Six Foot 2007 Post-race Reports Options

[thomo]

It is now 08:32am. Where are the live updates from 6ft?

This post has been edited by plu: Mar 10 2007, 07:28 PM

[FakePlasticTrees]

10am and still nothing

[FakePlasticTrees]

Surely somebody has won by now?

[Simlin]

Surely 2P took his blackberry and can type out a quick entry up mini mini or something!

[chilliman]

Maybe no one's across the river yet

This post has been edited by chilliman: Mar 10 2007, 11:00 AM

[Long Arms]

Unofficial results:
Fats 1st in race record 2.24.11
Matt Robbie 2nd in 2.26
Jo Blake 3rd in 3.30


Way to go Fats. Bring on the world!


Arms

[Kanser]

Well done Fats, fantastic achievement

[FakePlasticTrees]

That's f**king awesome. Good work Tony.

Arms, surely you mean 3:24 rather than 2:24

[Long Arms]

sorry I meant 3.24 for fats and and 3.26 for Matt Robbie. He isn't quite ready for 2.24!


Arms

[Simlin]

definately AWESOME run.

[Gronk]

Amazing result Fats - well done !

[Stalky]

Fats I always had faith in you as you have improved right through the KJs Mountain series and showed good form in the NSW champs, you well and truely deserve this victory.

[glenda]

And the Ladies results please?

[Fossil]

Fats - I am in AWE mate - amazing time!

Fleur Flannery was 5th Lady in 4:27 - BTW

[Eagle]

Fats:
Congratulations on the victory which is so much more satisfying with a race record to boot. Fantastic effort.

[JohnH]

Fats:
Congratulations on the victory which is so much more satisfying with a race record to boot. Fantastic effort.

Competitor mobile phones seem to be not with them or switched off. Would have liked to have been there but still recovering from a fractured hip.
Heard patchy female results as:
1. Female winner 4:11
2. Jackie Fairweather 4:16
3. QLD runner
4. Vanessa Haverd 4:22
5. Fleur Flanery 4:27 (very happy, ran very strongly through the field in the last 12kms and passed lots of competitors).

Congratulations to Tony Fattorini on a record breaking win. He deserves it after putting in a lot of effort to build up his mountain racing experience in the last 12 months. I hope he can make it to the World Long Distance Mountain Running Championship (the Jungfrau marathon, world's most scenic) in September along with a good bunch of Australians.

John Harding

[hasbeen]

Great work all. Well done. :-)

[Vurt]

just over 5hrs for me - 5:02 on my watch. The cramp bears got me about about 1 km in to final decent. Still very happy with the result.

will post more after attempting to eat my own body weight in pizza/pasta.

[Timinerko]

Congratulations Tony on a great win, 20 years here and only now can i gloat on a TRUE English win after many years of supporting
Well deserved mate, look forward to catching up and celebrating over a pint or two.

Cheers

Tim

[FakePlasticTrees]

Heard MPH finished in around 4:05 so he must be pretty happy. Good run. Amjan PB'ed and Fats kicked arse.

[vat]

Just back from Jenolan Caves - Fats looked like a million bucks crossing the line, to the point that I told him he should run back to Katoomba!

Main comment from him was that everything went right for him on the day, and that conditions on the day were absolutely perfect - cool, and the rain during the week helping if anything taking the loose top cover of gravel off the climbs.

As usual, top day out there.

[hats]

Super run by MPH well done mate. After last year's nasty bug and the injuries you've come good

[vat]

Oh yeah, and I made the call during the week that with the level of interest stirred up in the event after the Dan Green collective turned up a couple of years ago, the days of the high level club runner winning the event were probably over.

So, apparently, I'm an idiot.

[Eagle]

Vat:
Good to have you back posting after what seems like a long and greatly missed absence. I hope you are back on a starting line soon.

I would guess MPH would be a very happy runner. If I recall correctly this race has disappointed him for a few years but it sounds like he nailed it today.

Lets hope some reports start drifting in as the night progresses.

[thomo]

Very good news about new race record.

P.P.P in no officials putting results on coolrunning.

Or ring through to a moderator not involved in race.

Going by the hits on this thread, the interest is certainly there.

I just got back from work and I am disapointed with the no show.

thomo

[plu]

Hi all,

Awesome day. There are a few other surprises as well. Just some quick highlights.

