|  Author | Topic: 6 Inch Track Marathon (Read 8,564 times) |
trailblazer777
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Thanking God for my 2009 Melbourne Marathon finish in 4hrs 11min
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|  | Re: 6 Inch Track Marathon
« Reply #90 on Dec 19, 2005, 3:39am » | |
Hope to see/share some photos from 6-inch 2005 in the next few weeks...
CONGRATULATIONS DAVE on winning the inaugural 6-inch! Well done!!! Dave,Cota,Warren,Andrew and Nathan on conquering the 6-inch........
RESULTS;
1st Dave 4hrs 02minutes 53 secs
2nd Cota 4hrs 22 min 47 secs
3rd Warren 4 hrs 27min
4th Andrew C 4 hrs 45 min
5th Nathan 5 hrs 25min
6th Jon/TB777 6hrs 25minutes
27km DNF Suzy ...(about 3-4 hours of running?)
-thanks again Cota for your help spreading the word... and especially to DAVE and Gary for what you did in making this work,
-Also to Kate, Bel and others...BIG Thanks also to Mr & Mrs E.L. the K clan chiefs for making the trip to see the finish....:-)
-Massive thanks to my Fiancee KL for getting me there and back! and supporting me in so many ways!  
-Suzy thanks heaps for supporting the race, well done! on your run!, and for being the first woman to attempt the 6-inch...extremely gutsy especially so soon! after Ironman WA!!!
and now you have done a 27km Recon Run, I hope you'll be back to beat the 6-inch in 2006?
Well Done all! The shadedness of the trail was very important with 35 degree heat developing...
Think I was a bit short of fluids despite going through 2.2 L water, 2.4l of Powerade/Gatorade, 3 Carboshotz...
Many Thanks to Gary for doing the waterstop, I think I should have taken on more drinks with me then...
Hopefully a few more hardcore runners willing to take on the challenge in 2006...
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cota
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| | Re: 6 Inch Track Marathon
« Reply #91 on Dec 19, 2005, 6:22am » | |
A few stats from the GPS regarding the run, remembering Warren Andrew and I missed a left hand turn about 5ks into the run. I guess we ran about 1500m before realising we missed it and turning back.
Avg pace including stops 5.24
Best pace 4.05
Event distance 48.46k
Total ascent 1029m
Total descent 941m
Event time for me 4hr 22min
I'll email you the pics we took pre race. Thanks again for the run guys. Did well.
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AndrewC
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| | Re: 6 Inch Track Marathon
« Reply #92 on Dec 19, 2005, 8:03am » | |
Quite a course. The highlight for me was our moon shadows as we ran up Goldmine Hill. Missing the turn was a little less satisfying - things looked a bit wrong, we (cota, Warren and I) stopped, looked about, wondered, found a map, examined it, argued about geography, turned the map upside down with a bit more success, took a rough guess at where we were (which was exactly where we shouldn't have been), heaved a collective 'oh bugger' and turned to head back up the hill. Eventually we found a well marked turn that we'd completely failed to notice when we were heading in the right direction. Oh well...off we went Kept with cota and Warren til about the 34k mark, then gradually fell off the pace in the heat and the hills.
Thanks to Dave, Gary, Kate and the others who made it all possible. I guess I'll pencil it in again for next year - I hope some others do likewise.
It was good to meet all you northerners - hope we cross trails again soon.
- Andrew
4:45:xx
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dave
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| | Re: 6 Inch Track Marathon
« Reply #93 on Dec 20, 2005, 2:32am » | |
Hi everyone still beaming after my first offroad marathon and loved reading about everyone's experience. I'm sitting down to write a race report now and trying to decide how in depth I should be.
First of all much thanks especially to Gary who gave up his sleep and time to be at the start and still at the finish when Jon trailblazed his way to Dwellingup to be the last finisher of the 6'' for 2005 around 10.30am.
