“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”
Albert Einstein
I have added this quote as this is a return trip for me to Run Larapinta. Many people questioned my sanity for returning, given the difficulty of this event. Although I was expecting different results, due to my lack of proper preparation. To see how last year went, click here
5 weeks and 1 day out from Run Larapinta, I had completely forgotten about it. Not that I’m that relaxed, I just didn’t have an entry for the event. Roll on 24 hours and that changed.
8 months before this I’d put myself down on the waitlist, having been too slow grabbing an entry. The race organisers assured me that I had no chance of getting in, Typically 1 day after the 5 weeks and 1 day, I suddenly found I was being offered an entry.
A quick check of the finances, yep enough money in the account. Check flights, yep still seats available. Check accommodation, yep a bit tight, but I should be able to find some. Check the last 2 months of Strava activities, oh shit…
Look, I’m an ultra runner, I could do the Namatjira (short course). What could possibly go wrong? (Narrator: heaps)
Let The Fun Begin
By the time I’d discussed with my partner about going (permission granted), the accommodation situation had changed, and the rooms I wanted weren’t available. At one point I was booked into 3 different motels, waiting for rooms on Saturday to free up. Checking the flights on Thursday revealed an eye-watering price. Now I was looking to fly Wednesday, extra accommodation is needed. On and on it went. (Given the stories of Perth runners flying on Virgin, I’ll accept my troubles were piffling in comparison).
New Friendships.
All the recent stories of baggage going astray on Qantas meant I was wearing race gear and shoes on the plane and the rest of my mandatory gear packed in my carry-on bag. Also having spent the last 3 weeks absolutely paranoid about getting COVID, I masked all the way.
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| Thursday night drinks. L to R: Alex, Renee, Tracy, Fiona, and me. |
Arrived safe and sound, meeting Alex at the airport. I’d put up a post in the Facebook group to see if anyone wanted to catch up for dinner on Wednesday night. Alex and one other person (Tracy) had replied. After settling into our respective accommodation, we caught up for dinner at the Golf Club. It would be the start of some lovely friendships over the weekend (and I hope for a long time to come)
Thursday morning was time to sort gear out, walk into town to get lunch, and generally relax. The late afternoon was a meet-up with the Rapid Ascents crew and any runners already in town. Great to meet up with Renee and Fiona, friends from Victoria. Fiona was going for her Triple Crown (the 3 races being Surf Coast 100, Margaret River 80, and the long course at Run Larapinta) and was very excited at the prospect of getting it. Renee is just starting on the journey. I introduced them to Alex and Tracy and this group of 5 was my constant friendship group throughout the event.
Registration and Stage 1 (Your Starter for 10)
A world first for me; sailed through mandatory gear check without having to run back to the room (or car) to find a missing item, or resort to purchasing items from the event team! Picked up my bib and race pack, photos with Fiona and Renee, and return to my room to get ready for stage 1, a twilight run on the outskirts of Alice Springs.
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| Vintage, like wine, or cheese... |
Slightly surreal moment about an hour before the race brief where an organised telehealth appointment with my GP reveals a biopsy taken a week ago is not the news I was waiting for. Sorting out race gear, filling bottles, etc. whilst listening to him give me all this news, “U-huh, yep, I see...”. He must have thought I couldn’t give a shit! It must have been my runner's brain, but as soon as the call ended, I immediately put the issue out of my mind, determined to enjoy the next 4 days as best as I could, reality can come next week.
The start is a walk down Barrett Drive to the Botanic Gardens. I stroll down with Tracy, Fiona, and Renee, all of us chatting away trying to calm the nerves that are starting to take hold. For the other 3, it’s the nerves of anticipation of having trained and focused on this event for months. For me, it’s wondering if the cramming and very short prep is enough 😄
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| Fiona, Renee, and Tracy before their start. Photo: forktailfilms |
I leave the others at the start and wander off towards my start line a further 2k up the path beside the Todd River. My race start is 6:00pm, the late afternoon sun is warm, but slowly cooling. The decision will be whether to start with my cap and glasses to switch to the head torch when it gets dark or ditch the sunnies altogether. (5 minutes before the start it was obvious the sun would set minutes after we started, decision made).
