Race Report: ANZAC Day Challenge - 'The Nek' 40km 2017

Registering for this event as a UTA training run (to practice race day nutrition) seemed like a good idea at the time. But on the bus to the start line with Jaime, pre-dawn in an unfamiliar part of Sydney, 40km all of a sudden seemed like a really long way. I don't usually get start line nerves anymore but the enormity of this run hit me early that morning!

As the sun broke over Manly Dam, I was glad to have Jaime there for company. We'd travelled in together and were both freaking out a little bit. I spotted a few other guys and girls I knew at the start line, then we were off! I lost Jaime right away as the field spread out, but I was ok with starting off easy. There was a little bit of road at the start then onto lots of single track goodness around Bantry Bay and Killarney Heights.

There were some brief flat moments but overall there was heaps of big gnarly technical bits in this race, made more intimidating by the fact that I had never been to this area and didn't know if I was in a hard bit or an easy bit!

The course is beautiful and very scenic, wending around the water's edge for a large part of it. I thought many times during the day that this would have been much nicer as a bushwalk with the kids!  I was taking photos of the signs to remember the tracks I was on, hoping to come back at some point with the family.

The day was warming up too; at every possible stream or creek I dunked my hat and buff in the water trying to keep cool. My heart rate soared in the heat, plus it was a very physical run, climbing on all fours and maneuvering around the landscape. The pics below show the contrasts along the course - one moment beautiful ferny forest, the next a bunch of massive boulders to climb up! There was a big steep fire trail right near the end too, and I was pretty mentally over it by that stage. I dipped everything I had into a creek that crossed that trail - I was HOT!

I had been training consistently for UTA which I automatically assumed would be harder, so I think I went into this race not respecting the distance, and not having studied the type of terrain enough. Combined with not knowing the area, I found it to be really tough! I was one of the last group of finishers and disappointingly there was no real 'welcome' into the finish chute. There were only a few people left, the vollies and photographer were starting to pack up, and the drop bag tent was completely packed and gone - my little Woolies drop bag was sitting out on its own in the middle of a field. However, it was a relatively small low key event so I certainly don't hold it against the volunteers.

To make matters worse Richie had been waiting with the kids for ages; he had overestimated my ability despite the guesstimated finish time we'd discussed. He and the kids had been exploring early that morning and were done by eleven - and I finished closer to 1pm, in 6hrs 8minutes. I totally appreciate their patience! The kids were eager for a celebratory ANZAC bikkie so I snaffled a couple from the aid tent. Then we stopped and had some good burgers on the way home.

I'm a firm believer in every race teaching me something, and even though this wasn't the most enjoyable day out, I learnt that nothing beats training on course. I should have made time to get to St Ives prior to race day so I knew what I was in for! My nutrition test went well too, I even had some fruit cake at one of the aid stations in the middle of the race, and that seemed to go OK!