of them taken by Matilda Iglesias of MiCreations. A special mention also to Tamsin and Andrew Bearsley, who took and posted whole bunch of excellent photos.