The race started off slightly chaotic with the race director thanking everyone for being there, supporters, volunteers and without further ado a 3-2-1 go! What! There were still spectators in front of me on the start line. A quick sprint on the grass beside the road and I could spot the front of the pack which included fellow HuRTS runner Jono. I decided quickly that I won’t lose sight of him like I did last year at both UTA and this event, just too hard to catch. After a couple of k’s I was up there with Jono and Scotty H rolling down to the Solitary single-track, the latter had clearly done an easy warmup and was ready to charge. Rather than following the switchback trail he went straight and jumped down the slope over a log, not knowing better Jono and I followed suit ending in a unison WTF! when landing off-trail. Quickly regrouped and that was the last we saw of Scotty until Furber Steps much later.

 

Slogging up the eastern side of Mt Solitary, 650m over 3k, we hit the most annoying part of the course. It is wildly overgrown with branches and dead trees covering the trail everywhere. Luckily for me though Jono had decided to try out poles for the event but the only thing they were good for was to get stuck in the shrub everywhere. It was no match to keep up while he was fiddling around with them, until we hit the descent on the western side of the mountain that is.

 

Being too safety conscious on this rock scramble I slowly made my way down and found myself alone for the first time in the race, 18kms in. I felt great once I could break out in a stride again though and on the Federal Pass I got a good rhythm going, after 3km I could occasionally see the back of runner on the twisty trail but wasn’t sure who it was.This year there was a team event as well as the solo option, this meant that it wasn’t obviously clear if the runners around you were part of your competition or not. After another km I had catched up and found myself once again running with Jono. We passed the Golden Stairs, Landslide and hit the Furber Steps (all 951 of them). I jogged the last bit up, was greeted by my fiancée who swapped my bottles, restocked my gels and off I went, homebound!

The last 20km were pretty uneventful with no other runner in sight, I knew first place was out of reach but was keen to maintain my 2nd spot. I occasionally glanced behind on the long climbs up Kedumba but felt confident as I couldn’t see anyone. It started to warm up with around 30 degrees and the sun was hot on my back but nothing could stop me now, it’s “just a parkrun left”. Second place in 4:58 and a new PB.