GNW 100mile Race Report

My desire to participate in the Great North Walk 100mile started 12 months ago when I paced Susannah for the last 70km of the event. I absolutely loved the race – the technical trails, the beautiful scenery and the massive challenge. My favourite part was the finish on Patonga beach with the bell ringing for each runner as they finished. I knew I had to come back to give it a go myself.

I trained pretty well in the lead up to the event and I have had a pretty good year of running. These things made me feel confident that I had done everything I could to prepare for the race. I still wasn’t overly confident that I would finish, but I was excited to give it a go - my first hundred miler!

By the Thursday of race week, I was highly disorganised. I had a list of all the things I needed to do, but clearly didn’t have time to do those things. I was yet to write the instructions on my maps, load the maps onto my GPS, get my drop bags ready or write instructions for my crew. Luckily I had Tamyka helping me out with my maps and Chris was willing to give this race a go without my usual detailed crew instructions. Once we had arrived in Newcastle, Tam spent the afternoon getting my maps ready for me, Chris bought the groceries and I got my drop bags ready. By about 9pm we were ready for race day.

I woke up on race morning with a very sore lower back, probably caused by a bed that was too soft. I stretched and massaged my hip flexors but they weren’t loosening up at all. Next port of call was panadol. Thankfully that was the only glitch on race morning. We got to the start line with plenty of time to spare and I collected my race bag, weighed in and met some new runners. I was introduced to Tayebah, who was running her first 100 mile too. We had a fairly similar target time so thought it would make sense to run together a bit.

Section 1: Teralba to Watagan Foresty HQ – 28.6km

The first few kilometres of the race were on road and there was a big group of runners around me.  I just followed those in front, eagerly anticipating hitting the trails. After a couple of kilometres we turned right into the bush and I was happy to be off the road. It was nice having someone to run with and Tayebah and I chatted and enjoyed ourselves. I was a little nervous about not having the maps in my hands and just relying on others, but I also didn’t want to be stuck by myself because I was slowing down to check the maps. I got what I deserved when we missed a turn (the sign was obstructed by a burnt out van) and I committed myself to only relying on myself (and the maps and GPS) for navigation. 

The Heaton’s Gap trail at about 15km presented the first big climb of the day and I instantly found myself lagging behind Tay. I have been struggling through ascents during training recently, which I had put down to being sluggish due to overtraining, but even with my extra-long taper, the hills were an issue on race day. I wasn’t too worried though as I knew I could fly on the single track. 

I caught up to Tay at the top and we passed around the communications tower. At this point the rain started to get very heavy and we didn’t really get any views at Heaton Lookout. The rain also made the next section in the rainforest rather difficult (and fun). I loved running around in the mud but it also slowed me down a little bit and I had a couple of tumbles. It seemed a lot of people were struggling through the mud though and we overtook a few people before finally coming back out onto the fire trail and running it in to checkpoint 1.

Section 2: Old Watagon Forest HQ to Congewai Public Schools

From CP1 we followed the ridge of the Myall Range along fire road. I met a number of other runners during this section, some in the 100km event and some in the 100mile. I tried to remember people’s names so I could see how they ended up going, but it all ended up as a blur in my state of exhaustion later on. 

After the long, gentle uphill, I descended into the very pretty farmland of the Congewai Valley.  I thought this section was absolutely gorgeous and I really enjoyed the sense of freedom I had running down the trails. It felt like I was flying on the single track and I was a little bit sad to find it come to an end at Congewai Road, but I did enjoy reading Tam’s note, “You’re a Congewai,” on my maps. From there we just ran along Congewai Road into the checkpoint.

Section 3: Congewai Public School to The Basin Campsite 29.1km

This was another tough section with a significant amount of elevation gain, however, it was also one of my favourite parts of the course, with pockets of gorgeous rainforest and miles of technical trail. We initially passed through farmland (at least from what I remember) and then climbed out of the Congewai Valley into the Watagon mountains. I found this to be the toughest climb of the day and I put my ipod on to try and get some motivation going. I convinced myself that stopping to suck in the oxygen was only going to prolong the process and pushed through as best as I could. 

 

I was very happy to reach the communications tower at the top of the climb where I found Tayebah and we headed off down Cabans Rd together. We had around 6km of gravel road here and although it was boring, it was a good opportunity to make up some of the time I had lost on the climb. From what I remember, we then ran down some fun single track and briefly passed through pretty farmland before reaching  Wattagon Creek.

