The A.S.K. Bush Bashers and Trailwalker Sydney 2007

Well, Trailwalker Sydney 2007 has come to a close for the A.S.K. Bush Bashers and what an adventure it was! Of course, there’s lots to tell about the actual day itself but before we launch into it, we’ll give you the option of a long or short version.

The short version is - we went for a 100km walk in the mud. Skip to the end to see our photos, a video of us crossing the finish line and read our Oscar-worthy thank you speech! For all of you who really want to know what happened though and to know how the event unfolded - read on:

Start: Chowder Bay, Mosman - CP1: Ararat Reserve, Frenchs Forest
Distance: 13km

Just before 7am, the Bush Bashers lined up at the Start for their first ever attempt at the 100km Oxfam Trailwalker. We don’t know whether it was the early start or just the enormity of the task ahead but it certainly didn’t feel like we were about to walk 100kms! The atmosphere was almost party-like and the anticipation was buzzing. As the clock counted down, General Peter Cosgrove gave a quick speech to inspire us along and then with a blast, we were off.

The rain was drizzling down as we made our way up Chowder Bay Road and down to Balmoral Beach. We experienced a little congestion but nothing that really slowed us down and soon enough we were powering along over the Spit Bridge waving at all the commuters stuck in morning peak hour traffic.

We whipped up the Gallipoli Stairs, onto the Wakehurst Parkway and headed into the bush at Seaforth. Here, we first got to see the mud that would be our constant through the rest of the trail. We set a cracking pace through this section as we headed towards Ararat Reserve and pulled into the checkpoint in a quick 2 hours and 12 minutes - 20 minutes faster than our training efforts!

CP1: Ararat Reserve - CP2: Davidson Park, Roseville
Cumulative Distance: 20.5km
We were in scorching form as we whipped through this section. Overtook a few teams, blitzed through the muddy trail, got snapped by the official photographer and finished the section ten minutes under our estimated time target. As we pulled into CP2 with 20.5km behind us, we marvelled at how great we felt and that our legs had barely registered that we’d covered a fifth of the course.

We might just note here that the Oxfam volunteers were awesome throughout the whole event as they cheered and encouraged us on at various places such as at checkpoints, street crossings or junctions. They were wonderful! We also felt a bit like film stars as when we arrived at checkpoints given that as we arrived, cameras whirred into action and all the volunteers cheered. It was pretty cool! :-)

Ruth and Kerrie arriving at CP2David and Ian at CP2

CP2: Davidson Park, Roseville - CP3: Acron Oval, St Ives
Cumulative Distance: 30.5km
With spirits high, we left CP2 and headed into one of our least favourite sections of the course. Disaster struck approximately 2km into the leg when David slipped down a steep rockface and sprained his right ankle. Thinking that it may work itself out, we pressed on but it soon became evident that David was in a lot of pain and his ankle was getting worse, not better.

When we reached the Cascades, we knew we weren't far from the checkpoint and as we went up our favourite training hill (Acron Hill) we knew that a tough decision lay ahead - what to do? On reaching the CP, we met with Steve and Amir and the decision was made - David needed to get his ankle looked after and with that, he would need to retire hurt at the 30.5km mark. Although it was the right decision, it was a very frustrating one given not only all that David had put into training and preparing for the day, but by the fact that he was having a superb day and was blitzing through the difficult sections with ease.

CP3: Acron Oval, St Ives - CP4: St Ives Showground
Cumulative Distance: 41.5km
With David on his way home accompanied by Amir to get changed and have his ankle strapped up, Ian, Ruth and Kerrie took off at a run down Acron Hill. What goes down, only goes up again and with that, we turned onto Quarry Track and after ploughing straight through the creek (unlike all those other people taking their shoes and socks off or tippy-toeing across the rocks!), we charged up the fire trail. On reaching the top, we hit a bit of congestion but by keeping a fast pace and doing a little running, we were able to manoeuvre our way through the field to have cleared them by the time we got to Kitchener Road.

The next section of trail involves a lot of uphill work and this is where we started to see the smiles on the faces of other participants slowly disappear as the hard work set in. At this point, we decided that we still didn't feel any different to how we did in training and on entering CP4 ahead of estimated time yet again (and to the strains of the Rocky theme music courtesy of the volunteers at the check in station), we all agreed that despite the mud, rain and strangely, some humidity, we were feeling great!

Kerrie, Ruth and Ian at CP4

Ian, Ruth and Kerrie

Support Crew and Team in Action! Steve, Ruth, Ian, Amir and Kerrie

CP4: St Ives Showground - CP5: Mt Ku-ring-gai High, North Turramurra
Cumulative Distance: 51km
After a super-quick stop at CP4 thanks to the organisation of Steve and Amir, we took off again on the next section which involved a couple of kilometres of retracing the previous leg, another fire trail climb, and then undertaking the tricky descent down Warrimoo Track and subsequent ascent up the Sphinx Track.

