OXFAM 2011 Trailwalker

A happy and NAIVE Team at the start

The more you disappear down the rabbit hole of Adventure Racing the more the "normal" world warps.  


The OXFAM trailwalker is a great example of this - most people consider walking 100km to be a major outing and one that requires significant dedication and preparation!  Our Team had fallen so far down the rabbit hole that we now have fur, long ears and stupidity to match.  How's that?  Well, we thought it would be a good idea to "do" the 100 as a simple training day, in preparation for this year's AR World Champs - the XPD in Tasmania.

17km down - crossing at Cowan Station

 Warping and weirdness ensured that we and 2000 other walkers toed the start line at Brooklyn on the shores of the Hawkesbury River in NSW.  The competitors were a mixture of regular folk, teens, oldies, clubs and corporates.  Hiding in the crowd were a sprinkling of serious runners and the odd ARer - a few GeoQuest, TNF 100 and XPD logos gave the game away.  The start was literally a circus, with horns blowing, party hats, costumes and officials "pumping" up the walkers - a party atmosphere prevailed but was short-lived as the clock counted to zero and the first steep hill appeared. 

Col ensuring he has enough vegemite sammies

The game was on.  Walk as fast as you can.  Minimise your stops - manage your tiredness, boredom, fatigue, hunger, pain, blisters, knees, crutch and any other "bit" that could hurt. Remember to eat, drink, refill water, change socks and shoes, lube up as required - tape up bits sooner rather than later.  Stay warm, stay cool, stay dry - keep rocks out of your shoes.  Ensure you have enough light to get through a dark night.  Don't forget the chocolate coated espresso beans, no doz, painkillers and rescue blanket - walking poles are handy if you want some form of knee left at the end.  Oh, and a good sense of humour is required - you'll need it.  Some parts of this walk are exceptionally tedious and painful!

The best way to describe the Hawkesbury to Sydney Harbour walk is as a continuous series of short steep 100 - 200m hills - up one side, along a ridge top then down into a creek bed - long stretches of tree roots, slippery rocks and technical walking - if you put your brain on auto - you would trip almost instantly!  Occasionally a fire trail would appear and give respite to creek beds.  We walked non-stop between checkpoints that were spaced every 10 - 15 km.  Starting at 9 am, we had covered 35 km by dark - the conga line of walkers on the narrow tracks created a line of headlamps disappearing into the distance.  The first 50 km went by in a respectable 12 hrs and 30 mins - our aim was to complete the 100km in 24 hrs.  Nothing flash - just consistent walking - the sort of effort that we envisage will be necessary for the XPD in Tasmania.

Wildflowers in abundance

Pizza for dinner at midnight - a slug of coke and we were on the move again - with 60 km down our wheels fell off!  Knee pain and blisters began to seriously hamper Carey and I wasn't far behind with my own problems.  Colin was suffering 
from Monkey Butt and Emma was challenged by the late hour.  Maybe a touch of reality would have helped in our preparation - 5 weeks is not enough time to prepare for something as arduous as the OXFAM trailwalker!  Living in the AR rabbit hole, it becomes easy to think - yep 100km - no worries - we're fit - stick it in the training plan.  Opps - 100km is a LONG way - especially in the type of terrain this walk covered! 


A bit of humbling is good for the soul!

Dawn Day 2 - 75 km down

With this in mind, the midnight to dawn stages dragged on and on.  Carey was a champion - her feet were becoming bloody pulps.  Add a painful knee to the feet and going downhill was becoming a mission  - with taped paws and gritted teeth the night disappeared.  First light found us close to Roseville Bridge and the 80 km checkpoint.  Carey spent an hour in first aid having her feet repaired. A cup of coffee later and we followed the Middle Harbour track along the foreshore until we came out of the bush and into the suburban jungle of cars, noise and expensive houses.

Just another bash along a creek

Carey receiving blister aid

What a shock - we had managed to walk almost entirely in bush through one of the most densely populated areas of Australia.  Such is the quality of the Great North Track that it was only now; at 90 km did we encounter the noise and rush of a big city.

