MONSTER OF AN ULTRA IN THE NT

Kate Dzienis • May 31, 2019

Contributed by Shane Johnstone, 1st Male, 2019 West Macs Monster

West Macs Monster: 231km from Redbank George up Mt Sonder to Alice Springs Telegraph station

In the past year I’ve taken on a passion to run designated trails from end to end in the fastest known time (FKT). After finishing the 1005km Bibbulmun Track in Western Australia last year, a few people suggested the 231km Larapinta Trail. A few Googles of the track, and I realised this was actually quite a special trail and it was shaping up to be my main goal for 2019. I’d seen that Simon Duke and Rohan Rowling had set a self-supported record of 58 hours in April, 2018 – faster than any previous supported attempt. This was a flag for me that it could be done faster.

Fortunately Simon had floated a concept to the Alice Springs Running and Walking Club to start the event the West Mac Sonder Monster which would be the entire length on the Larapinta Track. I stumbled on the website and saw how well organised they were and thought this is the one!

The first obstacle was to convince my pregnant wife. Luckily she had never been to the Central Australia region before, so I had Uluru, Kata Tjuta, Kings Canyon and the West MacDonnell Ranges as strong selling points. It was a resounding yes!

The timing was perfect; I could do a nice ramp up in the lead up to May 24. The plan was:

22/3/19 Perth Trail Series Bloated Goat 30km – 1st Place Male
30/4/19 Stirling Ridge Track 45km Loop – New FKT of 8 hours 24 minutes
21/4/19 Cape to Cape Track 130km – New FKT of 15 hours 54 minutes
4/5/19 Margret River Ultra 80km – 2nd Place Male

I had some quality sessions done under the laces, however I’d been busy in my exercise physiology clinic, so the volume of training was less than I would have ideally liked. However, I knew I was fit enough, uninjured and had some good experience to get me through. It was the first time taking on 231km in one stint. My previous longest run was the Feral Pig 100 miler last November (2018) done in 19 hours 40 minutes. So I was excited for the adventure, but nervous about the fatigue and was wondering if this would be the first run to truly break me. People were wondering the same question. Marco Noe, a videographer, had followed me on the Stirling Ridge Loop and Cape to Cape Track and decided he had to come to the Larapinta adventure to capture a broken Shane. I was really grateful for this, because it was a big ask, my pregnant wife being a sole supporter for me for the whole event.

The day before the race the four starters listed were Stephen Redfern, Simon Duke,. Molly Haneberg, and myself.

Sitting around a round table with race director and legend of a bloke Marc Woods, and it all became very real. There is something special about being part of a new event, and it was really intimate with just four great people taking on the adventure. Despite a small field, it was a quality field!

Simon was obviously the current FKT holder and looked fit. Stephen had represented Australia for 24-hour events with a PB of 245km, plus had hiked the Larapinta Trail before. Molly was also a local, so she was familiar with the trail and had completed a solid 100 miler prior. I was thinking I had underestimated the competition…this was going to be more than just about finishing, but a battle to the end.

There was an exciting atmosphere on the day. We had ABC Radio and TV doing interviews, Fox Sports were doing a three-day segment on the race, a local producer was making a documentary, and Marco Noe was capturing my journey. We were like rock stars; not often do you get that in the trail scene. It’s a sign of how much hype will be around this race in the future.

After a decent night’s sleep at Glen Helen Resort, it was time to make my way to Redbank Gorge for a 6am start. I was impressed that Molly and Simon had opted to swag at the start line.

The course was straight up Mt Sonder, which is 750m of gain in 8km. I was thinking it would be very easy to do some damage up this climb because when you got back down, there was still 214km to go!

Marc gave us the thumbs up to go. We are cruising along and just five minutes in my hydration bladder seam burst and I could feel fluids running down my back. I quickly stopped, ripped it out and was able to hold it upside down so it wasn’t leaking. Simon, Molly and Stephen had vanished ahead by that stage. I just said to myself, don’t panic…I have another one down the track, try and drink as much as I can now, and keep the 2x 500ml full as possible.

I finally caught up to Molly a few kilometres further down and saw Stephen and Simon as they were heading down. They were already one or two kilometres ahead of me. At the top I ended up dumping the last litre of the bladder as it was too awkward to carry down technical descents. When I got down to the bottom and passed the support crew in third place, I think they were surprised but kept positive. The chase was on but I knew it wasn’t about today; it was more about tomorrow so there was no rush.

I had already anticipated a lot of alone time on this adventure. I picked a comfortable pace and just chugged along. I finally caught up to Simon at 21km and had a good chat to him for 500m before he said he was going to dial it back. I was running into the first checkpoint and could see Stephen running out, so I picked up the new bladder and settled in again. It wasn’t until 31km that I finally caught Stephen. It was around 9:30am at that stage and I could already feel it getting warmer. Stephen was setting a decent pace and dropped me a couple times by a couple hundred meters, but I didn’t think he knew because he never looked back. That’s the sign of a determined athlete. At 41km there was a bit of a hill which I ended up overtaking him.

I came into Checkpoint 2 ‘Ormiston George’ (49km) in the lead and Stephen came in while I was refuelling. I came out of the station and took a small detour so Stephen and I ended up side by side again. He said he was trying to keep cool and dropped back a bit. This became a game plan to run sparingly between 11am and 3pm to make most of the kilometres in the cooler hours – nights were bliss.

I started to realise how much I had underestimated the Larapinta Trail. I knew it was 231km with about 7000m of elevation, but I didn’t anticipate the following:

How 24 degrees would actually feel like 34 because it was so dry and there was no wind.