After crossing Watagon Creek we travelled into the Olney State Forest.  There was another big climb but I pushed through this a little better than the one before. I was pretty ecstatic to reach the  unmanned water stop at the top because this marked the end of the last climb for section 3.

The next few kilometres were fairly undulating along fire trail and gravel road and I again enjoyed the fact that I was making up some lost time. After a few kilometres we reached some more technical track which I was very excited to see. I also enjoyed this section because I passed trails such as ‘Bacon Point Rd’, ‘Pork Point Rd and ‘Rasher Point Rd’, which Tamyka had kindly pointed out to me on my maps. There was also a Bailey Rd (clearly named after my dog) and as I discovered later, a ‘Magpie Rd’ – glad Tam didn’t point that out.  

From here we travelled through very technical single track in the basin to reach Checkpoint 3. I loved this section of the course. It was very pretty, almost magical at night, and the slippery single track was an adventure. At one point I had my headlamp shining into a creek and could see an eel sitting just below the surface. The last couple hundred metres into the checkpoint were marked by glowsticks, adding to the magic feeling in the air. 

Section 4: The Basin Campsite to Yarramalong Public School 22.1km

To leave the Basin campsite we had to retrace our footsteps through the single track. Again I enjoyed this section and moved well on the technical trail. Soon we were climbing out of the basin and had to be careful with our nav. I was with Tayebah during this section and we momentarily took a wrong turn but we realised quickly and turned around without losing much time. 

Once out of the basin and with the difficult nav over, we followed fire trail for a few kilometres. I started to feel really nauseous around this section and couldn’t take in any food or fluids without an overwhelming urge to vomit. I let Tayebah know how I was feeling and told her she should go ahead as I was slowing down, but she still seemed happy to stick together. After about 5 or 10mins of this feeling I decided it was probably best to just vomit and get it over with. This helped me to feel a lot better and I started moving a little bit faster.

After we passed a walkers rest (which Tamyka had marked with the comment “but you’re a runner”), we turned left onto walking track. Tay and I thought we were a little lost in this section and I needed to check the GPS to confirm if we took a wrong turn. I was following the detailed directions and things looked ok on my GPS, but the track became very indistinct in parts and I think we may have been slightly off. Not to worry though, we soon found the track easier to follow and headed downhill to the Cedar Bush Trackhead.

From here we turned left onto gravel road. This is a section that I had heard a lot of people whinge about because it is boring road that just goes on and on for almost 12km. Although I would agree that it is a bit boring and I also found it a little hard on my feet, I also enjoyed just being out in the open at night. Whenever I started to get a bit bored I looked up at the stars which looked spectacular, despite all the cloud earlier in the day. Tayebah got a bit ahead of me here so I just had the company of my ipod, the stars and the road. 

When I entered the race I had envisaged making a decision at CP4 as to whether to drop out and take the 100km finish or to continue on for the 100mile. I had considered having a cut off time for myself by which I would need to have left the checkpoint, or go by how I was feeling. Before the race though, on Tamyka’s advice, I decided to keep going until a race official made me stop, either because I was too sick to continue or hadn’t made a cut-off. That made the decision very easy for me and despite the fact I still felt nauseous, I absolutely wanted to continue. I still felt confident that I could finish and there were many positives to come: I now got to run with my awesome pacer Tamyka, I had done this section of the course the previous year and the worst climbs of the race were out of the way. I guzzled down some chicken noodle soup at the checkpoint to settle my tummy and changed some items of clothing. I was stopped for a fair while, but I felt a lot better for it when I left the checkpoint.

Section 5: Yarramalong Public School to Somersby Public School 26.8km

Leaving the checkpoint with Tayebah and super pacer Tamyka, I felt like the party was just getting started. Tam turned on the music and off we went.  Things were going well as we covered the single track and we got a little ahead of Tay. I was feeling a bit tired though so I pumped out the Babysitters Club theme song to keep the sleep monsters at bay. I think this was right when Tay caught up to us and I don’t know what she made of my choice is song to sing. We probably made things worse when we put some Avril on the ipod.

