The Guzzler 100 2020 Race Report- The good, The bad, The ugly and a deeper dive into my journey

"Strength does not come from success. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength" Mahatma Gandhi

Standing on the start line..... things this time felt different. There were no nervous butterflies, there was no feeling of anticipation, none of that usual pent up tension..... I was calm.

My lead up into this years edition of The Guzzler had been some what up and down, a string of nutrition issues during long training runs and the relentless battling through the heat of Brisbane's warmer months had played on my mind a lot leading up to the event. News of a family illness added weight on race day eve, preparation suddenly seemed more of an after thought, logistics had a feeling of slight uncertainty, I found myself scurrying around with less then 10 hours before the start sorting gear, measuring nutrition, sorting out my crew bags..... yet standing on that start line and I was calm....

The 30 second count down began and the atmosphere and music ramped up.

I usually attach motivational messages to my bottles in my drop bags, you know the ones... "keep pushing", "you got this", those small messages of encouragement that keep you going, that keep your focus on the journey. What even most closest to me don't know is I carry those with me constantly, on the wallpaper of my phone, my laptop, and on a card in my wallet... the quote that sits above. But today there was no need for drop bags as my crew was on course. 10,9,8.

I steadied myself, adjusting my much loved BTR buff my focus drawn to the three words I had written on the inside of my wrist earlier that morning "Control the Controllable".

We were off.

Starting at Simpson Falls picnic area at the base of Brisbane's Mount Coot-Tha, it was an easy flat start before beginning the climb up Powerful owl. As per the previous year this was a section of the race called the King of The Mountain a race within the race, I took this climb fairly conservatively knowing that it was going to be a long day. Reaching the top and with the leaders insight it was down the familiar decline of Jacksonia, through Gap Creek and the undulating trails toward South Boundary Road. Things were tracking well as I made my way around the narrow single trail that hugged the edges of Enoggera Reservoir, a quick thumbs up from my crew who had made their way around to Walkabout Creek to view the runners as they came into checkpoint 1 (Walkabout Creek).

A quick exit from the checkpoint and I headed towards the rolling hills of Mount Nebo Rd Break. Things were feeling comfortable and all signs were pointing to a great day, I had put in the work, and it was paying dividends as I made light work of the short, sharp climbs along this section. 24km in I was greeted by the cheers of my BTR family, a quick top up of my water and some banana and I was on my way, through the gates into hell. Entering the 'Hell Hole Hussle' I had worked my way into 4th overall but with still over 70km of technical, hilly trails still ahead of me it was not time to become complacent. Gold Creek checkpoint (32km) beckoned and as I made way down the gentle slope of Gold Creek road. It was a refreshing feeling being greeted by my crew, I had come in under my planned time but things were feeling great with the body and the pace feeling comfortable. Some quick words of encouragement, fresh chilled nutrition bottles and a refreshing ice towel and I left my crew behind and pushed towards the halfway mark and the next checkpoint at Lake Manchester.

Following the winding, rugged single track around Gold Creek Reservoir, it was hard to not be distracted by the beautiful shimmering views of the water this trail frames. The junction at Layhys Break was where the 100km runners parted ways from the shared section of the course as I took a left and headed up Layhys Break up to Gold Creek Road Break.

I made my way along Gold Creek Road Break finding a more consistent stride as the trail widened and things flattened out. I relaxed into my stride, then as quick as I had found my groove my race was over.... a slight misstep was enough to cause my knee to twist, and I knew my day was done.... a sharp pulsing pain was followed by a dull ache, I made an effort to try and jog hoping it would subside but I already knew with still over 60km to go and the main crux of the course still ahead of me I would need to make peace with the fact my first DNF was inevitable. I still had 6km till I reached the water station at the 42km mark and with little chance of having medics get to me I began the painfully solemn walk, things were slow going from that point on, the passing runners carried the message of an injured runner with them as they reached the water station and with about 1km to go I was relieved to come across one of the volunteers from the water station who had made their way back to find me.

Certainly a day of mixed emotions, the overwhelming feeling of disappointment and failure in some kind of collaborative dance with the feeling of progress, strength and the acknowledgement that till the point of "bad luck" this had probably been my strongest run to date where things were in balance, the mind was focused, and the body was strong.

Until next year.... there will be redemption.

Result: DNF

Thank you to my Family, my coach Ben Duffus, my Physio Mat Britton and my BTR family, my family at MAW Brothers, TrailBrew Nutrition, Inspire Athletic, Chris Adams and the team from Injinji Performance Products The support from all of you makes this journey so much easier and fun along the way. Also a huge shout out to the team behind The Guzzler you do an amazing job with this fantastic event.