In planning the perfect day, we had a goal of clearing Warrimoo Track and the creek at the bottom during daylight and we were really pleased to actually achieve this on the day. We did take a bit of an alternative route over the creek given it was up so high that the normal crossing was virtually impossible but the rest of the leg was fairly straightforward. As we walked into CP5, we were all feeling really good mentally and physically having now completed just over half the course.

Kerrie, Ruth and Ian at CP5. We are STILL smiling!

CP5: Mount Ku-ring-gai High - CP6: Apple Tree Bay
Cumulative Distance: 59km
With fresh socks and replenished supplies, we set out on this next section and promptly bumped in Steve's friends Ross and Ash who walked with us for a bit. Ross told us to look out for a team he was helping out who were only a few minutes ahead of us, and as we hit the fire trail, we said goodbye to them and headed down the trail commonly known to us as the Blair Witch Hill.

It was completely dark now and all was going well in our tricky descent. It was almost as if someone had been through and swept the path of pine needles to make it easier for us. Heading along the Gibberagong Track, we soon came across a team of girls - the team that Ross was helping out - and it was great to chat with them and swap stories as we headed towards Apple Tree Bay. We managed to overtake a couple of teams' here and on making the clearing, we soon sped in front of the girls and found ourselves at the checkpoint right on estimated time and still feeling good with nearly two thirds of the course done.

Checking In at CP6 Checking Out at CP6..
In the meantime, back at the ranch... David is... getting PIZZA?!

CP6 didn't look anything like this when we came through!

CP6: Apple Tree Bay - CP7: Berowra Community Centre
Cumulative Distance: 72.5km
With only 41kms, two checkpoints and the finish line ahead of us, we were in good spirits on leaving Apple Tree Bay despite the fact that it had started to rain again. We organised to meet Steve, Amir and David at Lyrebird Gully and so we undertook the Mount Ku-ring-gai ascent knowing we'd be seeing them soon. The track was fairly clear of people at this point as it seems many of the teams had decided to stop at CP5 or CP6 for an extended break. It was good to walk with some space around us for a change.

At the top of Lyrebird Gully, we met with our wonderful Support Crew who gave us some chocolate and encouragement to keep us going through the next tough section. Heaven knows we needed it with what as about to unfold.

Into Lyrebird Gully we went and onto the Benowie Walking Track where we suddenly found that unlike the previous section which was well-marked and clearly lit, there were hardly any markings along this leg despite 4 creek crossings and with the track at times, being completely under water and impossible to tell where it went. Combine that with lots of squishy mud underfoot, spitting rain that looked like little white lasers shooting into your eyes, and a pea-soup fog so thick that you could barely see the ground on which you walked, and you've got yourself one tough situation. In coping with these conditions after walking for 14-15 hours, it's little wonder our mental concentration started to lapse and Ruth started responding to questions in German instead of English!

As we pushed on, we knew things were getting difficult when within a couple of minutes of each other, we all had a prang of some description. Ruth slipped and landed on her backside, Kerrie rolled an ankle, then Ian took a dive in the mud tripping over a tree root. Ian gets the points though for best fall - it truly was spectacular! As frustrated and annoyed as we were (we'd covered 70kms by this point), we knew Berowra wasn't too far away and dry socks would once again be ours. As we steeled ourselves and tackled the notorious ascent into Berowra, we hit the top of the climb and into Berowra itself - a little behind schedule - but to the encouraging cheers of the volunteers no less.

As we made our way into the checkpoint, suddenly, it didn't feel like training any more. It felt real and it felt hard but were we lifted a little when David and Amir told us that we looked fantastic compared to some of the people they'd seen in the past hour. We were just happy to know that the treacherous terrain was now behind us. Or so we thought!!!

Ruth and Kerrie coming into the top of Lyrebird Gully

Ian is STILL smiling at the top of Lyrebird Gully!

CP7: Berowra Community Centre - CP8: Cowan Primary School
Cumulative Distance: 86.5km
Well, as they say, when the going gets tough, the tough gets going! It was now after midnight and with yet another change of shoes and socks, we set off to tackle the hardest leg of the course - the grade five climbs between Berowra and Cowan. As the trail had changed a little, Amir accompanied us on the first 1.5km and just as well because going down the fire trail, Kerrie twisted her ankle yet again. Amir decided to walk with us for a while to ensure our safety and organised to meet Steve and David at Berowra Waters to do some running repairs. It was nice to have a change in conversation actually and before we knew it, we were at Berowra Waters getting Kerrie's ankle strapped while Ruth made good use of the bathrooms!

On leaving Berowra Waters, the real work started. Up, up and up we went in the fog and mist. Even Ian who is a superb climber agreed that this section was difficult. We had a few teams around us as we started the climb but as we continued, a lot of them dropped off with only a couple of them keeping up or overtaking. It was tough going climbing up steel rungs, rock hopping and clambering over boulders at 3am in the cold and dark but it actually really interesting to see that a lot of the young, sporty looking guys were struggling and that we actually had it within us to overtake them given our pace on the flat and downhill sections - most satisfying!