1. 6:28 for me. No watch so I had no idea of time till I finished.
2. They have added more hills to deviation
3. Don't let anyone tell you it is all downhill after Caves Road
4. Kevin, Rural Bushfire men and women and the Striders did a brilliant job
5. Virtual did a virtual.
6. The wave pacers worked well.
7. You have to concentrate all the time you are out there or you are potentially done for the day.
8. Thanks to the runners who said hi to me on the course - as they passed me.
9. Finish area had a huge atmosphere.
10. More from me later but I think I ran to Pluvio slower than 05 and I ran 85% or so of Black Range . Wrapped with that. Iam keen to see the splits.

Time for a bath.

cheers Plu

[miners]

Congrats to everyone that had such an awesome day. Great effort Tony - guess you always had a big win like this coming - but winning 6FT in a course record is a massive run! Congrats also to amjan for nailing 'that' course, and to Marty for getting a little monkey (of sorts) off his back.

Congrats and commiserations to the PG efforts - and great result Plu. You can worry about your IM now

any word from Dave and Flake?

[JohnH]

Congrats to everyone that had such an awesome day. Great effort Tony - guess you always had a big win like this coming - but winning 6FT in a course record is a massive run! Congrats also to amjan for nailing 'that' course, and to Marty for getting a little monkey (of sorts) off his back.

Congrats and commiserations to the PG efforts - and great result Plu. You can worry about your IM now

any word from Dave and Flake?

Some more Canberra results, courtesy of Jackie Fairweather, who felt flat from the start and had a disappointing day at the office (too much o/s travelling as part of her job at the Aust Sports Commission):

Trevor Jacobs 3:41
Anthony Scott 3:47
Stuart Doyle 3:48
Dave Osmond 3:49
Tim Sawkins 3:55
Martin Fryer 3:56
Jackie Fairweather 4:14 (2nd female, first female from Victoria)
Hubertein Wichers (QLD) 4:16:05, 3rd female
Paul Veldkamp 4:14
Simon Fairweather 4:17
Vanessa Haverd 4:18 (4th female)
Ian Wright 4:22 (fell over)
Fleur Flanery 4:27 (5th female)
Steve Appleby 4:59
Sebastian Dunne 5:10

[vat]

any word from Dave and Flake?

If by Dave you mean Unc, he dragged Blue Dog to a 4:57, Dog not too happy (looking for sub 4:50).

I think Flake was pretty happy, but buggered if I can remember his time.

Give the organisers a break on the results - if you're with the wrong mobile company, you don't get phone coverage, and it ain't exactly ADSL2 country up there.

[Sportsman]

any word from Dave and Flake?

Uncle Dave paced Blue Dog as a training run in 4:57.
Flake planned a conservative run and did 5:02.

A nice cool day for it. I had troubles with the rough conditions running downhill, and I have enough problems running downhill trails anyway. I targeted 4:40 and was on target at Pluvio, after an excellant hill climb. I went ok in the remaining hills, but lost ground on the flats and moreso the downhill, to finish a tick over 4:50. I also had leg problems, so should be pleased with the run.
Super organisation and great support by the Firies.

This post has been edited by Sportsman: Mar 11 2007, 12:04 PM

[Wriggler]

Wow congratulations Tony
You have been running really well lately.
So pleased for you mate.
Well done to everyone who finished. Big effort.
Cheers
Guy

[Eagle]

Plu:
Congratulations on the finish. Sounds like your enjoyed the day.

[john stevens]

Great run fats,and a great day again,Kev you are a great ambassador for the sport ...thankyou for a top race......i had a bad day out there today DNF...ALSO my training partner PAUL arthur had a bad day ,was on 3 hr 18 pace to top of pluvi but hit the wall at 2hr 20 mark,i told paul he should train harder next time.. <_<

[KIT]

I am home...showered and fed!!! I am still processing the day and it all seems a blur! This was my first 6ft and after lots of hard and consistant training I was feeling very nervous as I lined up for the start this morning! I had set myself a sub 6hr goal, but over the last month started to feel like a 5:45 might be possible. Then I spoke with Sean my trainer and he had said aim for 5:30..... I thought he had more faith in me than I had ability!!

