Buffalo Stampede Ultra SkyMarathon: A Memento

Saturday 11 April 2015

9:20pm. Pizza never tasted so good

8:40pm. Finish showering. I think enough dirt came off me to fill one of those golf buggy sand buckets. Everything hurts.

8:10pm. We start the 700m walk along the river back to the house we are staying at. I say 'walk', but that's probably not how an observer would describe it.

7:55pm. "I think I'd like that beer now please, Nicole."

It's over

7:50pm. Successfully pull myself together. I thank Paul, Franck and Nicole for all of their excellent support. Each played a key role in getting me to the finish line.

7:45pm. <incoherent rambling>

7:44pm, 75.8km. I cross the finish line in 78th place out of about 150. Embrace Nicole. Salty discharge forms around eyes. Don't think it's sweat.

7:40pm, 75.1km. Caravan park guests banging on pots and pans, hooting and cheering as I run past. "Looking strong!" Can't wipe the smile from my face.

7:25pm, 72.5km. A very slow, very painful descent later, I finally hit a runnable gradient. I feel like I'm flying. In reality, I'm doing 5:40/km pace.

6:58pm, 70.7km. Start of the Mystic descent. Reasonably certain my toenails are being prised off my toes with every step.

6:51pm, 69.8km. "I told you not to wait for me! Go!", Franck says as he gets to the top of Mick's Track. I decide to take his advice on board this time and start the final uphill section towards the summit of Mystic, not looking back.

6:48pm, 69.8km. Literally howl "Yeeeesssss!!!" It was guttural, primal. I'd done it. I decide to wait for Franck.

6:48pm, 69.79km. Realise I'm 10m from the top.

6:31pm, 69.3km. Franck and I hit the bottom of Mick's Track. About half a kilometre at an average gradient of 43% (give it a moment - let that sink in). In the dark. This is going to be... character building. Franck tells me to go ahead. And I do, slowly. Very slowly. 5 steps, rest. 4 steps, slip back a step. Repeat. I get to a break in the climb, an access road. Someone is there, lost. I find the reflective course marker, alert him to it and push onwards. I don't know how it would be possible to get up this climb without sticks. A truly epic 17 minutes.

Ultra winner Tom Owens near the top of Mick's Track 

(Photo credit: Franck Verez)

6:18pm, 68.3km. Some good banter with a friend of Connie's at the base of Clear Spot. It's great to share a laugh with and hear some positive words from spectators at this point in the race. It's also great to be finished with that f$&%ing descent. Headlamp is switched on at the Bakers Gully aid station. 

6:17pm, 68.2km. 27 minutes, it turns out. For 1.8km. 15:00/km pace. Downhill. Ha. 

What I did NOT look like on the Clear Spot descent

(Photo credit: Buffalo Stampede Facebook page)

6:04pm, 67.5k. Franck, me and Connie. The Three Amigos, slipping and sliding (sometimes on our bums) down this treacherous descent. We've been going for close to 15 minutes and we're only half way down... How long can this take?

5:50pm, 66.5km. I start the descent and that's when it happens - toe pain. Over the course of the run, my toes must have taken a battering and now on this gradient, every step results in a sharp stab of pain in my toes. Franck and I slowly make our way back to Connie.

5:40pm, 66.1km. Just before the Clear Spot summit, we catch up to Connie, part of the Trail Chix running community. We share a few words of encouragement (just 10km to go!). Once we reach the summit, Connie forges ahead whilst I get a final refill from Paul and re-patch my blisters. I thank Paul for about the 50th time today and tell him I'll see him at the finish line.

5:20pm, 64.6km. I ask Franck if that crest up ahead is the top of Clear Spot. He looks at me funny, maybe with pity. "No, not even close. Have you checked your altimeter?" No I hadn't. I check it. 715m. Clear Spot is 1,020m. Right then - just a lazy 300m elevation to go.

5:15pm, 64.2km. A few metres from the top, a friendly face, coming back down the wall. "Nick!" It's my friend Franck, a regular to these trails and very experienced ultra runner who is staying with us tonight and promised to see me out on the trails. I immediately thank him for telling me to not even contemplate this event without using sticks. They've been invaluable on this Wall (about 400m at 37%, depending on where the official 'start' is).

5:06pm, 63.9km... Warner's Wall. Ok, you bastard, here I am.

Warner's Wall

(Photo credits: Franck Verez)

5:00pm, 63.3km. I've caught and passed them all, just before reaching...

4:35pm, 60.2km. I arrive at the Buckland aid station and can see four runners ahead. Paul tells me I'm looking better than most people he's seen come through - I'm running whereas everyone else is "running". This is a great mental boost - I might be hurting, but others ahead of me are hurting more. I have a quick chat to one of the first aid guys whilst Paul attends to my bottles and then run off towards those ahead of me.