Throughout this whole section, we could hear the 'clink.... clink... ' in the distance of people's walking poles striking the ground. This reminded us of David and it was almost like he was there during the whole section. As we soldiered on towards Cowan, we all decided one thing - the only good thing about doing this in the dark is that you can't see how much further you've got to climb! And with that, we hit Cowan and pulled into the checkpoint sometime before 5am.

CP8: Cowan - End: Brooklyn Park
Cumulative Distance: 100km
Another fairly brief stop and at a little after 5am, we gathered ourselves up and set off to conquer the final section. Down to Jerusalem Bay we went and on reaching the bottom and turning the corner, we were met with the most beautiful sight of the rising sun shining off the crystal clear water all the way down the river that's ringed by hills. It was a spectacular sight but a short lived one as we came upon the final, challenging 2km climb out of Jerusalem Bay to the fire trail that would take us to Brooklyn.

As the sun was rising and colour seeped into the morning, we climbed up and concentrated on just putting one foot in front of the other. We passed more teams at this point - people who were sitting with their heads in their hands, people who were waiting for team members' to catch up and people who were just willing themselves to the finish line as their legs had given up on them long ago. We did well to stay together as a team through this section and only for a brief moment, were we separated when nature called for the girls. On catching up with Ian, they found him perched on a rock having a little nap looking just like Rodin's sculpture of The Thinker!

Coming into Brooklyn on the never-ending fire trail, our legs were all feeling the strain and were starting to give us grief. It was about now that all three of the little trail warriors decided that walking 100kms was a ridiculous idea and that only idiots would do it more than once. The soles of our feet were sore and our knees were aching but we kept on at good pace knowing that we wanted to go under 26 hours until finally, the last little trail down to the road appeared on the left. Descending the trail, we walked towards Brooklyn Park giving Steve a heads up that we were nearly there and finally, Brooklyn Park came into view. To the cheers and applause of the crowd, we made our way down the funnel and across the line in a time of 25 hours and 56 minutes and placed 109 out of 502 teams.

Watch us cross the finish line!

What a moment! There were a few tears, a lot of smiles, a dose of coffee for Ruth and a great sense of achievement in having done what many people only dream about - completing the Oxfam Trailwalker. The rest of the story though is pretty brief - we went home, had a shower and slept for a long, long time!

David, Amir (camoflauge pants) and Steve waiting for us as the finish line.. Ruth, Ian and Kerrie heading towards the finish line after 100kms of walking..

The Bush Bashers Team.. The Team and Support Crew: Ian, Kerrie, Ruth, David, Steve and Amir

Finally we get to sit down and check out the condition of our feet.. Have we mentioned that Steve gives the best foot massages in town??

Final Results!
The little trail warriors did a fantastic time and place for their first attempt at Trailwalker. Here's the official results:

Here's the event summary - around 30% of participants didn't make it to the finish line..

All The Photos..
There were lots of photos taken on the day and these are now all online for you to look at. Check them out here: Bush Bashers Trailwalker Photos when you have a moment and see what it really looked like on the day. By the way, there is no such thing as fashion on the trail - it does not exist as comfort rules. Please keep this in mind and be gentle about our attire!

Thank you..
Trailwalker Sydney 2007 for the Bush Bashers could not have been undertaken without the encouragement, support and never-ending belief of a substantial lot of people! Without them, achieving these goals would not have been possible so here is a (by no means comprehensive) list of who we owe a debt of gratitude to!

Steve - who would have that that a throw-away comment 12 months ago would lead to this? You have helped us realise a dream and without your expertise, belief and commitment to the cause, it may never have eventuated. Thank you for your enthusiasm and leadership to help us achieve what we have and also for your awesome support crew / massage therapist / importer of sporting goods skills!

Our Support Crew: Steve and Amir (and David) - thank you for giving up your Friday and Saturday to follow us around and to do the thinking for us when we couldn't do it for ourselves. You were a wonderful support crew and coming into the checkpoints was so easy for us knowing you had everything under control and could provide us with relief - be it via pain medication or massages, it was all good! We appreciate all that you did because without you, we would never have crossed the finish line. Thank you, thank you! And David - although you are part of the team and have been the most enthusiastic and committed member to date, Ian, Ruth and Kerrie do want to thank you for staying with us through the night, looking after us with Steve and Amir, and helping us get over the line on Saturday morning even though your ankle was in such a bad way and you were in so much pain. It shows the strength of the team that we stuck it out in the capacities that we did - thank you.

All of our Family and Friends - who have helped us, listened to us, picked us up, dropped us off, gave us sympathy, and who always understood when we spent hours and hours on the trail and in the gym preparing ourselves for this challenge. Without your understanding and patience, this would not have been possible and for that, we are truly grateful. Thank you.. (P.S. We promise will will find new topics of conversation in the coming weeks'!)

