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Race Report: 2023 Surf Coast Century 100 by Lonneke Kefalas

Dec 21, 2023

Surf coast century - 16 september 2023 - anglesea, vic

contributed by lonneke kefalas, aura member (maroubra, NSW)

Absolutely pumped with my first hundy at Surf Coast Century! I felt really good throughout, conserving energy in the first half for the third leg which had some steep hills and the last leg which of course would be tough running further than I have had before.

Amy, Sandra and I ran all together for the first few kilometres, and we were having a great time. Sandra went ahead about 5km in and Amy and I stayed together until the 18km mark or so where I had to let her go to stay within my green heart rate zone.

The sunrise from about 8-10km in was absolutely phenomenal and running on the beach with the sunrise ahead was magical! Kept the shoes dry through the tidal zone at world famous Bells Surf Beach until the last few hundred metres of the leg having to cross a creek on Torquay Beach, so the planned sock and shoe change was still going ahead.

A change of scenery on leg 2 heading into beautiful bush with plenty of nice flowy singletrack and some fire trails. This leg seemed to fly by apart from the last few kilometres coming back into Anglesea in the opposite direction to leg 1 and knowing it would go over the advertised 48km mark for the checkpoint.

Leg 3 started with a clamber under the bridge which ended up being fine and we chatted afterwards that we all did it in a different way and witnessed a few more options too.

This section has the highest elevation and some steep hills. I spotted Amy on the top of Heartbreak Hill as I was halfway on that hill but it took a few more kilometres to catch up to her again. When I did (57km mark or so), we ran together to the checkpoint with a welcome stop at the unmanned water point as we had run out of Tailwind and it was the hottest part of the day.

Thank goodness for a full refill and sunnies as it was also windy and there were mini tornados blowing up a load of dust caking to our sweaty and sun creamed skin but at least not our eyes. We hiked with Sandra from the 70km aid station to the end of the leg at 78km (meant to be 75km) where unfortunately she pulled out as she was not well.

The legs were definitely tired after all the hills but my energy levels remained good and I wanted to keep running wherever possible and found a rhythm again in leg 4 but realised Amy was no longer just behind me.

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Finally, the last aid station was in sight (2.5km extra on my watch) and the light house just up the hill. The lighthouse…what a milestone reaching this beauty. You can see it from several locations throughout the course and it seems so far away, then gets closer but we turned away from it, but now finally I’m here. The watch said 87km and I couldn’t remember if that was the right distance from the lighthouse or if my watch was way ahead so I had to work with a 3km margin and get to grips that the finish might be 103km in total, pff, how will I ever make that…and I had also forgotten the course description from here…oh well, forwards is the only way, just keep moving…

It’s still light as I pass the cute cafe where we had a lovely lunch the day before with all four of us and the beautiful house and gardens. It gets dark soon (no more stunning views) and I eat a few flies as the headlight goes back on. I’m going through single track which is probably beautiful but tricky in the dark, then we’re back on the beach for what seems much longer than the 3.5km or so it is and I make a bargain with myself to keep running while eating my last gel (14 in total, one every hour has served me well) until the green flashing lights directing us off the beach. Then it’s mostly walking on the 4km mostly uphill loop we did at the start, and then some flat so I can run again and am told the finish chute is just around that corner, so keep running and then I’m finally there!

Can you believe it - that’s a 100km and 15 hours of running (and 13 mins)! It’s also my triple crown completing Rapid Ascent’s 3 long distance races which earns me a comfy jacket!

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Ivan is at the finish even though we said he didn’t need to after Sandra pulling out and at home but he is the best supporter for all of us so he is and I am grateful! Then I high five every solo runner that comes over the finish line and then it’s Amy’s turn to finish after a tough last 16k getting there on pure perseverance and she gets a hug and a kiss!

Sandra phones to congratulate (so lovely) and so we’re complete again! A superb event, great course, stunning scenery and an amazing vibe! Well done, Rapid Ascent. I thought this might be the one and only 3 digit run I’d ever do but it is quite possible I come back for this one - I loved everything about it - before, during and after race day.

Thank you to everyone who has supported and encouraged me from Sydney, Canberra and the Netherlands, all the on course chats and encouragement from fellow runners, to my running buddies for lots of fun training runs, to Amy and Sandra for sharing this adventure and all the fun in and around it, to Ivan and Sandra for welcoming us into their new home and town and showing and ferrying us around everywhere and Ivan for all your crewing.