Six Foot 2007

As posted on CR, more (maybe) to come....

After an encouraging start to my 6 ft program real life stepped in and a while ago it became apparent that any serious assault on my dodgy PB and last year's DNF would be underdone. In the end I offered my services as a 7 hour sweep for wave 3, given the extra wave and potential for the back markers in this wave to potentially struggle to hit the 7 hour cutoff.

So a somewhat very relaxed pre-race prep saw me at the start line with broom in hand, but the pre-race nerves were still somewhat lurking....

The start was not the usual anxious affair, much more casual as I strolled down to the stairs behind the blue wave. I was surprised at the actual good progress we made down before the first wave 4 runner came through. Also surprising was the gap from him to the next wave 4 runner..... At the road proper I focussed on the planned splits and let everyone head off down the road. Every so often I blew my whistle, usually in recognition of being passed by a Strider or CR from wave 4 more than anything else.

About halfway from Megalong to Cox's I came up to my first wave 3 tail ender, who I shall call the NRG runner. She was moving ok and given by my reckoning we were ahead of 7hr schedule I held back to leave her to her own devices while a number of wave 4 runners went through. After the river crossing as we climbed Mini Mini I stayed intouch with her, along with Koala 1 who had caught us. After the cattle yard aid station I moved ahead of the NRG runner but I also stopped to pause at the aid station between Mini Mini and Pluviometer for a "nature" stop where she caught up. Unbenown to me Go Girl was also at this aid station being treated .

On Pluviometer I had to keep a pretty good pace going to keep in step with the schedule and I was actually repassing a number of wave 4 runners who had passed me earlier! Right at the top of Pluviometer I caught Wombatface and was pretty much bang on pace at 4 hours.... Ewen immediately cruised ahead as I got out the shepheards crook for Black Range. There were a number of runners that I continually swapped positions with as I adjusted my pace based upon splits and the km markers that I was searching for. This continued along deviation, especially on the short "unexpected" climbs before the road crossing. At this point I was at the end of a stream of around 20 runners from both wave 3 & 4.

I paused at the crossing for a quick chat with the spectators and firies before heading off. Along here Martin Dugdale and I ran in the same pace while most of the others cruised ahead. For me this was the most difficult (mentally) section of the run, most of the people I had been with since Pluviometer cruised ahead and only the occasional runner catching me while I was holding the prescribed pace.

Finally we hit the downhill and this (for me) was the most gratifying piece of the whole race. Firstly I caught up to an early wave starter who I now believe to be David Newborn, we had a good chat about how he was going and I did my "on the run" diagnosis of a case of ITB It was only about 1.5km to go and the downhill was on, I was continually looking over my shoulder in the hope that a blue wave runner would be catching back up to me. To my absolute surprise the NRG runner that I had very reluctantly run away from re-appeared out of the blue, running strongly! I let her past and while she was obviously on her last legs it seemed she was on to break the 7 hours! While I had snakes, power bars and gu's she needed water So we cruised on with only about a km to go. From here it was a done deal, confirmed by seeing Don Juan at the start of the paved section. I let the NRG runner go ahead and slowed in the hope that maybe someone else might be trying to catch me. Alas, that was it, although Koala 1 (wave 4) did also go past while I was lurking near the finish!

So ended my most recent Six Foot experience. Post finish I got a chance to digest some of the extraordinary performances that various fellow runners and friends achieved, which was a humbling experience. After the horrors of last year this was somewhat of a redemptive/soul cleansing experience.

Way too much to try and include in this post, apologies for the rambling....

To all the runners who aimed and strived to run 6 ft, well done!

THANK YOU!
To Kevin Tiller and the assorted people who are the backbone of this event
To the firies and others on the day out there to enable this race to continue
To the runners out there on the track that I had the opportuntity of sharing the experience.

I am humbled by those who I spent quite a deal of time with out on the day. I was pacing/running within my limits while you were going 100%. To those who fell short of their own expectationsor DNF'd I commiserate, can't say much more, but I know you are disappointed and have been there.

Highlights of the day
- having the NRG runner catch me at the death
- seeing Jen crack 7 hrs
- Fats' win and race record, a superb result for such an unassuming guy
- Max's 24 runs, absolutely mind boggling, a great way of recognising an extradorinary achievement.

To the others that are too many to mention, but ring in my mind
- Kit, dividends reaped
- MPH, sensible training
- Amjan, yet another PB at 6 ft!
- Superflake, solid effort.

Finally thanks to Action and Luke SR for the sweeper/pacing stuff and Action and Megan for the lift up/back.

Will I be back next year, you bet!!!!!!!

EDIT- 2 fav photos from yesterday.