Kerri and Ross from Team K.R.A.K. - your inspirational efforts from 2006, training time with us this year and utter faith that we could do this were invaluable to our achievement in crossing the finish line. Thank you..

Our work colleagues at A.S.K. who followed us through the journey, bought our cake and when bombarded with updates and calls for donations, always stepped up to the mark to be counted. We appreciate your interest, support and most of all, the continuous encouragement to go out there and do something extraordinary for both ourselves and for charity.

All our wonderful donors - your generosity has been tremendous and incredibly motivating. The messages of support stayed with us through those last difficult 30kms and we knew each and every one of you were with us in getting us over the finish line. We are now well on the way to raising in excess of $7500 for charity by the time all our online and offline donations have been counted which is just sensational. The amount of people whose lives will be changed by your donations cannot be counted.. so thank you. Check out our Oxfam page: Bush Bashers

All the text messagers and online trackers - you know who you are! We received so many fantastic texts out on the trail and some of them arrived at just the right time to pull us through low patches. We laughed a lot at them and were most definitely encouraged by them. Thanks to everyone who followed our progress through the day and into the night!!

What Next?
RECOVERY! Well actually, we're all pretty much recovered now except for David and his ankle which will take a few weeks. Seeing as there's some Perpetuem left over, you never know.. we might be persuaded to do it again next year. There's always Melbourne 2008... Sydney 2008... hmmmmm, never say never!! We'll be in touch...

'Twas The Night Before Trailwalker..

.. and the bush-bashing trail warriors are ready to go tramp down 100kms of rugged bushland!!

Read on and find out who is in our support crew, what conditions are going to be like, how to track our progress on the day and of course, how to donate if you've been meaning too but just haven't got around to it!

Check Our Progress...
Oxfam Australia will be bringing live event news to you via their website during the event. Go to the link below and click on the event news box to check on our progress.
URL: http://www2.oxfam.org.au/trailwalker/sydney/ (N.B. This link won’t be active until Friday)
Team Number: 280
Team Name: Bush Bashers

Why Not Donate While You're At It?
Of course, we're doing the Trailwalker for many reasons - one of which is to raise money for Oxfam Australia who work in some of the poorest countries and communities around the globe to improve the conditions and lives of those who need it most. Many thanks to all our wonderful donors so far – we’ve been completely blown away by everyone’s generosity and commitment to the cause! While we’ve tried to personally thank all our donors, we don’t know who the anonymous ones are so please know that we thank you too! Donations can be made throughout the event and even in the weeks’ to follow via: http://www2.oxfam.org.au/trailwalker/Sydney/team/280. Anything big or small is greatly appreciated!

Support Crew
We thought we'd take this opportunity to introduce you to our Support Crew - no Trailwalker team is complete without one and we have one of the best. Lining up in the Bush Bashers corner are Steve and Amir.. the CEO and Financial Controller for A.S.K. Hmmm.. we think they mean business on the day! Together, they'll be dishing up the tough love, threats and kick-up-the-butts that we need to get through the event and achieve our goals. We're going to say a big THANK YOU to you both now for giving up your Friday and Saturday to follow us around and ensuring us every comfort (ha!) while we do this because we can't guarantee how we're going to feel about it afterwards!

Our Fearless Leader Steve

Amir - S.E.S. star!

In Other News, Afternoon Tea Anyone..?
In taking a break from their strict training regime, Ruth and Kerrie ventured into their neglected kitchens to whip up some afternoon delight in the form of chocolate cake and blueberry cheesecake for their A.S.K. work colleagues to satisfy their sugar-cravings on Monday afternoon.

Of course, a donation was required for anyone wanting a piece of cake and our very generous work colleagues at A.S.K. collectively donated a total of $169.55. This is enough to buy a boat for a Cambodian family living in flood-prone areas. Nice work A.S.K.!

Weather
More on the weather front. This is what the week looked like on Sunday and unfortunately, whoever is doing the forecasting has got it RIGHT for a change! Imagine that..

So it's still raining outside and it's been pretty soggy since the heavens opened up on Sunday and dumped a month of rain in one day. Thanks to everyone who has wished us luck over the last few days. We appreciate the thoughts but we know you're secretly thinking - thank GOODNESS this isn't me havng to walk in the rain through all of that mud for 100kms!

Anyway, here's tomorrow's forecast is reading a shower or two with light wind. Hmmmm.. personally, it sounds like a good day to stay in bed! Sorry, was that said aloud? Uhhhh, we mean, sounds like a good day to go walk for charity!

See You On The Other Side..
That's it from us today and we'll see you on the other side of Trailwalker. Thanks for reading and we'll leave you with the following - guess which team member this picture bears an amazing resemblance to? Hint: He was missing from our team meeting last week but he was with us in spirit. Or balloon form at least.