Anthony Gordon

Brisbane Trail Ultra 2020 Race Report

With the craziness of 2020 continuing to provoke changes to day to day life. This years running of the Brisbane Trail Ultra originally scheduled for the cooler winter month of June took place in the much warmer and humid month of the Brisbane "Spring". The advantage of the much earlier start (5am) was going to see me hopefully get it done before the temperature began to rise.

The original plan for this event was to be a filler between what was a packed race calendar (before the 'happening'), but with all the changes and cancellations it quickly became one of my A races of the year.

Starting at The Gap Corra-Mulling Park, I had managed to pull away from the pack with another runner as we began the climb up Python track on the way towards Channel 7, this 180m climb with 260m of elevation definitely gave the climbing legs a workout early but also provided me the chance to pull further away from the pack with Daniel Buenen keeping me company as we headed through Bush Box Picnic area, onto Eugenia Circuit, climbing up to Powerful Owl Trail before descending down into Ghost Hole towards Litchfield on our way to check point 7 and the only checkpoint of this event.

Running into checkpoint 7 was like coming home, its always an amazing feeling being greeted by my running family that is Brisbane Trail Runners, even with a long night behind them were still buzzing with enthusiasm as I breezed through the checkpoint and headed towards the next major climb in the race Pinnacles Track. This 1.7km  segment was also labelled the Red Bull Climb, was a cheeky race within the race (was happy to take out 5th spot overall on this section).

With the major of the climbs now behind me I pushed on along Powerful Owl trail, by now Daniel had managed to pull away and in some way it seemed so had my distraction. Following the gentle decline of Eugenia, across the foot bridge and up stringy bark track I felt in my element and felt confident with my home town advantage, I train on these tracks day in day out I know every rock and hill, and my timing thus far had been perfect. Heading on to Kulgun Circuit I took time in my head to just enjoy the moment of where I was and what It was that I was privileged enough to be doing, this section is a favourite of mine personally and definitely a highlight of the 30km course.

As I headed out of Mount Coot-tha there was a small trail section before I hit the urbane part of the course and with that things began to unravel.... The next 9km was the road section, I had planned and left myself enough in the legs to be able to maintain low 4:00min/km however what I had not planned for was how my trail shoes would perform on the road, I had never actually tested them on the road before and ultimately this was my downfall. by the time I had reached the final 4km of the course the pain in the bottom of my feet was unbearable and my planned pace quickly diminished in to a run/walk as I fought the pain of every step, I knew I had noone coming behind me as I fell into a false sense of security, forgetting that unlike a conventional start we had set off in waves so in effect it was more like a time trial.

Coming into Riverlife the atmosphere at the finish was electric and for a split second I had forgotten about the pain. Overall for me it was a day of mixed emotions, I could walk away pleased with a top 10 finish and knowing I had I strong run on the trail sections, yet I cant help but be left a little disappointed and unlucky with how my day panned out.... but as with every race its about the people you get to share your time with, the environment you get to enjoy and the lessons you learn about yourself along the way that is what its really all about. Congratulations to all those runners that took on their events and a special mention to Ben Duffus (60km winner and course record) and Noelis Rheault (100 mile winner and course record) you both play a huge part in my journey and was awesome to see you both come out on top.

Results:

Finish time: 2:37:04

Place: 6/206

Category: 3/51

Gender: 6/130

Thank you to my Family, my coach Ben Duffus, my Physio Mat Britton and my BTR family,my family at  MAW Brothers, TrailBrew Nutrition, Inspire Athletic, Chris Adams and the team from Injinji Performance Products The support from all of you makes this journey so much easier and fun along the way. Also a huge shout out to Shona Stephenson and team behind the Brisbane Trail Ultra you do an amazing job with this fantastic event.

Anthony Gordon

Last Man Standing Endurance Run

It’s taken a couple of weeks to get my head around my attempt at what is The Clint Eastwood last one standing endurance run (loser).

It’s fair to say that when I entertained the idea of entering such an event it was more out of being intrigued, how far could I go? How can I discover my limits on a certain day? This event was a rare occasion to be able to push my boundaries past where the finish line normally dictates. As with this event there is no finish line until your the last one left standing.....

Arriving Thursday night, it was a matter of setting up, organising the gear, refuelling, and getting all the sleep I could before it all began. 

The piecing sound of a whistle broke the calm of the early morning. A three minute warning to signify the start of what was to be a 16 hour day on my feet. The feeling on the start line was full of anticipation of what was to come, looking around at all the smiling, fresh faces. The latter faded over time yet the smiles still remained.

With the first five laps in the cooler conditions of the early morning I found a comfortable pace and set about my work, aiming to complete each loop in 45 minutes to give myself enough time between each lap to restock hydration and reassess. 

Taking each lap at a time, the only focus was the next step and then the next. I had managed to find a consistent (all day) pace and a set the plan to walk the final 200m of each loop.

