Trailrunmagazine 14

VOL4 ED14 // SPRING 2014 // AU/NZ/ASIA

GETTIN HIGH ON THE FIVE-O // UTMB - FINDING YOUR WHY // RUN THROUGH HISTORY // TRAIL MUSE - BIBBULMUN // PEAK BAGGERS FROM AUSSIE8 TO NZ9 // DOG DAY RUNS // LAUREN STARR // PORT OF PAIN // TRAIL GUIDES, GEAR, SHOES & TRAIL PORN

DETAILS

VOLUME 4, EDITION 14, SPRING 2014

Foundation supporters (the

Yay-sayers)

Windroo Trails www.windrootrails.com Salomon au www.salomon.com/au Wild Plans www.wildplans.com

Editorial Australia Editor: Chris Ord Associate Editor: Tegyn Angel New Zealand Editor: Vicki Woolley Asia Contributor: Rachel Jacqueline Minimalist/Barefoot Editor: Garry Dagg

Brooks / Texas Peak www.brooksrunning.com.

The North Face Australia www.thenorthface.com.au La Sportiva / Expedition Equipment www.mountainrunning.com.au

Design Jordan Cole Craft-Store.net

Visit us online www.trailrunmag.com

Contributing Writers Pat Kinsella, Shona Stephenson, Shane Hutton, Kellie Emmerson, Steven Neary, Neil Kinder

www.facebook.com/trailrunmag www.twitter.com/trailrunmag

Senior photographer Lyndon Marceau www.marceauphotography.com

cover photo

Photography Stuart Watt, Photos4Sale/Alan Ure, Simon Madden, Pat Kinsella, Luke Edwards, Ben Southall, Michael Leadbetter / www.michealeleadbetter.com.au, Shane Hutton, Richelle Olsen, Shaun Collins, Steve Neary, Neail Kinder, Tourism Victoria, Sam Costin, Elias Kunosson / www.eliaskphoto.com, Graeme Murray / www.graememurray.com, Franck Oddoux / UTMB, Matt Judd / www.juddadventures.com, www.supersportimages.com,

François D’HAENE striding through the night, on his way to winning the The North Face Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc.

IMAGE: Franck Oddoux / UTMB

Trail Run is published quarterly Winter / Spring / Summer / Autumn Editorial & Advertising Trail Run Magazine 10 Evans Street, Anglesea, Vic 3230 Email: chris@trailrunmag.com Telephone +61 (0) 430376621 Founders Chris Ord + Stuart Gibson + Mal Law + Peter & Heidi Hibberd

Disclaimer

Trail running and other activities described in this magazine can carry significant risk of injury or death. Especially if you are unfit. Undertake any trail running or other outdoors activity only with proper instruction, supervision, equipment and training. The publisher and its servants and agents have taken all reasonable care to ensure the accuracy of the information contained in this publication and the expertise of its writers. Any reader attempting any of the activities described in this publication does so at their own risk. Neither the publisher nor any of its servants or agents will be held liable for any loss or injury or damage resulting from any attempt to perform any of the activities described in this publication, nor be responsible for any person/s becoming lost when following any of the guides or maps contained herewith. All descriptive and visual directions are a general guide only and not to be used as a sole source of information for navigation. Happy trails.

Publisher Adventure Types 10 Evans Street Anglesea, Victoria, Australia 3230

ADVENTURE IN ANY DIRECTION BROOKSRUNNINGAU

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BROOKSRUNNING.COM.AU

CONTENTS 8

VOLUME 4, EDITION 14, SPRING 2014

120

REGULARS

DESIGNED FOR FREEDOM

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8.Editors

Columns: 8. Australia - Chris Ord 10. New Zealand - Vicki Woolley 12. Australia - Tegyn Angel

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TRAIL GUIDES 120. Bright, Victoria, AU 26. Grampians, Victoria, AU 28. Papahaua Ranges, South Island, NZ

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Te Whara, North Island, NZ

INTERVIEWS 28. Starr runner - Lauren Starr 40. Hound Harrier - Shona Stephenson on running with dogs

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TRAIL MIX 20.

Event Preview

22.

Event Preview

24.

Event Preview

26.

Event Preview

West Coaster, NZ

Afterglow, Vic, AU

Cape Kidnappers Challenge, NZ Alpine Challenge, Vic, AU

110.

Trail Porn

So dirty, it’ll blow your mind

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REVIEWS 14.

92.

FEATURES

Now’s a good time to buy all the good gear

46. Gettin’ High - Mal Law’s High Five-O Challenge 56. Port of Pain - Shane Hutton on the Port Davey Track 66. When Your Number’s Up - peak baggers at eights and nines 74. Run through History - were loggers the first trailites?

84. Finding the why - Tegyn Angel trys to at UTMB

Nutrition reviews - bars and powders to fuel the run

96. Shoe reviews - One with grit, another’s a freak, and a few to endure.

104.

Tech review - Getting our Tech nerd on with the Suunto AMBIT3

6

EDSWORD

CHRIS ORD // AUSTRALIAN EDITOR

photo: Lyndon Marceau www.marceauphotography.com

TRAIL MASK

I’M GUILTY OF FAUX INTELLECTUALISM.

THAT IS, I OFTEN QUOTE FROM A BOOK CALLED THE HERO WITH A THOUSAND FACES, WRITTEN BY A TRUE INTELLECTUAL GIANT, JOSEPH CAMPBELL. I’M ACTUALLY YET TO FINISH THE DAMNED THING, TRUTH BE KNOWN – HENCE THE ‘FAUX’. BUT I’VE SUCKED THE ESSENCE OUT OF IT (HARDLY A PALATABLE POSITION FROM WHICH TO BASE RIGOROUS DISCOURSE; USING A HALF-READ BOOK AS A CORNERSTONE OF IRREFUTABLE PROOF WILL GET YOU CAUGHT OUT EVERY TIME).

Regardless, the book is, as a Time magazine scribe quipped: “A brilliant examination, through ancient hero myths, of a man’s eternal struggle for identity.”

A struggle for identity. Whoa. That’s weighty stuff. Might be too heavy a mental tussle to lug around on trail that one. Maybe tuck it away for a big ultra run where you’ve plenty of brain time to muse on it, and there are a few checkpoints to clock in with your crew whose role will be to keep you fuelled, hydrated and pull you back from the brink of philosophical self-inquisitional insanity.

Nevertheless, in some ways, I’ve touched on those self-identity struggles – or the surfacing of them via many a human trait – in a few of my editorials.

What I wanted to skim upon here is the simplified notion Campbell brings up that all stories – from Greek mythology to Harry Potter to Roald Dahl’s BFG to Jack and Jill to our own personal tales of woe and betiding out on the trail – are essentially the same in that they have certain archetypes, or characters, that fulfil functions in a narrative common to all stories ever told. Yes, all stories, he argues, are in essence the same

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story, or at least have the same roots and structural tenants. Hence the Hero With A Thousand Faces – there is a hero character in every story ever told, the only variation is what ‘face’ he or she (or it – a hero doesn’t have to be a person) presents as in any particular story.

Which got me thinking – we all, as humans and as trail runners – present different faces to the world and to our communities. In our own stories, of course, we are the hero, even when we’re the victim or the sage or the lover or the warrior, the emperor or the tyrant or the saint. Even the villain thinks they are the hero. But what face, what heroic mask, do you present to the trail running world? What archetypical image do you ‘trade in’ when it comes to how you create your character within the trail community?

I was thinking of this because I recognise that I trade on the ‘back of packer, recreational runner, non-competitive, there for the love of the bush etcetera’ shtick. I even convince myself that it’s the truth. But truth is subjective and can be judged from many a perspective. Self-reflection often differs vastly from a third party viewing of who you are and what you represent.

The recognition that my mask was in ways disingenuous was prompted by another online editorial in the running media that lambasted just such a perspective. While the proponent had many nuances to his argument, the thrust was: compete. Be a hero.

Or try to be. Otherwise, get to the back of the singletrack queue. In fact, get off the event line altogether, go get lost in the bush and leave the warriors to their running war.

It was a typical A-type approach. Funnily enough, it made him both hero (to fellow A-typers) and villain (to fellow tree huggers).

Either way, he presented a face to the trail running world, one he did not shy away from.

The question is was it his full and true self?

Is the tree hugger, one-with-nature, trail runner my ‘true’ face? Truth be told, perhaps I have always been too scared to ‘compete’.

My inclination has never been toward the kill-or-be-killed. I’ve never been the bravest at that leading-edge of aggression needed to be the ‘winner’, to be a hero. Nice guys finish last and all that. According to some pundits they shouldn’t even be out on the competitive trail.

But no-one is simply ‘nice’. Not me, nor the most altruistic, giving trail soul you can think of. We each have our villain. We each have our angelic side. We each have our selfish.

Our pessimistic. Our optimistic. We all have an A-Type inside us. We all have our B-Type.

I bet even that media commentator hugs a tree – metaphorically at least – every so often.

It’s just not a mask he chooses to ever show the world. He buries it for reasons best known to his psycho-analyst. Maybe his are the same reasons I bury my A-Type beneath fear and loathing? We just choose different faces to show the world as a coping mechanism.

Whatever works.

We each have a thousand faces. We each have our carefully curated self-myths. And we are each heroes with a wardrobe full of masks.

It is the mask we choose to wear most often that defines us best. Thing is, at the end of the day’s trail, we all share one mask: that of a trail runner. Heroes, then, the lot of us. That’s how we like the non-trail running world, to see us at least. But really, ours like theirs, is just another face in the crowd.

Your masked man editor, Chris Ord, AU

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EDSWORD

NEW ZEALAND // VICKIE WOOLLEY

LIFE BENDER

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THE OTHER DAY I PICKED UP A CRAPPY, CHEAP CANVAS BOARD FROM THE WAREHOUSE, PLAIN BLACK WITH BLUE WRITING: “ONE DAY CAN BEND YOUR LIFE”. IT’S NOT HANGING ON THE WALL YET, ODDLY, I MOVE IT AROUND THE HOUSE EVERY FEW DAYS. EVEN NOW AS I GLANCE AT IT PROPPED UP AGAINST MY COMPUTER TABLE, I AM SIMULTANEOUSLY EMPOWERED AND HUMBLED. The course of my life bent dramatically two months ago when Malcolm Law published the story of my battle with mental health issues on the Partners Life High50 Challenge blog page. Within four minutes of it going online, Facebook Messenger began pinging crazily and at the same time, texts came flooding in.

Not the sugary messages of sympathy I was dreading, thank god, but empathy for our shared experience. My people – our people – pouring out their own tales of abuse, neglect, obsession, addiction and ultimately – anxiety, depression... finally suicide. Words gushing out, crowding each other on the page, needing to be said, desperate to be heard. So much pain. So many tears. So wrong.

I had always suspected that borderline

mental health disorders were over-represented in the trail and ultra running communities, but until Malcolm and Sally Law created a safe platform for the conversations to start, I had not realised how rampant dis-ease in our community is. And I can’t help but suspect it is no accident that so many of us have stumbled into trail running as a strategy for our emotional survival: trail running gives us a huge raft of benefits, possibly more than any other single sport I can think of. Obviously flooding our system with endorphins and adrenaline is a double bonus in that it reduces negativity AND gives us that indomitable ‘runners high’. The physical benefits are obvious: feel strong, feel fit, look good, feel good. Running in wild and beautiful places feeds our souls, our sense of adventure, achievement: it is impossible to not have your spirit touched when running beside thundering West Coast surf, climbing an exposed rocky ridgeline, or cruising silently through a stand of majestic ancient Kauri.

And trail running has become a social sport, a way of connecting with like-minded souls.

And now we are at the crux of things.

Connecting. Connection. We wonder often – individually and in groups – about the unusual nature of bonds formed on trail. We bond

quickly and we bond deeply. Is it because trail runners have a unique interest that is common to all – we love the outdoors? Is it because the boundaries of competition are less clearly delineated than that of flat, fast road running: speed over terrain is subject to so many more variables; gender differences are narrower and vary over distance? Is it because you must have a sense of humility if you run trail – at some point in the game you ARE going to end up face down in mud or gorse with your butt stuck in the air while your mates roar with laughter? Is it because a great number of us run trail to quiet the noise in our heads – and we get that about our companions? Is it a combination of all these, and more?

Whatever the point is that as we connect on trail, we talk about stuff that matters to us: sport, politics and religion, a shitty week at work, difficult kids and troublesome partners.

It’s just a little step further to be more open about ourselves, the things we are struggling with, the areas we need help. Mal, Sal and the Partners High50 Challenge have cracked the door. It’s up to us to start the conversation.

