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Dawn and Phil at Woodford Railway Station - the start	View of Mt Solitary from Kedumba Rd (approx route marked)
Another Mt Solitary Shot	.. and another
Running North on King's Tableland Rd	Dawn and Phil - closer now
Road Ends - Water Board Gate on Kedumba Rd	Mt Solitary from Echo Point, Katoomba
Mt Solitary and Ruined Castle in profile	Sean - happy to finish in one piece !

Report by Sean Greenhill

Kevin Tiller and I wanted some experienced trail runners to look at the difficult sections of the course, to find out if the course was not, in fact, too hard. My take on it is that I'll be lucky to finish in less than 16 hours. It is TOUGH, with plenty of rocky, technical surface, bush bashing and approx 2000m total elevation gain (and an equal amount of loss). But then again, I'm slow and useless, and I did a lot of the course design, so I don't care if I'm out all night, I'll be the only slow runner going the full distance. What would the better quality trail runner think?

These two guys fit the bill admirably to examine the course. Dawn's won just about everything she's gone in, of course, and set course records at Six Foot Track and Bogong- Hotham. Phil's running resume includes Bogong- Hotham, Cradle Mountain and Sydney Trailwalker (as well as a 2.57 road marathon) so the two of them know bush running. After marking most of the section between Kedumba Valley Road turnoff and the Kedumba River crossing with streamers and flour arrows, I met Dawn and Phil shortly before the river crossing, and the three of us crossed the river and followed the trail upwards towards the fortress like east face of Mt Solitary. Despite the fact that the trail is only marked in the opposite direction (ie, if you're coming DOWN from the mountain there are plenty of markers, but none facing the other way), we had no navigational difficulty. However, pretty soon we weren't running any more , but plodding slowly upwards on trail that got steeper and steeper. In fact, it climbs around 650m in two kilometres. You will never do a slower 2K than this one. All conversation stopped and was replaced by harsh, laboured breathing. I was well in the lead, but then again I knew the route better than the others, and they had gone 30km further than me. Not surprising. The final push involved plenty of usage of the hands on rock and loose soil that kept sliding, sending us off balance. At the top of that last radically steep section, we emerged onto the top of Solitary's east face, a rocky outcrop with amazing views in all directions, to Kedumba Walls, the Wild Dog Mountains and Lake Burragorang (Warragamba Dam).

I filled out the summit register and passed it to Dawn, whose entry made a reference to "mad fools". I thought she may have been talking about her beloved husband and yours truly, but didn't chase the issue. With hundreds of metres drop on three sides, it probably wasn't the best time for the other two to discover that they didn't like heights (but they did like the view). Both thought the climb up Solitary was tougher than Duane Spur, the nastiest section of the Bogong- Hotham course. I wasn't so sure, but I'll defer to their experienced judgment. The projected Blue Labyrinth course continues across Solitary, descends the western side (some technical rock scrambling), runs up to the Ruined Castle, then traverses back across Solitary once more and down the same route we had just come up, Leadville style. With only about three hours daylight left, we elected to head back down right away rather than follow the course out across Solitary.

The descent was pretty treacherous. The same loose soil and rocks that made the climb up such a delight now made footing a hazard on the descent. Phil and I walked down gently, and Dawn slid down on her backside almost the whole way. The sections which required hands as well as feet on the way up were glissaded down over loose soil on the way down. Descending through the bush, we reached the river again, crossed over, then bush bashed up to Kedumba Valley Road, collecting our streamers as we went. Back on the good fire trail, we started runing once more, but Dawn and Phil showed their class by sprinting away from me and reaching the top of the Kedumba Walls climb (600m in 5km- steeper than Pluviometer at Six Foot Track) well ahead of yours truly.

The consensus from the two "lab rats" was that it was a tough course, and if we kept it unaltered, we'd be best to move the race to February and pronounce that Bogong- Hotham was a training run for this event! Kevin and I originally wanted it to be the other way around (a tough training run for the Victorian classic, but worth doing in its own right), so more than likely we'll alter the course before making everything oficial. The ascent up Solitary will DEFINITELY remain (Sydney's answer to Duane Spur), but there probably won't be a return via the same route- descending Solitary with darkness falling is a harsh ask for most runners. We've got two or three options, but no matter what, the final course will still be an epic.

Report by Kevin Tiller

I persuaded Dawn, my wife, and Phil Hugill to attempt the proposed route of the run. I dropped them off at Woodford Railway Station at about 07:30am and they ran down to Bedford Creek and the Anderson's Firetrail. I had the car, all their gear and my trusty crew of Jazmin (4) and Chelsea (2) to help me. I expected to meet Dawn/Phil in approx 2 to 3 hours at the Queen Victoria Hospital on the King's Tableland Rd.

After seeing them off I drove back to Wentworth Falls to pick up Sean Greenhill, who was going to mark the difficult to find section leading up to Mt Solitary. We dropped Sean at the Water Board Gate on the Kedumba Rd just off the King's Tableland Rd.

I then drove back to Wentworth Falls to get coffee and toast for the kids. Drove back to the Queen Victoria Hospital expecting to find Dawn/Phil although they turned up after 3 and a half hours. They claimed the trail is great for running but my map was misleading as it said "North" on King's Tableland Rd, and not "right" and they had no idea where to go and so got dazed and confused for 30 mins !

I fed and watered them, and they took off past the Water board gate on the Kedumba Rd. This was now approx 11:30am. I expect to see them in 3 hours or so. They looked pretty buggered already !

In the mean time I took the kids off to Katoomba for luch and find a park to play in.

I called Sean on his mobile approx 2pm, as he said there was telstra reception on Mt Solitary. He said they only went as far as the summit ie they didn't get to the Ruined Castle, and they would be back at the Water Board Gate by approx 4pm.

I drove out there to meet them by 4pm, Dawn/Phil turned up at 4:15pm and Sean at 4:30pm - Sean had marked the track at the bottom of Kedumba and they summitted Solitary and descended together, then Dawn/Phil left Sean at the foot of the return road - uphill - back to the Water Board. All up approx 8 and a half hours running for approx 50km or so. The general concensus was that it is a great run, but just a bit too hard. We will likely amend the route so it is easier for anyone to run, and keep this hard run for special occasions - although full details will be published to the website.