Family Affair – Sydney 10 – 4.05.2019

A grand day on the Sydney Racing Calendar: Sydney 10

Lots at stake for me this year:

· Always seeking to get a PB on that course no matter what the preparation

· I had dragged my Mother in Law, visiting from Ireland, along to spectate at her very first large scale road race. Surely a visit to Olympic Park is on the Sydney tourist list

· Even more importantly, it was the official debut of DELTA RUNNING PROJECT as an Athletics NSW affiliated club.

Fair to say I was pretty busy the few days leading up to the race in order to get runners and club registration fully sorted

Unfortunately I had very little time indulging proper banter i.e. putting unrealistic bets against Tom, ‘pep’ talks with Barts or fulfilling my weekly commitment as member of the OAS (this is the Occy Appreciation Society in case you are still wondering)

Anyway, race day is here and there we are in Sydney Olympic Park. Plenty of familiar faces, Greta and Chris were setting up the camp for Rejoov. Was saucing out Chris’s plan as knew he would run around my targeted 33.15 – ‘would be happy with sub34’ he said. We are in the rough ballpark I thought. Greta’s was buzzing, as always, and it was nice to introduce her to Aisling’s mum as she heard so much about the Larapinta training camp.

The race is now fast-approaching and after a 15 min warm up with Matt Ho, Jack, Gidon and Roberto, I am getting back to the stadium to look for the last DELTA runners not having a singlet yet. 5min before the start here I am dressing up Mikey Lichtwark but no time for haircut. Tense moments but everyone from delta is finally here – 17 runners – groomed, pumped and looking sharp if I may say so myself.

Moments before the start I finally get a chance to think about my own strategy: ‘May the Fourth be with you’ and try to stick to my training partners and/or get onto a solid group. I could see around me at the start line Andy, Lachlan, James Constantine, Brendan Fink and Brendan Fehon -this must be the spot – slightly ahead were Jack, Mike, Tom, Nick and Barts clearly backing themselves up.

Gun off and after a few pushes the first km was covered in 3.03! I am already 5/10metres behind Jack and Mike who took a more aggressive line at the start i.e. elbowed a few more runners than I did. Things are settling a bit and I found myself running alongside my mate from Athletics East, Goodwin, a real metronome, Andy, CT, Brendan Davies and a few more guys from Sydney Uni and RunCrew. This was the pack to be with I thought… 3k in 9.26.

Maybe it is time to settle the pace a bit? Luckily at the 4k mark I could feel a sharp pinch under my rib cage. That really helped with slowing my pace right down! By the way, if any of you have any tips to get rid of these please let me know. I was thinking to myself ‘here we go again, stitches’, after trying to run through it the pain got sharper and I got dropped from the pack. Hit the 5k mark in 16.25 but was running 3.30s at that point and with a long way to go still!

Maybe time to concentrate on the positive: I could see at the hairpin so many Delta runners out in force at the front with Nick having a great run and Mike, Jack and Matt Ho having a great battle with Tom.

Behind me, runners were catching up and at the 6/7k I was passed by Brendan Fink, Brendan Fehon and James Constantine. All familiar faces and I pushed on not to let the gap increase. At the 8km mark I was feeling better again as I knew I had 7min of running at most. I was also confident that I could punch on after the hill and getting onto the track. Last km and I am starting reeling people in. Gave a friendly tap to James as we were still tracking for a 33min 10k. ‘Keep on pushing James 800m to go – open up’. Caught up with Brendan too who was having a similar positive spilt race too. Onto the track and feeling reborn again. Got back a few spots and finished in 33.42. A 15sec. pb. 16.25/17.17 for the splits. Ugly but pb nevertheless.

At the finish everyone’s buzzing I can see Nick, who had a brilliant race, with Lizzy. Jack Green who ran a very smart race. Jack Maxwell, Mike and Tom congratulating each other for a race well fought. Jack clocking 32.36 and a 90sec PB in the process. Gearing and working towards some great future objectives!

Barts gave me the unsolicited pep talk that he, perhaps, should have provided me with before the race:

‘How sick do you feel now’ he said.

‘Disappointed that I was not able to push on an execute a better race but happy with a pb’ I said

‘Nah’ he said, ‘You have to make yourself physically sick for a 10k’

Felt that I need to harden the f*** up next time and maybe some training trips to Barts new hood in St Ives should be considered next.

All the Hurts came in thick and fast. Lots seemed to have had a great run and plenty of PB in the process. That new 10k course is not that bad after all. CT, Lachlan, Brendan and James all nicely within 34min. Sammy, Gidon, Ivan, Chris having a great run in the low 35 / 37min bracket. The list goes on! Erika clocking a massive 37.04 PB ! Simply brilliant. Roberto smashing his PB with a massive negative splitting. Aisling came in 40.38! New PB too after feeling flat that morning.

Sophie, Jack’s wife, came in 53 min for her very first 10km.

Girls looked smoking in navy and pink with matching headbands…but no sign of Elle.

What happened to her?

Birchy indicated that someone saw Elle on the side of the road unable to run or walk.

I decided to run back to check on her. There she was 2k away from the stadium…being carried by Hamish. I need to set the scene…it looked magnificent. Hamish aka Patrick Swayze, topless, carrying poor Elle on his back with no one around in the emptiness of the Olympic Park precinct. Surreal scene.

Hamish and I took turn to carry her on our back. She was concerned about a stress fracture. Fortunately it seems that it is not as sinister and that she will be able to recover from plantar pain.

Elle was not the only casualty as poor Andy DNF cause of hamstring problems. Get better soon mate and take it easy before Comrades. After this unusual cool down it was time to reflect on what a brilliant and emotional day this is.

I was extremely humbled by the group of runners I have been able to run with and contribute to; and even more to share with Aisling’s mum what our life in Sydney is. It is a family affair! We are supported by a phenomenal community of friends and spirited runners.

Whether you need a pep talk, some skin in the game having dodgy bets lined up with the usual suspects, or some Hurts Girls lovin, we got each other’s back.

Don’t get too emotional as the normal Occy service will resume next week.

Mon-Fri (5-6.30pm) See ya’ll

Special shout out to our very own James Constantine of ANSW for his amazing support in coordinating the event and all the help he provided to so many of us before, during and after the event.