Your thankfully connected editor, Vicki Woolley

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EDSWORD

AUSTRALIA // TEGYN ANGEL

CHO I CE

GROWING UP I WAS INTERESTED IN A LOT OF THINGS THAT MY PEERS WEREN’T AND A FAIRLY MUNDANE CHAIN OF DECISIONS LED ME TO UNIVERSITY. I’LL NEVER FORGET GOING BACK TO THE TOWN WHERE I GREW UP, HAVING A BEER WITH A MATE WHO’D DECIDED TO BE A TRADESMAN. HE COULDN’T WRAP HIS HEAD AROUND HOW I COULD “BE SO SMART”. THAT IS, HOW I COULD GET THROUGH THE LECTURES, READINGS AND ASSESSMENT INVOLVED IN BEING A TERTIARY STUDENT. I TRIED TO TELL HIM IT WAS SIMPLY A CHOICE I’D MADE, THAT THE ONLY DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HIM AND ME WAS THAT I’D DECIDED TO GO TO UNI AND HE’D DECIDED TO BE A TRADIE. CLEARLY THERE’S A WHOLE LOT MORE TO THIS; PREFERENCES, LOYALTIES, PRIORITIES, NATURE, NURTURE ETCETERA, BUT IN THE END IT ALL COMES DOWN TO A SOLITARY DECISION MADE AT A PARTICULAR JUNCTURE OF LIFE. After leaving university I spent some time working an office job, moving freight around the world, sitting behind a computer. My vision was to end up a logistician for some aid

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organisation in some ridiculous, undefined humanitarian crisis. I couldn’t hack the office life and so chose to become an outdoor instructor and guide.

For the last four or five years I’ve travelled and worked around the world, living from a backpack; a sparse and lonely life recorded in the idyllic photographs that I chose to put out into the world in order to tell my story.

Again, my friends and peers begged to know how I’d managed to find the dream job, how the hell I get paid to travel. I tried to tell them it was simply a choice I’d made, that the only difference between them and me was that I’d decided to become an expedition leader and they hadn’t.

When I first ran a mountain in the foothills outside of Santiago de Chile, in part it was because I was embarrassed at how hard I’d found a recent class hike. I was on a student exchange and enrolled in a mountaineering subject and had struggled to keep up with the rest of the group. That led to a decision. I chose to be fitter and more capable in the outdoors.

When I first ran an ultra it was because I wanted to do a multi-day hike and was impatient with how long it was going to take me. I chose to train to the point where I could run it instead. Those members of this obscure

family of trail and ultra runners are often asked by outsiders how we’re able to run for hours, away from the comfort and security of urban spaces, through the night and extremes of weather. We try to tell them that it’s simply a choice we’ve made, that the only difference between them and us is that we’ve decided to be trailrunners and they haven’t.

For me this issue of Trail Run Mag represents the power of decision. The incredible results of choosing to run the length of Tasmania; the strength that comes from deciding the battle with illness and disease is one worth fighting; the decision to respect a millennia of culture and custodianship in spite of our individual goals; the apparently ludicrous plan of running 50 off road marathons and climbing 50 peaks in 50 days.

Every article in this issue tells the story of a decision made by those with enough self-belief to move toward their goals and dreams. Don’t spend your days wishing you were someone, or somewhere, else when all that really stands in your way is a decision.

As Goethe wrote, “Choose well. Your choice is brief, and yet endless.”

Your decisive editor, Tegyn Angel, Associate Editor

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NOW’S A GOOD TIME TO BUY Reviewer: Tegyn Angel

Reviewer: Chris Ord

ArmaSkin Anti-Blister Socks

VITALS

$39.95RRP www.armaskin.com

BLISTERS on the foot are run-stoppers.

Here’s the answer: blister-stoppers. That’s the theory to these unique inner socks that have been designed off the back of “torture testing by soliders, adventurers, ultra-endurance runners, race walker, hikers and all manner of extreme athletes.”

They look and feel like a super thin, silky, stretchy wetsuit – or rashie – style sock, with all stitching ribs on the outside.

Getting them on your foot almost breaks you out in claustrophobia, the tightness and ‘stickyness’ being a new sensation. The idea is that you put your normal sock over the top, and off you trot. It takes a short time to get used to the sensation of this compression around your foot, but you soon forget you’re wearing them The theory is that the ArmaSkin maintains a non-rub contact with your skin, allowing

any shoe or sock rub to happen on the outside.

No friction against your actual skin means no blisters. The sock’s polymer friction coating adheres to the skin preventing the friction in the first place. The coating is also macro porous and hydrophobic (water hating) therefore repels moisture (which encourages blisters) away from the skin. Also, the sock delivers better heat dissipation thanks to the hydrophobic/ hydrophilic moisture management. Less friction, heat and mopisture on the skin equals less chance of hot spots.

Wear testing on me (only moderately prone to blistering pending which shoes being worn and what distance being run) proved that the ArmaSkin worked a treat. Where usually I may get a blister with a particular pair of shoes, I didn’t. Or at least, it took a lot longer to start to notice any discomfort from a hot spot.

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Anecdotally, via other testers, the socks didn’t 100% eradicate blisters, but they did lessen the occurrence noticeably, and as one runner stated “I like wearing them anyway, for the blister protection, but I just find them very comfy in general.”

Personally, I had issues with how tight they were on my toes, which did lead to some minor discomfort up front. And obviously they won’t prevent any blistering between the toes, as they are not a toe-sock style design.

Even so, comfort is what we’re aiming at and these in the main delivered. A good option to try for those who ocassionally blister. Anyone extremely prone to blisters out there – contact Trail Run Mag as we have some pairs to fling to market to get feedback from the extremes.

CW-X Pro shorts & Insulator Stabilyx Tights CW-X offers top-notch products, no question.

Handling a pair of tights or shorts, you can feel the quality of the fabric and see that a lot of care has gone into the manufacturing process.

CW-X distinguishes itself from the plethora of other compression manufacturers out there by incorporating a patented technology they call Support Web. According to the spiel, “Support Web technology mimics kinesiology taping techniques that trainers apply to injured muscles. When this technology is applied to muscles and joints it creates an exoskeletal support system that improves biomechanics during motion.”

CW-X Australia provided TRM with both its Pro Shorts and Insulator Stabilyx Tights for the purpose of this review. While both offer the Support Web technology, each has a different focus. The Pro Shorts are a lower cut and focus on supporting and encouraging alignment from waist to knee, while the Insulator tights are intended for cold weather use and combine thermal properties with a veritable lower body harness, offering stabilisation and kinesioinspired support from the lower abdominals all the way to the ankles.

I really wanted to love this gear. It feels so damn tough and, unlike a lot of compression gear, the fabric is thick enough to make you feel like it’s actually going to hold things together. Unfortunately for me CW-X gear is a bit like Parkour or gymnastics: I really

VITALS

$119.99 / $179.99 RRP www.cw-x.com.au

appreciate it from the sidelines but when push comes to shove my body isn’t going to play along. Sadly, I’m prone to thigh chafe (sorry folks, but we’ll stop at nothing to bring our dear readers the bitter truth), probably due to my Inner-Thigh-Gapdeficiency. Meanwhile, the seams on CW-X are so hefty and regrettably-placed that they actually cause chafe rather than preventing it (surely the real reason anyone wears compression gear…).

If you’re after some bad-arse compression gear straight out of Neon-Genesis Evangelion – and you’re a non-chafer, then look no further. However, if like me you’re a Brother or Sister of the Friction Faction, the search for baby-smooth skin and abrasion resistance (in addition to the compression benefits), continues.

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NOW’S A GOOD TIME TO BUY Reviewer: Chris Ord

VITALS

$450 RRP NZD VITALS

www.macpac.co.nz/summit-anorak-m.html

$239.99 RRP AU www.petzl.com.au

Reviewer: Vicki Woolley

Reviewer: Tegyn Angel

Sweet Cheeks creams MANY issues ago, we ran a piece dubbed ‘Burning Issue’ – about chafe.

In it, Co-Publisher Simon Madden quipped “Nothing threatens our sport like chafing, be it of the balls, butt cheeks, armpits, nipples or wherever rubbing leaves us raw and pained.”

Like a horror writer he continues: “I discovered runners whose thighs slap together, women whose bras leave them scarred, and one wretched soul who experienced the dreaded chafe on the very tip of his manhood.”

That’s a tip too far.

Solution: Sweet Cheeks (the chafe creams – not to be confused with the colonic irrigation outfit in Melbourne. Google is misleading sometimes). Still, just like colonic irrigation, this range of soothing creams and butters keeps the chafe at bay using all natural ingredients.

We tested the Butt Butter, best for not just the rear end, but any major place of chafe. It’s an oil-based product (Apricot Kernel, Calendula, Comfrey) mixed with beeswax and aloe vera among other earthy ingredients. ‘My cheeks kept sweet as bro’ is the easiest review to offer without needless detail. Butt Butter comes in 100g and 200g tubs – enough to last you a good six months, pending how liberal you are.

We also had the Super Balm, a healing ointment for cuts, scrapes and bruises (highly appropriate to trail running). Did it heal overnight? No. Do I think it helped accelerate healing? Yes. Did it smell great and thus improve my mood? Absolutely.

Finally we had a go at Hot Cheeks, a natural heat rub (hello chilli and peppermint), which helps prepare muscles pre-run and relieves them post run. This one feels sensational. The only warning: do NOT mix up your Butt Butter with your Hot Cheeks. Especially in the groin area.

Yowsers. You’ve all heard the horror stories of Deep Heat tricks in the footy/netball changerooms? Well…

We love how this is handmade in trail running heaven, New Zealand, using all natural inclusions. Get some on your bum. Or elsewhere.

VITALS

$9 – 15g Super Balm HealinG VCream $20 – 80g Hot Cheeks Heat Rub RRP$18-34 – 110g/200g Butt Butter Anti Chafe RRP RRP

NZ: www.sweetcheeksnz.co.nz AU: www.thir.com.au

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DISCLOSURE: In the Australian market, Sweet Cheeks is distributed by TRM co-editor, Tegyn Angel. Still, he donates his time to TRM, so we support him in bringing cool trail products to Australia!

Macpac Summit Anorak As we extend the boundaries of trail running into more remote and mountainous areas, the trade-off between light gear and survival gear weighs heavy on our minds. In sub-alpine and alpine territory the weather is fickle, harsh, and can be terminal.

The Summit Anorak is designed for “fast missions in rugged environments, atrocious weather and challenging situations” – and although we have not pushed this garment to the limit, reviewer Steve Neary was reassured.

“It is a little heavier [than a normal running shell] at 400 gms, but it is up to the job, dependable, and I know it will protect me in extreme NZ conditions and still be functional for trail running,” he advises.

“And it doesn’t fill with sweat like a sauna on the inside.”

The Summit Anorak features 3-layer eVent fabric that is waterproof, windproof, durable, and transports moisture away from the body 200% faster than Gore-Tex, as is the claim, making it an obvious choice for fast-movers. Stretch panels aid ease of movement, and the rugged exterior shrugs off any suggestion of pack-wear. The only downside is the wire-reinforced peak which requires caution if using in heavily forested, overgrown areas where vertical peripheral vision is essential – though this can be flipped back if required. Our verdict? If it looks like it’s going to get truly nasty out there, and you are happy with a slight trade of of weight, this could be the baby for you.

Petzl NAO headlamp THE LATEST version of Petzl’s NAO headlamp sees a massive increase in output (now maxing at 575 lumens) and a significantly increased battery life (approx 40% longer burn time).

Aside from all this power, the new model lamp is pretty similar to the previous version. The battery has been redesigned, the fit slightly modified and the manual switch simplified, but otherwise things have been left alone.

For those unfamiliar with original NAO, this was the first commercially available recreational-use headlamp to offer Reactive Lighting technology. In laymen’s terms, a sensor on the front of the unit measures how much light is reflected back to it and adjusts the power of the lamp up or down to compensate.

When there’s a lot of ambient light (for example when looking toward another light, in a bright room or when looking at something close up) the output is decreased. When there’s very little reflected or ambient light (for example when looking off into the distance) the output is increased. The idea is to automatically strike a balance of output and battery life. More light equals more battery consumption so by reducing output you’ll maximise burn time.

Mr Petzl Jnr. modified the default settings of my test unit using the Petzl Operating System, giving me a “lower” and “higher” power setting.

You see, while there is a “constant” lighting mode which turns the reactive function off, with Reactive turned on the lamp responds to a minimum and maximum power variable. By default this is as low and high (in lumens) as the CREE bulbs will go (7 and 575 I believe), but the OS allows you to program these brackets to further tailor battery life and brightness to your use. Just as there’s little point throttling it back if you’re only out for a couple of hours, there’s no point pumping up the jam if you plan on being out there all night. The settings I ran with had no customised low point set (for obvious reason), but set the max brightness to approximately 350 and 450 lumens respectively.

How does it work in practice? Other than a 30 minute test run where I must have looked like I was practicing a runway model’s head flick (light goes up! light goes down! Light goes up! Light goes down!) my first real test was the night one of UTMB. For the majority of the night I ran with it on the lower setting (set to give me an average of 8hrs) only turning it to

high (set to give me an average of 5hrs) for a couple of technical downhill sections. The first battery lasted about 6hrs and the 2nd was on one bar when I ran into Courmayer, about 4hrs from when I switched them.