4:01pm, 54.9km. Yep, I did. That hill just kept on going. But I'm over the top of it now and I've got about five kilometres of running ahead of me before the Buckland aid station. I think back to my earlier pledge coming through this part of the course and smile as I run freely past a few people who are struggling a bit.

3:26pm, 51.5km. I leave the Eurobin Creek picnic area, with a nagging feeling that I'd underestimated how hard this climb over Keating Ridge was going to be when I proposed the time I'd be at the next aid station in my race schedule.

3:20pm, 51.4km. "You look completely different compared to at the top." That's Nicole's assessment when I arrive at the base of the Big Walk at Eurobin aid station. I'm not surprised - my legs are really starting to feel it . Still 24km and a whole bunch of climbing to go. I'm in 89th position. My parting words to my beloved wife: "Bring one of the beers and a bottle opener to the finish line." 

3:06pm, 49.5km. "I've sprained my ankle before but I'm not going let this one stop me from finishing. Thanks for helping." And I push on.

3:01pm, 49.5km. <Trip, roll, pop>. "I've done my ankle." Fortunately for me, it was the guy 10 metres in front of me. I help him (his name is Oliver) to strap his ankle with a bandage and ask if he needs me to help him to the aid station. 

2:44pm, 46.9km. Ok, I'm about 5km into the run down the Big Walk and my legs are starting to hurt a little now... 

Heading down the Big Walk

(Photo credit: Aurora Images)

1:54pm, 41.5km. I'm back at the Chalet, having completed the marathon course. I feel really good at this point, apart from the blister on my left heel. I drop into a chair and patch it up properly whilst Paul and Nicole help out with bottles and food.  Almost 7 hours in and I'm feeling good, feeling strong. Nicole confirms this, saying I look remarkably good this far into the race. With that, I'm off, telling them I'll see them at the bottom. 

Still feeling pretty good at the second pass of the Chalet

1:30pm, 39.4km. I pass someone else. This guy. (Or girl. I didn't check.) 

1:16pm, 37.6km. I arrive at the Chalwell Galleries for a bit of fun. The course requires you to squeeze through a hole in the granite, step down some bolted-in ladder rungs and then shimmy through a narrow gap in the rock. Very cool. I've also just passed my longest ever duration out on a run. Into the unknown...

12:36pm, 34.2km. The Big Walk is done. I'm at the Chalet and meet Paul. He tells me that I've made up some ground - people I was 15 minutes behind at Eurobin are only a few minutes ahead of me now. I check my heel - yep, there's a blister. Unbeknownst to Paul, I'd put a first aid kit in one of the bags I gave him, but it's in his car. No matter - there's a first aid tent over there. But no one's manning it! I rifle through their supplies and find some gauze but no tape. A spectator comes to my aid with some tape and I quickly patch it up. By this stage my wife Nicole has also arrived and it's great to see her. I head off on the 7km loop at the top of Buffalo. 

11:51am, 30.2km. Tom Owens flies past in the lead, with DTR member Ash (a spectator today) running behind him, giving him some updates. I say "Hi" and "well done", scarcely believing Tom is about 15km ahead of me! 

Heading up the Big Walk

(Photo credit: Aurora Images)

11:25am, 27.8km. Despite the awareness of a blister forming on my heel, I'm really enjoying the Big Walk. I'm taking it easy, conserving the energy I know I'll need later in the race. That said, I'm still passing people on the way up, one of them Garth, another Jamie from DTR. I run a little, walk a little, resisting the urge to run a bit more.  

About 3km into the Big Walk

10:45am, 24.4km. I start the Big Walk - a 10km climb up the side of Mount Buffalo. My race plan is to take it slow and not get caught up in the KOM competition that times your performance from the bottom to the top and back again. A 10km climb is something very new to me and I want to enjoy it. 

10:40am, 24.4km. The descent from Keating Ridge was uneventful and I arrive at the Eurobin aid station at the foot of Mount Buffalo. I exchange my bottles for a 1.5L bladder, have a quick chat to Paul and I'm off. I'm in 103rd place at this point (although I don't know this until after the results are published).  

9:49am, 17.9km. I enter the Mount Buffalo National Park to start the climb over Keating Ridge. I decide to walk almost from the start, ignoring the people running past me. "It's not about running through this section on the way out," I think to myself, "but I WILL be running through here on the way back."

9:32am, 15.5km. Through Buckland aid station. I take some pictures but they don't do the scenery justice. 

 Departing the Buckland Valley aid station

9:05am, 11.4km. I slip and slide down Warner's Wall, literally falling over three times, sticks flying. So embarrassing. I have red dirt stains everywhere - hands, legs, DTR singlet, shorts. Really looking forward to going up this at the 64km mark...