Also to Kate for ambitously volunteering to be support crew for the back markers on the mountain bike. Unfortunately a few wrong turns meant she ended up a long way behind.
After I finished I rung her on her mobile and was able to easily arrange a car pick up. Wanting to see how Jon was going I left her with my car and took off down the track on the mountain bike. Eventually ran into Jon 2K after leaving a big bottle full of water on the track for him thinking he was behind me (Kate took a shortcut and I took the touring route on the bike) I rode with him for about 1/2 an hour which was fun especially having spent the day alone except for 3 minutes with Gary at the drink station. When Kathryn (Jon's girlfriend) walked back to meet us with 2K to Dwellingup I rode on trying to catch up with the runners already finished. As Jon has exactly the same car as us I thought Kate must have just gone to the toilet or something but after talking for about 10 minutes someone asked if I had heard about Kate and the car. Initially thinking she had crashed (Scarp road was treacherous where I drove out to meet her) I was told she couldn't get the car started. After ringing her again on someone's stray mobile I was able to tell her how to work the immobiliser and she got the car started. (She has driven our car before just not for a few months) She then had to wait for Nathan's sister to come out and meet her because we couldn't get in touch with them. In the end she arrived at the finish about the same time as the last finisher though not quite as planned.
Thanks to my wife, Bel, for helping out at the finish with marking the last few hundred meters.
Thanks everyone for showing up and running the first 6'' marathon it was a beautiful morning and a great experience, he's how I saw it.
(See next post)
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dave
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| | Re: 6 Inch Track Marathon
« Reply #94 on Dec 20, 2005, 3:10am » | |
Where to start. After some disappointment with Rottnest I was looking forward to having a good hit out over the marathon distance and trying some things out. Especially with food and the taper.
Rather than the usual bland pasta meal the night before I went for Lasange, cauliflower cheese, oven potatoes (a steak sandwich thanks to my next door neighbour's BBQ) and chocolate pudding with cream and icecream.
For Breakfast I chowed down 10 weetbix at 2.15am after being unable to sleep from 11.45pm on and stocked the hydration pack with 200ml of sports drink (which I carried and 3 muesli bars - 97% fat free varities)
We eventually got away at 4.15am after a few photo shots, Nathan would have preferred to start sharp on 4 and take headlamps, but we could just see the hint of dawn in the sky which was the sign I was looking for and we headed off up Goldmine Hill under a full moon.
I experimented prerace by taking a 6 minute warm up. I'd seen a big rock on the track Friday when we put out the arrows so I ran up the hill to get it out of the way. This seemed to be better prep than Rottnest where I lost 30 seconds in the first K and spent 9K running down the 2nd pack.
As we chugged up the hill I went staight into the lead by myself and went through the first K in 6.10 (Where we turned the cnr at the carpark) and was about 15metres in front. I held my lead hoping to show the following pack the best way through the rocks. Soon I decided I'd need to have a toilet stop. Knowing there was a toilet at whittakers mill, I surged a bit trying to get a lead that would give me time to go and come out near the front pack. I was perhaps a little quicker than expected going in at 27:17 and coming out at 28:31. When I looked left coming out of the bush the pack of 3 was still about 100meters down. I turned left about 200 metres later and unbeknown to me the guys behind went straight ahead. Even though I had run this section on the recon run (out and back ) and marked it 2 days before I nearly missed it myself, unfortunately although the vast majority of our arrows held up really well the left turn arrow on the right side of the road had disappeared and I only saw the arrow on the left hand side when I was in line with it whilst running in the middle of the road.
This was the end of the arrows and the start of following the mundi Biddi unaided. Subconsciously I lifted the pace and after 3K realised I was going too fast. I figured that based on that fast 3K I now had 3 minutes break. Two things were paramount in my mind, making it to the drink station with a decent gap to allow a little time to stretch my hip flexors and refill my bottle before the others arrived and still being with or in front of the leaders at 40K so I could mark a turn that we had all missed on the first recon run.