The light is comfortable, easy to use, lightweight, tolerant of fools and offers nerdfriendly programming options. Unfortunately I’m just not comforted by the unpredictable battery life. Sure, it might last longer than my AyUp if I keep my head pointed toward the ground and resist the urge to look up every time I hear a noise or see something up ahead but, then again, it might not. I know my AyUp, and other constant lighting lamps, will last for a predictable amount of time and so I can plan accordingly.

In so many ways this is an awesome piece of kit and if I never planned on being out longer than 6-8hrs I’d consider it. While 575 lumens is a whole lot of high-beaming potential, I just don’t see the point in going lightweight and boosting performance if you have to carry another battery just in case you look off into the distance a little more than usual.

This product will be released in Australia and New Zealand in October 2014.

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NOW’S A GOOD TIME TO BUY Reviewer: Chris Ord

2XU Balance L/S Zip Thru Top

VITALS $129

Reviewer: Kellie Emmerson

www.2xu.com.au

HERE’S a good one as we head into the Spring run months: a lightweight, wicking yet moderately insulating layer, perfect for the crisp morning hit outs or as we get into temperature-dropping dusk runs.

It’s an extremely comfy, stretch-fitted garment, designed to move with you, rather than restrict as you weave along the trails. It is silky against the skin, and pants superbly, the polyester yarn wicking moisture away well.

Thumbholes keep sleeves down, good when wearing run gloves, and the ¼ zip up to the high collar is protected against the skin of the neck, allowing full protection or zip down for upper ventilation. A concealed rear zip pocket stores lightweight essentials (essentially gels or a $20 note for the coffee stop off en route home).

The top on test was a lurid orange – not this reviewer’s preferred colourway (does it look good on anyone bar road workers?) – but it comes in black, too. Get black. That’s a Fashion Police order. (Unless you’re going to wear it at the TRM-supported Afterglow night trail half marathon, on 29 November www.afterglowtrail. com.au, where ‘glow’ is the go!).

MOVING COMFORT REBOUND RACER

Kori Kita Skirt

Reviewer: Vicki Woolley

NZ DESIGNER Kate Townsley chose two Maori words – ‘Kori’ (move or play) and ‘Kita’ (fast or intense) - to describe her line of sports clothing.

Excited by the words ‘play’ and ‘fast’, I trialled the Tongariro Active Red Crater skirt with undershorts (also available with Capris).

Slipping into the skirt I was stunned at how incredibly light it was - it felt delicious, gently fluttering away as I ran. Cut in a flattering A-line style with small side slits to allow ease of movement, the skirt sat beautifully and the simple, elasticated waist didn’t roll over as I had feared. Actually the absence of a band proved delightfully unrestrictive – a joy on long runs.

Dry-cool sport undershorts are flat seamed so comfortable over long days, and the dark grey fabric doesn’t show sweat. The shorts don’t have grip strips – I don’t like the rubbery feel of these so was pleased – and even more so when they stayed in place and comfortable after hours on the trail.

The skirt fabric is durable – though prone to snagging if going seriously off trail – and the available designs are sweetly inspired by the NZ outdoors.

Light, feminine and fun, Kori Kita Active skirts are registered under the ‘Buy NZ Made’ brand, so in purchasing you can be proud to be doing your bit for the NZ textile industry!

VITALS $120 NZD www.korikita.co.nz/

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I WAS lucky enough to discover the Rebound Racer following a professional fit and treadmill testing at She Science. It is now my favourite. It is a bit of a squeeze to get into, but once on is a great fit, and the first bra that I have worn in longer races without nasty chafe under the breasts.

The bra is quite compact, offering a nice shape without unnecessary padding, combining encapsulation and compression, to deliver high impact support. It has a racer back to allow the shoulder blades to move freely, whilst hiding elegantly under my run tops (because no one wants to see your bra straps!).

The Rebound Racer is not only adjustable at the rear, but also has convenient velcro padded straps accessible from the front via hook and loop. This means that it would also be suitable for new mums. The slight padding on the straps also gives me some confidence that my hydration pack won’t rub my collarbones raw after a few hours on the run.

VITALS $80

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DISCLOSURE: Kellie Emmerson is a brand ambassador for SheScience, but is not sponsored by, or under any obligation to favorably review, Moving Comfort products.

Performance canine running boots, packs, coats, leashes, harnesses and more.

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EVENT PREVIEW

CONQUER NEW TERRITORY

IMAGE: Photos4Sale

SPEIGHTS WEST COASTER

H

old onto your running shorts and skorts, people, ’cos the Speights West Coaster will blow you away!

The run heads up and over surreal inland sand dunes with glimpses of Lake Wainamu, before heading out along a goat track hugging the sea cliffs above roaring West Coast surf.

Despite the temptation to ogle the multiple headlands curving off into the distance, you must pay attention to your footing as you make your way along the Te Henga Walkway. The notorious stairs up to Constable Road simply serve as a pause in consciousness, delineating a boundary between the beauty you have witnessed, and the sublime about to follow.

Goldies Bush Walkway is straight out of a trail-running heaven brochure: luscious NZ native forest seeps into your soul as you drop in and out of the river for the first part of the loop.

Climb above Mokoroa Falls and return through towering rimu and lancewood as piwakawaka

Auckland, NEW ZEALAND

(fantails) dance above your head.

This year, the half-marathoners and short coursers will experience Goldies Bush also: the good folk at Total Sport have decided it is just too good to be reserved for the 30km and 42km folk only and added a 21km, plus the 13km and 6km options! All you have to do now is get your ‘O for Oresome’ on.

EVENT Speights West Coaster DISTANCE 42.2km, 21.2km, 13km, 6km Free Suunto Movescount App - learn more on suunto.com/movescountapp

WHEN 29 November 2014 WHERE Bethells Beach, Auckland, North Island, NZ

SUUNTO AMBIT3 PEAK

THE ADVENTURE EXPERIENCE THEWESTCOASTER.CO.NZ

The journey to your summit is what it’s all about – whether it’s a mountain or a personal best. Progress and stay safe on your quest with the Suunto Ambit3 Peak GPS watch as your companion. www.suunto.com

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EVENT PREVIEW

AFTERGLOW NIGHT TRAIL HALF MARATHON Surf Coast, Victoria, Australia

O

ne event often leads to another.

I know, thanks for that Captain Obvious. But in this case, it was while out marking the course for one trail event – the Surf Coast Trail Marathon (SCTM) in June – that the idea for the Afterglow came to, ermm, light. On a balmy, starry night, the Surf Coast Walk – being prepared for the upcoming daytime marathon – seemed to whisper: do it, do a half marathon at night on this course…

But of course, you can’t just run the same thing once the sun goes down, so this new event course takes the SCTM shtick, reverses the stream and halves the distance.

The half mara running will begin at twilight from Point Addis, host to one of the most stunning beaches on the Victorian coastline, and

track north-east against the usual SCTM flow. Into the ironbark forest at which point the sun will extinguish its final rays and the lights on heads will flame up. By the time runners get to iconic Bells beach – spiritual home to Australia’s surf culture – the race will have fully transitioned from twilight to night. So if there’s no moon, forget about the usual clifftop vistas and just enjoy the weaving singletrack as it reaches Jan Juc, then Point Danger and finally hits ‘civilisation’ running along the Promenade of surf town Torquay. We wonder what the local nightlife, downing their third beer of a Saturday night on the tiles, will make of a bunch of bobbing headtorches zipping past (maybe they’ll wonder if they’ve had enough amber ale at the sight of 22

these strange apparitions). On the other side of town, and still hugging the coast, it’s a short but firm beach run, a little dune diversion and then U-turn back to the finish. Then, perhaps, it’ll be a hand up for one of those beers, to celebrate the finish of Australia’s first ever night time half marathon.

EVENT Afterglow Twilight-Night Trail Half Marathon DISTANCE 21km WHEN 29 November 2014 WHERE Surf Coast, Victoria, Australia

AFTERGLOWTRAIL.COM.AU

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EVENT PREVIEW

CAPE KIDNAPPERS CHALLENGE

Hastings District, Hawkes Bay, North Island, New zealand

NZ

’s Hawkes Bay boasts kilometre after kilometre of stunning, rugged coastline – exhilarating in its own right – however, participants in the Cape Kidnappers Challenge are treated to so much more. The 32km course is run largely on private land that cannot be accessed outside of the event, and is an absolute stunner with windswept beaches, sea caves, native flora and fauna, and the largest gannet colony in the world.

After crossing the start line at Clifton Bay, participants enjoy 11km of sublime ocean views before turning inland and climbing up over the Head. Back down at sea level, the 1887 wreck of the Go Ahead can be seen on the climb out of Rangaiika, which once hosted a whaling station. After topping out to stunning views at 260m, the runner skirts the Cape Kidnappers Wildlife Reserve, the largest privately owned and funded restoration project in NZ, currently hosting

an active kiwi breeding and release program. Descending through lush native forest, the course follows the Maraetotara River past waterfalls and through gorges before returning the runner back to Clifton Bay. Participants can enter as individuals or teams. The event was first held in 2009 and has raised over $66,000 for a variety of charities: the 2014 charity partner is the Hawkes Bay ‘4Friends Afterschool Programme’.

DISTANCE 32km WHEN 4 October 2014 WHERE Hastings District, Hawkes Bay, North Island, NZ

CAPECHALLENGE.CO.NZ/

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EVENT PREVIEW

ALPINE CHALLENGE Alpine National Park, Victoria

H

ere’s an event – one of Australia’s few milers – that boasts a stout backstory giving credence to the growing reputation as an outing where legends are created. In 2006, in what was planned to be the inaugural event, four experienced runners attempted to run the course but were stopped by unseasonal snow. Running in pairs, two pulled out at Mt Nelse after taking 17.5 hours to complete 60km and two others turned back at 3am in calf-deep snow and whiteout conditions on the approach to Mt Bogong. The elemental difficulties have continued: in 2007 bushfires led to a cancellation. Then in 2008, on the third attempt, it was successfully run with three of five starters finishing the distance in 42 hours. Ouch. And DNF rates have hovered around the 30-40% mark ever since, indicating the grueling nature of the undertaking.

Regardless, records have tumbled and entry lists grown, and any ultra runner in Australia with a hankering for testing their mettle will eye this one off at some stage in

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their running career.

This is not a run for anyone – solid experience in the alpine environment is required as is navigational acumen. It’s described as a mutual support event; and so is not a race in the traditional sense.

Participants are responsible for their own safety and that of others and the course is famously marked with a very, very light touch.

EVENT Alpine Challenge DISTANCE 100 mile / 100km / 60km WHEN 29 November 2014 WHERE Alpine National Park, North Eastern Victoria

RUNNINGWILD.NET.AU

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For more information visit www.garmin.com.au

INNERVIEW

LAUREN STARR

story + photograpy: Chris Ord

Rising Starr For more than 14 years, running was an addictive curse feeding a sickness that clouded Lauren Starr’s world. Now, running has become her trail to salvation.

I AM AN INSENSITIVE IDIOT. FOR MOST OF HER LIFE, LAUREN STARR HAS SUFFERED FROM ANOREXIA NERVOSA. AN EATING DISORDER. SO WHERE DO I ARRANGE TO MEET FOR THE FIRST TIME? “Let’s meet at The Pantry, it’s a great little foodie place on the main street.”

The Pantry.

You idiot.

That said, like a contortionist unencumbered by the warning bells of a normal person’s sensitivity radar, I manage to squeeze the other foot into my mouth with ease.

In the initial email detailing her background, Lauren, a 26-year-old physiotherapist from Rowville, Victoria, tells me that she has also suffered from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, a debilitating state that renders people unable 28

to function in daily life as they struggle with unending and extreme exhaustion.

My idea for a good interview session, then?

“How about we run the first leg of the Victorian Trail Running Festival course,” I suggest, thinking it appropriate given Lauren is an ambassador for the event. The route is 34km, a distance she has – despite being a talented runner – only completed once before, and one that would require a fair energy-sapping effort. Lauren later explains that she has to be measured about her physical undertakings and the level of exertion required, as keeping at bay a potential relapse into Chronic Fatigue Syndrome means being careful about what she takes on in terms of running efforts.

Halfway through our run – she remains sensible and curtails her effort to a more comfortable 20km – I’m also still mortified to think that the first thing I said after hello, was “what would you like to eat?”

“It was okay,” says Lauren when I apologise.

“The eating disorder will always be with me, but that’s not what I fear or obsess about as much now. It’s more the fear of lapsing back into Chronic Fatigue that dictates how I live my daily life.”

It makes sense, then, that she eventually

ordered a muffin back at The Larder. I took that as either a sign of being free from the monster that is calorie-counting anorexia or that she was, against advice of all her inner demons, being polite. Wrong on both counts.