9:03am, 11.0km. I bump into DTR and SCTR regular Siqi on the way down from Clear Spot, who tells me the next few km are flat after the next descent. It's just that the next descent is the infamous "Warner's Wall"

Start of the descent from Clear Spot

8:49am, 9.3km. That climb up to Clear Spot just keeps... on... going. It takes 40 minutes for 1.8km. On its slopes I draw level with someone who asks me about my blog! My first brush with fame! (Delusions of grandeur? Moi?). His name is Garth and we chat for a bit, with me sharing the good news that my Suunto GPX file is telling me the top is only 300m away. Coming down this hill later on will be interesting, I think to myself,  but I'm pretty sure it won't be too bad. We get to the top and my support crew member Paul is there, with some more Tailwind ready to go

Early stages of the Clear Spot climb

(Photo credit: Aurora Images)

8:12am, 7.5km. Mick's Track finally over, I run past the aid station at Bakers Gully and prepare myself for the second climb: Clear Spot. The photographer perfectly captures my reaction upon seeing the climb:

First glimpse of Clear Spot

(Photo credit: Aurora Images) 

8:00am, 6.2km. This isn't a hill, it's a cliff face! Still, at least I'm keeping my feet, that's three people I've seen fall over, but at least I'm still uprigh... Oh. Never mind. 

The pros descending Mick's Track

(Photo credit: Franck Verez) 

7:56am, 6.0km. We have to go down THAT?!?! 

7:55am, 5.9km. I can see a turn-off ahead. That must be this "Mick's Track" that everyone talks about.

7:42am, 4.7km. We emerge from the trees and we're approaching the helipad at the top of Mystic. The first climb done! That actually wasn't so bad - not sure what the fuss is about, to be honest. I mean, if the other side of this hill is anything like this, it should be relatively easy to climb later on.

7:20am, 3.4km. The serious stuff starts. The climb to Mystic. The first of seven climbs. I settle into an easy rhythm and get out the sticks.

7:03am, 0.5km. I have a chat with my friend and runner extraordinare, Vanessa. We talk about how fast people are running. That's ok, we say - the goal is to be running fast at the end of 75kms, not at the start.

7:00am, 0.0km. Go!

6:59:57am. 3,2,1...

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Suunto Movescount file: http://www.movescount.com/moves/move58806486

Buffalo Stampede Ultra SkyMarathon course profile

The Quadruple Bypass

“Watching a coast as it slips by the ship is like thinking about an enigma. There it is before you, smiling, frowning, inviting, grand, mean, insipid, or savage, and always mute with an air of whispering, "Come and find out".”
― Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness


Conrad was a seafarer, but if he was born in a different era, he may have written those words about the trails that beckon runners like me to see what we can find. 

Me, and I don't know how many others arrive at the Basin Theatre to run the Quadruple Bypass, a 26km route encompassing four ascents of Mount Dandenong. For argument's sake, let's say there's 20 of us. That's 20 people who apparently ignored the fact that this is a course that Peter Mitchell has not wanted to attempt since he last ran it 15 years ago. I get extra "crazy" points, because I'm doing it on a morning when my kids are at my parents and I have elected to go running instead of sleep in.

I arrive a few minutes before we're due to depart and learn that we'll be splitting into two groups - one led by Peter and one by miler-in-training Vanessa. I'm in Peter's group, which includes, among others:*

• Peter. Australian marathon representative, winner Gold Coast marathon, 2x winner Bogong to Hotham (B2H), winner Oxfam Trailwalker Melbourne
• Kevin. Winner Maroondah Dam 50, multiple podiums including Maroondah Dam, B2H
• Ray. Multiple podiums including Maroondah Dam 50, B2H
• Rohan. Course record holder Oxfam Trailwalker Melbourne
• Kirra. Winner You Yangs 50, winner Lake Manchester 22km trail
• Cheryl. Winner Salomon Plenty Gorge long course.

In other words, I'm looking around, thinking to myself "I hope these guys can keep up."

[* These achievements are based on trail running chats and a very quick Google search. It would not surprise me in the least if I have dramatically understated the wins and podiums of these men and women. In fact, I'm sure I have.]

Ascent 1. Dodds Track and Caterpillar Track (3.02km, 370m elevation gain, 12.3% average gradient)

If you've ever run the Roller Coaster course, you'll know Dodds Track - it's the nastiest climb on the course. On today's course, Dodds is a warm up, the early ground work of a sick joke whose punchline won't come for another three hours. After cresting Dodds, we continue on to a climb I've never been up before - Caterpillar Track, a little gem of a hill (420m @ 22%). I think I remember smiling as I went up that one. Oh, the hilarity.

