The 2008 Six Foot Track Marathon

The Six Foot Track Marathon is advertised as the toughest off-road marathon in the country and with good reason. Starting at the old Explorer’s Tree just west of Katoomba, it grinds for 45km’s through the Megalong Valley over what was originally a bridal trail built in 1884 as a short-cut for tourists wanting to visit Jenolan Caves.

Most sensible people take two or three days to hike it, but in 1984 a group of seven runners decided to celebrate it’s centenary with “a run through the bush with a few mates” and set off carrying nothing more than one glucose lolly between them and drinking water out of puddles along the way. From those humble beginnings, the SFT has grown to become one of the largest events in the country, attracting fields of over 800 local and international runners who attempt to complete it’s torturous length within the 7 hour cut-off, thereby avoiding being caught along the way by “The Grim Sweeper” [who runs with a broom!] and forced out of the race through not meeting the intermediate cut-off times.

From the Explorer’s Tree, the course drops over 200 metres in the first kilometre down some 480 steps to Nellie’s Glen, through the Megalong Valley and across Megalong Valley Road to the Cox’s River, up Mini-Mini Saddle and then another rise to the track’s highest point at the Pluviometer, continuing uphill along the Black Range to Caves Road before a very steep descent to the finish line in front of Caves House. Aid stations are situated aprox. every 2km’s and are manned by members of the Blue Mountains Bush Fire Brigades, for whom this event raises some $30,000 annually, as well as a substantial amount for the SFT Heritage Society which maintains the track.

Training involved progressively longer and more intense off-road sessions, including group events along the Burralow Fire Trail with fellow HTC members, up to our pinnacle run which involved getting a train from Penrith to Woodford and running back to Glenbrook along the Oaks Fire Trail [over which the Woodford to Glenbrook Classic is held] then down Lapstone Hill via the old Zig-Zag walking trail and back to Penrith, a total of around 40km’s. These runs not only provided invaluable ‘off-road km’s in the legs’ but also opportunities to experiment with different types of hydration and nutrition products.

Janelle and I both spent several weeks with Camp Dolomites in 2007 where we trained at high alitiude, this gave us that next level in fitness that we had lacked in previous years. Of course we are both back there in 2008, where Janelle will be assisting me in training camps across the best terrain in the world. Janelle was so impressed with Camp Dolomites organisation, facilities, support and yummy food, she agreed to take on their invitation to compete and train for the camp.

After announcements and much anticipation, the elites in wave one took off at 8am. Janelle and I were in wave two and were sent on our way 5 min’s later, followed by wave three 15 min’s behind us and the final wave 15 min’s later. Our race plan was to forget all about a finish time and get to the end in good enough condition to be able to look back and think, “really enjoyed that”, so we’d go out very steadily in the first half, walk all of the steep sections to Pluviometer, cruise the steady inclines of the Black Range and use what  was left in the tank for the downhill dash to the Caves.

Heavy overnight rain meant that conditions would be very slippery down the stairs to Nellie’s Glen, so we decided to let all the speedsters round us up as there’d be nothing worse than having several months training go down the gurgler through taking a tumble with not even 1km travelled, which often happens. Past Nellie’s Glen and the track widens out making it a lot easier to find your rhythm and get your breathing going.

About 8km’s into the race and you cross over Megalong Valley Road to the cheers and applause of waiting supporters. The track over the remaining 8km’s down to Cox’s River gets progressively narrower  and often results in several conga lines forming in those sections where passing isn’t possible, but the group with whom we were running was well spread and cruising comfortably together. As with the earlier Megalong Mega, the Cox’s river was still “nether-region” deep with no option to rock-hop and keep your shoes dry, so in we waded while trying not to stir up too much sand and end up with a market garden in our shoes! Exiting with refreshed legs, we started to walk up the first of the serious hills in our ascent of Mini-Mini Saddle [more like bloody “Maxi-Maxi” we reckon!].

The aid station beyond Cox’s saw the first withdrawal we’d encountered where one guy had collapsed into a volunteer’s chair to await a lift from a fire truck and this was with less than 20k’s travelled! Cresting the top of Mini-Mini we dipped down the other side to three crossings of [ankle deep] Alum Creek before starting up the second seriously steep section toward the Pluviometer. While longer than Mini-Mini with most of it’s length still needing to be walked, this section doesn’t seem to have the same gruelling, psychological impact, perhaps because you’re getting a mental lift through knowing that you’re nearly over the worst of it? Anyway, the “bleep-bleep” of your chip as you cross the 2nd intermediate timing mat at the top of the hills is like music to a runners ears, as also are the cheers and encouragement the Firey’s manning the aid stations give you!