(I'll finish next post)
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dave
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| | Re: 6 Inch Track Marathon
« Reply #95 on Dec 20, 2005, 3:19am » | |
It will be the next day or two. Some stats for you.
Time Dave 4.02:53
Cota 4.22:47 (With 2.5 additional K and a slight detour to shake my hand)
Nathan 5.25?
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youknowhothisis
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| | Re: 6 Inch Track Marathon
« Reply #96 on Dec 21, 2005, 7:45am » | |
I had run the next bit with Jon on the second recon run and remembered it being fairly flat and uneventful. After turning down a 4wd road I had a good look at the few hundred metres behind me, no one in sight. At about the 10K mark I tripped on a rock I didn't see and fell over onto my hands, my sunnies fell off and I tried to grab them on the bounce but had to stop and pick them up. My hands were stinging but no skin was broken so I wasn't too concerned. I couldn't help thinking about Abera and his fall during the Sydney marathon and then going on to win. At 75 minutes I started eating a muesli bar. It was slow going trying to breathe at the same time and I didn't finish it to about 15 minutes later. At one stage I heard a car go past on Del Park rd but the track then turned right away from it and went on and on before eventually getting to Del Park Rd crossing (the 17K mark according to the map) in 1.36. Based on this time I started to calculate a proposed finish time and when I got to the drink station I told Gary I doubted anyone would finish before 8.30am. Crossing the road I was startled to see Kathryn appear out of the bush, it was still before 6am and I was in my own little world. After a tough short climb the next 4K to the drink station were flat and fairly fast I continued trying to empty my hydration pack while wallabies took off into the bush.
Eventually I was running down a slight hill towards Gary's car and just outside my wife's PB for a half marathon. I poured myself a cup of ice water and had a couple of mouthfuls. Meanwhile Gary took my pack and started to try and fill it together we filled it close to the top. Next to Gary's car was some wood chips. This looked soft enough to get down on one knee and stretch my hip flexors so I gave each of them about 15 sec twice through and they felt great almost the whole way. After coming in at 1.57:05 I left at 1.59.55 after pouring some iced water on my head and hat.
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dave
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| | Re: 6 Inch Track Marathon
« Reply #97 on Dec 21, 2005, 8:03am » | |
Sorry I forgot to log in.
This is a bit of an epic probably best reading it bit by bit.
Readers planning on running it next year should feel fairly intimate with the course at least.
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trailblazer777
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Thanking God for my 2009 Melbourne Marathon finish in 4hrs 11min
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| | Re: 6 Inch Track Marathon
« Reply #98 on Dec 21, 2005, 11:04am » | |
Keep going Dave, its interesting to read...I wish I had made better use of the drinks stop like you did...the cold water inside the hat trick is one I could have done with!
Was having a look at 6-FOOT track website last night and I noticed one interesting coincidence;
When 6-foot started in 1984 there were 7 runners in the first field, just as the first 6-inch in 2005 also had 7 runners... of course now 6-foot has like 700 runners....
Also saw that Colin Francis did the 6-foot in 4hr 39 in 2005......
I am going to see how I am going trainingwise and especially financewise, but if both improve lots for me (especially the finance) I am going to seriously consider doing 6 foot in Blue Mountains, NSW on 11th March 2006. Would have to discuss it with my fiancee of course...so probably 3 potential obstacles to overcome..but I am gong to give it a go...I have the required sub 4hr Marathon time...Entry fee is $85, but biggest hurdle is airfares and accomodation...Have to do some serious hills!!! work and more consistent long stuff to make sure I go well under the 7hrs there...
