Race Report: 2023 C2K

coast to kosciuszko - 1 december 2023 - eden, nsw

About 45km in and we had to get in our crew car and drive 55km which took about 50min. I was a bit worried about how my legs would start running again when I got out – normally after a 45km run Id have a feed and a nanna nap, not head out for another 200 odd kms! After a good feed, a laugh with the crew all squished into the car and a change of socks and shirt, I got out of the car and was sent on my way. A bit of a walk as I was a tad stiff, a bit of a shuffle and then my legs carried on as before.

The next section was one I hadn’t done before up Cow Bail Trail which was really steep and very muddy so the poles came out and I hiked this section with Sue. It got a bit hot and steamy here but I actually enjoyed the change here and just took it easy. At the top (after a few false tops) the trail stretched out into a nice wide fire trail lined with pine trees that smelt great after the rain. This eventually brought us out to the road after a 14km stretch.

We hit the first of 7 flooded causeways here and were assisted by Mickey and Greg and a few others to get through, and told to watch to the left for floating debris etc. It was fun, I had Sue on my arm and being old Bushies this was nothin’ (Bushie joke)!

Then it was into Cathcart where we saw our crew again and I dropped off Sue, changed out of my trail and into my road shoes and a fresh top and headed off again. About 5mins later the skies opened up again so my dry clothes were again soaked but I just got on with it. 

The next 30-odd kms were uneventful except for a few more flooded causeways which were always mostly met by Mickey and Greg making sure we were ok. 

I made my way up through the Monaro Plains to the Dead Tree where we stopped for a quick crew pic. Had a great chat to the wonderful Rob Mason for a kilometre or so. This whole section is a bit of a blur as I think I just had my head down getting it done, leap frogging with the crew and trying to take in the scenery and manage my pace and food intake. It’s funny how you can just zone out. 

Pretty much from Cathcart through the whole race I was in a back and forth battle with eventual 3rd place female Jalna Claire. It was a constant leap frog the whole day and night and into the next day. I’d pass her, she’d pass me. Repeat. 

I had a quick stop at Gunningrach Rd to change my shoes and top and then hit the tarmac for the next 120km. I was in a pretty good groove here and felt relaxed, just going at my own pace. I picked up my first pacer Anna around 120km, just in time for my first spew of the day. Normally I start around 80km so this was winning! It was all fluid so felt fine straight after and was able to eat again. That carried on for the rest of the race. Didn’t bother me much but I’m sure it was pretty gross for the crew!

Into the night we went and made our way into Dalgety. We passed a huge heard of cows that freaked us out as with our headlights on they looked  like a big crowd of runners coming at us but it was their eyes glowing in the dark! And frogs. Soooo  many frogs! The noise was loud, they were jumping all over the road in front of our headlights (except for the many squashed ones) and I ended up drop kicking a few as I ran by accident, there were just so many in this stretch.

Finally we reached Dalgety Hall which is a good milestone to hit if you are feeling OK and I was, I just wanted to have a quick sit and a something hot to eat outside (I plan to never go into the death chamber that is Dalgety Hall!). So after a soup and bread roll and a bit of a leg rub, off Anna and I went again heading for Jindy. Vicki would be waiting for us here to take over the driving and be a change of conversation and provide us with plenty of humour over the next 8 hours!

I came into Jindy ahead of Jalna who had gone into the hall at Dalgety and thought I’d finally put a bit of a gap on her. But as I reached my crew at the checkpoint and sat for a planned clothes and shoe change and a feed she came in and sat next to me then exited before me. I made sure I finished what I was there for and stayed patient and headed off when I was ready. The battle continued!

I again put some distance on her but when we came into Perisher, yep, there she was again! So I took off and knew that if I had any chance of staying ahead I had to start running uphill and downhill. So my pacer Faye and I started running a few orange pole markers and walking one, repeat. While we were doing this our crew had a little incident where they were rushing off to catch me and thought that my automatic tailgate had closed but no, on this instance it must have reopened, so as Vicki gunned it up the hill after me, the entire contents of my boot flew out of the car and continued to roll about 30m down the road! After the shock from Sue and Vicki and laughing hysteria from Anna, they managed, with the help of some other runners and crew, to pick it all up and stuff it back in and continue on their merry way! I didn’t know this until after the race and was heading back to Jindy. Wish it had been on film.

I was still feeling good, alert and relaxed and focused – holding down food was becoming a bit harder and just looking at a gel made me gag but I was able to persevere and get it down as I knew that if I didn’t I would bonk which is my usual issue that I deal with at this end of the race – so I continued to put something in, spew half of it up but retain half which was just enough to keep me going. Strangely I was still having a good time – I just really felt like this was the best day ever and I felt in control, had a great crew, my body was mostly playing the game. I just had to dig deep and suck up the fatigue I did feel and the tight hammy that didn’t really want to run but came to the party and didn’t get any worse thankfully. 

Just after Smiggins the crew left me solo to go up to Charlotte Pass and sort out the mandatory gear ready for the Summit. Vicki was going to walk with me at this point but was worried she’d hold me back so I pushed on to the top on my own which I quite enjoyed and felt I moved quite well up to the checkpoint. Once there the crew were ready and it was a pitstop with the precision of a formula one crew and I was in and out and on my way to the summit with everyone but Vicki in tow. It was really hot at this point! This it was the first time the sun had really come out all day and the humidity was high. The crew were dipping my buff in the cold streams so I could wet my head down and they were stripping off thermals. 