Having done the Malbunka (long course) before, the distances here don’t bother me too much. But the rush of blood to the head at the start can be disastrous for subsequent stages. Photos taken, nervous banter exchanged and we are off. 2 runners head out at speed onto the single trail, and the rest of us jostling for position until we get sorted into a nice steady stream. The trails here are quite stable, (read non-technical) and it’s easy to hold a good pace. Occasional tripping hazard like rocks and a bit of sand means you still need to focus. As we wind our way around, the sun sets in the west in a glorious display of yellows, oranges, pinks, and then purple. Immediately to our right the moon, almost full, rises on the other side. It really doesn’t get any better than that.
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| Dusk on the trail. |
Passing through the only aid station for our run, I put the head torch on. The light is still good, but out here darkness will come quickly, so the torch needs to be ready. I turn it on as the first of the long course runners comes by, their course finishes with ours. Mostly I’ve been running steadily without too much effort, but on the last few climbs, I notice the HR climb alarmingly, a product of no interval training over the last few months. More runners come past, a combo of my course and the frontrunners in the long. I try not to keep pace, only just. HR still pushing a bit high. Just as I think I might need to step off the trail and take a break, the end comes in sight, it’s downhill and anyway, adrenaline takes over here! The finish chute is lined with lights and easy to see.
And then it’s all over for stage 1. It’s night around 7:20PM and I’m sweating buckets. Drink heaps, grab a few bananas and some fruit cake to kill the hunger pangs. As I’m waiting, Tracy rocks up. She’s only just won her age group with a great run. We head to the bus to get back to accommodation as soon as possible so we can grab dinner, get prepared for tomorrow, and get some sleep.
Stage 1 is done, we are off and running!
Distance: 12.4k
Time: 1:23:39
Vert: 167m
Average HR: 157bpm
Fun Factor (out of 10): 7 (too runnable 😃)
Stage 2, To Hell and Back!
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| A bit too cool for school here... Photo: forktailfilms |
I’d brought cereal with me from home, and I had milk, I just needed to grab a coffee from the restaurant before I boarded the bus to take me to the start line. Today we were starting at Standley Chasm. It was a last-minute change after a landowner had refused entry to their land. So the course was moved to be an out and back from Standley Chasm with a significant climb over High Lead. Having run most of this section last year, I knew what to expect. Simultaneously nervous and excited about the climb and the section through the creek bed affectionately known as Jurassic Park. The bus dropped us off just before 7:30 for our 8:00 start. Plenty of time to get changed, go to the toilet (always a bonus), and exchange pleasantries with other runners.
Right on 8:00am we took off. The first 400 metres gently up, turn left, then very up. Immediately into a hike, a single line of us pushing hard over the first climb, then a short descent (not runnable), then another steep climb, and then descend again to the dry creek bed of the chasm. Already working hard, barely 1k in and we’ve spent 25 minutes getting there! The path here evens out after the gorge area, onto a trail that gently slopes up for about a k before descending into the aforementioned Jurassic Park. Running is definitely at a premium through here, more rock hopping, scrambling, and occasionally just walking slowly to avoid tripping, rolled ankles, etc.
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| The blue arrow marks the 'trail', such as it is through here. |
But I was moving well through here, catching a few runners, chatting for a bit as I carried on, then would get ahead and continue down the trail/creek bed/boulder hop. Eventually, it opened out a bit and the trail (an actual trail, you know, gravel base or dirt) would weave its way in and out of the creek bed. We could actually run this as it was flat, or very gently down. By now I’ve been joined by another runner, Matt. For a while, we would yo-yo positions (once when Matt looked like barrelling further down the creek when the trail peeled off to the right), but never out of sight of each other.
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| Type 2 fun in here 😄 |
What goes down on an out and back course, eventually goes back up. And so it did, through another creek bed again. Short and sweet for another descent (also not runnable) before we finally joined on the course the Malbunka runners were on. I had vivid memories of this section from last year, a long slog of a climb with multiple false summits, but seriously outstanding views. Matt and I are now on the climb together, better to have someone with you when you climb, you can shoot the shit about the day so far and what is left to come! We both hike quite well, stopping at some points for a small rest and a photo opportunity then press on again.
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| The view on the climb up to High Lead |
The higher we climb, the stronger the wind blows, the cooler the temperature gets (it had been toasty lower down) and we still haven’t got to the summit. False summit finally gives way to water drop (via helicopter the day before) and the event photographer. A few snaps, a quick yack with the volunteer about the trail ahead and how much hydration we had and we are off again. I hadn’t missed the fact that the volunteer had said something along the lines about us being up with the frontrunners, but I thought he might have been mistaken. I knew I was going well, but honestly had no idea what placings Matt and I were.
