On how it feels to have walked 100km non-stop
// August 30th, 2008 // Me
Shortly after 12:30pm today, Team 183 (Glutes for Punishment) powered over the finish line of Oxfam Trailwalker Sydney 2008 on a sunny Saturday afternoon at Middle Head, Sydney. We’d covered 100km of bush tracks in 27 hours and 41 minutes, walking through the day, the night and into the following day.
With me at the start and the finish and every step of the way were close friends (now even closer friends) Tony Burrett, Roger Crawford and Sacha Ward, fed, watered and motivated at eight checkpoints through the day and night by Helen Crawford and her partner Norm, Jean and Graham Jones, Kate Brady, Sarah Burrett, Charlotte Burrett and Edward the dog.
Sacha, Tony, Roger and myself a few minutes before the start
The 100km Trailwalker Sydney course covers some of the biggest. roughest bushwalking ascents and descents in the Sydney basin and weaves its way from Brooklyn on the far northern edge of the Sydney metro area to Middle Head, right in the heart of Sydney. Next time you take almost an hour to drive north to Brooklyn on the F2 freeway, think about walking the entire way!
I don’t have very many pictures of the event because unfortunately I dropped my iPhone down a small cliff while trying to climb, shoot and moblog at the same time and it is now deceased, but I’ll upload some more shots taken by the rest of the team in the next couple of days. However, you can find many great photos on the Oxfam Trailwalker Sydney 2008 photo pool on Flickr.
At 27 hrs, 41mins we were 142 of 519 teams. The winning team, Berowra Bushrunners, completed the 100km in an incredible 14hrs, 6mins, and while that’s a very fast run rather than a walk, it’s a couple of hours slower than the winners in previous years, perhaps indicating that we weren’t the only team who had trouble with the challenging route and weather overnight. While many teams have yet to finish at this stage, 26 teams and 473 (one in three) walkers have retired from the event. It’s not a walk in the park!
As I write this, my friends in Team 43 (Final Legs) including Greg Todd, Judy Evans and Hugh Wakelin-King are still walking the final leg (32hrs, 25mins and counting). Fourth team member Meshlin Khouri retired at CP1 as she was suffering badly from the flu, and the rest of the team have suffered flu symptoms as well as the usual blisters, hurty knee, and other common Trailwalker ailments. They’re showing tremendous determination to have even made it this far. [UPDATE: the mighty Final Legs showed incredible guts and determination to slog it over the line in 37hrs, 5min in 377th place - a Herculean effort! 492 of the 519 teams that started made it to the finish.]
Neither are the Glutes for Punishment entirely unscathed. Blisters, cuts, abrasions, chafing and bruises are all part of negotiating your way over irregular and steep sections of muddy sandstone trail, crossing swollen creeks, and dodging branches and even sandstone overhangs. We’re all carrying injuries. I have two blisters, a lump on my head the size of my thumb from a sandstone overhang in the dark, as well as two grazed knees, a grazed forearm and a big cut and bruise underneath my chin. I fell into a gap between two big boulders and mostly stopped myself with my chin. Ouch.
The injuries will pass but the memories will remain. I’m proud of the courage, humour and determination I saw in my team mates. I’m pleased by the reserves of strength I rediscover in myself every time I do Trailwalker (this was my third time.) I’m still on a high from the incredible positive vibes radiated our way by all the friends and Trailwalker volunteers who cheered, clapped and encouraged us along the trail. And I know from past experience that the fitness I’ve built up through months of training will see me running easily up the stairs for many months to come. But the most important benefits are mental: I highly recommend trying Trailwalker as a way to get to know yourself better.
Wait until the injuries heal and the bad bits fade from memory – I bet you we’ll be doing this again!