The day could not have been better! The wave starts were great and I lined up at the front of the 4th wave with Wil. We both wanted to avoid getting caught on the stairs. Once down Nellies Glen I settled into a nice easy pace and concentrated on not going to quickly! I had a great stack at the 14km mark and had blood flowing and a sore elbow which I was planning on wearing with pride. The waist deep river crossing got rid of all the evidence. Now the plan was to get to Cox's at 1:42min and I arrived at 1:38. I walked/ran up Mini Mini and Pluvi. Now my plan was to get to the top of pluvi with enough energy to run the last 19km strongly and not walk. The coke at Pluvi was a god send and I was off. I just focused on maintianing my pace. Sean said to me on Thusday " you are a runner not a walker" and I just repeated this to myself as well as lots of other stuff along the balck range. I made sure I drank lots and can not say enough about the joy of warm coke to get you going!!!

I wanted to get to Deviation at 4:16 and was ecstatic when I got ther about 4:05. With 10km to go I knew if I did nothing stupid I would get under 5:30 and maby better if I held it together. I felt really good at this point.... endorphins and coke and manage to maintian a good pace up until the road. I did walk that really steep hill at the end of the range!! I was so glad to reach the road as I knew it was just a "lap of the bay" which I have done so many times. That last 5km seemed to go on forever and I was hanging out for the down hill! Ha that was almost my undoing as my calfs started to cramp with about 600ms to go. Not in this lifetime!!! I could here my sister yelling and then I was floating on cloud nine! Not only did I just finish my first 6ft, but I did it in a time I was not expecting.... and obviously neither did a lot of others. So I finished in 5:15:35.

What an amazing feeling!!! Congrats to all who finished.... what a tough run! I loved evry minute of it and will definately be back.

Fats.... what more can I say!!! Truely awesome and could not have happened to a nice person!!! My high light was getting to hold Toni and Amandas bling as they kept going up for more.....as there were no names engraved I was tempted to run away...... that winners plate would like very nice in our little unit!

A huge thanks to all the volunteers and Rural fire service.... amazing effort! Thanks to all the behind the scene workers.... the hard work is appreciated. I am too tired to think.... I will blog in painful detail


Thanks to all my favourite people for sharing today with me.... I am one very happy Kitty Kat tonight

[Hannah]

Does anyone know how Jen_Runs went? I'm DYING to hear and she hasn't blogged it yet!

[Horrie]

Does anyone know how Jen_Runs went? I'm DYING to hear and she hasn't blogged it yet!

Jen carved it up on debut to finish in 6:50 to make her one very happy girl.

[silver fox]

Fats win pleases me for several reasons.

First and foremost he is a very humble person, I reckon it should be a pre-requisite for top levellers.

His win is tangible for us middle of the roaders. We all admire the Paul Arthurs and the Dan Greens but Tony is someone that a lot of us have had the pleasure to run with on a sunday morning even if it was albeit briefly. I also think it will be the catalyst for some added fire in the belly for that sub elite group that he was part of until today.

Congratulations Fats on taking the step up to the next level, I reckon this is only the beginning.

[Twopennys]

Hannah Jen finished looking strong in about 6.51

I'm not sure how to feel about today - ecstatic to finish given I contemplated DNF twice - I had a calf glumph at 5k which had me hobbling for a bit (and kept me slow up the hill) and a heavy fall on steep downhill at about 18k with lots of shredded bits and blood - but less than satisfied not to PB - finish around 6.00.35 so missed the sub 6 too.

Oh well ya get that on the big jobs - next year maybe

Fantastic organisation again Kev.

Cheers, 2P

This post has been edited by Twopennys: Mar 10 2007, 09:53 PM

[Colin Townsend]

So I finished in 5:15:35.

Congratulations Katie. How well have you progressed over the last few years.

[plu]

Hi all,

Six Foot Track Race Report

Saturday 45 km Six Foot Track 6:28hours. Splits later. Update: Here are my splits compared to 2005

Background

Last year I got injured before the event and was able to transfer my entry to this year. I have only two years to use the rollover entry and I decided I had to do it this year as I was planning to try and qualify an Ironman in 2008. So it was this year or not at all.

I had to gamble on doing it this year. Those who have been following my running know I broke down last year after the SMH Half. After months of investigations I spent most of 2006 trying to work out the source of my moving groin/hip problem. I had a break through in January 2007 when I stopped riding. I was riding to give me a break from running but I did not have the bike adjusted properly and it was causing me more grief. Once I stopped riding I immediately started to get better but not 100%.