“No, once I realised we were going to run longer than I expected, I was weighing up how much energy I’d use, what would be the nutritional needs against that kind of distance, to ensure I wouldn’t take a massive dip in my energy reserves. It’s a constant balance like that – I’m always thinking about how to maintain a level of energy and healthiness. I never want to be so debilitated again, like I was with Chronic Fatigue. I never want to be unable to run again.”

Today, running – and a pure love of it – is Lauren’s angel on the shoulder where once it was the devil. In the darker days it played a large part in fuelling the anorexia.

“I used it [running] to keep weight off,” says Lauren. “I was always pretty competitive and driven – I think you find that in a lot of sufferers – so the fast times, personal bests and trying to win was, like it is for many runners, part of the drive. But the over-riding motivator to run was because it kept me skinny.”

Lauren recounts one of her darkest moments >>

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LAUREN STARR INNERVIEW

as being in an almost manic meltdown as a teenager, when it was looking like she could not go on a planned after-school run. Unable to drive her to the run, her parents copped the wrath of a girl consumed by an irrational fear that missing one single outing would lead to devastating weight gain.

“I cried and shouted until they relented and found a way to get me to that run. At the time, in my head, the world was crashing down around me. Looking back, it seems so ridiculous. But the disease of anorexia is not a rational or sensible thing.”

While running became an integral part of the machinations of anorexia, it was not what initially sparked the downward spiral. Until the age of eleven, Lauren had like many other young girls her age been enjoying childhood and was yearning to own a horse. Her naturally driven personality came to the fore as she asked for no presents just money every Christmas and birthday from age six until she had saved enough money to buy the horse. Her spare time was then consumed with riding and caring for it.

“Because I was always riding or mucking out stables, I was physically active,” says Lauren.

“And that meant while other friends were watching TV, eating crisps, I was burning energy and as a result I lost some weight.”

“Before that time, I had never even thought about the concept of fat or skinny or been conscious of my weight at all. But some random – and they were actually positive – comments on my change in body shape woke up something inside me, it turned attention to how my body looked. That quickly turned into an obsession.”

Lauren was soon refusing food and counting calories with fervour.

“You could show me nearly any food and I’d know the calorie count and fat content,” says Lauren. “I knew it wasn’t normal, I guess, in that my friends weren’t doing the same thing and they would try to get me to eat things.

But I justified it in my head – my world-view somehow contorted what was happening and made it okay, made it normal. So nothing was

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wrong with me.”

This despite increasing visits to doctors and specialists and, as she came of age, her menstruation was MIA. All the while, and despite low calorie intake, Lauren’s running excelled.

“I wasn’t a regular runner as a kid so much, but a friend encouraged me to go running with her shortly after I initially developed anorexia.

The more I ran, the more I found I could maintain or even drop my weight, so it started to feed into the anorexia.

“I also began to do well at it, so the recognition I received for performing on cross country runs, road runs and eventually triathlons, also helped. I needed that reassurance, the affirmation of being good at something. And the fact I was skinny was seen as a good thing. In the running world, being skinny is a positive. Also, in my head, it helped my performances. So the skinnier I was, the better on all fronts.”

Originally from England, Lauren eventually found herself in Africa as a young adult, where both her anorexia and running remained constant companions of.

“I loved my time there,” says Lauren. “The landscapes totally captured me. I kept up my running and I managed to mostly hide my compulsions from those around me. But the realities of living there – the violence, the uncertainty, the politics – eventually meant I decided to move on.”

Australia became her next home, and, with her parents having also emigrated, it has remained so.

“I established a life here, but the anorexia remained, fuelled by the running, fuelled by a lot of things, lots of issues from my past. Each

emotional challenge I was going through at the time played a part. Maybe being able to control my weight, and my cravings, was my way of delivering control over my life in general.

I’m not sure,” says Lauren, who admits to all outward appearances she would have been seen as a hard working, socially active university student, but her interior world was a constant nightmare of battling the disorder and it was taking a toll.

A foray into the trail running world marked the next chapter in her journey, one that played just as big a role in shattering life further.

Unexpectedly, it also gave some respite from the steely grip of anorexia.

“I was running too much and, of course, eating very little,” says Lauren. “Despite feeling rundown, I entered one of the shorter Razorback runs in the Victorian Alps. I had been ill all winter, something that was very unusual for me, but I had been feeling better so I ran it, and won, which was incredible, and it gave me a taste for trail running. But not long after I was bedridden, no energy, unable to function. And it didn’t ease off.”

Lauren was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, something she believes was inextricably linked the anorexia. Suddenly, running was off the agenda. Unable to get outdoors on some days, let alone rise to a run, her weight increased.

“It was awful. But worse than the weight gain, I couldn’t run or function normally. That realisation – the order of how I ranked those two factors in my head – was a realisation that I loved running for more than simply controlling my weight. I actually missed running for the >>

i’m always thinking about how to maintain a level of energy and healthiness. I never want to be so debilitated again 31

LAUREN STARR INNERVIEW

<<

sake of running. For how it – not the weight loss – made me feel. That feeling of wanting to run was more important than worrying about my weight – it flipped my mental focus.”

In essence, it took Chronic Fatigue for Lauren to find a way, mentally, to prise off the allconsuming grip of anorexia. Of course, in its place she had to battle debilitating Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. However, the drive to run again gave her the impetus enough to claw her way back to a semblance of health, enough to run again.

“I walked a little first. Then a short, 3km run.

I guess I used that same drive that had counted calories and controlled my eating for so long to focus on getting better. I wanted to run as badly as I had ever wanted to stop eating.”

Having relapsed in 2012 after rushing back into racing long distances, eating too little and ignoring the warning signs her body was yelling out at her, Lauren is finally back to a full and normal life, including racing. But now the fear of relapse into Chronic Fatigue – and the idea that it would again rob her of running – moderates and informs how Lauren approaches both eating and running, more so than any thoughts of excessive weight control.

“Both of them (Anorexia and Chronic Fatigue) will be with me forever, I think,” says Lauren.

“But I’m learning how to maintain a healthier balance, and I recognise my weaknesses and tendencies and use a focus on running to keep them at bay or at least manage them.”

“I still have a habit of counting calories and

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“

And now I use that fear of lapsing back into Chronic Fatigue to motivate me to look after myself much better knowing exactly what is in the food I eat – I can’t erase that knowledge or behavioural impulse. But I can moderate it and focus it on healthier eating instead of not eating.”

“And now I use that fear of lapsing back into Chronic Fatigue to motivate me to look after myself much better – not just by eating a more balanced diet, but also in terms of not overdoing the training, the exertion; not taking the running to extremes like I once did for all the wrong reasons.”

No wonder Lauren decides to peel off at 20km. Partly because it’s getting late and she has places to be, but perhaps she is just doing what she sensibly needs to do to stay healthy. Previously, her competitive and obsessive personality may have compelled her to continue the run with me, to keep going beyond, to push to the extreme, even on a social run such as ours. But fuelled by newfound inner strength, she tells me she’ll take early leave. The risk is not worth the alternative and her resolve is clear.

“The biggest turning point for me was in

the last few years. I was running in an event up at Mount Buller (Victoria). I was feeling worse than ever, really struggling. I reached a checkpoint and for the first time ever I decided to pull out. For me that decision was huge. I’m pretty stubborn. I was gutted. But I just knew that if I kept pushing, I would risk that descent into Chronic Fatigue in weeks to come. Against all my inclination I decided to accept my first ever DNF. But I knew straight away, as soon as I gave in to it, that it was in a way a win for me.

I was really proud of myself in that moment for having the strength to quit.”

For once logic and sensibility won out over her compulsions.

“Then I had a second turning point moment,” she continues. “I stayed at that aid station for an hour and a half. I ate, rested. The idea of getting back out on trail crept into my mind but then my ego resisted: my race time would be ridiculously slow, people would laugh and judge me, I thought.”

“Then I realised that was the ego talking. >>

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LAUREN STARR INNERVIEW

for once, I let go of my ego and my fear of what people would think.

That was a big step that represented more than just finishing a trail run

>>

That façade of success that had to be maintained was controlling me again and it said that if I couldn’t have a fast time, I shouldn’t even be running. I realised that kind of pretence reflected the greater problem within. So, because I knew I could by then physically run and walk the remainder of the way to the finish line, without risking pushing things too far, that I should. So for once, I let go of my ego and my fear of what people would think. That was a big step that represented more than just finishing a trail run.”

For Lauren, the idea of self-image and how it can control you is part of why she is now speaking out about her journey.

“I want people to know that nothing and no one is perfect, and that we all have our issues, our weaknesses. We should be – we need to be – more open about them. From the outside, I probably seemed like a normal, happy person, studying hard at uni, having fun, running, fit and healthy – when in actual fact I was consumed by a terrible disease that made my inner life hell. I was mentally and emotionally alone with that. I don’t want anyone else out there to feel that they are alone or compare themselves unfavourably to others.”

Her message of moderation extends beyond just addressing the extremes of Anorexia and Chronic Fatigue.

“I see so many people now jumping into ultras and doing crazy training mileage on top

of busy schedules. I learnt the hard way that is a recipe to injury and illness and I’d like to warn others against making the same mistake.”

For Lauren, her own sense of place in the world has shifted in no small part thanks to trail running.

“I see myself as a trail runner now. I feel strong and free out on the trails– which I didn’t always feel when I was running road.

Being in nature makes me feel connected, like that’s where I am supposed to be. And the trail running community, they are as a general rule so welcoming and non-judgmental. That makes a big difference.”

I wonder, however, about how running on trails, and in nature in particular, has played a part in Lauren’s journey.

“Anorexia is about control, right?” I venture.

Yes, says Lauren.

I posture further that perhaps one of the reasons she is drawn to it so strongly – beyond the fact that she is obviously a talented runner – is because trail running teaches you at once

to be aware and prepared as though control is attainable, but in actual fact is informed by the fact that you cannot ever control the mountain, the weather or Mother Nature. And it is useless to think otherwise. To trail run is to hand control of the elements and terrain over.

You can be prepared, yes. But never are you fully in control. It is indeed one of the joys, the freedoms of trail.

“So, is that why you like it – trail running – so much? Because you’ve found the first thing in your life that allows you the freedom to actually let go, to give over control willingly? It gives you permission, and in a way releases you from the grip of self control that anorexia demands?”

Lauren runs silent.

“Maybe. I’ve never thought about it like that. Maybe.”

The sound of our feet hitting the trail suddenly seems louder than the silence my theorising has prompted.

“I just know it helps keep me on track.”

Lauren Starr is an ambassador for the Victorian Trail Running Festival, 1-3 November 2014. See www.victoriantrailrunningfestival.com.au To talk to someone confidentially about anything relating to eating disorders, see www.thebutterflyfoundation.org.au For more information on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, see www.mecfs.org.au

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TRAILCREW

Hillary Trail

Runners 36

Q&A 1. How did your group begin?

Shaun Collins and Gus Grey completed the first running of the 75km Hillary Trail a week before it officially opened in January 2010. In June 2010, trail legend Malcolm Law coerced a bunch of friends to run the trail starting at midnight on the shortest day – therefore in the worst possible winter conditions – as a training run for the 7in7 challenge. The unofficial event was dubbed Midnight Midwinter Madness: we ran, we loved it, we had an adventure – and the Group (and Honours Board!) was born.

2. Where does your group run mostly?

We do run frequently on the Hillary Trail (which is actually a network of around 25 tracks that traverse the Waitakere Ranges from Titirangi in the south to Muriwai in the north). However there are a LOT more trails in the Waitakeres, and as the Hillary Trail becomes increasingly popular we tend to seek the less-travelled paths.

3. What is your favourite local trail and why?

One of the most popular sections is Te Henga, 8km of coastal walkway from Bethells Beach to Muriwai. The walkway snakes around the cliffs with sublime (sometimes scary and exposed) views of the wild West Coast ocean, beaches and cliffs. Another favourite isn’t actually part of the Hillary Trail but has become a key ‘intro’ run for

newbies: Piha Valley-Centennial –Maungaroa Ridge loop. Stunning native bush, fabulous views over Piha Valley at the top, and a gorgeous Kauri grove on the run back down.

4. What local event does your group rally around?

‘The Hillary’ event ran for the first time in March 2014 after formidable red-tape barriers were hurdled by Shaun Collins (Lactic Turkey Events) and the Hillary Trail Run Charitable Trust. Midwinter Midnight Madness is an informal event organised by the group to run the trail in the worst possible winter conditions and starting at midnight.

5. What single piece of advice would you guys give a newbie joining your group?

If you are running in the bush with us, please be self sufficient: we are NOT an organised group with safety gear, insurance, medics on hand and radio comms! Bring your first aid kit, extra warm/waterproof layers, food and drink!

