I was fortunate enough to be asked to do the run leg of the (formerly Anaconda) Augusta Adventure Race.The team, a group of orthopaedic surgeons, have done it a few times, but their cyclist had pulled out. unable to find another cyclist the runner changed to cycling and i scored the run leg.
After the City to Surf i took some down time, including celebrating my 40th B'Day with a trip to NZ.
I restarted training in earnest in October and ran 460k for the month, with 4x 30k sunday runs all hilly, mainly on the trails through King's Park. Spring is a great time to be running in Perth, perfect conditions for crepuscular runs.
The run leg of the race was far more technical than I've run before, especially early on which involved 'rock-hopping' then sections of beach/rock hopping alternating. it's a type of running where technical ability trumps running ability, and i lacked the technical ability. Whilst I was clambering over boulderso n hands and knees and sliding down slopes on my backside, the fast guys were hopping over them like mountain goats and were out of sight within the first km. I found myself about 100th place at the 2k mark. I passed a good 60 people on a 1k stretch pf road then had little passing opportunity for the next few km.
7k onwards opened up on dirt trail and I was running really well, 10k pace and passed more and more competitors. The individual runners had started half an hour before us and i passed Andrew Forrest about 11k in - still impressive to see one of our wealthiest men do the entire race.
i was still passing people up until the finish, finishing 8th in my section of the race.
Our team swimmer did very well, and Toby, our paddler, dislocated his shoulder when he was knocked off his craft by a wave - it popped back in soon thereafter but it was a painful paddle for him.Matt, our cyclist did well for limited training, and then we finished with a 2.5k team beach run to the finish.
We finished 8th or 9th in the mens teams and 34th overall (official results i think had some errors initially so may change a little).
Overall this was a great event and a nice variation from normal running events.
Looking ahead I'm going to continue with the trails theme to the second half of 2013 - entered for the Perth Trail Series night race in a couple of weeks and then Six Inch Trail Ultra number 6 in December.
After the City to Surf i took some down time, including celebrating my 40th B'Day with a trip to NZ.
I restarted training in earnest in October and ran 460k for the month, with 4x 30k sunday runs all hilly, mainly on the trails through King's Park. Spring is a great time to be running in Perth, perfect conditions for crepuscular runs.
The run leg of the race was far more technical than I've run before, especially early on which involved 'rock-hopping' then sections of beach/rock hopping alternating. it's a type of running where technical ability trumps running ability, and i lacked the technical ability. Whilst I was clambering over boulderso n hands and knees and sliding down slopes on my backside, the fast guys were hopping over them like mountain goats and were out of sight within the first km. I found myself about 100th place at the 2k mark. I passed a good 60 people on a 1k stretch pf road then had little passing opportunity for the next few km.
7k onwards opened up on dirt trail and I was running really well, 10k pace and passed more and more competitors. The individual runners had started half an hour before us and i passed Andrew Forrest about 11k in - still impressive to see one of our wealthiest men do the entire race.
i was still passing people up until the finish, finishing 8th in my section of the race.
Our team swimmer did very well, and Toby, our paddler, dislocated his shoulder when he was knocked off his craft by a wave - it popped back in soon thereafter but it was a painful paddle for him.Matt, our cyclist did well for limited training, and then we finished with a 2.5k team beach run to the finish.
We finished 8th or 9th in the mens teams and 34th overall (official results i think had some errors initially so may change a little).
Overall this was a great event and a nice variation from normal running events.
Looking ahead I'm going to continue with the trails theme to the second half of 2013 - entered for the Perth Trail Series night race in a couple of weeks and then Six Inch Trail Ultra number 6 in December.
1 comment:
Augusta ADVENTURE race sounds interesting. The rock hopping part not so much, although some of the Perth Trail Series courses have some trail sections where you are basically just running on lots of loose large rocks. I'm planning to be there to see if you can land that red spike. Cool re Andrew Forrest and I admire a lot of the things he has done over the years. Good to see he is still in excellent condition. Well done, and see you on a trail soon...
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