We cooked in the heat for a couple of kilometres then looked ahead and saw the blackest clouds I’d ever seen. The temp started to drop too. I said to the crew to check the WhatsApp chat to see if there was any news or if an inclement finish was called but we had no message so hiked on. We knew Margie was ahead and left Charlotte about an hour ahead of me so we kept expecting to see her any minute. Before we even hit Seamans Hut we were already putting layers back on – I had two buffs, arms sleeves and my rain jacket and hood on and zipped, but the cold air and wind were still making us feel pretty cold. By Rawsons Hut the storm had really covered the Summit but not quite hit us except for the cold wind and we heard a lot of thunder. Sue popped into the hut to use the bathroom and got so cold she was worried about hypothermia having had it before, and with a sore Achilles was worried about holding us up so made the decision to head back down. 

It just continued to get worse and colder so we put our gloves on, heads down against the wind and tried to move as fast as possible to get up there so we could get back down. Andy Heyden passed about a kilometre from the top and we had a high 5 and kept going. As we rounded the final corner that lead to the start of the cheese graters we saw Margie. I was actually getting worried about her and thought she may have been in one of the huts as it took so long to see her but she had a sore quad and was just nursing it and moving slowly and was obviously really cold too. We cheered her on but of course, the crew was like we can get her! I thought it was possible too but just wanted to get to the summit and then get off that bloody mountain as now it was a white out, hailing and snow or sleet and absolutely freezing. 

We got to  the monument, snapped off a quick pic and then headed back down. I needed a wee though and stopped to squat and my shorts were literally full of ice and my hands and the crews were too cold – all three of us could not get my pants back up – not a great look for the few tourists up there, and on top of that I was dry reaching so not a pretty sight! Eventually we got my dacks up, apologised to the people we passed and started back down. My feet were really sore at this stage as they were wet again and the rocky trail was just mincing my already ‘munted’ feet (new word) and I decided to take it easy and walk until the trail smoothed out when I hoped to get running again and try and chase Margie. I still couldn’t believe she was there as we had not seen her all day. Keep in mind this amazing runner had done a backyard ultra only 2 weeks prior and ran a staggering 270 odd kms and was still blitzing this race 235km into this event, just mind blowing. 

So the crew tried to pump me up for the chase but it wasn’t to be. After my wee stop mishap I was walking and waiting for a smoother trail and I got so cold that I was shivering and found it hard to move any faster. The crew were really cold too and the weather just seemed to be getting worse so we went into Rawsons Hut and put on our full kit hoping that would help. But the 5 mins of stopping then getting back out ingo a full blown thunderstorm and temps of -0.5 degrees just froze us so I started to shake and felt my body just shutting down. We had space blankets on and just hugged each other to stay warm and kept walking as fast as my legs would let me. I knew if I could run we’d probably all be warmer but I just couldn’t. I felt bad for my crew who no doubt could have run and got back faster and been warmer, but they stayed with me and suffered. It was a really long 5km back. With 3 kms to go I started to doubt whether I could get there, it was a really scary feeling and I kept asking how much longer every 500m.

Slowly we got closer and closer and then finally about 200m from the finish Dan Lollback came running up with another jacket and pulled his beanie off to stick on my head (he had been alerted at the finish by Burty Burt (who actually had a shirt on and did offer it to me on his way past!) and came up to check. He was so encouraging and hung with us until we saw the finish line and somehow we did a few steps of running to the cross the line before being whisked away my the medics Jane and Greg. They put me in my car (not before I insisted on stopping my watch so must have had some faculties). I was stripped naked and had many layers of warm clothes and blankets piled on top and with the heater on soon started to feel normal again. Poor Faye had to also be attended to and Anna was blue sitting next to me in the car. So I was very grateful that we all got back safely and had no major issues.

The mountains can be a scary place and not to be underestimated. I’ve carried mandatory gear in races for 12 years now and never used any of it – I’ve now used it twice in 3 months. Never had hypothermia before and not sure I want to go there again!

So that was the race done! C2K 2023, 2nd female and 8th overall in 32:42. A huge congratulations to Margie in 1st place with 32:26. We were the only two females to summit this year and only 2 of 9 in total. And the hard hitting Jalna came in behind for 3rd place with an inclement finish unfortunately missing the summit in 29:38.

Also a big congrats to the male podium David, Mark and Matt. 

A huge thank you to race directors Greg Wallace and Mickey Campbell for dealing with all the issues that mega rain brought to the table for them and for still managing to put on an unforgettable and safe race. You guys are the best. 

Mega thanks to my super crew Anna, Faye, Sue and Vicki – you chicks are the best! To all the volunteers and crews, this race wouldn’t happen without you. Thank you.

To my long term coach Andy DuBois at Mile27 – thanks for everything – you know what you do and put up with!

Massive thanks to Faye Lehane and Pete Colagiuri at Bioathletic for keeping the bod intact. It ain’t easy but you somehow manage to do it year after year. Legends. 

To my family who put up with all my missing hours at home while training or sleeping, your support means everything and I will give it up one day I promise, maybe just not yet.

Loved it, loved, it loved it!

All images supplied.