Down and across the Spit Bridge - the urban experience was a surreal juxtaposition to the previous 24 hrs, up the hill and down to the "glamour" of Balmoral Beach and the Saturday morning brunchers.  We must have looked very shabby and alien in our sweat stained clothes, muddy legs, weary faces and distant eyes.  By now our feet felt as though a cheese grater had been run over them.  Every step burned.

Not so glamorous walkers at Balmoral Beach - 95km down

One last hill and thankfully it really was the last one!  And the finish line loomed.  A very pleasing sight - a bit of fanfare and Team Five Ten had completed the 2011 OXFAM Trailwalker.

6600m of elevation change - 100km - 28 hrs and 20 mins.

Colin, Emma, Carey and David 

It was a great training day.  We were pretty toasted.  

The Husky 100ker...

The rest of Team Five Ten have been powering on after Geo however lately my motivation for training has taken a downward spiral, no particular reason really but I seemed to be struggling with a Canberra Winter, a new job and house renovations that were dragging on and with no central heating through all of this.  So I needed something to freshen up my training, what about a 100K MTB enduro?


Well lady luck was definitely smiling on me when I came across the cancelled Husky 100ker from June, by all accounts it seemed the perfect race for a first timer and with some sweet sounding single track thrown in.  The organisers had pushed the rescheduled date out to the 7th August so I was in luck, I could squeeze in a few laps of Bruce Ridge (my local single track area) with a couple of outings to Sparrow/East Kowen in hope of whipping my MTB legs into shape in what time I had left.

Clearly the organisers of the Husky have respect.  When I registered I found I qualified for the 'Super Masters' category i.e. those over 50!  I liked the sound of the title... it seemed pretty cool, there were a total of 29 in my category out of a field of 294 starters, but don't let that fool you (mistake number one).


The Husky is based out of Callala beach, just south of Nowra on the NSW south coast.  Being only 3 hours drive from Canberra I decided to leave late Saturday, stay in Nowra and then get a not so early start Sunday morning to make registration by 6am, perfect.  It rained the whole way from Canberra to the coast and mud was on my mind for the Sunday race.  The motel in Nowra turned out to be ok and I settled on greasy take-away followed by a couple of coffees to top off my Saturday evening, jeez these MTB racers sure know how to have a good time!


At least the rain had stopped Sunday morning and by 6am the sky was clear and early registration was open at Callala.  I registered, got my race number and started to change and prep my bike.  I chatted with another racer named Spencer (who'd parked next to my car) about modern carbon fibre bikes and the fact I'd splashed out the previous day on a carbon fibre bidon cage for my Trek Superfly, with thanks to the crew at Bike Culture in Canberra.  By 7am the crowds were gathering at the start area and I lined up with everyone else at the back of the pack along with a guy on a uni-cycle, the fact he was wearing 5.10 shoes was a nice touch... ;O)


So what to expect when it had been raining most of the day before and all that night, mud and lots of it.  Yes the Husky 100ker this year was muddy, the single track was muddy, fire trails were muddy just lots of mud.  For most of the 100k my chain sounded like a coffee grinder and I dare to think what state the brake pads are in, however the aid stations were staffed by very friendly and happy folks dispensing Shotz tabs, water, lollies and fruit... what a fantastic crew.  Did I say that I hadn't ridden much mud before, well this was certainly an introduction to riding mud and I have to say I really enjoyed it.


The Husky is both 100k and 50k races, it was at the 50km mark that I thought I probably would have been better entering the 50ker, that way I could have gone home at that point for a nice afternoon nap!  I pushed on through more mud but in the knowledge that most of the folks around me were probably feeling the same way, put it down to a perverse sense of humour.  It was at about the 95km mark that I met Keith, another Super Master who was powering along a fire trail.  I pulled in behind his wheel and stayed with him as he stepped on the gas.  For a while I forgot about being tired and just enjoyed some fast racing as we shot down sections of very narrow trail in the big ring.  It wasn't long before we rode together discussing all sorts of things and then into the finish line at the back of the Callala beach RSL, me in about 7h08m... not a great time but Ok for an old guy I suppose and my first 100ker on a bike!


As I write this up I'm checking the results for the Husky... first in the Super Master category was home in 5h02m - yikes!  Not bad when you think the first Elite rider and race winner was home in 4h24m... go the old guys!


This should give my XPD training a good kick start!