A short run, some of which was strangely unfamiliar (considering it was only 15 months prior I’d run this), and then the nasty descent. It drops, quickly and dramatically with a fairly sharp drop-off at the start before we hit a saddle then a sharp left and a scramble down. It’s rough, it has loose rock, and every now and then the trail sort of disappears, only to re-appear again on the other side of a large boulder. Near the bottom, we hear a terrific crash behind us, the 1st place Malbunka runner is coming down, and fast. He passes us, we give him some encouragement, and he repays the words. Bottom out at Millers Flat, then head back into Jurassic Park, this time as it climbs back up. 2 more Malbunka runners come past us as we clamber through the rocks. By now it’s getting very warm, there is no breeze in the gorge and fatigue is really setting in. Matt keeps saying he’s flagging a bit and if I want to push on, not to wait for him. But I don’t feel that energetic, and even if we aren’t talking much here, just nice to have company.
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| Affectionately known as Jurassic Park. Yes, there is a 'trail' in here... |
Catch up with the 2 Malbunka runners again, struggling to work out a section ahead. It had helped that I’d just come through the other way this morning and had pretty much made the same mistake as them last year. “Left guys, follow me” and we scrambled around a large rock formation.
As we approach the final section to climb out of the gorge, those 2 same runners have forged ahead and I can now hear lots of rocks falling onto the creek bed from high above. I hear their voices, “Not sure this is the right way”. I spot them, high, way high on the right at the point where we climb around what looks like a dry waterfall.
Once again, having saved their blushes, we climb out, get on the trail where it is runnable again and I wave them through, “Out of the bad section, pretty straightforward from here guys”. They thank us and keep on going. Matt and I walk run this section before it descends directly to Standley Chasm again. Just before the last 2 sodding climbs (the same ones the short course runners had started on over 3 and half hours ago) we stopped to take one last set of photos, took a deep breath, then headed up the first climb.
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| Tracy nervously negotiating the dry waterfall Photo: forktailfilms |
It was more a ponderous shuffle than a fast hike, our legs were just not in the mood for anything other than a horizontal position (preferably not whilst running). The first climb completed, we heard voices behind us, the first female in the Malbunka. We dropped down, then the bigger of the 2 climbs, she caught us as we hit the top, she and another male runner skipped off down the long descent. By now, this close to the visitor area, we are meeting walkers, all wanting to chat, and giving us encouragement. They were all nice, happy to stand aside and let us through, probably thinking we are mad as cut snakes (we are…).
Finally, after just over 4 hours, we bottom out of the steep descent and have 400 metres of a gentle path to the finish. Matt asks if I’m right to run in, yep is my reply. And off we go. 100 metres later I can feel my right hammy start to twinge. “Not here, please!”. Leap over a small section of water just before the finish line (hammy still intact) and then we are running up to the finish chute.
I hear footsteps behind me, thinking Matt is cheekily going to out sprint me to the line, I put the pace on a bit. But no, it wasn’t him. A female short course runner has come out of nowhere, spotted us, and tried to hunt us down. A mini sprint it was, but we were all happy to finish.
Cold Coke has never tasted so good. Not even with a favourite spirit mixed in. There weren’t many runners there, I’d assumed a bus had just gone taking runners back to Alice Springs. I was to find out later that no buses had left, I’d just finished in 11th place, 3rd in my age group. I was a bit amazed by that. I know this technical stuff is my forte, but given my training of late, that was quite the result.
Change of clothes and an egg and bacon burger from the kiosk (with a piping hot coffee, who needs the roof of your mouth?) and then back up to the finish to wait for some of my friends to arrive. Eventually, I decided to grab the next bus and just before it was supposed to leave, Tracy hopped on board having just finished. She looked completely knackered, I think we all were…
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| All smiles at the finish Photo: forktailfilms |
On the bus ride back to Alice, Alex had to stand all the way, otherwise, he would cramp badly in his hamstrings. We still had 2 days to go 😝
Distance: 20.9k
Time: 4:17:14
Vert: 1115m
Average HR: 144bpm
Fun Factor (out of 10): 10 😂
Stage 3, A Bit of Everything. 😌
5:00 am alarm today, just for fun. For the last 2 days, we have been centered out of Alice Springs, now we head west to stay at Glen Helen for the next 2 stages. This means an early start for the long drive on the bus so that we have enough time to get ready to race. Stage 3 has been promised to be easier than yesterday. Anything would be easier!
