Friday 29 September 2017

Dave's Ultra 104 report

Posted by speedygeoff on Friday, September 29, 2017 with
Story by David Clarke, see it with all the photos, comments and banter via Dave's Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100013709010194..
Here's the text:
Speedygeese long run report 24/09/2017
WOW!!! What a fantastic effort by Speedygeese long runners at the Sri Chinmoy 104k ultra trail run!!.
There are some other much shorter posts with plenty of pics – but enjoy this one if you can speed read (or if you are retired).
But first a quick Speedygeese Sri Chinmoy quiz (answers below):
1) What do you say when you finish your leg and your next runner hasn’t left home? ๐Ÿ˜ฎ
2) What is a critical item that male runners need for racing more than 10k? ๐Ÿ˜ฉ
3) What does it mean when Pieta excitedly tells everyone she got lucky on her run? ๐Ÿค”
4) What happens when your support crew turns up at your house to collect you, while you’re waiting at the arboretum? ๐Ÿ˜ฑ
5) What’s the secret to 4 old men coming third overall in the all-male team category? ๐Ÿคฃ
6) What is Jen’s word limit when racing or eating? ๐Ÿค
Answers:
1) WTF (and more…)
2) Bloody band aids, Giles (rooky’s mistake)
3) Nice echidna photo
4) Luckily we didn’t have to find out, thanks to a serendipitous conversation between Ewen and I at Maccas On The Lake (appears to be a communication problem between Ewen and Jen – Ewen’s ears had reached their 10,000 word limit).
5) Behind every great team of 4 old men is a great woman (and 4 other great women).
6) Infinite, according to ear-witness reports.

And now, for a quick word from our sponsors….Don’t forget free Speedygeese speedwork sessions on Mondays and Thursdays at 5.30pm at Parliament House with Speedy Geoff Moore (winner of the 1978 Canberra marathon). Note that Thursdays will soon be moved to Woden to coincide with ACT Masters Athletics track season.

Back to the results. A fantastic result for Adrian Cengia who finished 11th in the solo 104km (13 hours, 25 minutes, 05 seconds - pace 7:44 per km). Thach unfortunately had to pull out of the solo after the second leg due to cramps, but completed 57.4km in a great time of 6 hours, 12 minutes. Check out the selfie with a famous person at the top of Mount Arawang. ๐Ÿ˜ฏ

There were some great team results from the Speedygeese teams:
Grumpy Old Geese” (Martin, Dave (me), Pete B1 and Pete B2) – 3rd all male team in 9:52:55, just 5 minutes behind the 2nd all-male team (which included a couple of minutes lost while I took selfies with ultra runners at the top of Mt Arawang and Mt Stromlo). We might be grumpy old farts but can still punch out some hills. Pete Brown even got a half marathon PB according to Strava (although nowhere near his pace for the 20 or so sub-3 hour marathons in the old days). I was happy enough to officially scrape into the top 10 overall for leg 2 (31.7km) with a time of 2:53:06. Well, actually, I was unofficially 11th because Jeff’s time for the same leg was 2:39:43 but he had 20 minutes added while waiting for the next runner. Well done Martin, who was 7th overall in his leg. And, of course, congrats to Jen for putting together a team of winners. ๐Ÿ˜

We Don’t Need Your Stinking Kudos” (Mhairi, Jen B1, Jennie B2 and Amanda) – 3rd all female team in 11:30:14. Great result, deserving kudos ๐Ÿ˜‚, considering the team included invalids (meaning sick, not meaning they were not valid). Great comeback by Cooky (Amanda) in leg 4, around half an hour under her expected time.

Eating elephants” (Elle, Jeff, Emily and Aaron) ended up 4th mixed team – a great result considering they lost about 20 minutes due to “technical issues”. Jeff's actual time of 2 hours 39 minutes would have put him 7th overall in his leg. Aaron was 4th overall in his leg.

Other Speedygeese team results were “Moving Targets” (Natalie, Chris, Steve and Thommo) – 11:33:51 and “Trail Mix” (Sandeep, Olivia, Markus and Giles) – 12:21:44. “Happy Chicks” (with Narelle and Sammy) was 2nd all female team in 10:53:01. Narelle was 11th overall in her leg and Sammy was 2nd overall in her leg!! Great work.

Speedygeese long runners snavelled up by other teams included Graeme, Pieta, Kristy, Giles, Shane, and Peter P.

See all individual and team times at http://my5.raceresult.com/82334/results?&lang=en
Meanwhile Shiree threw in a leisurely 2,000+ metres vert over 56k at Yurrebilla, SA, in 6:39:31 (unofficial time)!! ๐Ÿ˜ฎ๐Ÿ˜ฏ

Other memorable moments were: Thommo taking over Natalie’s leg at 8km after she pulled out with a hamstring injury, before completing his own leg 4. Well done Thommo. Mhairi’s great run, given she was sick - nothing a running flask of wine couldn’t fix. It didn't stop her practising secret Scottish Highland martial arts on me. Jen dealing with another crisis 30 minutes before registration closed, organising a replacement when one of her team couldn’t get through the bushfire on Hume Highway. Me not getting lost (that's a first) thanks to an extremely well marked course (actually I think Jen is the common denominator when we get lost. I never get lost running by myself ๐Ÿ˜œ). And, of course, Giles running for two different teams (I think he wore a clean shirt for the second one).

Thanks to Jen for organising the teams and to the support and transport helpers including Ewen, Tim, Bronwyn and various runners’ partners. Thanks also to anyone who’s photos I pinched from every available source. See you all next week.

Adrian at checkpoint 1.