With any of the off-road events we’ve run in which the Firey’s have been involved, you could not want for better or friendlier support and SFT is no exception. The aid tables are very well stocked and you’ll never see anything but a smile on the volunteer’s faces, irrespective of the climatic conditions, or the ‘fatigued state demands’ of exhausted runners. Without their contribution, events such as these couldn’t exist, so while it’s such a pleasure to know that part of your entry fee goes toward supporting the RFS, we always make a special effort to acknowledge as many of them along the way as we possibly can. At one of the Black Range aid stations, they’d decided to go ‘fancy dress’ with one guy wearing a wig over the top of a Hawaiian outfit, complete with coconut bra and grass skirt! His mate reckoned it was to give runners an incentive to get the hell out of their quick smart, before he could wrap his big maulers around you for a cuddle and if he didn’t get you, his mate dressed in a gorilla outfit would - what a hoot and how effective at shifting one’s focus off aching legs!

The Black Range had proven to be my undoing in my last two attempts, the dreaded “Cramp Bear” taking savage bites out of me on the first occasion and little nips on the second, but our prep’s and race plan were working perfectly, in conjunction with the continuing cool and overcast conditions [you know how Gump loves the cold weather!] and no sign of any tightening gave hope that this would be the case all the way through to the finish, if we continued to go at it sensibly. Janelle was still running well, but circumstances had worked against her to result in a total of only about 4 hours sleep over the two nights prior to the race and she was starting to do it tough.

At 36k’s you reach Caves Road for the first time, but deviate to run roughly parallel with it for a few more k’s before finally crossing to the opposite side. It’s in this section where there are a couple of savage mongrel hills which, while not all that long, spring up cruel and unexpected as if to say, “Cop this for good measure, bucko!” Even when you cross the tar and think, “Surely it’s all down hill from here?!” the remaining 4 or 5 km’s still hold some deceptive inclines which slowed us to a walk, Janelle at one point commenting that, “There’s nothing left physically…..from here on in, it’s all mental!” as that amazing mental tenacity for which I have so much respect went into overdrive.

Just after crossing Cox’s, we got talking with a guy who was a 17 time SFT finisher. We ended up chatting and leap-frogging each other all the way to where the really steep downhill dash commences and as we caught him again, I cheekily chided him by saying that he’d better get a wriggle-on or we’d beat him home, to which he countered that “we’d never catch him on the downhill section” and sure enough, we didn’t!

You’d think that after all the hills, the last 3km’s of downhill would be a cinch, but for legs already beyond fatigue, the combination of very large loose gravel, uneven surface and very steep declines worked together to rip into your quads like someone was jabbing them with a knife, but onward we grunted as we were now on a mission – get this bloody thing over and done with and as quickly as possible!

Up and over a short rise, one of the firey’s called out, “350 metres to go - you’re almost there!” and with a quick glance and smirk at each other, it was on! Suddenly all the fatigue dissipated and quicker than you could say “Jack Robinson” we were hurtling flat-strap down the stepped sections, cooeeing and waving our arms like something demented in the hope that Janelle's husband would see us coming. A tight left turn into the finish chute and over the preliminary timing mat we hurtled as the commentator called out, “and here’s Janelle who is a cancer survivor” and the crowd let loose with a rousing cheer. Over the finish mat and look at the race clock – sub 5 & ½ hrs for the first time!! Not only had our plan worked perfectly, but no cramping, we could still walk and man oh man, to say we were ecstatic would be a massive understatement!

We walked down through the big archway and stood thigh-deep in the icy cold river for about 10 min’s as this works wonders for deadening the nerve endings in your legs and moving the lactic acid away from your muscles, then it was back up to Caves House for something to eat before heading off home.

So, SFT is done and dusted for another year and we’re half way to achieving our target of six finishes and the commemorative belt buckle award that will get us. Like any race one trains for and executes, this year’s event was another learning opportunity and hopefully with what we’ve gleaned from the experience, we’ll be back next year to do it even better. Who knows, maybe even a few of you might join us………!

Cheers
Chris and Janelle