6. If your trail group was an animal, what would it be and why?

Wolf: strong, fast, and durable – able to survive in the wild. >>

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HILLARY TRAIL RUNNERS TRAILCREW

STATS: HILLARY TRAIL RUNNERS (FACEBOOK PAGE)

Birthday 6 Jan 2010 Region: Waitakere Ranges, Auckland, New Zealand

Members: 661 Average runners at each hook up: 1-49 (Permit required for 50, cough) Grand Canyon Rim-to-Rim... then as the world ends; we each have a choice as to when we jump...

<<

7. If you were heading out for a solo ultra run and some bastard stole your pack so you can only take two things, what would you have in each hand?

9. Your group can choose ANY three people on earth, living or dead, to come join one of your runs…who would they be and why?

Water bottle in one hand. Depending on whether the run went through pockets of civilisation, I would either have my wallet or a plastic shopping bag filled with the fridge contents in the other. And a rifle slung over my back in case I run into the bastard who stole my pack.

8. The world is ending - nominate a trail anywhere on the planet that your group must run, it’s the last trail you’ll ever see…what / where is it?

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• Kilian Journet (just to catch a 30sec glimpse of the Legend before he bounds off into the sunset) • Tim Olson (because he said Rotorua is the most technical terrain he has ever run on, and we would LOVE to see him powering up Karamatura Ridge) • Ruby Muir (‘cos she is such a fabulous running ambassador for NZ... AND she would love it...

AND she would smash it!)

10. How have you seen participation in your trail group change people and lives?

The topic discussed most often on trail is Connection: how quickly friendships are formed on trail, and how strong those bonds are. Rarely do you come away from a run without a new person to friend on Facebook.

Over the years, various members have set themselves enormous personal challenges – without fail, there have always been a handful (or more!) members immediately jumping in to support. Once immersed in this group, you are unlikely to be abandoned.

Average hook ups a year: Nearly every weekend in summer, 2-3 days a month in winter

Shoes owned in total by all members: Aha!! We have Shaun Collins, our secret weapon – so a shed load more than Imelda Marcos.

Unofficial clubhouse: Arataki Visitors Centre (midnight-5am); Piha Store/Café (for the Jafas who need a coffee halfway); Dunez Café, Muriwai (for the Legends)

Website / FB page link: www. facebook.com/groups/htrunners/ Honours Board: www.lacticturkey. co.nz/HillaryTrailHonoursBoard.htm

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FEATURE

TRAIL HOUNDS FEATURE

trail hounds They pant and dribble more than you, often smell worse, and you have to be very aware of when they need to go to the toilet. On the upside, they don’t complain about the distance or the choice of route, the have boundless energy and just when you hit the wall, they pick you back up again with some kind of goofy ‘gimme more’ look that sparks the spirit back into running action. Yes, trail running with your best friend is good for you, especially when they have four legs. A regular on trails with her dog Bubble, Shona Stephenson, talks to Trail Run Mag about how she became a hound harrier.

WORDS: Shona Stephenson IMAGES: Michael Leadbetter / www.michaelleadbetter.com.au

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U FEATURE TRAIL HOUNDS

TRAIL HOUNDS FEATURE

Ultra trail running can be a lonely and a dangerous experience.

Especially the long and remote runs, which are often part of my training routine. Sometimes I dread heading out with no-one to speak to for 30, 50 or 60 kilometres, while I rack up the distance required for milers. I’ve even had a few real concerns for my safety while training.

My solution?

Bubble. Yes, Bubble, capital ‘B’: my dog, an Australian Black Kelpie. To be honest, when I run with Bubble, it’s less a matter of safety and more about simply having a companion who gets as eager for the trail as I do.

A lot of runners I know do so with dogs.

Clark McClyrmont has Cooba the Cattle Dog, Jono O’Loughlin has his Kelpies, Beth Cardelli has her crazy Schnauzers and I understand that over the ditch, Mal and Sally Law regularly take their Border Collie out on the mountainsides of New Zealand.

I’ve always wanted a dog to run with.

I’d grown up with them but I had to wait for my kids to want to pick up the dog poo before our democratically run (most of the time) family could commit to adopting one.

After much nagging I (un-democratically) tricked my husband by telling him that we were going to the cafe when in actual fact we headed to the Sutherland Animal Shelter. We soon chose and adopted Kara, who the kids renamed Bubble.

One advantage of running with a dog is to provide an extra set of eyes and ears.

I also wanted to be able to send my kids off on their own for a run with their Kelpie watching over them, instilling confidence and independence. Bubble could be my eyes and ears when I’m not there. I spent many an afternoon or early morning front the age of 10 running with my childhood mongrel, Sandy, I wanted this same freedom (and fond memories) for my girls, too.

Now she’s a running dog, Bubble has never been healthier.

When we rescued her, she was 7 kilograms of skin and bones found on the mean streets of Glebe, Sydney. Like us, the workers at the animal rescue centre saw something special in Bubble and so she managed to dodge being put down.

But she had to fight for every meal. She was a master at catching the inner west Newtown pigeons out of the air in Camperdown Memorial >>

Bubble Bio

goes and goes and goes.

and only 8 kilograms

BREED: Australian Black Kelpie

Current weight: 15.1 Kilos

AGE: 2.5 years

TOP SPEED: 45km/h

NAME: Bubble

SAVED FROM: Sutherland Animal Shelter

LONGEST RUN: 60+km

NICKNAME: “The Bubble Factory”: she just

AGE WHEN RESCUED: 10 Months (we think)

AVERAGE KILOMETERS PER WEEK: 130km

DOGS ON THE RUN: ESSENTIAL TRAIL GEAR RUFF WEAR HAS DEVELOPED A RANGE OF DOG WEAR PRODUCTS PERFECT FOR DOGS HITTING THE TRAILS WITH THEIR OWNERS.

Grip Trex Boots

Roamer Leash A stretch webbing leash that can be hand-held or waist-worn, allowing trail runners and canines to be connected with an extended range. The Talon Clip provides a strong and secure attachment, the handle is padded for comfort and a accessory loop is included for pick up bags or small clip-on items.

Quencher Collapsible Bowl Designed to provide your canine companion water while on the go, this handy collapsible bowl folds up to fit in a pocket or a pack. Available in three different sizes to match your adventure.

$44.95 RRP

$19.95 RRP 42

Singletrak Pack A sleek, low-profile hydration pack, featuring two on-board, collapsible water bottles, and two external stash pockets to fit other run adventure essentials.

$124.95 RRP

Don’t think these are just for cutsie-sake…take your dog on a long run on tough terrain and just see what can happen to their paws. These highperformance boots allow you dog the freedom to explore wild places with you regardless of how tough the terrain is.

Featuring a rugged and resilient outsole lug pattern that provides exceptional traction.

RRP $94.95 (Set of four)

Hoopie Collar Collar with an easy-to-use side-release buckle and outdoor-inspired patterns.

Packed full of Ruffwear’s essential features: separate ID tag attachment point, strong and comfortable webbing, and aluminum V-ring.

$25.95 RRP

$94.95 RRP (set of 4) 43

FEATURE TRAIL HOUNDS

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conservation and state parks with Bubble on the lead, I actually had to alter my running technique to reduce impact on my body. She had become so powerful running all the trails, stairs and hills with me. Our usual go-to for a dog run is Mt Coo-tha, only 6 kilometres from Brisbane’s CBD, but sometimes I’ll spur of the moment quip to Bubble: “Lets go and have an adventure”. She knows instinctively that means she is up for a 20-plus kilometre run and understands that when I put a pack on, she is in for the long haul that day.

Park. I’m guessing these flying rats of the made up the main part of her diet. She was always scavenging. Maybe that’s what her endurance – which comes to light during our runs – is built upon. But Bubble was totally malnourished when we got her, she could not walk up a hill nor match me even at my slowest. Only three inches wide at her back hips she had no muscle. Hungry, angry, frustrated and unsocialised: there was no way I could take Bubble out with me running in this condition, I would have killed her.

But with time and love she has become a running machine.

Bubble lifts my spirits when I am down and is always so reliable.

Slowly but surely after some food, socialisation and specific training she started to “come good”. She soon learnt how to play with other dogs and feel confident in her surroundings.

I started running and walking with her and bringing her to my Bootcamps so she could dictate the pace and the distance she was going to run and rest.

If I am running in a group she is always a great source of distraction to my mates when the hills get tough or the kilometers seem neverending. She never ceases to amaze me with her speed, agility, strength, stamina and V02 Max. She is always ready for a run and gets me out of the house for a training session on those days that I don’t want to go. She is my right hand and we are inseparable.

I treated her like one of my learn-to-run clients and within one month of training she was running 7 kilometres at 4min20sec/ km pace. Her aggression with other dogs disappeared as I built up her running distances.

I started to add in stairs and hill reps and she was soon whipping my butt not to mention everyone else’s. She became one of the strongest, fittest and muscliest dogs in the park.

Of course, it’s just as important for me to look after Bubble’s hydration and nutritional requirements as it is my own.

Most of my ultra training kilometres are with Bubble and if I don’t look after Bubble it can really damage her health. Dogs can only “pant” to help reduce their core temperature and prevent over heating. Dogs do not have any sweat glands like humans, so she needs to

Bubble has become the perfect running dog.

Running through dog-friendly recreation,

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drink often and remain cool on tough sessions.

I always allow her to have regular dips in creeks, rivers and ponds to help her maintain optimal working temperature. She also needs to eat on the run to keep energy levels stable and prevent muscle meltdown while we tackle the challenging climbs together.

It may sound strange – and it gets a lot of looks from passersby – but Bubble needs her own hydration pack.

We have a Ruff Wear Single Track Ruck sack, perfect for 30+km runs together. I can fill up her pockets with food (she likes salty potato chips on the run) and I have a collapsable water bowl and bladder for her, too. If I know there is no water where I’m heading, I estimate she will need as much as I do, even if it is to help her cool down by wetting her stomach. After particularly long runs on hot days, I give her some electrolytes in cooked eggs and that seems to help her with her stiffness the next day.

Ruffwear is proudly distributed in Australia and New Zealand by Frontier Equipment www.frontierequipment.com.au. To see more of the Ruffwear range click HERE. http://waggle.com.au/ruffwear-b1 For more information on why dogs do actually need their own kit for the outdoors, check this great blog: dogblog.ruffwear.net/2014/07/17/ why-would-dogs-need-boots-and-other-dog-bootquestions-answered/

Tips for Running with your Dog 1) Always carry multiple Doggy bags to clean up after your dog 2) Always discourage your dog from chasing the wildlife 3) Always provide your dog with a regular water supply, they need to drink small amounts often 4) Allow your dog to cool down in streams whenever possible 5) Bring high-carb treats for your dog 6) Always offer your dog salty chips when next to a water supply if on a long run (30+km) to prevent cramping 7) Monitor your dog’s panting rate – if they are panting rapidly find shade, water to drink, a creek or puddle to cool off in and wait until their panting rate slows to regular breathing before running again 8) If running with your dog on a leash make sure the leash is long enough so that your dog can run directly in front of you. I'd advise swapping hands every 100

steps to prevent body imbalances.

Better still, wear a dog running belt to avoid injury. The best place to absorb the impact that comes from running with your dog is through your hips and in the centre of your body. This will improve your running action by forcing correct minimal running action 9) Always prepare your dog’s hydration and nutrition needs as you would your own 10) Build up the kilometers slowly as you would in yourself. If you are running for more than 30km I'd advise that foot protection is given to your dog. After Bubble’s first 60km run she had sore, cut paws. Choose trails that are soft or run just after it has rained 11) Puppies are not capable of long runs as it is bad for their developing bone structure. Running dogs should be adult dogs 12) Always check that dogs are allowed in the areas you intend on running

FEATURE

GETTING HIGH FEATURE

Getting High WORDS: Vicki Woolley IMAGES COURTESY: Mal Law

MALCOLM LAW IS EXCITED. APPREHENSIVE, RESPECTFUL, AND IN HIS WORDS “SH*T SCARED”... BUT EXCITED. IN FEBRUARY 2015 HE WILL EMBARK ON WHAT HAS BEEN DESCRIBED AS ONE OF THE “BIGGEST, MOST AUDACIOUS ENDURANCE CHALLENGES EVER CONCEIVED IN NZ” – THE PARTNERS LIFE HIGH50 CHALLENGE. MAL WILL ATTEMPT TO RUN 50 OFF ROAD MARATHONS AND CLIMB 50 PEAKS IN 50 DAYS, RAISING FUNDS FOR THE MENTAL HEALTH FOUNDATION OF NEW ZEALAND. LET’S THROW SOME STATISTICS AROUND SO YOU CAN GET A FEEL FOR THE SIZE OF THIS THING...

• The total ascent is over 100,000m - equivalent to climbing Everest from sea level almost 12 times.

• Many of the peaks are in rugged, isolated backcountry. Half of them are over 1,500m and 7 of them exceed 2,000m.

• Mal estimates his average day to be 10-12hrs time on feet – longer for some of the extremely technical trails.

• The fundraising target is an audacious feat in itself, with the barometer set at $250,000.

