The challenge went around central Canberra, taking in some of the great sights of the city. I've worked 50km a couple of times before but I was still nervous. Training had been a lot of fun and taken in many parts of the walk but hadn't cracked the magical 50km.
One of my fellow bushwalkers, John, kindly lent me his spare room rather than getting up at 4am. I'd patched up my feet to try and prevent blisters - and decided to walk in sneakers rather than hiking boots.
Apparently, there were 1000 people registered to participate in the inaugural event - a fantastic turnout. We got there early enough to see John and his team, plus a couple of others from the bushwalking club, start their 100km walk.
Our walk started at 6:30, under the first rays of the morning sun, and headed straight for Mount Ainslie - the jumper came straight off and was carried for the next 40-odd kilometres. In hindsight, it would have been a good idea to use the transition points along the way.
The walk took in the very well used track up Mount Ainslie, where there was the first water and toilet stop. It was a great morning to be out walking, but no time to dilly dally and take in the view.
We got to bypass the climb of Mount Majura and stopped at the first transition point after 12km. The organisers kindly provided some fruit, lollies and fruit buns. As per my standard dietary habits, I enjoyed the fruit but skipped the fruit buns (really don't like fruit in bread).
The next 12 km or so wasn't that interesting, walking across from Mount Majura to Black Mountain. It was necessary but other than the flypast of an RAAF Hercules and a couple of Army helicopters, it was just head down and walk.
Next stop was Black Mountain and it nearly killed me. The route taken was one I haven't walked before and normally, I suspect it would be quite gentle, but not today. Took a while for me to reach the hat band track just below the summit. Not sure why the track followed the hat band track before heading to the summit, but we found a nice place for lunch at 28km. Black Mountain was the only place I stacked it during the day.
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| Lunch spot on Black Mountain |
We took the long way out of the Black Mountain reserve before finding one of the hidden gems in Canberra, the Cork Plantation. From there, we went through the Himalayan Pines and the new planting in the National Arboretum, which will be an amazing place in 10 or 20 years.
The route followed the zig zag track down towards the Tuggeranong Parkway and the next transition station near Scrivener Dam. I'm going to hazard a guess that everyone cut out the zig zags ;)
The transition point at Scrivener Dam, at 40km in, was the best equipped of the lot. Other than stacks of toilets, there was quite a bit of food and a podiatry table for walkers. I was going to sorely regret not taking advantage of the opportunity for someone to look at my feet.
The volunteers there (who did a great job) said there was at least another 12 km left, not to mention climbing Red Hill.
It was 9 km to the summit of Red Hill and it nearly did me in. I was gutted to see my GPS saying 49.7km at the top of Red Hill...I was wrecked. I wasn't going to let the walk beat me no matter how much my feet hurt or how disappointed I was at still having 5 km to walk.
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| Love the view from Red Hill |
I'm still chuffed at having trained for and successfully finished the walk, along with my wonderful team mates Chris and Cynthia. I'm also still in awe of the people that walked and run the 100 km. I'd love to try and do that next year...but until then, time for another challenge.
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| On Black Mountain...and no, it wasn't! |
PS: my feet were badly blistered afterwards - worse than anything I've ever encountered before. After a visit to my GP, antibiotics and nurofen did wonders!
