June 29, 2014
Wingello Trail Classic 25km
This was the second year that this race was put on and after
enjoying the course so much last year, I decided to enter again and spread the
word amongst the NRG community to come along and have a go. It is organised by young running gun and
current Commonwealth games athlete in Harry Summers and supported by NSW
Athletics and members of the Jim Owens Running Group based in Oatley. All profits go to Cerebral Palsy Alliance.
Last year there were over 120 runners in the 25km event and
this year the numbers were much lower perhaps due to the extreme cold or the
Woodford to Glenbrook race that had been scheduled the same weekend. Like last year, there was a 6km race mainly
contested by more elite NSW Athletics runners (over 40 in total) and the
designated trail race, the Wingello Trail Classic.
The aim for this race was to beat last years’ time and
prepare for the sharper faster local fun run / road runs coming up in the next
2-3 months. My interval times were
probably lagging just a touch from 12 moths ago so I was not sure how it would
pan out and apparently Ian Lochrin, Gillian Russell and I were testing a new ‘night
before or pre-race experiment’ (that Ian had found on the web) with red wine
and how it may improve running performance (readers, this is not medical advice
and experiment at your own risk and enjoyment and risk of feeling crap the
immediate next morning). Suddenly the
one bottle of red between the three of us during our nice pizza or pasta meal
that was going to be politely consumed turned into a lot more with added
supplies required before the local Bundanoon ‘bottle-o’ closed for the night on
a freezing and gusty winter evening in the Southern Highlands.
A local stay meant the luxury of a 7am-ish wake up, unheard
of on a race day really. Most of the
other NRG crew (except for Luke and Mel, who were scouring the course on
mountain bikes on the Saturday), were braving the chilly Sunday morning and
driving the near 2 hours down early from Sydney. All up, we had a strong NRG presence (results
are below in the link).
The temperature at the Wingello Forest clearing and camping
site was 4-5 degrees, but according to the Bureau of Met site for Moss Vale
(further north!), the apparent temp with wind-chill was actually -6.2 degrees. Now picture that in combination with Ian only
in running singlet and shorts – hence the need for Lucinda and Kristian’s
lovely dog Ruby, keeping Ian warm as can be seen below, or was that the other
way around. Poor Ruby…Poor Ian!
Runners quickly assembled and before we knew it (as the wind
made it hard to hear anything said over the microphone), the starting gun had
been fired and people were still setting their Garmin’s!
Perhaps the quick start caught some runners by surprise as
after only 50m, there are red flags bending around to the right signalling the
way to take, yet the leading 8-10 people veered left towards yellow and green
markers (that signalled the 6km course). Perhaps it was the wine but for a split
second I began following the said group before remembering from last year that
‘right’ was right and managed to keep on track.
Mark (the yoga/stretch guru that many of you know after Steve B’s Monday
night interval sessions) commented that he was sticking close to me as I probably
was the only one who knew the way around.
Well, unfortunately I am not as quick as Mark and that spelt trouble for
him and Ian as you read on! Ian and Mark
forged ahead with Tim and Luke sitting a few metres behind me (I think!!).
A quick 800m of gentle up and down fire trail before the
course takes you left into the forest with pure single track and it required
you to make sure you had a good race position as the trail has lots of switchbacks
and undulations. I wrote about this
feature in last year’s NRG newsletter report and it always remains vivid as a
good selling point for this course.
Sensational part of trail running on these sections, letting go and
focusing purely on the brilliant trail ahead of you. The single track goes on
for a few kms before re-joining the fire trail.
Tim as expected went past during one of the fire trail
climbs at this point – the mountain goat that he is and then the big Diesel of
Luke flew past in hot pursuit. I then
tried to catch up to Luke on one of the hill climbs but realised I would be
burning all energy rockets early if I continued and also remembering that dehydration
may be a later issue later given my overindulgence the night before.
At about the 5km mark, the fire trail reached an
intersection where a marshall was standing with a table and a large water
container. The race has a no cup policy
and rightly so in the forest, so it was mandatory to carry a water bottle or
pack in order to carry at least 500ml of water. I chose the Nathan hand held
wrap around bottle as per last year. No
time to stop for any water here and I don’t think anyone really did but already
the leading pack (including Ian and Mark) were well ahead of my sight and the
course turned left onto another fire trail for about 200m before quickly
turning right onto single track. This is
where some confusion began. I saw Luke
and Tim up ahead by about 80m and noticed that Luke was signalling Tim to go
right which was the correct way. Lucky
for Tim that Luke had ridden the course, the true navigator that he is. If you didn’t go right here, you were
continuing to head down a gentle slope on the open fire trail. I did see one person a good 200m+ on this
fire trail and I stopped for a few moments, trying to yell back at the marshal
some 100m behind. He must have
eventually heard me as he pointed to the single track. I then yelled out in vain to the runner down
the fire trail but he simply could not hear me.
