Glasshouse100 (GH100) Race Report 13&14 September 2014

Last year I ran my very first Ultra here at the Glasshouse Mountains in September and I decided this year to sign up for the 100km. The trail is mixed from forestry road, slippery rocks, natural vegetation and badly eroded trail used by trail bike and 4wd activity. I spend many weeks planning my run with excel spreadsheets cut-off times and nutrition intake for each section of the trail. My goal was to complete the 100km within 15 hours. Nathan (My husband) who has crewed for me many times had it all worked out with gels, perpetuem, SIS tables and was prepared for a long day out in the bush.

It is 5.30am and the 100milers and 100km start together from the Beerburrum School. The first section is quite easy but I have learned from previous races that I always start to fast. I had my running buddy Mick Freeman from Kingaroy with me and together we cruised at the back of the pack while warming up for Mt Beerburrum coming up after the next checkpoint. Mick and I met up with Sammy Brown, he was running the 100 miler and made everyone smile with his happy flower bucket hat and we run together for a while.

Mt Beerburrum is about 1.5km up with a 16% incline. As this was very early in the race I decided to take it super easy and not to use too much energy, still a long way to go!! The view from the top of Mt Beerburrum was absolute stunning. I had to take it steady on my way down from Mt Beerburrum as 16% down is pretty hard on your legs. After about 20km Mick decided that it was time for him to “take off” as he set himself a much shorter finishing time for the race.

I know that I am not the strongest on the up so it was important for me to take my time on the ups and cruise down staying light and easy on my feet. The medical team was fantastic and you do have to get your weight checked at various points along the way. Apparently I put weight on and was fine to continue after checkpoint 5. Nathan told me I was well on track for my goal. After about the 30km mark I faced some more technical trail with steep downhill sections on this track which was badly eroded due to trail bike and 4wd activity. I was worried about the next section coming up from checkpoint 6 to 8. It was in the hot part of the day and underneath the power lines, no shade and some of the road was that badly eroded, I was running in ruts that were about 2 meters deep. I was told that if anything happens in this section it would be hard to get you out. I was lucky enough that it was started to get a little overcast and again took my time and paced myself through this rough section. 

Once I hit checkpoint 8 I had another medical and weight check. Checkpoint 8 was one of those where you could stay for a while, the volunteers were fantastic and couldn’t give you enough of their freshly made goodies. Gavin Bendall also from Rockhampton was crewing for his wife Raelene, who was running the 100 miler and gave me some tips to get through the next loop which would bring me back to checkpoint 8. From here I started the feel stronger and stronger, not spending to much time at the checkpoints slowly working my way further forward in the field. A hungry looking goanna made sure I kept my pace up. I needed to get back through checkpoint 6 & 5 before dark as some of the trail is pretty technical. On my way back to checkpoint 5 I was stopped by a massive snake in the middle of the road, lucky there were some friendly campers around who helped me get past the snake and I kept going. From here on it was pretty much downhill back to Beerburrum School. 
 

Nathan gave me my last gel and filled up my bottle for the last 11k. Headlight on ready to go for the home run. I was well on track to make it back within 15 hours and I just cruised home. I met up with a young fellow who started cramping at around 40k when he was still in the lead, I admired his drive to keep going and finish the 100km run. He could no longer run and we had a little chat before I set off to hit the finish line. I felt strong in on the last section and came home in 13 hours and 22 min, total elevation 2022m, finishing 6^th female and 30^th overall I was extremely happy with my result. 

 

Strava:  http://www.strava.com/activities/194058119

Congratulations to all runners especially Raelene finishing 2nd female in the 100 miler, Mick completing his first 100km Ultra and Sammy finishing the 100 miler and made everyone smile. Kathryn Austin finishing 4th in the 50km and Stuart Wright making it through to 104k in the 100 miler both from Rockhampton.

Special thanks to all volunteers who made our day awesome!!!!

Also a very special thanks to my coach Brendan Davies who helped me prepare for this challenging run. It has been amazing to have Brendan as my coach!!! Bring on 100km Tarawera Ultra Marathon (TUM) in New Zealand next year!!!

 

http://www.upcoaching.com.au/