Having a blog keeps me accountable – not that I need it because I keep myself accountable. I knew I was taking a risk and I realistically could have blown it. So I am suggesting not to use my model for training for Six Foot but I had to do what I could do to get to the starting line. In my blog I have been up front about this.

Training

In the lead up to 2005 I was 200-250km months for 3 months and training on Quarry Road at least once a week and I did 6:20 hours. By necessity it was a very different training program for 2007.

In December the longest I ran was the Entrance Half Marathon and did 100km for the month. To preserve the hip/groin all the other runs were no longer than 6km.

In January I ran 102km and started to do a few 8km runs as well. These were the runs 7,6,6,7,10,8,8,8,8,8,8 and 18km.

In February I did 151 km. These were the runs with the longest being 12km: 7,8,8,12,8,8,8,8,9,8,10,6,8,6,13,8, 8 and 8.

In March before the race I did 9,8,8and 6km.

I did no trail running and no hill running. So I did not go near Quarry Road. My reason for this was that the uneven surfaces and the hills aggravated my hip/groin. I found all this very difficult to do as I felt I could run longer and a bit faster but I had to be strict and stick to my plan.

So you can see I was gambling with my training for this race. All I can say is that I am fitter than I was in 2005 though there was a question mark about my endurance. So I had to develop a race plan that would work for me given the amount of training I could do.

And as I have said on my blog I had to have faith in my years of running and hope (because I was not prepared to test it) that the body would hold together after a few ours of running. So I decided to run with no watch and run how I felt. This added to the risk of not making the cut off but I thought it important to run how I felt. I would either survive or not and I was prepared to risk it.


Race Morning

I got Tim to text message me in case I slept in. I have done that before on race days. I had three weetbix and juice and a tea for breakfast and headed straight to get a bus to the start. It was good to catch up with interstate Cool Runners, see off the earlier waves and literally make last minute loo stop before my wave start.

I asked Action (he was the pacer in the wave ahead of me) where I would catch him if I were to run 6:30 and he said Coxs River. I thought this would be a good modification to my plan. Get to Action and pretend he was my sweeper which would give me a 15 minute buffer to O' Runner .

To Coxs River

I was really cautious on Nellies Glen as it was very slippery and I did not want my race over at the beginning. I had a photo opportunity with Colin at Megalong Road. In this section of the race to just past Megalong Road my Six Foot Matrix was very much in the bottom left hand corner.


This is because a lot of runners were passing me and before long Will then Vurt passed me and they were in the wave after me. A few km before Coxs River I caught Action and felt more relieved - until Action caught me at the beginning of Black Range - more later. He said I was on 6 hour pace - which I knew I would not hold. Soon after this I caught up to Bob Fickel and I passed him. He caught me again at the top of Pluvio and that was the last I saw of him. Gasher came up behind me and he reassured me we were on a good pace. This made sense as Gasher and I often were near each other in the first part of these longer races and he tends to pull ahead in the second half. He did this again and finished under 6 hours after he left me at Coxs - though I had him in sight all the way up The Pinnacle.

The only other thing of note was that I am now very in tuned to how hard I am working ie: heartrate. Even without the HRM I was able to feel this. Since all my training runs have involved low heart rates I have no need to gus or sports drink. The first sports drink was like a hit of adrenaline and made me feel really crook. I was carrying a water bottle and immediately tried to dilute it in my body. My liquid and food intake was to cause me issues all through the race.

It was exciting to cross Coxs River in waist deep water and very cooling. I was not sure how my feet would cope with the following 30km running in wet shoes and socks with river gravel in them - turned out not to be an issue. I was hoping to see a race clock but there was not one on the course in this section or other sections of the course. As I finished this section of the race I was thinking how much easier I was doing it compared to my laboured breathing two years earlier. When I see the splits I will be able to see if I was slower.

To Pluvio

I was pleased to be able to run and walk sections of The Pinnacle but when I got to Mini Mini I walked more and then Pluvio I walked the whole way. I ran all the downhills and flats in this section of the course. Kit from the wave behind me flew past me (walking) at the beginning of Mini Mini. I was catching a few people on the hills but it was clear I was not a good walker as many also passed me. There were a number of sections where the heart rate was really soring and I had to ease back because my goal ahead was to run more than I walked Black Range. This happened at the top of Mini Mini and the downhill and flat following this section of the course helped settle me. I definitely dropped off the pace in this section but felt good. I got to the top and still no clock, so I did not know how I was going. At no point in the whole race did I find it hard to break into a run after a hill walking break. I was pleased about this and reflected my good starting pace and general good fitness I guess.