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dave
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| | Re: 6 Inch Track Marathon
« Reply #99 on Dec 23, 2005, 7:25am » | |
Running up the nice gravel rd with a much heavier pack I got to the unofficial 23K mark in 2.07 oh well that 2K wasn't quite accurate. Now for the hills to start. Gary and I had parked here at Nth Spur Rd 2 weeks earlier and gone for a run discovering quite a few challenging hills, both up and down, it was now time to see how long they went for. At the top of the first hill I took out my 2nd muesli bar, it was before schedule but I was hungry so I had it any way. What's more I had about 1K downhill to eat it which is much easier. Cresting one long hill on the road that crosses the conveyor belt I had a glance back to see if anyone was in sight. I couldn't help wondering how everyone was doing behind. We were probably all spread out over more than 5K in the middle of no where. One hill in particular was really steep and although I basically just jogged it, I was able to get to the top without walking and I thought "I should be right now to run up all of these hills".
As I reached Oakley Dam I knew that I had a much rougher hill in front, but I had run it before with Gary and once I reached the top I would be in new territory. It was getting a little warmer now. I wasn't hot but I was starting to pay a lot of attention to the track looking out for snakes. It didn't help that I had nearly trodden on one on the Cape to Cape just a few days earlier. Most of the track was in shade and it was only rarely that I put my $2 shop sunnies on, preferring to have better vision for snake spotting. Spiders were a more realistic problem though as this section looked like it hadn't been used for awhile and I was knocking webs off every few metres. At times I was trying to remove webs from my arms and hat but unlike Nathan I don't think I had any actual spiders on me. Spiders weren't going to stop me finishing this thing.
The next point I was looking out for was the start of the touring route which should mean I had 14K to go. I wasn't really strugging up the hills, just putting in less effort and going slower, so I wondered how much longer I would be out front by myself. At about 2.45 my legs started to get tired so I had the last half of my sports drink having drunk the other hundred ml at the start of the Mundi Biddi. It wasn't a particularly encouraging thought to think that I had only 1.45 to go.
Then after weaving through much unknown country all of a sudden there was the touring route in 2.53. Amazingly I felt like I was almost there. 14K in 1 hour, I normally do about that I thought. I was now thinking about running 4 hours rather than 4.30. Despite this I kept the thought in the forefront of my mind anything could happen in the next hour.
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dave
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| | Re: 6 Inch Track Marathon
« Reply #100 on Dec 24, 2005, 12:52am » | |
As I approached the steep downhill at 35K my legs were really hurting, I wondered what I was doing possibly having over an hour still to run. How was I supposed to do this 5 times in one week in the Munda Biddi end to end run I'm planning? Then I thought if I'm feeling this bad ..... I fully expected after the run that Nathan would be pulling out of our expedition. The steep downhill snuck up on me and I took it very cautiously. I'd come through the bad patch and thought that I should be able to hang onto my lead from here. The last thing I wanted to do though was do something silly now. I got to the bottom needing to run around 50 minutes for 10K to break 4 hours. I dismissed it as impossible but every now and then I would think...
"maybe" and just pick up the pace for awhile.
At the bottom I pulled out a muesli bar. This was my last one and I wanted to finish it before the narrow section in the last 5K. The rate I'd been eating them 5K would only just be enough time. My third bar was a different variety and was quite hard to get through I had to keep washing it down with water as it was very dry. From 8K to go I hit some nice smooth flat trails that I think might have once been railway tracks. A lot of the time my legs felt shocking but I was still going fairly fast so I tried to ignore it. I was wondering about the ethics of winning a race that you organised yourself but I was so close now I wanted to be the first to finish. What's more, when I got to the end I could stop. I felt very thankful I wasn't running for 6 or more hours like some of the slower runners.