The bus ride takes its time, I’m on my own, so doze fitfully for most of the way there. We eventually arrive at Glen Helen, our start point and also our campsite for the next 2 nights. Plenty of time for toilet, applying sunscreen, and getting everything ready. No need to carry as much water today, the expected time between aid stations is much quicker.
The start is pretty much the main road into the camping area. 2 flags are erected, and we are ushered up towards the flags and stand there waiting for the last few minutes. The moments before a race start is always a time for me to calm myself, and think about the run ahead, the weather, and how I’m going to approach it based on training and the last few days of racing. I stand here, arms folded, staring down at the ground, trying for Zen. Then I spot the ankles of the runners in front of me, all with the timing chip strapped to their ankles. SHIT! I’ve forgotten mine, it’s in my drop bag, 50 metres away. Normally no problems, just go and grab it. The only problem is we have less than a minute to go and I have to find my bag first.
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| Clearly enjoying myself, despite the shit start to the race! photo: forktailfilms |
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| Renee all smile on the trails Photo: forktailfilms |
It’s much more exposed than yesterday, so even though the running is easier, the temperature is making it hard work. Being far more runnable doesn’t help me, my fitness not coping. Not for the first time this weekend I wonder what would have been if I’d trained more! Ah well, too late now…
About 5k in we start a series of climbs, it’s time to get the strategic hiking legs on. A runner in orange is about 300 metres ahead. I’m slowly catching her, but each time we run flats or downhill, she edges away. But as we approach the first aid station (12k mark), I get close enough that she tells me I’ve got her. “Not yet”, I say. We yo-yo along like that until we hit the aid station. Jos (her name is on the small bib on her hydration vest) tells the aid station vollies to hold me up for a bit! Mind games, eh?
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| Pound Loop section, Ormiston Gorge in the background. |
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| Ormiston Gorge and the river bed we are to 'run' on. |
Climb up the other side and clamber round a slippery section before the final climb up to a lookout. The others get ahead again and Diana and Colleen descend first, followed by Jos, then me. The first bit is steep steps down, hang onto the handrail until it evens out a bit. Look up and we can see the car park and roughly where the finish line would be. We start picking up the pace. Walkers coming up step aside and give us encouragement as we hurtle down as Jos and I whoop and holler like kids on cordial. So much fun. Near the end as I catch Jos, the path suddenly turns left, then hairpins right. We head for the finish, really pushing the pace now. As we spy the finish, Jos yells out “Sprint!!!”. Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me. But I sprint too, the both of us peaking HR as we cross the line. (And yes, she got me)
It was a great way to finish a race, even though it wasn’t my best day out, it was still fun! Later, after I’d cleaned up and was going through the photos on my phone did I realise how wonderful the gorge was. Once again I hung around and waited for friends to finish, eventually getting back to Glen Helen early afternoon to set up my tent for camping over the next 2 days.
Postscript: That night at dinner, there are usually awards given and results called out. Unfortunately tonight Sam says he cannot tell us as the equipment that records the finish times won’t let them extract the data. I was on the verge of holding my hand up and asking him “so I didn’t need my timing chip, then?” But it was still a bit raw, I just kept my mouth shut 😬
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| The sprint finish, which I obviously lost! Photo: forktailfilms |
Time: 3:09:37 (Official time was 3:10:00, whatevs)
Vert: 530 m
Average HR: 148 bpm
Fun Factor (out of 10): 7 overall, 10 for the final descent!
Stage 4, Basically Flat, Except for the Climb. 😳
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| Fiona on the way home, stage 4 Photo: forktailfilms |
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| Mt. Sonder from the climb. |
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| Panorama with Mt. Sonder in the background on the climb up. |
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| Alex, not content to run the short course on short prep, elects to run the long course on day 4. Great effort. Photo: forktailfilms |
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| And, finished. Photo: forktailfilms |
Time: 4:27:29
Vert: 598 m
Average HR: 139 bpm
Fun Factor (out of 10): 9 overall, 3 for the final 10k!
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| 3 wonderful friends I shared the weekend with. L to R: Me, Renee, Tracy, and Fiona. Photo: Renee (well, her phone!) |
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| Back in Melbourne already! Where did that time go? Photo: Tracy (her phone) |
