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