Black Range

In my plan this section of the course I knew was going to be crucial for me. I had to run more than I walked. I also knew I had to be more mentally in charge if I was going to do this. I had forgotten about Action and then I heard and then saw him behind me. This meant I was only 15 minute ahead of O' Runner ( my wave's pacer) and I had a bit of a panic. Action said I had better get going and I did. This happened about 1km into Black Range and I had run all that way from the top of Pluvio and felt I could keep it up. I rationalised I knew I was slow to Pluvio so I felt more confident that I was running I could keep it up. I ran almost all of Black Range except for I think 3 steep little climbs. I am wrapped with this and it set up the buffer I needed. Even though I was never to see Action till then end and I pulled away by 10 minutes over the last 19km, I was never sure if I would see him come up on me again.

Deviation

I almost blew it here. This is a race where you have to concentrate all the time. If you lose your concentration you can have a fall which can potentially put you out of the race. As you get more tired you can stumble. I had a few minor stumbles I was able to correct but along Deviation I had a big one. I corrected it somehow by swinging my body around and then the whole right hand side of my chest and arm spasmed. I was running trying to swing my arm around, rub it and stretch it out while a lot of runners were passing me. This reminds me I was not very social out there today, I was concentrating too hard on my running. I did appreciate, however, the runners who said hi - as they passed me. I am sure they have added more climbs in The Deviation. At this stage I was trying to run them as much as I could but was only partially successful and realised how slow I was actually going here, as more runners started to pass me. This included a flying Colin (Mr Gazelle I guess) and he was walking as well.

Caves Road to the Finish

I got to Caves Road and was polite, yet business like with the Rural Bushfire support as I felt I was a bit under pressure from behind and I still had no idea of the time. They filled my bottle, I had some more food and said hi to Don Juan who was there watching runners. This also reminds me. There were less people on the course this year. Most had gone to the finish line.

Don't let anyone tell you that it is all downhill from here because there are little hills which give you relief from downhill running but at this stage you just want to get to the end. I was feeling a lot more comfortable now and I had no problems running most of the time and even ran the little rises when others were walking. I actually think I overtook a few people here until the really steep downhill at the end where a few others flew past me like the fast finishing Louie who I had passed coming up Pluvio.

In this section I seriously questioned my desire to run the PMC. Even though I had run well and had more in the tank to go further, had I needed to, I was not sure about another 50km in June - on road. Okay lets get to the end. Since I felt I ran well along Black Range I thought I might be around 6:20. On reflection I suspect I was slower to pluvio than last time and finished in 6:28 just after a little celebration with Cool runners at the bottom of the stairs and a symbolic kissing of the ground.

To be honest I am amazed that I ran so close to my target time, given I had no watch. I could not even "fix" the pace, to manufacture a 6:30 finish since I had no idea of my pace.


The Body

I have written this report on the night of the run. So this is how I feel now.

I felt the hip and groin at about 8km so I had to be careful.The first time I went to the loo I was a bit dehydrate but by the second time I went I was fine. I carried a bottle the whole way with water and that was a great thing to do. The sports drinks did pay havoc with my body, creating some uncomfortable moments when I slowed down a lot. Water, snakes and water melon seemed to work fine. I had a fruit bar in the first hour and gu along Black Range when I was trying to kick away from Action.

I was fine when I finished the race. The knees and quads, unlike last time, were fine. I do have a sore groin but no more than in the past after running such distance. So the body seems to have held together so far.


cheers Plu

PS: Great running out there today. No doubt more of these stories will filter through. I just wanted to get something up so those of you who followed this can get a feel for what it was like today.

[Mars]

Congratulations Fats ! Very happy for you and enjoy the win you are the best ever, the new King of The Six Foot Track.

Well done.

Mars 2

[Vurt]

What a great race this is. Firstly it should be acknowledge what a fantastic job Kevin Tiller and the RFS do. The day is superbly organized and the volunteer do an outstanding job.

I set out repeating "5 hours" in my head, I almost got there coming e home in 5:02.