• The Challenge requires Mal and his dedicated support crew to travel almost the entire length of New Zealand and back: they face many, many hours of driving at the end of each gruelling day.

If anyone has the pedigree to pull this off, it’s Malcolm Law. In 2009 he ran seven of New Zealand’s Great Walks in seven days, raising $85,000 for Leukaemia and Blood Cancer New Zealand – a charity close to his heart after losing his 13-year-old brother to leukaemia: young Mal was just eight when Alan died. He followed up with another 7in7 in 2010, this time in some of New Zealand’s wildest back country environs, raising a further $175,000 for the same organisation.

At peace with the job he had done with

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Leukaemia and Blood Cancer NZ, Mals’ attention quietly turned to another cause he has great empathy with, as he explains: “My brother- in-law Max suffered deeply with mental health issues, and tragically took his own life. He was just 25yrs old. I was the person who found him”.

A sensitivity to mental health and wellbeing, and a commitment to advocating physical activity as a way of combating depression was born. In 2012 Mal ran the UK’s 1,014km South West Coast Path in 17 days, raising $22,000 for the Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand and forging the beginnings of an outstanding relationship with the charity.

There is no doubt about it – the Partners Life High50 Challenge is bigger than Texas.

It involves massive feats of logistics, sales, support, collaboration, personnel, organisation – all this before Mal even sticks his feet into a pair of smelly running shoes. So what particular aspect of this adventure has lit the fire currently burning in the Big Man’s belly?

Here is a guy who not only loves pushing his own personal boundaries, but is passionate about inspiring like-minded people to push their boundaries. An avid (some would say obsessive) off road runner, Mals’ sphere of influence has largely been inspiring others to run trail – until now.

“The fantastic thing about the Partners Life High50 Challenge is that involvement is not restricted to pure trail runners” he enthuses.

“Mental health issues affect anyone irrespective of race, gender, age or creed. Similarly, this Challenge embraces more than just the trail running community. If you are a runner, you can be involved - road, trail, mountain, marathon, triathlon, whatever. This is about Community. It’s about Connection. It’s about breaking down barriers and coming together, creating a shared experience around a central theme: that exercise makes you feel good!”

Mal knows this not only intellectually, but also from deep personal experience. He talks >>

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FEATURE GETTING HIGH

GETTING HIGH FEATURE

official website went live, Mal and wife Sally (High50 Logistics and Support Manager – as profiled in Edition 13) began receiving emails from people who were moved to share their own personal mental health experiences. The Laws quickly created a blog on the website, and as they began publishing the stories (with permission), others were inspired to speak up, some coming out of the shadows after a lifetime lived in dark and harrowing places.

The Partners Life High 50 Challenge has done something unprecedented – created a safe place for conversations about mental health issues to take place. Now, on almost any group trail run, you will hear someone talking openly about very personal experiences with anxiety or depression, and receive empathy in return. As the doors slowly creak open on trail, we are experiencing a willingness to share, to accept, to learn, grow and give, and the stigma surrounding mental health issues begins to recede.

Watching the animation play out on Mal’s face as he talks about this heroic undertaking, it is easy to think he is supremely confident in his ability to complete the Challenge. Yet ask him if he actually believes it is possible to run 50 off road marathons and climb 50 peaks in 50 days and he answers honestly: “I really don’t know. But if I did know I could

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candidly about his own battle with the Black Dog that sometimes waits outside the door.

There have been days when it’s been difficult to drag himself out of the house, he quietly admits: “My bouts of battling the monster are relatively infrequent and short-lived: I count them in days, not weeks or months. But when it hits, it hits hard, leaving me feeling totally weak, pathetic and incapable. I want to hide from the world. Self-doubt and self-loathing take over, leaving me feeling like a worthless wretch. Everything gets out of perspective: it’s ugly and painful but I will never, ever give in to it. I always battle through because I know the good times far outweigh the bad”.

Central to Mal’s strategy for dealing with down days is to get outside and run: for Mal this is a faultless combination of communing with nature, stimulating his system with endorphins and adrenaline and feeling a sense of achievement.

Another key strategy – promoted by the Mental Health Foundation as one of the Five Ways to Wellbeing – is the power of connecting with people, a strategy that is already delivering dramatic change in the trail running community. Shortly after the Challenge’s

GET INVOLVED

With over $100,000 raised to date, the Challenge has taken on a life of its own with a sea of red High50 promotional t-shirts appearing on trail all over the country, and various intriguing fundraising initiatives spinning off – the Vertical Challenge, 24 Hours on Iron, etc. Maybe you would

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do it – well – where would be the challenge in that?”

One thing Mal Law knows very well is that it is going to take masses of support to reach the end goal. Runners the length and breadth of New Zealand are encouraged to commit to running a marathon and climbing a peak with Mal, raising $400 for each day they participate in the Challenge. Support runners must be physically fit, self-sufficient over long days on the trail, and also be prepared to dig into their own emotional resources to provide Mal with the encouragement and support he will need to get back out there, day after day after day.

Keeping with the spirit of community, nonrunners play an equally big part in the Challenge, which is taking the best part of 2014 for the Laws to organise. Mal’s experience on South West Coast Path taught him valuable lessons around the flexibility of support arrangements, and the enormous importance of adequate sleep and nutrition. A link on the High50 website outlines various ways people can apply their unique strengths to contribute to the Challenge without donning a running shoe.

As Mal says: “The enormity of this thing is daunting... anything that will make our journey easier or save us money would be massively appreciated”.

like to join the Partners Life High50 Challenge but are not sure what you can offer, or where to start. Make a coffee and head over to the website – it makes exciting, scary, inspiring and daunting reading.

And... think about the people around you: with 1 in 5

people affected by mental health issues, the chances are someone close to you is quietly struggling right now.

Ask them to go for a walk.

Ask them how they are. Start the conversation, and see where it goes. www.high50.org.nz/

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FEATURE

Words: Garry Dagg Images: Garry Dagg And Stuart Watt

TRAIL MUSE

BIBBULMUN TRACK There are things you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t even think about, until you think about them.

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FEATURE BIBBULMUN TRACK

BIBBULMUN TRACK FEATURE

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ARRI TREES, THE SERENE MONSTERS OF THE SOUTHWEST FORESTS IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA, CAN GROW UPWARDS OF EIGHTY METRES. THEY SPROUT GLOWING, SILVER IVORY LIMBS THAT REACH OUT ACROSS THE FOREST, DRESSED IN GREEN OIL-RICH EUCALYPT LEAVES. THAT MEANS THEY NEED MOISTURE, LOTS OF IT, 250 FEET FROM THE FOREST FLOOR. OUR BODIES HAVE A PUMP THAT BEATS EVERY SECOND TO TRANSFER THE VITAL NUTRIENTS WE NEED BUT THE KARRI (EUCALYPTUS DIVERSICOLOR) HAS NO HEART. YET ITS LEAVES ARE GREEN, LIMBS STRONG. INSIDE THEIR TRUNKS IS AN INTRICATE SOLUTION THAT PULLS AGAINST GRAVITY TO FEED THE TREE’S HEART.

There’s plenty to marvel at in such forests, oases of life in a state of deserts and salt flats.

The trees look serene but they are the ones who circumstances have brought to the top. The forest beats in a harmony of survival, where each tree puts in its all to prosper and thus provides shade for its smaller cousins, habitat for still more species. This wealth of life gives a sense that each part belongs. A mature karri drops thousands of honky nuts every year.

I step on most of those as I run, aiding the process by bedding them into the soil but only

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a few will germinate, to be squeezed out by their relatives in the fight for sunlight until the strongest survives. Those karri reaching almost out of view are the alpha trees, the bosses of their domain. Their trunks make way for no one, not least the Bibbulmun Track that wends its way through their home.

The Bibbulmun Track is a feast of running.

You can take your pick; swallow the whole 964kms whole like Bernadette Benson did in just 15 days [read her feature in Trail Run Mag Edition 3], or wander into, along and out of it as I do.

Huts lie every twenty or so kilometres, rigid three sided homes so infrequently used that your most likely hut mate will be a bandicoot, possum or optimistic rat. The track is remote by some standards, designed so it intersects small towns when required but in running it you will rarely set sights on highways or major roads. Old logging roads traverse it and an occasional gravel graded road but the trail mainly follows the lead of rivers, valleys and coastline to scout its way from Perth to Albany.

The track is named after the Pibelmen people who knew these parts better than we can imagine. It is a tokenistic acknowledgement of a people who were exiled, imprisoned from or simply massacred upon this stretch of earth.

The natural beauty and reliable water in a land noteworthy for an absence of these is what any sensible folk would populate. The shortsightedness of the colonising masses led

to the possibility of the Bibb and the track negotiates the bounty they ignored to settle elsewhere.

Bernadette Benson is the holder of the track’s FKT (Fastest Known Time; 15 days 9 hours 48 minutes), a rapid assault on the track, her body and mind that is a remarkable feat. She is a veteran of ultras who has proven herself an endurance force. The trail has no ascents or descents nor is it ever flat, dipping into and over hillocks, river valleys and sand dunes for almost a thousand kays. It has been sanitised in many parts of late, the mouth-watering singletrack ploughed out to bobcat width. Apparently this is the modern walker’s preference. Safety and appeal to the crowd trumps the joy of floating over foot-width trail where proprioception chooses each footfall. That is the way of the world, the controlled over the free. Sections remain, however, where the forest closes in and the fastpacker can follow a line of brown earth picking its way through columns of wood.

Each trip has its own aesthetic, sampling a flavour of the track, allowing us to peal away the layers of a cramped lifestyle. The Bibb directs you from the gravelly Darling Scarp on Perth’s fringes, along its edge, deep into the southern forests where the trees dictate space and time and then out onto the Great Southern Ocean. The trailheads are separated by just 400 kilometres of road making accessing different sections an easy weekend affair. >>

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BIBBULMUN TRACK FEATURE

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The nature of any section is decided by the ground surface and the forest canopy. Karri, Jarrah, Marri, take your pick of trees. Coastal heath, too. The ground goes from gravel to gravel to more gravel before you get to halfway.

If the Chinese ever drain us of iron ore, we can hope that gravel is their next dirt of choice.

The forest floor carpets these orange stones with leaves, deep padding amongst the fallen twigs, sticks and limbs. Running is, in essence, a negotiation with gravity. It’s pulling you down but push off against it just right and you can drift horizontally. On a mulch-filled forest floor that drift gets softer. Further to the south, hard packed sand mixes with soft dunes where your momentum disappears. For the trail runner, the views of cliffs and pristine water compensate.

Weekend fastpacks into this world are the modus operandi of my track companions and I. The concept of FKT is right up our alley, but it is more ‘Funnest Known Time’. I have neither the ability nor stomach for long term suffering but a three to four day fast pack is the finest kind of run therapy. With only a sleeping bag, mat and some odds and ends in a pack we can run light enough to dwell in the weightlessness

and rhythm that draws us to trail running.

Gravity can seem the enemy of the trail runner and to the fastpacker it remains an obstacle; every kilogram weighs on the back. Strip the load back though and the sense of play is still there, skipping off tree trunks, hurdling boulders, whooping through tunnels of trees.

And with the concept of fun still foremost, exhaustion doesn’t set in to take that edge off.

And the nights. The nights.

The Bibbulmun huts are a step above austere.

All have a table and bench, rainwater tank, fire pit and a series of wooden bunk boards under a sturdy roof for spreading out upon. Roads are a memory and the rustling of the forest doesn’t break through the walls. On windless nights under a canopy of trees taller than Olympic swimming pools there is nothing in the air. Sound waves cease, a break in the swell.

The crackling of the fire dies down, so too the cracking of your joints from the day’s run and a carpet of stars pokes through the upper canopy.

Come morning there is no rush to zip open the sleeping bag for our FKT is about fun not fast.

With huts spaced between 20 and 35 kilometres ahead the rest of the day is long. There are books to be read, discussions to be had, nonsense to replay in the mind, laughter to peal

out into the quiet, trail to be danced upon.

In fastpacking with others I have explored many sections, three to four day missions where we run the first night under lights to squeeze more time into the trip. From there time expands; a hundred or so kilometres in three days is not soul destroying but takes you through zones that fill your lungs with life.

And gets you thinking of the trees’ lungs. Their mechanism to pump water makes our heart look crude, mechanical. Since germination, the karri tree creates an immense level of internal pressure that it maintains through transpiration and surface tension. Long trains of moisture run through the tree, and as a droplet of moisture transpires from a leaf, this pressure pulls another into its place and fills the void. This allows water absorbed down in the roots to be forced up against gravity to feed the tree’s upper and outer extremities, the giant creating a place for itself to breathe in its cramped surrounds. Along the forest floor we run, our own interplay with gravity, using nature’s binding force to pull us over these trees’ giant roots. Gravity is inescapable and while the karri trees have found their way of dealing with it, the trail runner does the same, lightly loaded.