5 Days to Go..

Date: Sunday, 19 August
Walkers: Ian, Ruth and Kerrie. Absent - David
Track: CP8: Cowan - End: Brooklyn
Distance: 13.5km
Time Estimate: 3 hrs 15 mins
Time Taken: 2hrs 50 mins
This was the training session we 'had to have'. Given that all training and preparation has gone so smoothly to date, Mother Nature gave us a bit of a wake-up call and showed exactly how bad it could be on the day. On Sunday, Sydney received a months worth of rainfall in one day and guess who went walking in it? The Bush Bashers! Kerrie woke up early and kept checking her phone thinking someone would ring and cancel so that she could go back to bed, but no, on arrival at Brooklyn, Ian and Ruth were already there and all set to go. No backing out now.. or maybe there was still a chance?

Off to the starting point in Cowan we went and just as we pulled up, the rain started bucketing down even harder than before. The ensuing 'psych-up' conversation went something like this:
Ian: So are we ready to go?
Ruth: Umm..
Kerrie: Uh…
Ian: Is that a yes?
Kerrie: Have you seen what's out there? Look out the window! (Rain is pelting against the windscreen)
Ian: Have a think about it for two minutes..
Ruth: We should do it. What would Steve say if we didn't?
Kerrie: True. We have to do it.. no choice.
Ian: Sounds like a plan. Okay let’s go..
N.B. A thorough drenching was then had by all.

As we set off in the rain, we gritted our teeth and just got stuck into it. We wondered if we would see any other idiots.. oh sorry, Trailwalkers.. out doing the same as us but privately, we thought there would be no chance that would happen and every other Trailwalker would be tucked up in bed all toasty and warm like most sensible people would be do on such a day!

Ruth and Kerrie

Across Cowan Station we went to the amused stares of a waterproofed, rain-jacketed and umbrella-covered scout group and we headed straight down the track to Jerusalem Bay which was rapidly turning into a waterfall. Throughout this whole section we kept thinking about what fun this was going to be at 4am on Saturday, 25 August when we're trying to navigate the water, rocks and tree roots in the dark.

Soaked - Ian and Ruth

For anyone who has climbed it, the track out of Jerusalem Bay is not easy and there's some big rocks / boulders to navigate at the start. One tiny ray of sunshine in our day came when we realised that some thankless person has been through this section of track and has cut a whole heap of steps into the rocks to make the climb a touch easier to negotiate. A very big thank you to this person.. we appreciate it!! Now - can you flatten it out some as well? No??

As we climbed on, we finally hit the fire trail but could barely make out any of the lovely sights we saw the first time around due to the rain. In watching our feet though, we saw lots of wet sand, clay and tons of puddles. The track is going to be sooooo churned up on the day. Anyway, we only got a few strange stares from cars passing by as we made it to Brooklyn Park in 2 hours and 50 minutes - a great time for us. Of course, we were thoroughly drenched at this point (see photo below) but being the little trail warriors that we are - we won't complain about it TOO much.

Ian and Kerrie at the end - note soccer was cancelled that day!

Weather
Of course, another weather update. Rain is predicted all this week and it looks like there will be a 'clearing shower or two' on the day. Whatever that means.. more rain we think!!

7 Days And Counting..

This time next week, we'll be on the trail and doing it for real! It's hard to believe that the big day has come around so quickly but then again, when we're out there, it will be a case of - will this ever end?! In the meantime though, we thought you might like to see us in our 'natural' environment - work! So for your entertainment pleasure.. here is the all-star cast of the A.S.K. Bush Bashers:

Ruth

What's your favourite section of Trail? Checkpoint 1 to 2… it’s the shortest one…
What's your least favourite section of Trail? Checkpoint 2 to 3…because it’s David least favorite section…
Best trail moment to date? David finds a sausage sizzle after our first 30 km walk..
What's your role in the team? Pushing and annoying David…
What's the best thing you've discovered so far in Trailwalker preparation? Getting muscles…
Favourite trail food? Natural Nutbars
How are the feet? Injuries? Describe in detail... You don’t want me to…3 black toenails and a heaps of blisters…
What have you learned in your preparation for Trailwalker? You get hungry…I eat like a vacuum cleaner…don’t be afraid…I didn’t put on weight…going uphill is more a challenge then running 10km an hour flat…and burns more calories
Anything you'd like to say? Why am I doing this?

David

(N.B. This is David in his favourite green jumper. It's so much of a favourite, he actually has two of them! Oh and it must be a Monday morning when this photo was taken cos he's not smiling. It takes him a while to warm up at the start of the week. He usually starts smiling sometime around Wednesday afternoon..)

What's your favourite section of Trail? The first 10kms
What's your least favourite section of Trail? The last 10kms
Best trail moment to date? Communing with the echidna
What's your role in the team? To be at the back
What's the best thing you've discovered so far in Trailwalker preparation? Three sausage sizzle sites along the route
Favourite trail food? See above
How are the feet? Injuries? Describe in detail... So far so good – the calves need some work
What have you learned in your preparation for Trailwalker? Don't get coaching from Steve Hill - he’s a maniac!
Anything you'd like to say? Help!

