Congrats to all the 94.7 riders from the weekend. And thanks for all the kind messages here. Ja, that image is the first time I've seen a photo of me that accurately sums up how I felt. I was haggard! I lost 4.6kg on the run alone. But what an experience. That is without doubt one of the most spectacularly beautiful events I've ever taken part in. I had to keep reminding myself to stop staring at the trail in front of me and pause for a moment to look around and take it all in because it was quite special. The combination of terrain, heat and few water sources made for a memorable adventure. Due to the dryness we had to repeat two sections of 22km without a stream to refill from. Whenever we did get to water I probably spent a good five minutes with my head dunked trying to get my core temperature back down. There was just nowhere to hide from the heat. The race, if I can call it a race because it was more of a war of attraction, was unrelenting. Looking back from the top of Balloch Wall on the return was like witnessing Isandlwana. Bodies everywhere with some people lying down just so they could get a bit of their head under some shade from a small boulder. That final climb up the wall felt like an entire Comrades for me. I caught Pitso there and he and I had the world’s slowest leapfrog competition for the final podium spot. It was like two snails trying to climb a drainpipe, pausing every minute to suck in air. About three quarters of the way up I caught him again and then put everything I had into trying to push ahead. When I looked back he was lying down and unfortunately didn’t make it over the wall as he eventually returned to the Balloch checkpoint. The dropout percentage this year was nearly 50% in both distances and medics were handing out drips like they were Farbars. Climbing down the other side of Balloch was scary and a bit rushed as I had no idea who was behind me. I cliffed out twice and had to take a few panicky risks. I had one bad fall and thought I had broken my leg but it had merely gone into a full blown spasm. Distance was a very relative thing. That 7km from Balloch checkpoint to the finish felt like an ultra on its own. One of the coolest things was being greeted so enthusiastically by Skippy at the finish. What a great competitor. He had passed me at the Snowden turn while I was cooling down and filling up bottles. I passed him again just before Skiddaw but descending down the treacherous slope before Balloch I heard something thundering behind me and he came flying past like someone who was falling down a mountain but kept landing on his feet. It was quite a thing to witness. What an event. From swearing I’d never ever run anything again when I was at 45km I’m already desperate to return. It’s a beautiful group of people, from the organisers, the local community (both of which had to scramble together on Wednesday night to reorganise the race from Wartrail due to the Lady Grey protests) and the fellow trail runners. The sound of celebrating every person crossing the finish line from the first 65km runners at 4pm in the afternoon right through the night (from my bed in my tent) to the last of the 100km runners at 10am the next morning is going to remain a fond memory. Oh, and Dave, thanks for your GPS route. I switched over to it at one point on the return leg when I wasn’t certain about where the course nav was taking me. It was a great help, thanks for sharing. I don't know who this runner is but I think he sums up the whole day the best:
