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Having completed the full circuit I would have to rank it as a 9.5 out of 10 and I took half a point off only because the lovely rivers we crossed were not suitable for drinking. It was an absolute scenic delight, traversing every type of ecosystem in the Blue Mountains, from the sandstone tablelands with the Waratahs in full bloom to the rocky heights of Mount Solitary - with 60 kilometer views - and down to the dark rainforests in the shadows of the Katoomba cliffs.

The full circuit was a very gruelling day out. I took a GPS unit and got a distance of 94 km which seems right, and I estimated a total of 2880 metres of ascent which explains the seemingly slow time. I also measured 54 km to the water drop near Leura falls. The latest edition 1:25,000 Katoomba & Jamison topographic maps accurately show all the tracks taken on the run including the track to Mount Solitary and are essential if you haven't done the run previously. The GPS unit was very reassuring; I had minimal kit and didn't want to get lost especially at night. I had entered about 50 "waypoints" and could get a constant reading of the distance to the next road junction or water drop; it was also something to play with and helped pass the time.

Ten starters met at Woodford Station for a 7 am start: Kieron Thompson, myself & Marcus had the 94 km option flagged with Jann Hermann as a maybe. We were very fortunate with the weather, it was about 5c at the start and probably got to about 14c maximum. I believe this is a run best held in winter or cool days because of long stretches between water.

Five minutes after the start I had a fall and everybody else disappeared from sight while I recovered for a few minutes. As usual it took me a few hours to get into a nice rhythm: for the first 25 k I was power walking for 15 minutes & running 15 which is probably something usually done in the later stage of the race. I thought it strange though that I never caught up to anybody until the front four other runners who had stopped at the water drop at the locked gate at Kedumba Hill. The other 5 must have taken a wrong turn not long after the start ? We all ran together down the spactacular Kedumba Pass vehicle track and then joined onto the foot track which goes over Mt Solitary & on to Katoomba. Of the 94 km total this was the hardest & slowest section, (24 km foot track & 70km fire trails). At the top of Mt Solitary, myself Kieron and a runner doing the 54 km option were leading. Marcus was just behind and going strongly but I guess the scenic railway escape route was too tempting....

The descent off Mt Solitary is a rocky knife-edge ridge needing extreme care, but after 40 minutes a fairly level track is reached which passes through terrific rainforests. Ross Yates had kindly lugged 20 litres of water to the bottom of the Golden Staircase where I caught up to Kieron. Note that for the 20 km from the water drop at Kedumba Walls to this point I needed 1.8 litres of water - on a hot day, one would probably need to carry another 800 ml bottle.

I set off about 7 minutes after him and we met again at the Leura Creek water drop hidden in a hollow tree by Kevin, about 9 km further on. There were throngs of tourists & day-trippers near the scenic railway, which reduced us to a slow walk for a few minutes. Kieron & I had both miscalculated our food supplies for this one, but fortunately there were some chocolate & energy drinks to supplement our dwindling rations. We set off together on the final 40 k back to Woodford with another 1200 metres of hills to go. We were not racing each other in any sense and kept each other company for most of the next 3 hours. Kieron was a bit faster and wasted less time with breaks. Climbing the track up Kedumba walls I got very weak very quickly: not enough calories. A large bowl of pasta would have been ideal but after a 10 minute break at the water drop and some potato chips & chocolate & energy drinks I set off after Kieron at about 6:45 pm.

The final 22 km run was great: a couple of km up the bitumen and then a southeast turn onto the Ingar Fire Trail. I was now feeling good and picked up the pace along the gradually descending track; unlike the first couple of hours I ran the whole way for most of the last 2.5 hours. Cold enough for a thin jumper & thermal T-shirt. No foot problems at all on this run - what a rare thing - used a pair I had problems with in the Glasshouse event in September, but had chopped bits out with a pair of surgical scissors! I got out the torch about 10 minutes before Bedford Creek; missed the crossing and ran an extra 200 metres before backtracking. Seven kilometres to go. I walked up the steeper parts of Murphy's Fire Trail and charged the final few kms along the Bedford Road to the finish at Woodford Station.

Total time 14h 10m. Kieron's time 13h 53m.