Ian
(Note the Heed and Perpetuem on his desk - potent power drinks!)

What's your favourite section of Trail? Between checkpoint 3 and 4
What's your least favourite section of Trail? Balmoral - the kickoff section because of the sand on the beach
Best trail moment to date? The biggest training outing which knocked down the 50km mark.
What's your role in the team? LCD (Lowest Common Denominator)
What's the best thing you've discovered so far in Trailwalker preparation? Hardwork for good purpose
Favourite trail food? TimTams and Cheese
How are the feet? Injuries? Describe in detail.. Great, no complaints from both feet
What have you learned in your preparation for Trailwalker? (Any tips? Put them here!) Relax and enjoy it
Anything you'd like to say? The great but mysterious team synergy...just magic.

Kerrie

What's your favourite section of Trail? Anything that's behind me..
What's your least favourite section of Trail? Anything in front of me..
Best trail moment to date? Completing the 51kms as a team - amazing.
What's your role in the team? Navigator and motor mouth..
What's the best thing you've discovered so far in Trailwalker preparation? Legitimate excuse for lots of massages .. and the scenery. Wow!
Favourite trail food? Not Perpetuem! Dried apricots..
How are the feet? Injuries? Describe in detail... 4 rolled ankles, 3 missing toenails, 2 massive blisters and a partridge in a pear tree.
What have you learned in your preparation for Trailwalker? I can do more than I ever imagined of myself. Stick at your training and remember, there's no excuses - if it's raining, you'll only get wet; if it's cold - put on another thermal (or run!); or if it's dark - use a torch. Success comes from 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration. Too true! Although I seem to be perspiring 99% of the time..
Anything you'd like to say? If I can do this, anyone can. Oh.. and fashion on the trail is dreadful as style gives way for comfort. If anyone knows how to make Skins, thermals and a hydration system look good, let me know!

Tuesday Night Training (14 August)
Tuesday night saw Ian, Ruth and Kerrie hit the Trail for some more night walking practice. Starting from the very familiar Acron Oval, we chose a relatively easy route as far as trail quality is concerned and did a loop down Lower Cambourne, up the Quarry Track, over to the Kitchener Street ascent and back to Acron Oval. A little bit of drizzle started coming down at the end but basically, it was a nice, short and sweet for a mid-week session and more importantly, Ian got some good practice at nightwalking under his belt. The question is - is there anything this man cannot do?

Ian, Ruth and Kerrie Kerrie demonstrating what it looks like when you're
desperate for a toilet in the middle of the bush.. The Girls - Ruth and Kerrie

Weather Update..
The weather forecast is completely messing with our heads! It's chopping and changing all over the place and we haven't a clue what's happening. The one piece of good news is that the possibility of rain on Friday has gone down considerably and it should be a 'fine' day. Given the chance of rain beforehand though, we're still looking at being mud-babies on the day!!

Friday, 17 August

1 Week and 6 Days To Go..

This Weekend..
.. the weather was sensational and with that came a host of activities from the team as they took a break from team training and concentrated on individual fitness sessions. Ian's back in the country, David ran the City2Surf and made it in one piece. Ruth has been blitzing the stairs in the Botanic Gardens and walking all over the city, and Kerrie has been haunting the GNW between West Pymble and Thornleigh. Here's some pics of everything coming into bloom for spring!

Scribbly Gum Tree

Wattle

Grevillea

The Deal..
The teams' obsessions are starting to become apparent and this post should be called 'No Sausages Til Brooklyn'. David is scheming about where he can sneak a sausage sandwhich or three during the event and Ruth has set the rules for engagement with the sausage sizzles as follows:

David can have one sausage sandwich on the day if he completes CP2-3 (10kms) in under 2 hours. Given that our previous efforts at this section have been rather woeful - Attempt 1: lost and ended up in Belrose; Attempt 2: 3 hrs 15 mins (!!); Attempt 3: 2hrs 25 mins - it was looking highly unlikely that any sausages would be consumed.

HOWEVER! David did convince Kerrie to have one last bash at the section before heading off to the UK (don't ask) and wouldn't you know it, from a bloody early start at Davidson Park (CP2), 1 hour 56 minutes later we were standing at Acron Oval (CP3). It's good to know that it can be done.. the only hitch in the plan is that we've discovered that the sausage sizzle on the day is going to be located back at Davidson Park (CP2)!!!!!

Weather..
In other news, Kerrie is obsessively refreshing the weather forecast page every 30 minutes (or less) for updates.Looks like it's going to rain on the day.. and then there's all the rain in the lead-up to the day. ARGH! Even though it's been dry lately, we've already noticed the deterioration of the CP2-3 track this week with all the recent traffic, and with rain, it's only going to get churned up even more. According to Steve, we love rain so look out for us little mud-babies at the end of it.