Explore the Bibbulmun: www.bibbulmuntrack.org.au

Garry Dagg is Trail Run Mag’s resident barefoot/minimalist sage. We love his work so we let him and his words roam free, as is his want and right. Any queries for Garry, fling them through on info@trailrunmag.com or Facebook them at www.facebook.com/trailrunmag . Garry has also recently had a baby. That is, he’s given birth to the beauty that is Windroo Trail Tours, a trail camp and tour specialist offering unique singletrack experiences in the south west of Western Australia. Look him up sometime: www.windrootrails.com.

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FEATURE EDSWORD

CHRIS ORD // AUSTRALIAN EDITOR

Story: Shane Hutton Photograpy: Richelle Olsen and Shane Hutton

SOUTH BY SOUTH WEST 56

THE PAIN AND PLEASURE OF THE PORT DAVEY TRACK

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FEATURE PORT DAVEY >> TASMANIA

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PORT DAVEY >> TASMANIA FEATURE

Creeping its way through the Southwest National Park, Tasmania, is a brute of a trail.

The Port Davey Track is renowned for being muddy and extremely difficult going for walkers, let alone runners. In fact, I’m pretty sure no-one’s ever bothered to try the latter.

But a bad reputation has never stopped me before, and at the home-stretch end of my Tassie Traverse, it wasn’t going to stop me now.

I had been running for a total of ten days when I finally hit the Port Davey trailhead.

First benched in 1898, it was originally a route created for shipwrecked sailors to escape their misfortunes off the South West Cape.

Marooned sailors of colonial years plodded ever hopeful in the opposite direction to me, craving a trailhead and its man-made parent roadway, for them a signal of civilisation and salvation ahead. More than 116 years later, I was running back into the wilderness that had so demoralised them.

For me, it was the end of the road. Or more accurately, an end to running on it. And that was a good thing. Although most of my Tassie Traverse journey was on singletrack of some kind, necessity took me onto dirt and tar roadways for some stretches, each marking for me a more difficult time than when I was on trail. So, I was happy to disappear into the thicket that history’s survivors’ were glad to see the last of, and grateful that they had, through desperation, forged 70km of single-track for me to ‘enjoy’ all these years later.

As most visitors do, I began the Port Davey track at Lake Pedder. Unlike most others, my pack weighed a measly 7kg, containing my tent and just enough minimalist gear for two days alone. There remains no civilisation on the trail, and no huts. Just empty shells of campsites that barely 200 walkers set foot in each year. So, at a minimum I had to carry a shelter and warmth for overnight rest-ups, my gear picked meticulously for grams and performance specifically for this section of trail.

On earlier trails, I had my partner, Richelle, shadowing me in a car, never too far away. Even when I was on trail, she would be paralleling on

a road never too distant, and we would meet each evening, sleeping in hotels or backpackers.

Not so on the Port Davey, nor on the final leg after that, the South Coast Track. Selfsufficiency was key for the final two trails on of the journey.

I began with the intention of running 35km along Port Davey and camping at a small spot called Spring River on the first night. Running the first few kilometres, a blue-sky day warmed to 18 degrees – positively balmy for Tasmania’s south-west. I quickly got through sections of beech forest and onto a small stretch of duckboard. In the distance The Western Arthurs stared back at me, goading me onwards with the lure of unspeakably wild mountain beauty.

Spotting a pair of hikers ahead, I worked hard to catch them, curious to see where they were destined. Western Arthurs Loop, as it turns out, which unlike the Port Davey takes in a traverse of the Western Arthurs. The Port instead just sidles alongside the lower slopes on its journey south-west.

The walkers were lugging huge 10-litre water containers, odd I thought, as there is more than enough water flowing in this part of Tassie; you will die of many things before you will ever die of thirst in this place. They asked where all my gear was and how long I was going to take to get along the trail. When I told them that the plan was two days – as opposed to the regular 4-5 – and that this was all my gear, they seemed shocked. Minimalism is not so de rigueur on the Port Davey where even experienced bushwalkers take the more-is-safer approach, hence the 10-litres of water.

Bidding a great day, I took off leaving them to their burdened pace. However, it wasn’t long until I was slogging through knee-deep mud at the same slow motion speed. I’d heard reports about how bad this track was and it seemed the deeper in you got, the deeper you sunk into the mire underfoot. I would be running along gingerly and then, boom, I’d disappear to the waist. The next few minutes would be spent >>

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FEATURE PORT DAVEY >> TASMANIA

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using whatever I could find to drag myself back atop the quick-mud and somehow move forward, always arduously.

I ran, slopped, fell and dragged myself through the first 9km to Junction Creek, working hard and trying not to think about how my target of 35km was getting sucked down each and every time I was. Every so often I noticed rusted-out steel star pickets alongside the trail, the remnants, I later learned, of official trail markers, their degradation indicating the lack of attention this trail receives from officialdom. Not too many taxpayers with votes to grind, let alone park management bureaucrats holding maintenance purse strings, get out this way I’m guessing.

Out of sight…

To keep spirits up, I thought of the sailors, man-hauling whatever they had salvaged, walking shoeless after surviving a shipwreck. I laughed thinking of my ‘ultralight kit’ and yet still occasionally grumbling about the weight of it. They would have killed for the featherlight provisions I had on board. Following in the footsteps of those tough men, it was a shame knowing that the trail is being lost to the ravages of time and neglect, threatening to erase memories of their story along with the path.

I jogged where I could but mostly power walked and mud skipped. The whole time I was surrounded by an amazing expanse of mountain ranges, views made better by the fact that the day’s weather draw had been on my side: sunshine and the beginnings of a spectacular sunset.

As twilight drew, and after dragging myself – amazingly – for 36km, I finally caught two more walkers. I had latched on to their footprints a few kilometres back, the fresh boot imprints giving me renewed energy knowing others were just ahead. Arriving at camp, we washed away layers of caked mud in a small stream before communing for dinner, an unexpected bonus on a trail where most visitors dine alone.

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Discussion swung between life and passion for the wilderness, and specifically the Port Davey Track. They lamented seeing the slow demise of such an iconic trail. The pair last hiked it three years ago and could not believe how badly it had disintegrated, their emotional attachment to the Port Davey as clear and heavy as the clogs of mud on their boots.

The grand daddy of Tasmanian treks, the Overland, hosts 9,000 hikers per season and costs $200 per person; the South Coast Track along which I would run in another day or so, sees 1,000 each year. The Port Davey hosts only around 200, mostly because of its reputation as a bog. That lack of traffic, of course, spins out into a lack of funding and maintenance, the organisational motivation for a trail-little used nearly non-existent, complained my fellow campers.

I went to bed tired but happy to have knocked off more than half the trail in one day, and thoughtful of the pioneers who traipsed past here who could never have imagined actually enjoying doing so.

Facing the second day of 35km, I was stoked to be greeted by a beautiful morning and sunrise, a rarity in these parts. Also, today I would be both trail runner and rower: a crossing of Bathurst Harbour using permanently-moored dinghies one of the highlights of the Port Davey experience.

The track soon deviated from the original, veering off up a ridge line to escape the morass of mud. From above, I could see the old benched track. I stood there and imagined the sailors slogging it out: they were undoubtedly a breed tougher than most. That thought hit home harder when I dropped back down off the ridge into some of the worst going yet.

Head-high thickets of shrubs curtailed any idea of running and there was no real track except for a bog that went around in circles. I was sure I was on the wrong trail but without options, continued on ahead, hoping to catch sight of a rusty star-picket marker to reassure me. After

a while I stopped to re-assess, the sun placed where I judged it should be giving the only indication I was, indeed, on course.

The mud did not let up. It was getting ridiculous. I would disappear waist deep in it for kilometres at a time. Regardless, I got through the first 25km to the boat crossing in good shape – perhaps because it was more low impact (soft mud) walking, and less running on anything that resembled terra firma.

At the harbour, I pushed the first oversized fibreglass dingy in. The crossing is 300 metres across, there are three dinghies, and the golden rule is one must be left on both sides at all times. Being on my own, I had to row across three times to ensure there was a boat left on either side, an effort that took me 40 minutes – not bad considering I was alone and it had been just under a kilometre of rowing and manhandling boats at either end.

Pack swung over shoulder and on the trot once more, I remembered a warning given about getting to the next campground: take a lower track diversion. The diversion saved valuable time, but nothing was going to save my knee. Hitting 27km my right leg began to throb. By the time I hit 30km it just stopped working altogether. I couldn’t bend my knee and was in serious pain. I hobbled slowly along praying that the major milestone – the tiny outpost of Melaleuca – would appear. For too long, it didn`t.

I was in agony. I would fall in mud, groan, and drag my leg through. At this point, as many ultra runners would know, when there are no outs, the mind needs to kick into gear to get you through the pain patches. Again I thought of those sailors – many of whom may have been injured as they too dragged themselves through the mud. I also thought about what little work had been done to preserve this trail and how disappointed I was about that. I had, despite its mud-ravaged ways, become attached to the Port Davey Trail. The scenery was spectacular >>

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and the history worthy of remembering. Then I started to think about how far I had to go. The finish of the Port Davey Track may have only been around the next corner (I kept hoping with every spearing pain in my leg), but I had 84km still to run before the Tassie Traverse was completed. And I knew that my right leg was stuffed.

Finally, with a wave of relief, I rounded a corner to see Richelle waiting from me. Earning her title as Best Ultra Crewperson In The World, she had flown in a plane to Melaleuca, and walked 1.5km in to meet me. Instantly, I fell on the ground. And I admit, almost cried. I was in so much pain and despite being so close, I just couldn’t face that final 1.5km knowing it was not final. Gently, Richelle let me have my moment, then coaxed me to get up and walk it in. Realistically, there was no other option.

I crossed the log bridge that signaled the last stretch into Melaleuca. It had taken me two hours to cover the final 7km, even though it was flat. Giving my legs the cold treatment at the water’s edge, I washed all the mud off and stood there as long as I could. All in all, it had taken me 8.5 hours to crawl 38km and I still had 84km to go on the South Coast Track, with some serious

elevation. I dragged my sorry self to a nearby hut so I could elevate my leg and consider options.

I was worried. I still couldn’t stand properly or put weight on my leg. Richelle was flying out the next day and I didn’t have enough food to last me an extra day in the hut. That left no leeway for a rest and recover day.

I tossed and turned most of the night. In the morning, I could barely put weight on my leg and could not bend it at all. Even so, I knew that musing about pros and cons of continuing was bad – bad for time wastage, bad for morale, bad for the slim chance remaining that I could actually finish this thing. I decided the only way to get this project done was by getting out there at that moment, whether my leg dropped off or not. I stepped onto the South Coast Track and took a lingering look back towards where I knew the Port Davey slopped its way through the Tasmanian wilderness. Yeah, there is a lot of mud, and yeah it’s tough going. But if the mountain ranges aren’t enough to keep you distracted from what’s happening underfoot, the sense of history is. I’d like to be able to say that I ran along a wonderful trail of Australian history. Truth is, I walked along it, dragged myself along it and ended up limping along it.

And I’m glad I did.

See more Shane Hutton eventually finished his Tassie traverse, knocking off that final 84km stretch along the South Coast Track. Read the full adventure at www.theultralife.com.au Shane ran the Tassie Traverse to raise funds and awareness for the Shake It Up Foundation and Parkinson’s Disease. www.shakeitup.org.au For more information on the Port Davey Track www.bushwalktasmania. com/port-davey-track.htm. There is also information on the South Coast Track and the Port Davey Track at www.parks.tas.gov.au

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WHEN YOUR NUMBER’S UP FEATURE

WHEN YOUR NUMBER'S UP RACES, PEAKS, NUMBERS, MEMORIES, GLORY – WHATEVER IT IS YOU’RE CHASING WHEN YOU RUN – IT DOESN’T MATTER A DAMN. IT’S WHO YOU MEET WHEN YOU’RE OUT THERE THAT COUNTS. WORDS: Pat Kinsella IMAGES: Pat Kinsella, Ben Southall, Luke Edwards

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WHEN YOUR NUMBER’S UP FEATURE

D DEATH IS RARELY A WELCOME OR EXPECTED GUEST, BUT I REALLY DIDN’T SEE THE ILL-MANNERED BASTARD COMING TONIGHT. RETURNING FROM AN EVENING TRAINING RUN, WITH A HEAD BUSY WITH THOUGHTS ABOUT THE UPCOMING EXPEDITION ON MY NEAR HORIZON, I FLICKED OPENED MY PORTAL ONTO THE WORLD AND THE SPECTRE’S CRUEL, COLD BREATH BLEW RUDELY THROUGH IT, FREEZING ME INTO MY CHAIR WITH ITS TERRIBLE TIDINGS. Peter Nyaningu was 83, and he comes from a community where men are statistically fortunate to live past their sixties. Perhaps I shouldn’t be so shocked. But a car crash. Really? After a life so exquisitely extraordinary – some of it led in blissful ignorance of such brutal inventions as cars – it doesn’t seem right.