With the light of the dawn breaking through on lap six it seemed to take me a bit more effort to keep the pace controlled coming in after forty minutes to finish the lap, five minutes faster then I had been tracking throughout the night. The following few hours ticked past each one signalled the end of one lap and the beginning of another, as midday loomed the sun began to show itself through the clouds and with that the heat began to climb.

By now my pace had once again stabilised and like clockwork I was completing each lap within my target window, my folks had by this time turned up to give my partner some much needed rest and gave me a much needed boost as I headed out on lap ten. However It was about this time that my thoughts started to process my intake of nutrition, or seemingly the lack of it, it had been ten hours yet I had only consumed two single serve packets of chips, 40g of fruit puree and a small amount of oats in addition to the 90 calories of Trail Brew I was consuming during each lap..... clearly not enough. 

Coming in on lap eleven I was greeted at my camp by my coach Ben Duffus, who had sort me out to check in on my progress, discussing how I was feeling, nutrition and fluid intake as around me my crew filled my bottles, organised wet towels, rubbed my legs and fed me potato puree to try and bring the deficit back then after what only felt like seconds the whistle sounded to indicate it was time to stand on the line to begin lap twelve. The midday sun was relentless and the temperature kept climbing, I continued to step up to that line lap after lap, but by lap sixteen it was over for me, the lack of consumed nutrition and the heat of the midday sun had accumulated into a downward spiral of nausea, dizziness and what later escalated to loss of sight and hearing if only for a few seconds but it felt like minutes. 

After 16 hours, 108km on my feet my Clint Eastwood experience had come to and end. Although I missed the goal I set out to achieve I am content with the lessons I learnt during this event and the many other positives I took out of it. I will see you again in 2021.

Thank you to my amazing Fiancée and Family, my coach Ben Duffus, my Physio Mat Britton and my BTR family, Trail Brew, Inspire Athletic, the crew at fisiocrem and my brothers at MAW. The support from all of you makes this journey so much easier and fun along the way. Also a huge thank you to Alun Davies and team from AAA Racing & Coaching for a great event, especially in the circumstances that were present at the time.

A Snowy Getaway to Canmore, Alberta

The warm humid trails of my beautiful sunny Queensland were nothing more then a distant thought as I stepped off the plane in Calgary. Towering snow capped mountains were ever present in the distance as was the chill of negative temperatures. Now this was always a ski trip, however how could I pass up the opportunity to take advantage of some of the best winter trails in the world. 

Johnston Canyon

My base was to be in Canmore, one thing I realised quickly was how much you take for granted being able to run at home in Australia without the fear of something eating you.... here I was thinking no need to worry bears hibernate in winter, but oh no there are now cougars (mountain loins) you need to watchout for. The first few runs consisted of mostly easy runs around the local area up the beautiful Bow river and through the streets and linking trails that ran through the small town of Canmore. The opportunity was also taken to join my folks on a hike up Johnston Canyon a 12km  400 odd vertical meter out an back trail up to the squid pots. A must do if in the region, it would make a great run if it was done earlier in the morning or later in the afternoon as it does get crowed, with plenty of photo opportunities along the way.

My scheduled program was always going to be a bit up in the air during my trip I mean as I said it was a ski trip, but I was determind to get in the runs when I could and keep things ticking along. I got in contact with a local trail running group (of which there are a couple) Canmore Trail Culture and organised to get out for a night run amongst the back country into an area known as Cougar Canyon. 

Canmore Trail Culture

A great showing of local runners attended and the group was broken into sub groups 'Caffeinated and Decaffeinated'. I set off with what was the more quicker of the two groups, heading up from the carpark and into the canyon, the weather seemed to just do a full 180, it was like someone had flicked a switch, like we had crossed through a porthole into a different realm. The snow began to bucket down and the terrain varied from hard packed snow, sheet ice, rocky creek crossings and knee deep snow holes, a challenging yet unforgettable 9km, in the company of some amazing people. 

In the days prior to my departure I ventured up a local Summit Ha Ling a peak at the northwestern end of Mount Lawrence Grassi — a mountain located immediately south of the town of Canmore just east of the Spray Lakes road in Alberta's Canadian Rockies, 2,047m above sea level. The trail has been recently redone to allow it to be a little more accessible for those that wish to do the hike in winter, though with just over 800m of climbing in 7.5km it is far from a casual hike and spikes are highly recommended. I had the pleasure of summiting both during the night (from the carpark) and during the day (Canmore to Ha Ling return, 22.5km 1,261m vertical) both provided a different and memorable experience.

Ha Ling Peak

Thank You Canmore and all those that made my trip memorable for your hospitality I can not wait to return and discover more of the trails on offer.