Trek for Timor is a 50kms teams event based in the gorgeous Kangaroo Valley which raises funds to provide solar power units to families in remote villages in Timor.
I teamed up with my good friend Lulu & new good friend Sammy for this event which would be Lulu's first marathon & all of our longest events to date.
Our weekend started on Friday night when we - Lulu, Sammy & I together with our uber amazing crew members Rommel, Mr K, Mike & Zoe - arrived at our gorgeous accommodation in the late afternoon. The house sat on a hill and, when the mist cleared, had beautiful views to the surrounding escarpments.
Friday night was a frenzy of eating, checkpoint bag sorting, issuing instructions to crew & did I mention eating?
I surprisingly slept surprisingly solidly on Friday night; something I don't normally do the night before an event. Mind you, I woke an hour before my alarm on Saturday morning & was unable to go back to sleep as the butterflies in my stomach had taken flight ;)
After breakfast, we are piled in the car for the drive to the start. The event was very well organised yet very relaxed. There was no "official" start time; it was a matter of register your team with the organisers & then start whenever you wanted. I *really* liked the laid back nature. There was none of the countdown, last minute clock-watching to the start like most events.
Pre-race discussion about race tactics
A final photo op before the start
After waving goodbye to Mr K & Rommel, we set off & within about 100m were walking up a *steep* hill. In fact the first 3kms of the course were, by far, the hardest part of the whole course. Despite the cool & misty conditions, we warmed up very quickly!
It was, from the start, 14kms to checkpoint #1. I had not done this section in training so it was a big surprise. A diverse section; it had everything from a steep climb & sections of single track through a lush rainforest thick with ferns to a short rock scramble up onto the wall of the damn as well as firetrails. We had anticipated that this section would take us about 3:15 so I'm not sure who was more surprised - us or our crew - when we arrived at CP#1 in 2:55, some 20mins ahead of schedule.
We had been looking forward to getting a coffee at this CP as it was very cool out there - perhaps only 10 degrees - so we were distraught when informed that we were too early & the cafe hadn't opened yet :0 Fortunately, as if by magic, we were suddenly informed that the cafe had opened & we would have our coffee after all. It was wonderful also to see our additional crew members Ellie & Ben who had driven down that morning to be with us :)
After refueling etc we set off to CP#2 which was approx. 13km away. This section was largely flat. It started with a short section of single track scrambling alone the lookout path which was interesting. I think most of us were more concerned about not spilling our coffee than anything else. Priorities right? ;) After that, the trail opened up to firetrails the rest of the way.
The organisers of the event must have been aware that this section had the potential to be boring; an email sent by the organisers prior to the event advised that this section was known as the "corridor of surprises". They certainly went to a lot of trouble to prevent boredom on this section -
There were 11 of these 'quiz sites' about 600m apart, along with a medal presentation ceremony site -
The organisers certainly went to an amazing level of effort to keep participants engaged & enjoying the event.
We soon arrived at CP#2 & there was another rush to the sole portaloo; shall I just say none of us were lacking in hydration ;)
A quick turn around time & we were off to CP#3 (the final checkpoint), 12kms away. This was perhaps the most diverse, and rather challenging, parts of the course. 8kms downhill with zero reprieve for the legs before a river crossing at the bottom & then a steep 1km climb out the other side followed by another undulating 3kms (uphill) climb to the checkpoint. I really enjoyed this section; it took us about 2hr 40mins but it passed by very quickly.
We arrived at CP#3 to wonderful news that made our day. We were told at the start that the event had been shortened to about 46kms due to the NSWNP not allowing us to pass through a part of the course due to a burn off which had been conducted in the last few days. All 3 of us were disappointed by this news. So when we heard the news that the original course had been reinstated and we would be going the full 50kms, we were uber exciting (in a weird, twisted kind of way!).
So we set out from CP#3 basically skipping down the track. That enthusiasm was 'challenged' somewhere around the 47kms mark when we discovered the organiser's km markings (which were only used for the last 10km) didn't quite match the readings off the Garmin. One of the markings in fact was about 800m long! It made the last 5km mentally challenging as our legs started to fatigue but somehow we still managed to celebrate (with a happy dance) key distance markers - at 42.2km to celebrate Lulu's first marathon, at 44.5km to mark Sammy's longest distance & at 45km to mark mind. Soon afterwards, we discovered the now infamous "3-4km vortex"; this is where you were somewhere between 3-4kms from the end but which seemed to go on for about 3-4km! But we were rewarded by a couple of very special encounters with wombats who were on, or just beside, the trail.
As we turned up the final hill, we could see our amazing crew - Rommel, Mr K, Ellie, Ben, Mike & Zoe - waiting for us. Cheering for us. Happy for us. I was very touched by their support, excitement, happiness & patience with us. Thanks guys :)
Lulu's final reading on her Garmin listed the distance as 51.3km. And based on her watch, I'm very excited to know that we passed the 50km mark about 10hr 55mins - woohoo!
I had estimated our finishing time as 11hrs 10mins. And somehow despite the additional 1.3km we managed to finish in, yep you guessed it, 11hr 10min 36sec!
From there it was quickly home for a (warm) shower as it was now quite cold and a recovery drink or two -
and a wonderful meal, a drink or two & lots of laughs with a great group of friends!
It's now Sunday night. The DOMs are starting to set in & I'm looking forward to a good nights sleep after a restless one last night. A few days of recovery & then it's back into the training for Team Sparta's next trick.... ;)
MTD:
Bike: 22.3km
Hike: 145.2km (!)
