A HELL OF A RACE FOR GRAY AT HELL’S CAULDRON

Kate Dzienis • Mar 29, 2023

Contributed by Cian Gray, AURA member (Barton, ACT) – 1st Male at Hell’s Cauldron

HELL’S CAULDRON – THE ANVIL 85km, ALPINE NATIONAL PARK (VIC), 18 March 2023

It had been a slow start to my training year after a much-needed break over Christmas, so with a free weekend in my calendar, I entered the 85km‘Hells Cauldron – The Anvil at two weeks’ notice to kick 2023 into gear. This was advertised as an unmarked course, with advice to print out a map provided and know how to use a compass.

When I checked in, I was asked how long I expected to finish it. I quickly spat out a goal time of 15hrs, with no concept of the sheer brutality of the course. As it turned out, race director Paul Ashton would not let me live down this ambitious time!

Starting in the dark, cool temperatures provided a pleasant start to the race, even more pleasant with a flat gentle 8-9km before tackling the first major climb – Northwest Spur. This was the first of a series of traumatising ascents and descents that would give me 5,100m elevation on my watch at the end of the race.

Northwest Spur (ascent), Diamentina Spur (descent), Machinery Spur (ascent), Golden Point Spur (descent), Diamentina Spur (ascent) and Bon Accord Spur (descent) made for a day of seemingly never-ending climbing, scrambling, tripping and generally experience what seemed like every mountain in the region and some of the longest single climbs in the country.

The day warmed up, but not as hot as forecast (thankfully!), and the alpine rivers were a godsend. Refilling water and soaking my hat at every opportunity made me feel like I was drinking from the elixir of life. This feeling soon vanished as I approached the next climb!

I caught up to Vince after Machinery Spur, which was a welcome relief to have some company after the brutality of that climb and the spirits were suitably raised! On the other side of Swindlers Creek, climbing towards The General at Hotham, Vince and I caught up to Toby, and again, the new company was invigorating. We were pushing the 2pm cut-off by that stage.

When we rolled into the checkpoint, Stephanie had left slightly before us five males (Chris and Bruce were there before us), and the five of us were having a great time and ultimately had to get pushed out of the checkpoint by Paul as he’d already given us some ‘breathing room’ on that cut-off (thanks to an early phone call by Chris requesting a 30min cut off extension).

From there, we all left together, chatting and generally having a great day out in the mountains. Over the next couple of hours, we spread out slightly but were all generally within a few minutes of each other – shuffling back and forth and seeing each other as we enjoyed more delicious Alpine water. The sun set as we were all spread out along Razorback Ridge and there was a nice string of head torches over the few kilometres between us.

After sailing through the final checkpoint at Diamentina Hut (all of us made up the additional breathing room given to us on the earlier cut-off and the cut-offs will look to be amended to reflect this for 2024), a smiling face from my crew, and almost being able to taste the beer waiting for me at the finish – I stepped off towards Bon Accord Spur.

Cian crossing the finish line (in his AURA shirt). Photograph – Mariette Cook.

This felt like a never-ending descent. I didn’t know where I was in the world, just blindly followed my head torch. By now my legs were splintered and I was catching my feet on every rock and stick so ‘running’ was a generous term for what I was doing. Eventually, the trail spat me out a few hundred metres from the Caravan Park finish line and I came across the line as 1st Male in a time of 17:27:16. This was a far cry from my 15hr ambition, and Paul made sure that I knew about that at the presentation!

It was a fantastic day out on a challenging course in an incredibly beautiful part of the world.

Spending some quality kilometres with all the other 6 competitors in the 85km distance over the day at some stage or another perked my spirits and distracted me from the sheer elevation that we tackled! Throw in a smiling support crew, a great race director and a relaxed atmosphere all around and I will absolutely be back at this race again.