Damon Goerke wins AURA Maroondah Dam 50km Ultra

Damon cleaned up the AURA Maroondah Dam 50km Ultra on Sunday. The full results can be found here. Damon's report follows....

It’s been nearly 10 years since I last ran the Maroondah Dam trail run. I’d only ever done the 30km option and was keen to check out the full 50km. Starting from Fernshaw Reserve just out of Healesville, it climbs up to Dom Dom saddle then across to Mt St Leonards before a knee crushing 13km descent to Maroondah Dam. The total ascent is almost 2000m, with an almost equal amount of descent. The weather was cool and clear, ideal for running, but unfortunately the recent bad weather had trashed the trail and we were warned to be prepared for a bit of bush bashing in the first 10kms.

I found myself at the front within the first 500m and by the time I hit the overgrown section, everyone was already out of sight behind. The organizers had done a great job marking the route with tape, but they were right about it being overgrown. There was no track for several km’s up the first climb and I was bashing through chest high scrub covered in wait-a-while vine, trying to stay out of sight of the runners chasing me so they couldn’t follow my route. After about 45 minutes I found myself out of the scrub and onto a fire trail, my legs covered with blood after being ripped apart in the vines. That was the end of the fun stuff, and the next 30km’s were a combination of fire trail and some off road sections to the summit of Mt St Leonard. I was still in front and told I had about a 10 min lead. I was pretty confident I could maintain my lead on the long descent, so I didn’t take any risks and took the rocky, slippery trail easily. I was just starting to hit a low patch when I came to Donnellys Weir, which I knew was 3km to the finish and was able to finish strongly on adrenaline in 4hr24. Dave Eadie came in 8 minutes behind in second place.

Tingalpa Trot Kayak Race

The Tingalpa Trot, although only a 10 kilometre race holds a lot of prestige amongst South East Queensland canoe clubs. The overall winner spends the next 12 months bragging that they are the reigning 'Trot' winner. Dave and I (Kim) had never paddled on the stretch of river which starts from the Wynnum Canoe Club near the bay and winds it's way 10.6km upstream to the finish line. The river starts off about 50m wide but gradually gets tighter and tighter until there's only room for one boat to squeeze through the mangroves. There are also a couple of tight 180 bends in the Creek which catch many unaware.

Dave and I were both in the first start of the day with all the other K1's. There were about 30 boats in our start so things were very hectic particularly at the start. Dave got away to a flyer with the lead boats, whereas I (despite my unquestionable explosiveness!) was left to battle through what could only be described as a washing machine. Things settled down about a kilometre into the race where I found a few other boats to work with. In the mean time Dave was up the front with just one other boat going into the narrow section. Unfortunately he was caught unaware going into one of the last tight corners and finished a very close second overall in a very strong field. I'm not sure where I came overall, but I managed to win the women's section by a couple of minutes in 54.40mins, plus paddle past several paddlers who were taking unintentional dips in the sludgy waters!

All in all, a great day out in what turned out to be the hottest day in Brisbane in over 12 months - the humidity felt like it was at about 500%.

I'm looking forward to reading about Damon and Josh's day out in their 50km ultra trail run.....

2011 Race Calender - Geoquest and XPD

It's now February and we are well into the planning for the races that we will do this year. There are 2 major Australian Races that we will definitely be racing. It also happens that this year we will be returning as defending champions for both of them.

The Geoquest 48hr race has just announced that it will be held again on the Queens Birthday weekend on the northern coast of NSW with headquarters to be located in Nambucca Heads. This year will be the 10th anniversary and said to be a special edition of the race including "a birthday cake, of course". Having done this race many times before we'll again be returning this year. In fact, Damon and I have raced in every one of the previous 9 races. We won the race last year as the "Mexicans" so will be hoping for another good race this year. However, we're also expecting a much larger and stronger field as many teams will be using this race as a good hit-out before XPD which this year hosts the World Championships.

Our major focus for the year will be the XPD expedition race to be held at the beginning of November. We have won the previous 2 editions of this race; Cairns in 2010, and the Australian Alps in 2008. We will be aiming for 3 in a row, but clearly with the event this year being the Adventure Racing World Championships we expect things to be a little tougher! It was recently announced that the west coast of Tasmania will the location of the race, with HQ to be announced soon. With three of us having raced XPD in 2006 (which was also held in Tasmania) we know that Tasmania has so much to offer with it's rugged mountains and remote wilderness.

Check out this short video of what we can expect in Tasmania this November.....

Thanks again for the continued support from:

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