Travelling News..
Ian is back in town from his USA trip this week and we've lined up some training sessions with him including a night training session on Tuesday (14 August). As Ian arrives back, so David leaves for the UK where he'll be spending the lead-up time to the Trailwalker in a bunch of important meetings. He is flying back into the country at 5am the day before Trailwalker - so much for the 'no international travel 48 hours before the event'! David's got himself a small drug cache to help him through the experience and hopefully he'll be able to knock the jetlag on the head so he'll be all fresh and ready for 24 hour pace come Trailwalker day!!

Okay.. that's it for now. Happy donating everyone and tune in next time to hear if we survive a night training session with the formidable Steve and Ross in the dark and in the rain!

2 Weeks and 6 Days To Go...

NIGHT WALK!

Yes, it's time for night walking practice and because we had nothing better to do on a Saturday night than to train for the Trailwalker, we donned our Petzl headtorches and met at the top of Lyrebird Gully in Mount Ku-ring-gai for a night session. The aim was to tackle half of CP6-7 in the dark and loop back to where we started and seeing as we've done this section a few times lately, we were hoping that this practice would stand us in good stead as we adjusted to walking in night conditions. It also gave us more hill climbing practice as we got to traverse our favourite Berowra Hill yet again. Just when we thought we'd only have to do it once more on the day itself.. *sigh*

With Ian on a plane headed for Atlanta, the team was David, Ruth and Kerrie. To this auspicious line-up, we added Steve (our dynamo team trainer) and Ross (of Team K.R.A.K. fame). A little about Team K.R.A.K. - the team consists of 3 crotchety old guys, Ross, Ash and Ken, and 1 sprightly chicky babe, Kerri. They've undertaken and completed the Trailwalker for the past four years and from an initial effort in the first year of 26 hours, they came in last year at a smashing 19 hours and 15 minutes to become the winners of the fastest team in the over-40's category. Inspiring stuff!! We've previously had a guest appearance from Kerri, another Team K.R.A.K. member, on the 51km walk and she gave us lots of useful info to help us prepare for the day. This week, we featured Ross and given some of his past achievements include running a 90km marathon in South Africa 3 times, we were a little scared of what he might expect from us or push us to do. As it turned out, we just worked hard to impress him with our trail walking prowress developed through weeks' of diligent training. *LOL*

So as the sunset faded into nblackness, our training session started and we took off at speed down Lyrebird Gully onto the Benowie Walking Track. We quickly overtook another team and soon after, we settled into a good pace for this relatively flat section. It didn't take long to adjust to the light from the Petzl's and realised the key to walking in the dark is concentration - which is going to be such a challenge in this and the next two sections as we'll be pretty tired at this point having completed 65kms already.. but surely this is nothing that No Doz, Coke and Expresso Love GUs won't be able to solve? Just kidding!

On through the trail we went and on crossing the boardwalk, we came across the first of several frozen possums for the evening. Each possum was set in it's own 'vogue' position and their stillness while we tramped past was to be marvelled at. Not sure if they were brushtail or ringtail possums but they were pretty cute given they weren't like those possums who run relays across the roof at 3.30am and set off the dogs next door to wake everyone in the neighbourhood up. Hmmmmm... Ruth's still waiting to see a wombat though but we think we might have to take her down south for that one!

Across Sams' Creek we went and with some huffing and puffing, all the team made it up the climb to Berowra in one piece! Past the checkpoint at Berowra Community Centre and back on to the Pacific Highway to loop back to Mount Ku-ring-gai where we started. All was going well and we were able to maintain the rage.. ahhh, maintain the pace that is, until the footpath disappeared into a side street and we ended up powerwalking through some suburb trying to find our way back to the highway. When we did manage to get back, the footpath didn't return with us so the final leg into Mount Ku-ring-gai saw us running along the roadside trying to stay as far away from oncoming traffic as possible so as not to wipe ourselves out!! Thankfully we made it back to the cars with all the team intact and happy in the knowledge that the climb to Berowra will only happen once more - on the day!

Donations
We're getting closer to our $5 000 target! Many thanks to our wonderful donors this week - we appreciate everything you are doing to support us through this. Not long now until Trailwalker so if you haven't already done so - please donate to the Bush Bashers!!!

Next Week...
Planning, planning, planning. This week, we continue our regular training, finalise our expected time goals for the day and complete our planners for our Support Crew - Steve and Amir. Next weekend is an official 'time off' from bashing the trail with each of us undertaking our own training session instead. Look out for our weather watch updates as we start to wonder what it's going to be like on the day itself!

P.S. No real photos this week as it was in the dark. Photos of us in our natural environment (work!) will be posted next week.

3 Weeks and 5 Days to Go..

We're really on the countdown now to the big day!

