http://www.sarrc.asn.au/Maps/satccoursedesc_map.pd...
Firstly, this wasn't as steep as anticipated (the race info described 985m of ascent and descent, which turned out to mean 492.5m of each)
Secondly, this wasn't as painful as anticipated, or else I handled it better than I thought I would. Actually quite pleased by how I dealt with it mentally, even though I became all too aware that my core stability and consequently my hill-climbing ability, is sub-optimal currently. Also pleased with my decision to carry a jellybean stash and a couple of salt tablets :)
The contentious age-based "wave starts" didn't really materialise; there was just a string of starters in single file up the slippery singletrack Pioneer Women's trail, and then some overtaking to be done. Next year I'm sure they'll start people based on anticipated time! At about Eagle on the Hill the 50+ guys started passing me - first Harry Waterhouse, bouncy as usual, and then Peter Allcroft, frothing at the mouth about how rude Harry had been in pushing past people at the bottom.
From 50-70 min my neuroma was annoying me, and this coincided with the steepest/roughest climb. I heard footsteps behind me which turned out to be Fern - she's tough on hills! This was at about the 10km mark - 62 min. I was glad to already know (from my Yurrebilla training run) that the Wine Shanty track is by no means flat and that it goes around a number of spurs before reaching Greenhill Rd, also happy to be feeling stronger on this section and I pulled away from a few people. Down Chambers Gully my legs were starting to cramp so I stopped to stretch my hamstrings and hoped that my quads would hold out okay. 20km was at 1:52, so 50 min for the next 10km.
I wasn't sure whether the course was actually 23 or 24km, having seen different distances reported, so didn't know how hard to push the last climb up Dashwood Gully, and then I was surprised by a 500m sprint straight down Dashwood Rd to the finish. I was sure that we were meant to rejoin the Pioneer Women's Trail switchbacks, which was in fact the case, except that the course markers got it wrong yesterday. Probably not a bad thing given the slipperiness of the PWT descent, which only Bridget got to enjoy (on the 12km).
So, Simon did the Arrows proud by winning the men's in 1:41, and Lauren likewise the women's in just under 2hrs. Rory McComb did 2:06 apparently, not sure about his dad. Fern & then Zara weren't far behind me, and Tyson's was a valiant effort (was this the longest run you've done, Mr T?).
Poor Lauren could hardly walk by the time of the presentations, she'd strained her groin in a slippery slide. She came up to me with some ice, followed by a girl who I afterwards realised must have been the first aid officer, who started giving me advice on not letting Lauren walk anywhere etc. I looked at this girl slightly blankly and she said "Aren't you her mother?" (I told George last weekend that I wasn't keen on the photos he'd taken of me because you can tell that all my wrinkles are 35 years old....) Anyway, Simon kindly carried Lauren to the car, saying as he did so " Bridget is going to kill me!"
I'm glad I did this race as it's the first long run I've felt confident about since Cradle Mtn. In fact I found myself thinking that the Six Foot Track isn't even twice as long as this. It has a LOT more up and down, though.