Unfortunately it wasn’t long before my tummy started disagreeing with me again and I was puking at the side of the track. I didn’t actually feel terribly sick, I just couldn’t keep any food or fluids down. Tamyka pointed out that I had probably consumed enough earlier in the race and I could run for a long time without eating or drinking. I decided to give this a go and when I did need to consume, I tried Tamyka’s suggestions, a lot of which worked. My feet were also starting to cramp and swell so I stopped to massage my foot and loosen the laces. Tay went on ahead (probably happy to be away from the puking and our choice in tunes). 

We then went past some crackling powerlines to get to Greta Rd. We could see other runner’s lights ahead and followed those as the track was a little hard to follow. We came out on Greta Road and followed this until we came  across Tay in a paddock. She had turned too early, so Tam helped her climb the fence while I continued on ahead, turning down Cherry Lane. Tam caught up to me quickly and Tay passed us again.

Eventually we turned into the National Park. I was managing to eat very small bits of cheese and vegemite sandwich, which I had to slosh around with water in my mouth so I could swallow it down, as my throat was so dry. This sounds disgusting, but it actually seemed fine at the time and was one of the only things that didn’t make me want to barf. At this point I was completely off sugar. Everytime Tamyka even mentioned something with sugar I felt like hurling. We quickly came to more dense bushland and had a fun descent through rainforest to Dead Horse Creek. That part was super fun and we caught up to Tay as well as a couple of other guys ahead of us. Tamyka put on “Welcome to the Jungle” on the ipod because it seemed appropriate, and us three girls sang along.

The climb out was nasty and I slowed down. I think Tay went on ahead with the guys here as I struggled up the hill. It was over quickly though and we were back out on fire trail, moving faster. Tamyka says I was “positively hammering it,” so I may have been moving slightly faster than walking pace. After a while we passed Tay who was fixing her foot. Three guys had stopped to help so we went on ahead. 

Soon we came across another runner, doing the zombie shuffle through the night. He was swaying from one side of the track to the other, clearly doing battle with sleep monsters.  As soon as we caught up to the runner though, he jumped on to the Tam train and started moving really well.

 We discovered that the runner was Grant, the vegan runner who had eaten a head of lettuce at the Basin a few years earlier. He confessed this may not have been the best idea. We ran along together covering some awesome single track down to Ourimbah Creek. We had to check the nav a couple of times, but made it to the creek without issue. Tam and I charged straight through the creek, my feet happy for the numbing cold. Not long after, I had to stop and massage my foot again. My feet were really swollen and painful by now. Loosening the laces off a bit more helped and soon we were off again and back in the forest. Grant went on ahead and I felt confident that he was going to get his first GNW finish. 

There was a pretty decent climb from the road, but it eased off at times and I pushed through. The climb was worth it as we had a pretty descent, alongside cliffs, followed by rainforest track at the bottom. Then were back on fire trail and then finally, on the road into the checkpoint where I changed into new shoes and new outfit for day 2

Section 5: Somersby Public School to Pacific Highway Bridge over Mooney-Mooney Creek 17.8km

When we came out of the school, we ran along the road for a little bit. I was walking here, and Tam suggested that I could shuffle but I said it was uphill. Apparently it was flat. I shuffled. We turned off onto 4WD track and ran along there for a while. We then crossed Reserve Rd and soon came past a sign to Girrakool/Patonga. I was very excited. A sign with the name of the finish on it, felt like a sign that I was almost done and I was really starting to think that I might just finish this thing. Soon we were running in rainforest as we descended into the Mooney Mooney Creek valley. Eventually we got to cross the wide and rocky Mooney Mooney Creek. I had been looking forward to this section as I remembered how pretty it was from when I covered it with Susannah last year. I ran a fair bit after that and it wasn’t long before we came out on the road, passed under the freeway bridge, passed some bizarre houses and reached the checkpoint. 

I was feeling really positive when we arrived at the checkpoint. I only had one section left to go and I thought I had enough time to do it. I also got to eat salami and happy cow cheese which seemed to go down a treat. I was still not eating or drinking much because it made me feel sick, but this I could keep down. I grabbed another sandwich, reapplied sunscreen and we set off, with the music on.