All of us recovered quite well after last week's 51km effort but we have all become quite aware of the little things - where the blisters occur, which muscles ache or niggle - as well as the bigger things, like where we can push ourselves harder and exactly how capable we are both mentally and physically. Now we've pushed ourselves in the endurance stakes, it's time to maintain our levels and continue building our fitness along the track with shorter, more intense sessions on the weekends. Also, we're starting to get very friendly with our physios and massage therapists as the big day draws closer - we must be their bread and butter right now!

Date: Sunday, 29 July
Walkers: David, Kerrie, Ruth. Absent - Ian
Track: CP5: Mt Ku-ring-gai Creative Arts High to CP7: Berowra
Distance: 21.5kms total
Estimated Time: CP5-6: 1hr 40mins and CP6-7: 3hrs 10 mins
Actual Time: CP5-6: 1hr 34mins (8km) and CP6-7: 3hrs 28mins (13.5km)

CP5 - 6
With our time goals in mind, we set out running this leg and had established a steady pace of alternating running and fast walking until we reached the section commonly known in the team as the 'Blair Witch Trail' which links the fire trail to the Gibberagong Track. This tricky, windy and steep descent is covered in pine-needles that mask unstable rocks and tree roots - scary stuff when you're zipping down the hill! It was on this section of track that Kerrie managed to roll her ankle for the first time of the day and although not too bad at this point, it was to mark the start of a disasterous day for her injury-wise.

Pushing on, we flew through the Giberagong track in our shuffling / walking manner and had overtaken another two teams by the time we emerged at the picnic grounds. Up and over Birrewanna Track and we ran into Apple Tree Bay in a remarkable (for us) 1 hour and 34 minutes for 8kms. We were really happy with that time seeing as our previous attempt on it was a very slow 2 hours and 20 minutes!

C6 - 7
After a very brief pit-stop at Apple Tree Bay, we crossed the bridge and set off along the foreshore to the Mount Ku-ring-gai track ascent. We ascended the hill at a good pace and towards the top, David took off at a run and set the pace leading the team for a while. We emerged at the top of the track feeling pretty good at this point and on track with our time targets.

Kerrie and Ruth at Mount Ku-ring-gai

Q - why do we always have our photos taken at the top of climbs?

Here's David's proof that he was waaaaay out in front with Kerrie and Ruth 'lagging' behind at Mount Ku-ring-gai. You know David - we actually look like we're waaaaay out in front here and not actually behind?! *LOL*

So - into Mount Ku-ring-gai and down the backs of the houses we went, crossed over the freeway and entered the steep descent down Lyrebird Gully. In the past, we took this descent at a slow shuffle but today, we actually ran it given we saw a dog on the trail and then looking up at the back of one of the houses was a man hanging over the fence calling the dog in a Daniel Boone-style raccoon hat, dressing gown and something in his hand that was looking a little scary. After covering more than 12kms, our legs felt like brand-new again and we whizzed past the back fence!

We were able to maintain a reasonable pace through this section as the trail tracked alongside the creek and then crossed it a few times. The teams' communications levels have been improving over recent weeks' and Ruth was doing a great job ensuring the team stayed within distance of each other. The big highlight of this section was seeing all the different birds along the trail including a lyrebird, a scrub turkey, ducks and some water birds.

The brown blob to the right of the tree is the lyrebird..

And the lyrebird again - a bit closer this time.

We reached the end of the track and ran across the boardwalk all the while pointing another team heading off to Crosslands in the right direction and before we knew it, we were facing the first section of the climb to Berowra. This is the first time Ruth has tackled the hill and even with her superb ascending ability, she agreed that it was a tough one.

Unfortunately, injury struck Kerrie halfway up when she couldn't lift her right leg any more thanks to a dodgy hip joint and then a little further up the trail, she rolled her ankle for the third time that day - talk about a walking disaster! This slowed the team right down and the last 2.5km into Berowra were taken at a snail's pace all the while being accompanied by a booming megaphone instructing an army of Duke of Edinburgh candidates and one lovestruck couple who would scoot up in front of us to a cosy spot and smooch for a while until we were nearly upon them, only for them to scoot off again in front of us to find another rock to pose on! We ended this session slower than anticipated however, we did complete it one minute faster than the last time we did it (injury free) which in itself, is a good thing.

Donations
Just want to give a shout out to our wonderful donors! We are edging closer and closer to our $5 000 target and we're on track to achieve this by the time we start the Trailwalker event. While we try to thank all our donors personally, we have had some anonymous donors recently. We hope you read this and know how much we appreciate your donations and thoughts!

Next Week...
Busy week ahead with a team meeting to go over strategy and discuss how we're going to handle situations that might arise on the day. We've also got two members' overseas between now and the actual day which adds to the drama! More work to be done during the week with training and we're gearing up for the night walk next Saturday night. I mean, what better things have we got to do on a Saturday night than to do a walk in the cold and dark with each other? :-)