Ascent 2. Ridge Track and Range Road (2.84km, 360m elevation gain, 12.7% average gradient) 

After heading down School and Banksia Tracks, we begin the next ascent to the top of Range Road. After run-walking up Ridge Track, you know what sounded like a good idea? Running side-by-side with Ray all the way to the top of Range Road. I haven't since asked the guys behind me if they could see the vapour of fuel tickets being burned, but I wouldn't be surprised if they did. Now that I think of it, I also didn't check to see if Ray was wearing a t-shirt with an "I'm with Stupid" arrow pointed at me.

Well, I got to the top of Range Road without stopping to walk and felt secure in the knowledge that I'd at least have a bloody good time for the Strava segment that someone, I was sure, had already created. Imagine my disappointment when I later discovered that the segment, for some inexplicable reason, ends about 100m AFTER the summit, which I reach after about five minutes of rest. If it's not on Strava.....

Ascent 3. Birthday Hill (1.39km, 372m elevation gain, 26.8% average gradient) 

You know when you're running with Peter and it's meant to be "all downhill from here"? Of course, the descent to the start of Birthday Hill included a couple of bonus inclines on Dandenong Creek Track. But those "hills" are forgotten as soon as we start the toughest test so far - Birthday Hill. Three single track segments linking Edgar Track to the top of Zig Zag Track. Ray runs off on us all, followed by Kevin and Rohan. I remember running up this first segment once. Ba hahahahahaha. 

And what's this? We get to the end of the first segment and those guys at the front aren't stopping. We ALWAYS stop here. Do I keep going? Do I wait for everyone else? Oh, ok, I guess I'll keep going. Somehow I manage to get to the top only 40 seconds slower than I had the previous week, when I had 'only' gone up Glasgow Track once before tackling Birthday Hill. In hindsight, I wish I had left just a bit more in the tank, because we had just a little 'pinch' to tackle before we could call it a day: Glasgow Track.

Birthday Hill

(Photo credit: Luke Johnston)

Ascent 4. Glasgow Track (1.33km, 389m elevation gain, 29.2% average gradient) 

Trust Peter to leave Glasgow to last. Known variously as "The Scar", "The Firebreak", "The Overcrowded Hiking Tour Group Mecca", it's a rutted, rocky track that goes straight up the west face of Mount Dandenong and has a kick like a mule, even before the point where it reaches 50% gradient. We meet up with Peter's wife Jenny at the foot of the climb, who has brought fresh, cold water, and a positive attitude. I vaguely recall having one of these, once. But not now.

The climb starts and I'm reduced to a walk before I even get off the bitumen lead-up to the main track. This is not going to be pleasant. I know what's coming, having gone up it (fresh) the week before, in 20:38. I know I have at least 25 minutes, maybe 30, before I get to the top of this bastard. Ray, Kevin and Rohan disappear like phantoms, with Cheryl in hot pursuit. Jenny, having probably decided that grunted, single word responses didn't exactly constitute great conversation, powers ahead too.

One. Foot. In. Front. Of. The. Other.

Stupid. Range. Road. Schoolboy. Error.

Stupid. Peter. Mitchell.

Wait a minute... I'm almost there. I'm almost there! I reach the top after nearly 26 minutes and it's not Stupid Peter Mitchell any more. He's the Peter Mitchell who, over the course of countless trail runs, has helped prepared me for runs like this. Peter Mitchell, who shares his time, knowledge of the trails, and words of wisdom with hacks like me who could never even dream of achieving what he has in this running caper. The Peter Mitchell I'm glad to call my friend.

At the top of Glasgow Track

(Photo credit: Cheryl Martin)

Once we're all at the top, we remember that we're not actually at the top. There's just one little climb to go - there always is. 

Extra Credit: Summit of Mount Dandenong

We partake in a wobbly-legged shuffle along Kyeema Track and just after the lookout, there it is - the track that leads to the highest point on Mount Dandenong (at least I think it is). We clamber up it and, like little kids, stand on a mound of gravel to make sure we're as high as possible. That's when Kevin reminds us that we're standing on the wrong mound, the official one is over there. And, again like kids, we run over and stand on that mound. 

Standing on the (wrong) summit

(Photo credit: Cheryl Martin)

For once, it is all downhill from here. We arrive back at the Basin Theatre car park and my watch tells me we've covered 26.3km and climbed 1,728m in 4 hours and 5 minutes. The pain is forgotten, the ... No, actually, the pain is still there. Big style. But it's worth it. Or at least it will be. When I can think of something other than the pain. 

Quadruple Bypass Profile

***

So, will it take me 15 years to run this course again? Well, after signing up for the 75km Buffalo Stampede next April, I dare say that it won't even be another 15 weeks before I give it another try. If you've read this far and you're thinking you might want to join me, all I can say is, "Come and find out".