I had a bad start getting to far pack in wave 4 and it took me around 25 minutes to reach the bottom of Nellies. I hit Coxs at 1:30 right on goal and managed to get a lot of gravel and rocks in my shoes which I stopped to empty out. I did the normal walk/run think up mini-mini and Pluvi, passing a very bloody 2p who assured me he was okay. I admire your toughness mate, but more so your enthusiasm for this race. Your advice and support was a great help to this year CR virgins. Thank you. (p.s. how the hell did Ranger Bob get Sophie’s car up "the cliff", that hill is a shocker)

The race really does start at the top of Pluvi you see some broken runners on the black range. I struggled a bit here and felt pretty average in places; I just tried to keep going forward. I hit the deviation in reasonable shape but the cramp bear start to nibble on my calves. From the road crossing to start of the decent into Jenolan was tough and cramp bears finally caught me about 1k into the decent when I almost tripped and both calves went. Once I stretched the rest everything was good.

The support and atmosphere at the start line was amazing with the CR cheer squad in full effect. Cross the finish was pure relief. It was great to catch up with everyone at the end.

Very happy with the result, love the race and I will be back next year.

[Horrie]

Another great very well run 6 Foot Track Marathon. Congratulations to Kevin, Striders and the Rural Fire Service. Take a bow!

To add a bit of theatre to our presence as Grim Sweepers, Virtual and I decided to hire Grim Reaper costumes. This certainly created a mixed feeling amongst the runners. You could tell who was worried about being swept from the race.
Although most people thought it was great and were having a great laugh and asked to have photos taken with me. This included the runner from the US who was running 7 marathons in 7 continents and his friends. It was great talking to them as one of his friends ran Western States in 1979 as his first 100 mile trail run. Kevin was introducing the 7 hour pacer for waves 3 and 4 and then me. The respective 7 hour pacer would get a huge cheer and I would get jeered. Again, it was great theatre.

The only problem was there was no Virtual! He had decided to run from Caves House to the start and set out at 2am. He may have made it on time if he did not take a wrong turn at the Deviation and add an extra 8km to his journey. We finally saw him coming up Nellies Glen as we were descending. I decided to let Cameron, the 7 hour pacer in Wave 4 go ahead at the bottom of Nellies Glen and run a very slow jog, waiting for Virtual to catch up. When I get to Megalong Rd and there was still no sign of him, I decided to sit down and wait for him. Finally, after waiting for somewhere between 20 and 30 minutes, he arrived. So now it was 1:45 into the race and we were just leaving Megalong Rd. I had a laugh with him and said at least we gave runners who fell behind the 7 hour pacer a good buffer. This would mean that we would not have to sweep too many out of the race. We then had a fairly uneventful run down to Cox's River where we put our masks on for the photo opportunity of crossing the river. When we got to the aid station, Virtual was making up for lost nutrition and hydration so we stayed there for a while. I took this opportunity to clear my shoes of the grit that had got into my shoes on the river crossing. The RFS told us the nearest runners were about 15 minutes ahead. So Virtual and I decided we would run/walk the climbs as they would and keep the pace fairly slow. This also had something to do with the fact that he had already done about 70km. So up we plodded and when we got to aid station at the Cattle Yards, there was a runner there who had withdrawn with a suspected broken wrist after falling on the single trail down to Cox's River. So I took his bib and chip and restocked our hand held bottles and we then set off to see if we could actually catch anybody. We finally managed to catch 2 ladies at Allum Creek and regretfully had to end their race there. Then it was a fairly slow climb to Pluvio as Virtual was now really starting to feel the pinch. When we got to the aid station before Pluvio, another runner had withdrawn himself and was laying down in the RFS vehicle. Then off we went on the final climb to Pluvio, which we reached in 5 hours. We asked the RFS at this point where the nearest runner was and they said at least 15 minutes ahead. So we thought we might catch him if he was doing more walking than running. The only problem here was to get Virtual to do more running than walking as he was now doing it quite tough. So we would set little targets and this kept him moving at a brisk enough pace. At each checkpoint, we would ask how far ahead the next runner was and at the last aid station before the Deviation, they advised us he was now only 4 or 5 minutes ahead. Then as we got closer to the Deviation, we spotted him ahead. I told Virtual I would run ahead and have a chat to him to make it easier to withdraw him from the race. The only problem was when I caught and started the conversation, he was not going to have a bar of me withdrawing him from the race and was going to finish and that I could not stop him. I tried to get his bib and chip off him. He said that he had already handed his chip in and was going to keep his bib. I then went back to Virtual and relayed the story to him so we decided that Virtual would walk the last 10-11km with him as we could not leave him out on the course on his own. I could now run ahead and run to how I felt so I picked up the pace a little. It felt so good moving through the Deviation without the hint of the Cramp Bear getting me like he did last year. The aid station at Caves Rd had already packed up and all they had left was a warm bottle of water so I topped up my hand held and off I went. My costume was waiting for me at the final aid station at Binda Cabins but as I still had over 4km to go, including the steep descent down Mt George fire trail, I wasn't putting it on yet. I finally decided to put it on at the top of the paved steps. I then heard the announcer bringing in the final runner and I would arrive about a minute later to finish in around 7:39.