I popped out of the trees and onto the powerline service road. It had only taken us 30 minutes from here on the recon run and I thought I was probably going about the same pace. It felt like the finishing straight. This was my longest stretch in the sun and I put my sunnies back on and eased down the hill. I had a long look back. The plan was if I couldn't see anyone I would put up my balloon at Marrinup as a turn marker. No one was in sight. A short shady section followed and then I was into Marrinup camp ground. I took my balloon out so I would be ready, then I thought maybe I could blow it up on the run, it's only breathing out after all. After a couple of failed attempts I got it going. I put 4 breaths in it as I didn't want to over inflate and pop it, then tied it as I took the right turn. I was all ready. I stopped for the first time in 1.40 and it felt good. Most of the trees around the turn were prickly but I found a gum a few metres back and tied it on with a lacky band. I thought the turn looked pretty obvious now that I was looking out for it, but that didn't stop Jon later running straight past it even with the balloon up!! 
I'd lost about 30 seconds putting the balloon up I thought and I didn't want that to cost me line honours so I surged on. If the markers were right I would have 20 minutes to run 5K to break 4 hours. But I didn't know what area of Marrinup was 5K from Dwellingup and I was now at the nearest point, maybe I could do it. I was feeling great as I cruised down the narrow track taking extra care looking out for slow snakes. I'd run this section before so I ticked off landmarks. The farms, the big dam, (thought about having a swim) the gravel pit and I musn't be far from town. Would I be able to do it? Is anyone catching me? I surged and slowed as my goals waned or seemed possible. Then the clock clicked over to 4 hours, but I was nearly there and going to win. Once again an hourly marathon goal had passed me by, I was used to it by now. Then I could see Bel in front of me marking the right hand turn into town, my dog was there too it was like a family reunion. I finished off strongly happy I would soon be stopping. With 200m to go I saw some friends in there front yard and waved, explained what I was doing and then just after Gary had pulled up in his car I finished. As I saw his car arrive I thought some people are in for a long day if they've only recently passed halfway. I stopped and walked into the shade and then for the first time that day I actually started to feel warm but it didn't matter I'd been the first to conquer the 6''.
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dave
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| | Re: 6 Inch Track Marathon
« Reply #101 on Dec 25, 2005, 9:57pm » | |
I've finished that only took about as long as the actual race.
Next year's race is set down for the 17th of December so give it some consideration when accessing your goals for 2006. Basically if you do Rottnest you can have a couple of weeks off then get back into your long runs for 6 weeks and enjoy an indulgent Christmas.
Still wondering whether to go for 4am with headlamps or 4.30 with no full moon next year.
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trailblazer777
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Thanking God for my 2009 Melbourne Marathon finish in 4hrs 11min
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| | Re: 6 Inch Track Marathon
« Reply #102 on Dec 25, 2005, 10:03pm » | |
Excellent race report Dave, very interesting to get the race winners perspective on the race...Kathryn and I enjoyed reading it...
17th December....I reckon go for 4am race briefing and about 4.30am start.....
Hope to have the photos Kathryn took at 6-inch available soon....Ive seen two photos from Cota, but they only show him,Nathan and either Andrew or Warren....dont show Dave,myself or Suzy in them....
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trailblazer777
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Thanking God for my 2009 Melbourne Marathon finish in 4hrs 11min
Joined: Feb 2005
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Posts: 1,118
Location: Perth, WA
| | Re: 6 Inch Track Marathon
« Reply #103 on Jan 5, 2006, 3:54am » | |
Now have 3 photos at the 17km mark at Del Park Rd,
1. Cota,Andrew &Warren,
2. Nathan and
3. one of myself with Suzy just visible in the background.
Will post them online soon if everyone ok with that...I'll try and email you with the photos first...going to do a quick webpage about 6-inch when I get time...
Interesting post about the best Trail Runs in Aust/NZ on Coolrunning in the last few days @
http://www.coolrunning.com.au/cgi-bin/ub....t=000378#000006
I've found Need to Run's blog too with his leadup to a 3.17 in the Melbourne Marathon....
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trailblazer777
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Thanking God for my 2009 Melbourne Marathon finish in 4hrs 11min
Joined: Feb 2005
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Posts: 1,118
Location: Perth, WA
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