Race #1: Western Speedway The first race of this series starts off at Western Speedway in Victoria. There were two options for races here: a 6k and a 12k. Of course I like a little extra punishment so I signed up for the 12K. There were two parts to the Western Speedway course. The first was a lap around the dirt bike race track through the mud, over jumps, and around hairpin corners. The second part left the track and headed very steeply into the bush as seen in the map on the left. Here the trail turned to technical single track. The route went up a solid incline, weaved through the forest, spat us back down at the bottom in a farmers field, and then back up the hill again before looping back to the track. We were expected to complete three full loops of the track and bush. The short course did the track twice and bush once. I found the race challenging with all the elevation gain and loss and also a bit boring knowing that I had to complete the same loops over and over again. However, it was a great way to kick off the series. My time in the end was 1:22:38. Not the best, but it will do. Darryl and the dog cheered me on throughout the race, and because of the way it was set up I saw them about six times throughout the race. |
The second race I took part in was the Gut Buster Tzouhalem in Duncan. It was a great course that started off at Providence Farm and headed up to the summit of Mount Tzouhalem. Again there were two options for races, a 7K and a 13k. Darryl and I both signed up for the 13k.
We arrived a bit early the morning of the race and took in some sun shine while doing a few stretches. The race started off running along a gravel road through the farm for a short while. Darryl lost me almost immediately, which is pretty typical these days with her being a speed demon and all. Vey quickly we entered the bush and began to slowly climb on some wide less technical trails. The grade wasn't too steep yet, but still got the lungs going. Eventually we hit the first water station and the split off for the long and short courses. Of course the 13k racers had to head up a steep wall of a trail while the 7k continued on the nice meandering trail.
After this wall that seemed to last an eternity, the course seemed to alternate between steep technical single track and wider less steep trails. Eventually, we came upon a woman yelling the we were at the highest point and it was music to my ears. The view was amazing, but I was not able to stop and enjoy it because I had a race to finish and I wife that was royally kicking my ass.
The route down was very steep and technical. Now and again we would hit a small hill or flat spot, but for the majority it was just down, down, down. I tried my best to keep good speed while not tripping and falling over the many loose rocks and downed trees. I didn't see many people at this point since we were all spread out. Finally I came up to the last volunteer and not long after that I popped out of the bush for a second into what looked like the farm. Turns out it was just a tease and I had to head back into the bush and do one last small hill (that seemed big at the time) before hitting the small stint of road and grass at the finish line. Here I passed a couple people dying on the hill. I tried not to join them and increased my speed for the finish. Here I found Darryl lounging in the grass. She beat me by 9 minutes. I finished in 1:27:28. |
Darryl and I were on our road trip and missed the 3rd Gutbuster in Ladysmith, but I am sure it was great. We instead got to skip straight to the master of all Gustbusters up on Mount Washington. The route started at the alpine lodge area, weaved back and forth up to the top of the mountain, and then plummeted back down to the lodge area for the finish. It was 8.5kms in distance, and 673m in elevation gain.
The morning of the race it was unseasonably wet and cold. When we arrived in the parking area rain was misting down, the ground was muddy, and the brush was wet. I was not excited for this run… Nevertheless, we reluctantly grabbed our race numbers and waited for the start.
When we started running the climb began almost immediately. It was a steady incline, but nothing that required walking. Darryl was ahead of me almost instantly as usual. The trails were wide and easy enough to follow at the start, but that changed rather quickly. A few people ended up getting off course about 1km into the run and it took some investigation to get us back on track. A couple times I spotted Darryl on switchbacks up above me, but it was only a tease because I never caught her.
The higher we climbed the steeper the trails became and soon it was very difficult to keep running. However, both Darryl and I probably only took a few walking steps to get up some of the rocks that literally required us to climb over. It was very cloudy and foggy, so visibility was poor. A few times I thought that I was at the top of the mountain and then more trail would emerge from the mist above.
Finally, I arrived at the summit of the mountain and began the descent. It was very rough and required careful footing. Rocks were loose, the ground was slippery, and the trail was steep. However, it only took a short time before the lodge was again in sight. I was neck and neck with a few other racers, which meant the pressure was on. I tried to make up as much time as I could on any flat ground and finished the race in 1:12:20. Darryl finished in 1:05:48.