When I finished, it was good to catch up with a few runners and hear how well a lot of them seemed to go. But I was completely blown away by Fats' victory in a new race record. It's great to see this happen to such a humble person. We are now going to have to talk to Long Arms about moving him out of the non-elite morning squad as having a runner of his calibre running with us will only bring this group into disrepute!

See you all next year where I hope to have a serious crack at it.

[Vurt]

Although most people thought it was great and were having a great laugh and asked to have photos taken with me. This included the runner from the US who was running 7 marathons in 7 continents and his friends.

Does anyone know how he went ? I guess he made the cut off.

[Uncle Dave]

Wow, one race, so many fantastic efforts.

* Fats - What a remarkable performance! It is made more remarkable when one considers the calibre of athletes that have attacked this course and come away with slower times - and we're talking numerous athletes here, from Chris Truscott, through to the likes of Tim Sloan (Australian 100k record holder), Don Wallace (Former 6FT record-holder & 2 x Top 10 Comrades Finisher), Paul "The King" Arthur and 2:20 marathoner Dan Green. To top it off, he's a stellar bloke and no one was surprised to see how humble a winner he was yesterday. Well done again mate!
* Matt Robbie ran the smartest race I've ever known him to run to run the fastest non-winning time in the race's history.
* Jo Blake. An absolute workhorse whose consistent dedication I am glad to see being rewarded with the awesome times he deserves.
* MPH. If you'd run 4:15 I would have said "Good to see you get the result I knew you were capable of". To hear just after crossing the line, that you well and truly surpassed that to go 4.05 had my jaw dropping. That's a stellar run Marty! Well done.
* Blue Dog. Mate, you are a champion bloke mate it was an absolute pleasure to run with you. My gut instinct was to tighten the leash when we got to Megalong Rd in 38.xx, and the fact that I didn't make a more concerted effort to slow the pace at that point makes me think I'm a P.P.P. (Piss Poor Pacer! ). Anyway, live & learn. If you get to the river in 1.25 next year I'll bet anyone a slab that you'll come home with a pb.
* Amjan, I thought you ran out of your skin last year to go 5.03. To take a smidgeon off that great performance this year may well indicate that this is your race. Hope the trend continues 'til your on the other side of 5hours!
* Papa Luigi. Went out like he was fit, and realised half way through that he couldn't fake that for 45k. Good show to hang in there dad.
* 2p. Gutsy effort on a dodgy calf.
* Plu. I've just been skimming threads lately, and can't believe I didn't realise you were running til race morning. Great job. I'm very happy for you.
* Jen_runs. To be honest, I wasn't running down to SportsTab to lay any money on you finishing within the cutoff. Before anyone jumps to the wrong conclusion, that is not an insult. Just an opinion based on your limited, injury-plagued prep, which is what made this a remarkable run. To be out there concentrating & pushing for nearly 7hrs off such a restricted prep, and to come in on the right side of the cut off is a very good effort. Well done.

Of course, all the aforementioned efforts are over in a few hours, and pale in comparison to the great Kevin Tiller's year long toil to make 6FT the iconic event that it is. Three cheers for Kev eh!

On another, curious note...

(Originally posted by thomo)

P.P.P in no officials putting results on coolrunning.

Or ring through to a moderator not involved in race.

Going by the hits on this thread, the interest is certainly there.

I just got back from work and I am disapointed with the no show.

Please reassure me that P.P.P does not stand for Piss Poor Performance thomo?

