Canberra 50k Ultra

The Canberra marathon was officially cancelled following a dispute between two parties over the ownership of the race. Sounds odd doesn't it that there could be a dispute over something so basic... but there you go. As a result the Canberra Government was unable to issue permits for road closures to either party with the dispute before the Federal Court... so the event was cancelled.

There were a few attempts to get the event back on track... but alas they all fell through... much to everyone's disappointment.

However all was not lost. A group of about 25 people hooked up via the internet and arranged our own event on a 10km looped course put together by a terrific local bloke (Chris Gamon) to support Linda Christison.

Linda is an ex-elite marathoner who now is battling the effects of Parkinson's Disease. The race date of 11 April co-incides with World Parkinson's Day... so it was a nice symmetry for her to do the event. Despite the event not going ahead.. officially... we made it happen nonetheless!!!

Race day conditions were pretty good as we met by Lake Burley Griffin at 7am for the start. Some of the slower runners, and Linda and her sister who were going to walk the 50km, set off a bit earlier, but there was a good social crowd gathered for the start.



Weather conditions on the day were great - a little cool, nice and sunny and no rain. Although the wind did pick up during the day.

The course was also dead flat, except for the climb up and over a bridge on every lap, but that was not a severe climb at all.

For me, today was to be another test of my Comrades pacing and nutrition strategy... which like all good things, was dead simple. Run til the HR hits 140, then walk til it falls to 132... repeat til I finish. Nutrition wise I would have a Gu every 30 minutes and a Gatorade every hour.

There was an aid station table set up that I would pass almost every 30 minutes, so I had all the Gatorades stashed there, and stopped for a short chat and Gu on every lap, to make sure that the tremendous people doing all the helping at the table, hadn't been blown into the lake or frozen solid.!! Turns out that playing frisbee in a blanket keeps people pretty warm!!

The run itself was fairly uneventful. I felt completely fresh the whole way, had no nutrition issues, tiredness issues or leg issues, and just happily trotted my way through the run.





It was a really enjoyable day. Being only a small event, there was a lot of support between the participants - lots of waves, and hi 5's and it was a terrific atmosphere. It really felt like a big family or a small club out there. It was one of my more enjoyable runs... to the extent that I think I went slightly looping for some photos... but I was having fun!!



And this would have been a very common sight on the day. Trotting along, Gatorade in one hand, checking out the watch to make sure my heart rate was in the correct zone...



The run itself was as good as I could have asked. The following photo is how I look having just gone past the marathon point...



And then it was over. 50km done and dusted, a terrific hit out in the lead up to Comrades.

The stats for the run show a fairly even effort... as you would expect from the pacing strategy.

1st 10km in 1.04.05
2nd 10km in 1.01.28
3rd 10km in 1.02.47
4th 10km in 1.05.41
5th 10km in 1.04.52

for a total time of 5.18.53 (and a marathon split time of 4.28.08). Average heart rate was a highly comfortable 136...

No wonder I was a happy boy at the end..



After saying our thank you's and wishing our best regards to all competitors and supporters, it was time for some Canberra sight-seeing with my wonderful girlfriend Jill.