Section 6 Pacific Highway Bridge to Finish at Patonga Wharf  25.4km

We headed out of the checkpoint feeling pretty confident that we would get to the unmanned water stop before the cut-off. The track followed Mooney Mooney Creek downstream for a while. There were some big boulders and lots of up and down. We crossed  the creek on the suspension bridge which was fun and then started climbing. This is where I really started struggling. I remember feeling like rubbish and being really, really thirsty, but every time I had water it just came back up. Nothing was going in, it was hot and my legs were cactus. I told myself there was only about 20km to go and I had plenty of time, I just had to push through. Tamyka was encouraging and tried to keep me motivated. I think this is when the song “Bloody Mmotherfucking Asshole” came on the ipod and it was certainly fitting. Lines such as:

“And I've been poked & stoked
It's all smoke, there's no more fire
Only desire”

“I will not pretend
I will not put on a smile
I will not say I'm all right for you”

and of course, the repetition of “You bloody motherfucking asshole,” really described how I was feeling. The only thing keeping me going was a desire to get to the beach, hear the bell and get my picture at the finish post.

When the climb was over we were quite exposed. We ran across rock slab with little arrows marking the way. It was really sunny so I was worried that I couldn’t take down salt or water. I had no idea what I needed and what was going to get me to the end. Needless to say, it was a slow section. It was a bit steep after Scopas Peak and I actually had to use my hands to balance on some of the rocks as my knees were aching and not doing their job. Once on the 4wd track, I was moving a bit better. I realised that shuffling wasn’t terribly much worse than walking. Either way I was on my swollen aching feet and if I shuffled, I might be able to get off of them a bit faster. I just kept telling myself I had to get to that water stop and then nothing could stop me finishing.

There was another steep descent to Myron Brook and my knees were useless to me. My abilities on technical trail had seriously diminished at this point. My feet ached and I wanted to cry or yell, but not stop, at least not yet. I had to get to the beach. We started climbing again and I knew that unmanned water stop was at the top. Tamyka was worried we were off the track but it seemed right from what I remembered. I checked my GPS and it looked OK. That was a relief. Finally we got to the top, I did what I had to and we headed off. We left the stop 45mins before cut-off.

In my very exhausted mind I thought I had plenty of time to finish. Tamyka made sure I knew I had to push it to the end. I was feeling pretty low and could only think of the finish. I thought of the beach, the bell ringing, the hugging post, sleep and the sweet, sweet feeling of taking my shoes off and putting my feet up.

Back on the 4WD track I shuffled as much as possible. I apologised to Tamyka a couple of times for having to walk. I think I was monosyllabic at this point. We crossed over more of the rocky slab stuff and then had to hike up a hill, or maybe a mountain, I really wasn’t sure anymore. The views of the landfill sight were not helping me but we plodded along. My feet ached more and more and I became more and more unco on the downhill. Finally I stopped for a minute and sat down to take the load off my feet.  I got a few hundred metres of relief from doing that.

We came across a runner, Ron, going in the other direction because he thought he was lost. Tamyka pointed him in the correct direction and we ran/walked together for a while. Ron seemed really out of it, maybe more out of it than me but he still got a little ahead of us. We were on 4WD track with a gradual climb and I was really struggling, but there was only a few kilometres to go. I had absolutely nothing to give and was in immense pain. My feet and knees ached. I remember Tamyka saying we had about 3kms to go and she called Chris to let him know. She said we would be about 45mins. I processed this in my head. It seemed like an awfully long time. I had a meltdown. Tam said to just let it out so I did. I cried and I complained about how much I hurt. I was crying from complete exhaustion, pain and also a bit from happiness that I was really going to finish this thing. The crying actually took my mind off everything else and I moved a little bit faster.

I didn’t have too many issues with the climb up to the trig point and I enjoyed the view. I remembered this section really well from last year and now I could taste the finish line. We descended down some stairs and dropped Ron as I actually started to move again. Then we were at the bottom and I was completely overwhelmed.  We could see the finish line. Tamyka yelled out “incoming” from the hillside and I cheered. We got down to the boat shed and then the bell started ringing - ringing for me! We ran across the car park at the beach and Tam told a group of bikies that I had just run 175km. They gave me a big cheer and that bell kept on ringing. Then finally we were running across Patonga beach. I did my best to run in the soft sand and crossed the finish line holding Tam’s hand in triumph. I did it, I really did it. I finished the GNW100mile. 

Despite all the pain, I cannot even begin to express how happy I was. This was the most immense feeling of accomplishment and happiness. I was happy for what I achieved, happy that I had the friends and family who supported me to get there and happy that I had found the self-belief at some point to try this. I am so grateful to everyone who helped me, especially Tam and Chris. I really could not have done this on my own.