Harriers Down Under - City2Surf

A familiar sight - David in full flight

After we arrived in Sydney it proved quite difficult to get in to a routine with the running firstly trying to adjust to the heat, the new job, new routines and everything else. Plus the first half of this year was caught up with a whole pile of stuff to deal with including the small matter of having to apply much earlier than expected for permanent residency after Mr Turnbell the PM decided to come over all Trump-ian and re-write the rules for immigration by abolishing the visa route we arrived on. So I had set myself the task of running the Sydney marathon in September and wasn’t anywhere close to having a good running routine, even though I was getting out a fair bit. I had even started running to work to try and get some regularity in the routine.

Howden Australia decided they would pay for a batch entry to the City2Surf race and offered up places to the staff who wanted to take part. The City2Surf, as the name suggests goes 14k from Sydney CBD to the beach at Bondi - probably best think of it as Brampton 2 Carlisle with 83,000 people running, the sun shining and finishing along the Troon 10k finish….that’s the best description I’ve come up with yet. I started to realise perhaps I was finding my competitive edge again when the start list was emailed round everyone telling them which wave each person was in. I was the only one of 20 who had bothered to pre-qualify for a faster wave...

So on the day we decided to take the train into town for the start - mainly because Shirley wouldn’t have a chance of driving the routes in time with all the closures etc. I got off at Town Hall so that I could use the mile or so from there as a warm up while Shirley, Louise and Gavin connected to the stop nearest the start. I was slightly concerned as I was going along that there seemed to be no one else on the streets - OK it was 8.30 am but surely there should be some other people making their way? I climbed a hill towards where I thought it was starting and could hear that noise you get from a PA on race day so I knew I was near and then as I reached the top suddenly there were thousands of people everywhere. It took a bit of time to find my wave as the street names meant nothing but I got there in good time and joined the “throng”.

My wave was basically people expecting to finish in under 90 minutes -but not fast enough for the elite group which is a pretty wide band. That seemed a bit weird beforehand but after the race and seeing what 80k runners looks like it made more sense. So I started out reasonable cautiously but knowing I should be able to deliver a solid run, if not fast, over the distance as I had got some good mileage in over the winter. My aim was to be steady for the first 6.2k, work up the 1.5k climb known as Heartbreak Hill (it is long!) and then push into the last 6.2 for a negative split getting home in under 70 minutes. I was managing to hold just under 4:30 per kilometre through the start and while the first 2k was quite annoying trying to get past the people who were already walking (grrrr…) after that I was quite enjoying the fact that I was steadily passing people the whole time. I reached the start of the climb in 27:18 and then started the 1.6k continuous climb really feeling pretty strong but a bit unsure what to expect. I have to say the climb was fantastic! Come back Rouken Glen 10k all is forgiven! It was really tough but it was fantastic as I went past soooo many people on that climb and reached the top in 7:34 - my pace only slowing to 4:44 average. I do recall briefly thinking what an amazing view we had out over the coast and sea from up there and what a nice place it would be to live but then the adrenaline surged and I started racing again! Just like old times :)

Is it Troon?

I had been slightly misled as the last 6.1 still has a fair bit of uphill and level before a very steep drop through the last 1.5k into Bondi where it makes a rounded right turn onto the beach front and finishes along the front like the Troon 10k. I was delighted to know I was way ahead of my sub 70 target as my pace for the last 6k was 4:27 per km - almost identical to the first six. My finishing time was recorded at 62:09 which 2,224th of the 70k finishers (Top 3.3% of finishers according to their site!). I was particularly pleased in the offical results to see how much more strongly I had performed relative to the field in the second half of the race.

Split Point	Split Time	S/Rank	Race Time	R/Rank	Activity	Dist.	Pace	Speed
Start to Heartbreak Hill	00:27:18	3483	00:27:18	3483	RUN	6.20	04:24	13.62
Heartbreak Hill	00:07:35	1336	00:34:54	2742	RUN	1.60	04:44	12.64
Heartbreak Hill to Bondi	00:27:15	1844	01:02:09	2244	RUN	6.11	04:27	13.45

Post race was very different from anything I’d experienced. Shirley and I knew the post race routines and managed to find each other after the race but only to find they had stationed themselves at the wrong start wave, and arrived just after I’d crossed the finishing line. Nonetheless it was good to know they were around even if they weren’t actually watching me run! But there were so many people it was incredible. We all went off and found a restaurant where we had some pizza (late breakfast/early lunch???) and then wandered back up the beach to get back to Bondi Junction train station. The noise everywhere was incredible as by now the next wave was in and every bar, cafe, restaurant, ice cream shop, pavement, you name it was just full of finishers talking, laughing and enjoying the experience. The shuttle bus service was continuous with 10 buses loading at a time to get you to the station - amazing logistics.

In true Harriers fashion, I did the obligatory shoes off and into the sea routine. Gavin came with me and has now reached the age where his eyes nearly popped out his head when two young ladies removed their shorts as well as shoes and went in for a paddle post race….(i had resisted that particular temptation you’ll be glad to know) and then we were handed Ice Cones as well as your traditional bottle of water. Aye, welcome to Australia….now for the marathon in 2 weeks which I suspect will not be such a happy outcome! Training has not been as complete as it was for Dublin - sorely missing the company of the Harriers and Ian in that regard.
David