The wind direction probably wasn’t favourable either in hearing my
shouts. So that’s where I am assuming
some of the leading runners (including Ian and Mark) were…..on the wrong course
now.
I guess part of trail running involves navigating, but not
to the extent of adventure racing or orienteering, so there was not much more I
could do but to turn right into the single track and continue on the correct
course and I think I was following the third placed female at the time so I
continued on the switchback sections of this ferny forest – enjoying the
course, just like last year.
From about 8km point the course all came flooding back to me
and the memory was working, as I knew the rest of the way. The drink stop was around 10km but strangely
this year, there was no one aiding the stop.
It was a table and large water container. I still had enough water, so I forged passed
the table and down into a valley briefly on fire trail before some sapping
climbs back up. Determined not to walk
any (and luckily worked out that way during the entire course) I climbed back
up before we entered “The Great Wall” signs which is a lovely forest area of
single track with modest climbs interrupted by turns then more climbs. Again, a wonderful trail. I managed to pass a
couple of runners here and once back on the open fire trail, I saw the second
placed girl (Sarah Carpenter – who happens to podium in many trail races) about
200m ahead.
The race position for me
stayed that way for some time, running solo, for a good 5km, as we went past
two water points at 14km and 17km. Sadly there was a table set up at each
station, but no water containers. The
14km I could cop as I still had some rations left and one gel to take in a few
more kms time. The lack of water however
at 17km annoyed me, as I had no water left, I had just consumed a gel some 100m
before (expecting water to be there). So
at this point the course turned back into single trail switch backs and I had
to get through the last 8km on no water.
Now I was sort of regretting the night before! But perhaps the gel worked as energy levels
picked up and I kept forging ahead.
It
was solo running again for some 3km before I spotted Sarah in pain and she had
rolled her ankle and was sitting down on the trail. I stopped to assist and gave her a hand
lifting her up. She asked for painkillers but I didn’t have any and she said
she would try to walk it off and insisted that I keep going, so off I did.
About another 1km further on, the single track continued
upward climbing switchbacks and I spotted the bright top of Mark up ahead, but
he seemed to be coming my way. I was thinking, “I don’t remember an out and back on this
last year”. He was with two other
runners and it turned out they had taken the wrong course and so were heading
back. He gave good encouragement though saying I was in 5th position
and Tim and Luke were ahead. I wasn’t
sure if he meant 5th overall or 5th male, but I decided
to up the ante with some 3km-4km to go trying to push my limits.
The single track finally finished with a decent climb and I
moved into 4th. Having
knowledge of what was to remain on the last section I pushed even harder on the
open forest fire trail now. The wind was
at our backs on the first straight but uphill section. I managed to move into 3rd by
passing the leading female as we turned left with the wind now a strong cold
cross chill. Then I saw Chantelle up
ahead and she looked back and said she must have missed out on a couple of kms
so she was heading back via the final section.
(Turns out it was about 2km short but she had run a good time
regardless).
So the last section I was burning all the fuel in hope of
seeing Tim or Luke in the distance, but was not to be. I crossed the line in 3rd (first
ever podium finish and beat last years time by 21 seconds) but I was still not
completely sure what had happened, but the lads confirmed it that NRG had
gotten 1st, 2nd and 3rd via Luke, Tim and
I. Awesome work team! Ian was there at the finish, a little
disappointed having taken the wrong course and he was in such good form that a
podium finish was on the cards for him.
Mark too, would have given a good account of himself.
Robyn continues to rack up the silverware and scored 3rd
position in the ladies. Great result again.
Thanks for everyone who turned up from NRG battling the
absolutely freezing conditions. I hope you
enjoyed the course (well some of us anyway).
Don’t think I have experienced a colder race than that (pre, during and
post race).
Thanks to Lucinda and Ruby
too for supporting. Photos courtesy of
Lu, Chantelle, Robyn and Mark.
FULL RESULTS here:
http://www.wingellotrailclassic.com.au/document_uploads/Wingello
Trail Classic 2014 25km Results.pdf
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| NRG Clean Sweep (Tim 2nd, Luke 1st, myself 3rd) |
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| Ruby and Ian with Luke and Gillian looking on |
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| Lucinda, Chantelle, Luke, Tim, Ian, myself and Mel - and Ruby ! |
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| All focus for Luke and Tim |
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| Gemma and Kristian |
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| Pauric crossing the line |
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| Robyn finishing 3rd |
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| Trying to keep warm at the finish line. |