There had been a massive bushfire at the start of the year that had wiped a lot of the potential shade.

The surface was very technical at times and the gorges were filled with large boulders which were impossible to run, sandy riverbeds were taxing and ridge tops were loose rocks that smashed the feet.

The gradient of the climbs were very aggressive; Central Australia is not as flat as people think. The West MacDonnell Range has seven peaks above 1,000m.

By the time I got to the 103km checkpoint it was dark and I was only three to five kilometres ahead of Stephen. I unfortunately hadn’t been able to lure any pacers over, whereas Stephen had two for the remaining 130km. I was still feeling focused and the legs were moving reasonably well, so just I had to keep on focusing on the small things. I couldn’t stomach substantial food options because of the warmth, so I stuck with frequent snacks and Tailwind. I made a game plan to try and rehydrate and snack more overnight so I could handle another day in the sun.

By the time I had got to Hugh George at 133km I had put some time into Stephen. Only to fumble around the entrance of Hugh George for 20 to 30 minutes trying to find the right path, the bushfire had resulted in a lot of fallen trees which made it not so obvious in the dark. I was starting to stress about it, and thought I might have to wait until Stephen came through, but I finally found it!

I made it to Birthday Waterhole at 145km in good time but had no idea where Stephen was. For some reason I had in my mind that the next checkpoint, Stanley Chasm, was only at 155km but it was actually 166km with the gnarly Brinkley Bluff Climb in there. I only filled up my hand held soft flasks and took off. This would have been fine, however I climbed to the top of Brinkley Bluff and it was around 6am or 7am so it was quite dark. At the top I got to a point where I went left to a lookout rather than right where the trail went. I couldn’t see the next marker; I was at 155km and there was no aid station in sight, which added to the confusion.

I pulled out Guru maps and zoomed in and it looked like in my fatigued state, 24hrs+ on the trail at this stage that I had taken the scenic route rather than the Larapinta designated trail. In the briefing they said make sure you don’t take the scenic track. It was here I decided I must have missed a turn on the way up. I knew it was a long way up and I wasn’t sure if I would be able to bounce back. I thought I had let down my team and the WMM team so I didn’t bother jogging down and just walked. I found no wrong turns and made it all the way back down to the riverbank. I was even more confused that I hadn’t seen Stephen in this time. When I pulled out the Guru maps again it wanted me to go back which was like a shock horror!

Either way, to get out I realised I had to go back up and over. When I got to the top 20m to the right there was another blue marker that took me over a ridge I couldn’t see in the dark. I couldn’t believe it. I had just wasted a lot of energy, gained ~10km and ~700m of vert, lost over two hours for absolutely no reason. I was wondering, did I still have it in me to get to the end? Frustration levels were high but the long walk/jog down to Stanley Chasm helped to clear the mind. I had run out of water by that stage, because I had not anticipated about 20km.

I finally made it and everyone there couldn’t believe what they had watched on the GPS tracker. Stephen was again 5km behind me, and I thought damn, I’m doing my best to keep him in the race. I passed the mandatory medical check and thought I best get on with it. Stephen was about to pick up a fresh pacer and I had just cooked myself.

Every section had its own crazy element. This one didn’t mess around. It got vertical very quickly! It was warm again, so running was sporadic. Luckily what goes up must come down, so I got some momentum again. I could hear music playing and thought I was hearing things, but it was just an awesome family at Mulga Camp pumping up their aid station. They said I was looking fresh which surprised me. They were that loud that 20 minutes later, I heard them cheer again, and I knew that was Stephen coming through with his pacer Jon. They were closing the gap! I did wonder though how much running hard in the heat would cost him later.

The next checkpoint was Simpsons Gap, 25km out from the Telegraph Station. Despite a tender right knee, I had started to lift the pace again in the final 5km leading into it as I wanted to make the most of the final light. I got to my support crew and they had stitched together five second videos from my friends and family cheering me on, which was amazing. They told me Stephen was only 2km out! I was so impressed with his endurance and knew I had to work hard in the final section.

I changed my headlamp battery and took off out of the station, but my headlamp didn’t come on! Still not sure why because I had charged the battery. Marco threw me his and I had another small one. They were both average and required so much more focus. I was pushing hard and the legs were responding – it must have been the adrenalin. I was hitting cool air pockets in valleys which were delightful.

I knew I was close to ‘hitting the wall’ so I made sure I slammed down gels every 5km and emptied out some water because three litres was excessive for this section. The body was delivering, but I could see headlamp lights in the distance, I just wasn’t sure how far back. I wasn’t going to risk it and lose it in the final kilometres especially after all the errors I had to work hard to make up. I was charging down to a hill and a rocky staircase caught me by surprise. Somehow I tripped and rolled down. Water from a hand held ruptured, going everywhere, and my poles flung down the track. I was laying on my back cushioned by my vest wondering how I didn’t break anything. The knees and forearms were grazed, and I had hyperextended my wrist. Luckily the adrenalin was still pumping and I got up and ran on. I ran straight through the 217km checkpoint at Wallaby Gap.

Finally I was in reach and I was so keen to tame the monster. When I came around the corner and saw the finishing arch with everyone calling me through, it was hard not to feel ecstatic about what we had just done. My support crew and the event organisers had just set a new standard on the Larapinta Trail with Brinkley Bluff repeat.

40:55:18.

Photographs – Supplied.

Featured Image: Race director Marc Woods with Shane Johnstone.

Photograph (centre): Simon Duke sitting just behind Shane Johnstone’s selfie shot.

Photograph (bottom): Stephen Redfern with Shane Johnstone at the finish.

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