Willy to Billy race report

Up early and eating up to load some fuel, given the time from leaving home to actually starting I also packed some provisions. James C, a fellow Strider had organised for us to share the car up and when he arrived we were off. Along the drive it rained, sometimes heavily which was not a good sign, but by the time we got to Bilpin, no rain and in fact some blue sky.

Dropped the car and boarded the shuttle bus to Mt Wilson, a host of Striders and CR on board. Upon arrival I opted to line up for a final tilt at the facilities and then caught up with a heap of the usual suspects and also participated in a few group photos.

Last year I ran this of a somewhat low base and did 3:18:11 and was hoping/aiming to break 3 hours this time round. A few quick speeches from the local hosts and we were off. I was going to try and run around 5 min/km pace, hoping to make some inroads on the long downhill and then hold it together on the climb to bring it home.

Despite my best efforts to rein in the enthusiasm I went out a little too hard and also the fairly vicious sharp climbs early on were taking their toll. So I decided to walk the steeper sections but attack the technical downhills to try and equalise time.

This resulted in quite a seesaw type battle with a few people, them passing me up and me likewise down. Of some concern through here I noticed that my RH ankle tendonitis was starting to become sore so I also focussed on how I was running uphill (if I was).

After a while the sharp climbs became a little less frequent and I started to get into a good rhythm. In particular there was a section of singletrack that I really enjoyed and really attacked with an open track in front of me for a while, and recatching a few people who had drawn clear.

The Garmin was proving next to useless with more lost signal time than actual tracking. Thankfully the course was well marked and I hit the 15km mark pretty bang on 1:15 so averaging 5 min/km like the plan. The next section of the course is pretty flat as we run along a sealed road for quite a few km and with not many people in sight it was a challenge to maintain pace. At the 20km mark my split was 1:38 so I had picked up a bit ahead of the downhill.

This piece seemed to go on for ever, and I believe that probably about 2/3 of the way down I dropped off the pace a little as a few people who were just ahead of me slowly pulled away. Still I got to the bottom and river crossing with a split of 2:11 and then the challenge was to try and efficiently get up the other side. While it was tough I was making ok progress through to the first hairpin, when I turned the corner though I realised why as I hit the headwind. MikeF caught up here, we ran together for a while and then he pulled clear at the drinks station at the next hairpin.

Here the course gives some respite with about 1km of flatter running before heading up again. When we started slimbing again it was tougher and through here Barry R (another Strider) went past, only 4km to go but I was struggling.

A few more went past including 2 females who were flying! Finally got to the Bells Line Road and then tried to grind out the last 1.5km at a somewhat decent pace.

Ended up just outside of the sub 3 hour goal with 3:02:29 which is still a 15:42 PB from last year. In talking with others I really did die in that last 4km as Barry R finished with 2:58:xx meaning he put around 4 minutes into me over 4km!

The legs were pretty beat up and certainly some concern re the RH ankle again although it seems to be better after ice than how it felt 2 weeks ago. Indulged in a leg massage and enjoyed a couple of brews courtesy of Blue Dog and Sarge before watching the presentation and then driving home.