[Action]

Some piccies from the Track yesterday, down the bottom of page 16 right afters Dog's 6ft Catalogue, plus some more on Pg 17...

http://www.coolrunning.com.au/gallery/Unsorted?page=16
http://www.coolrunning.com.au/gallery/Unsorted?page=17

PS - 2mb versions avaiable, just email me.

[Ultraphil]

Did anyone hear how David Newborn went?

[Action]

Does anyone know how he went ? I guess he made the cut off.

he crossed the line just after me from Wave 4, so about 6:30.

[JoggerK]

P.P.P in no officials putting results on coolrunning.

I only go the the final results 10:30pm last night. Because we were so accomodating in allowing people to changes waves, clubs etc right up to the last minute there was A LOT of work to be done to make sure they are right (damned if you damned if you don't). They will be posted "very soon". I got home at 1am. At the moment I have had 7hrs sleep since Thursday morning, so sorry to not be working hard enough for you.

[Virtual]

Chapter 1 – Jenolan Caves to The Explorer Tree

In what most may regard as a reckless and pointless exercise, I decided to run a 12 foot yesterday. I had been accepted as the grim reaper, along with my mate Horrie and thought that it would be a good idea to get some steady miles in prior to the event. These extra miles all contribute to the training programme for the Western States 100 mile race in June.

In terms of gear. I carried a small bum bag with gel, a cdma phone, a uhf cb, a spray jacket, one hand bottle, a big boomer headlamp (and a small back up) and a small medical kit. I wore std running gear and trail shoes/gaiters.

I left Caves house at 2am, which gave me just under six hours to get to the start, easily doable in my current state. I managed to get 2hrs sleep and had some "breakfast" (a can of coke and a cup of coffee) before setting off.

As I set off from Caves House I made a loud COOOO EEEE sound (sorry if I awoke anyone). The rise out of Jenolan caves was magical, wallabies and inidentified animals were bounding around all over the place and I felt at one with the environment I was loving it. I was in front of schedule at the road crossing, where I had left a bottle of water the night before.

I arrived at the deviation ahead of schedule and went right where the big 6 foot track sign is. And ended up off course. Circumnavigating a pine forest. I got back to deviation and very very carefully decided to follow the sign again back to the pine forest and retraced my steps to deviation. I spent 10min checking maps and scouted again before getting back to deviation for the third time and realised that the track isn’t marked and I shoud go searching for a track that goes south east then east for 10.8km. At this point I almost returned to caves to pick up the bus leaving caves at 5:30am.

I finally found the track having wasted a lot of time and doing another 8.5km according to the garmin. So I decided not to go back, rather I should continue and push hard.

The trip from there was a bit of a blur. I just remember running into a few monster puddles on Black Range and gunning the pace. There were lots of RFS camps at the aid station locations and I did most of it without water because I only had one bottle. The temp was cool and I was feeling good.

The descent down pluvi and mini were brilliant canyon training for this year’s WS100. At Alum I came across a stranded four wheel drive with three semi sober guys who were out pig shooting and had got stuck, I didn’t hang about because their pig dogs were looking mean and doing lots of growlingand I arrived at the Cox’s river crossing with 1:30 before the start.

I lost more time while I bumbled around for a while in the darkness of the river shallows and decided to head upstream to the footbridge. The footbridge crossing was treacherous (now I see why the race uses the river).

The sun came up as I crossed the footbridge; it was nice to be working in daylight.

I was starting to tire and after numerous attempts in contacting people on my mobile I decided to press on. I had been without water for a good couple of hours by the time I got to Megalong road and the kind RFS team filled my handbottle. I stopped for 5min to recompose myself then proceeded to my halfway point.

It was great to see the Early Starters then Wave one come past me. It was a rare perspective to observe these runners in race mode. I even got some good luck’s from some of the runners. But most just said “hey mate you’re going the wrong way”.

I took it very very slow coming up a very slippery Nellies because waves two, three and four were coming down and I didn’t want to get in their way. So that took ages as I walked 3 metres stopped to let people past the scurried on the next few metres again.

What was wonderful was to view the whole race

I arrived at the start line at 9am. 53.5km in 7hrs on the Garmin and lots of hanging around. I was happy with that.

End of chapter one.

This post has been edited by Virtual: Mar 11 2007, 10:01 AM