It’s not like I knew Peter well. I wonder – do I even have the right to grieve for a man I met only once? What an encounter it was though.

From the very first moment, when shaking his hand – a wizened old limb, but strong, like warm wood grasping my own pathetic paw – I was immediately aware that I would never meet another human being like him.

Here was a man who could vividly remember leading a traditional lifestyle, before missionaries arrived in his remote South Australian community when he was a child, and everything

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got turned on its head.

He’d been to Italy, seen the colosseum and played music to an assembled audience of Romans. He’d been a cultural ambassador for the oldest civilisation on Planet Earth, yet he’d waited for three days in a filthy hovel to meet me and my running mates to ponder a proposition we’d confronted him with.

By the time we met, he was an elder among the Pitjantjatjara people of the central desert. In his lifetime, tens of thousands of years’ of unwritten knowledge, customs and beliefs had evaporated almost to nothing in front of his eyes. He palpably mourned that loss, and was eager to talk about it – yet he punctuated the narrative with funny anecdotes and a mischievous chuckle.

On his back he carried a dainty ‘Hello Kitty’ daypack – a gift from a grandchild, or visiting schoolkid perhaps – but on his shoulders, heavy responsibilities lay. He had judgement-making duties to face, with potentially grave implications for all his people – decisions such as whether to grant access to a sacred mountain to a group of strangers who simply wanted to run to the top and tick it off a list.

Disparate cultures collided spectacularly at the juncture where this man sat, and when I eventually took to the trail again and left him behind, it was with a completely new perspective on why I was still running. >>

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THAT WAS 18 MONTHS AGO

Peter had just stopped me and my two expedition partners, Ben and Luke, suddenly in our tracks, which was quite a feat in itself. We were midway through a mission, attempting to set a speed record for trail running to the summit of the highest peaks in each of Australia’s eight states and territories – we had a full head of steam and it felt like we could run through granite if we wanted to. We couldn’t run through Peter though. No matter how much of a roll we were on. And we were on a roll.

The big four were already in our rear-view mirror. We’d knocked off the Capital Territory’s Mount Bimberi (1913 metres) first, during a frosty dawn raid through frozen cobwebs that took us 20 odd kilometres along a rough and ready trail, past startled brumbies, to a gorgeous and rarely visited peak.

Kosciuszko (2228 metres) – a study in contrast – was next. Our race against time dictated we take a route 1 approach to the top of Australia, running from Thredbo up under the ski lift, along terrain torn by usage and bandaged with ugly manmade walkways. It was still a stunning run though. A deluge cleared the summit for us, and then the clouds parted just long enough for the dying sun to set the sky ablaze.

By the time we’d bounded up Staircase Spur and onto the roof of Victoria to dance on the bald dome of Mount Bogong (1986 metres), we were well into our stride. Everything was going alarmingly to plan. If I’d paused long 70

enough to let any really meaningful thoughts in, I may have rued the fact that we were guzzling down the rarefied alpine air instead of sipping on the scent of the snowgums. But I didn’t. I just kept running.

Across Bass Strait a few hours later, the Tasmanian air we gulped was lumpy with rain – and then sleet – as we battled to the top of Mount Ossa (1617 metres), having run the length of Arm River Track and a fair chunk of the Overland – mostly along streams where paths once ran. Hypothermia snarled and threatened to bite us near the top. But one foot just kept following the other somehow, and eventually we outran it. The shivering stopped and the sweating started again.

But then we ran into Peter. Getting to the top of the next mountain – South Australia’s Mt Woodroffe (1435 metres) – would have little to do with fitness or endurance, and even that fickle bitch called luck had less of a say than usual. None of those factors would even come into play unless Peter said one word: Yes. And when you’re the custodian of sacred land – where every feature is intricately entwined with memories of your ancestors back to the time of creation – and you feel acutely responsible for the safety of all those who tread upon it, you don’t rush such decisions. You tell yarns. And you expect yarns in return. That’s how you form a judgement.

So we listened to his story. And we spoke,

while Peter absorbed our lives and occasionally let out a peal of laughter. And here, sat in the dirt outside a brokendown old shack in the settlement of Ernabella, four rough hours’ drive south of Alice Springs, our expedition took on an entirely new hue.

Time had been chasing us from the get go on this project – indeed the whole challenge was defined by it. The clock never ceased ticking for the 12 hours we spent with Peter, but I stopped hearing it.

What we were doing was, really, just glorified peak bagging. Running by numbers.

Ticking mountains off a list. Subconsciously I’d always known that, and I’d made myself comfortable within that paradigm because it facilitated something exciting. Yet I’ve always resented being a slave to time constraints.

And I can’t bloody abide lists.

Lists are the things your mum writes before going shopping – a tool from the very top draw of fitted-kitchen domesticity. No place for them on the rough-hewn table of an adventure runner, surely.

Lists are the things simian-faced nightclub door gimps pretend to check, long after they’ve decided you’re not going in anyway because of your shoes/girlfriend/pants/sobriety – or general lack thereof. They’re an instrument of control. Suppression even. Not a piece of kit for the fleet-footed wild-eyed explorer. >>

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America, and onwards. Australia was his 19th country, and when we met him he was closing in on kilometre number 30,000, and punching out between 60 and 70 clicks a day in brutal heat to get to Alice in time for his birthday. His plan was to be back in Ireland in time to do the 2014 Dublin Marathon.

When we got back into internet range, I looked him up. Not only was Tony telling the truth, but he also had form: he held the 48-hour world record for indoor running (426.178km) and also the world record for the greatest distance run on a treadmill over 48 hours (405km). This was a man, I figured, who had probably written a few lists in his time.

After travelling for an eternity to do a short run to the lowly, shimmering, red-hot roof of Western Australia on Mount Meharry (1253 metres), we were left with just one more mountain to cross off on our own hitlist.

Tropical North Queensland’s Bartle Frere (1622 metres) proved a steep, sweaty last hurdle. Its root-strewn, near-vertical paths had more in common with ladders than any trail I’ve ever run, and there was a technical boulder-scramble on the approach to the summit, but standing atop our eighth peak on the eighth day of the expedition was a moment of triumph and celebration.

The list was run. The challenge done. The peaks were in the bag, along with a new record.

I was stoked at the achievement – to deny that would make a liar of me – but I was more thrilled by the encounters the expedition had thrown in my path. Two of them in particular.

As I write, Tony is approaching the end of his odyssey – he has just run into Wales and will be back in Ireland by the time you read this. And Peter – his extraordinary story has now run its course. The tale had a final tragic twist that none of us saw coming, but his was a life that should be celebrated and commemorated.

And yet lists are exactly what we’d been drawing up for months, while planning this escapade. First the peaks themselves, then the order we’d do them in, where we’d stay, what we’d need… the lists went on until they led inexorably to Peter, whose permission we required to continue.

The dignified elder didn’t strike me as a list kind of guy, but in his wise old head he did have a set of criteria that he wanted us to meet before giving our request the thumbs up. And we must have satisfied it, because eventually he granted us his blessing to run up Woodroffe We gave him a lift back to his home at the base of the mountain, and he wished us good luck.

We left Peter on a high, but the central Australian peaks did their best to puncture our bubble, with ferocious forests of spiky spinifex grass poking up through the desert and savaging our legs during the run up Woodroffe and the ascent of the Northern Territory’s Mount Zeil (1531 metres) the next day.

It was after Zeil that we randomly ran into another character who will stay long in my memory. Stopping for food and fuel at an outback watering hole somewhere north of Alice, where polite people don’t venture, we found Tony Mangan winding up a roomful of heavyweight roadtrain drivers by telling them – in his Irish brogue – that their country’s terrain wasn’t half as tough as they all proudly thought it was.

It wasn’t, perhaps, the best audience to try this material out on, but no one could dismiss Tony for not knowing what he was talking about. The eccentric ultra runner told us he was in the midst of a jog around the world.

He’d started by doing the Dublin Marathon in October 2010, after which he’d crossed the Atlantic and just kept running, down though the United States, then Central and South

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My antipathy towards lists has waned somewhat, with the belated realisation that they are simply the skeleton around which you flesh out the proper parts of an adventure. The list itself is just a reference point – it’s where it leads you and who it introduces you to that matters.

So here I am inking another one. Several actually. This time the primary list is comprised of New Zealand’s official ‘Great Walks’. There are nine of them, and one of them – the Whanganui Journey – isn’t a walk at all, it’s a river challenge to be done by canoe or kayak.

In a couple of months, Ben, Luke and I intend to try and run these routes – all designed as multiday experiences, ranging between 32 and 145 kilometres in length – in nine days.

This alpha list has a whole harem of sublists, transcribing drive times, flight and ferry departures, food requirements, costs and whole myriad of other dreary details – the ephemera of an expedition looked at from the inside.

I know, from these black-and-white lists, that in November I will be running over 300 kilometres and paddling a further 145 kilometres in a little more than a week.

Reading between the lines I can see that it’s going to hurt – a lot – and I’m aware of the unwritten possibility that I might not even make it the end of the list. What I don’t know, and what I am most excited about discovering, is where those words on the page will really lead me, who they’ll introduce me to, and what I’m going to learn from them.

Follow the progress of the NZ9 Expedition here: www.theglobaladventurers.com

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FEATURE EDSWORD

CHRIS ORD // AUSTRALIAN EDITOR

RUN WO

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S: C hri sO rd IM AG ES : Si mo nM add en &C hri sO rd 74

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FACT: AUSSIE RULES FOOTBALL AND THE LOGGING INDUSTRY PLAYED PIVOTAL ROLES IN THE GENESIS OF TRAIL RUNNING. AT LEAST, IN VICTORIA THEY DID. AND THE EVIDENCE CAN BE FOUND UNDER THE FALLEN FOLIAGE OF GIANT FERN TREES AND TOWERING GUMS IN THE MOUNTAINS NARY 80KM EAST OF MELBOURNE. In history books detailing the early 20th century history of the Upper Yarra Valley, under the chapter ‘Hard Men, Harder Work, Hardest Wilderness’, you’ll find stories of loggers who endured dangerous work felling and milling giant trees – some of the biggest recorded on the planet – in some of the roughest, steepest, leech-infested country imagined. Six days a week they toiled, chopping and sawing timber, loading it onto bush trams that trundled down mountainsides, headed ‘down the line’ on steam trains that had their terminus at the small logging town of Warburton.

Every Saturday, workers would down tools early, grab their footy kit bag and, in order to make the opening siren present and accounted on a forward flank or otherwise, they would run the 10-15 kilometres down into the valley and back into town, just to get a game of footy.

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There are no records detailing if any ran back the same day having played four quarters, but with a licensed publican in town, it would be fair to bet that most left their return to the working slopes until after Sunday church.

The sawmills among the mountains are now long gone, with scant metal cog remnants being slowly engulfed by rampant ferns and moss.

But the legacy of those hardened footballers – arguably some of Australia’s very first trail runners – remains. The tramways on which they shunted huge trees, and the trails that were their highways back to civilisation, today prove excellent singletrack ripe for the pacing.

Indeed, not only were these trails the Enchanted Forests of my own childhood – I grew up in Warburton – they were also (unknowingly at the time) the genesis of my own trail running affair. So too, strangely, was Aussie Rules. Like the loggers before me I played on the local footy team – the ‘Burras’ in honour of the choir of Kookaburras that would laugh their heads off whenever I got touch of the ball (true story). Unlike the latter day loggers, I did not have to run 10km to take up my place every Saturday (maybe if I did I would have kept my slot as a running ruck rover, short-lived as it was). However, the trails that shoulder the Yarra River through town and climbing up the >>

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mountain slopes that envelop it were regular hosts to training run sessions aimed at readying us for the perils of country footy (run fast and nimble or get hit, hard and fast).

No wonder then, as I start trotting out twenty or so years later from the very same oval on which I so perfected the art of ‘invisible man football’ (no one knew I was even on the field), I start to reminisce. The smell of damp fern aromas fills my senses. I am transported back to my youth, but with the rose-coloured perceptions of an adult drunk on eucalyptspiked nostalgia.

I’ve returned not to bathe in the mud and blood-bath memories of my feeble footballing days, rather to recce-run a bunch of trails that, come this November, will again feel the footpadding of runners. Only this time, they won’t be running to a footy match. They’ll be running for fun. And they won’t be running just 10 kay or so. Rather they will run up to 100km, over three days, in the inaugural Victorian Trail Running Festival (1-3 November).

For event owner, Greg Donovan, the concept was simple and in keeping with his other events such as the Big Red Run: find a beautiful part of the world where there was enough trails to run for three days; set up a camp to encourage a community vibe where celebrating the trail running lifestyle is as core to the experience as trying to dry your muddy sock by the fire will be.

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Not far from my first childhood home, the camp paddock he has chosen as base for the event sits beside the Yarra River and in a bowl of towering Eucalypt that step up the mountain on all sides. It is where I will finish my first recce (and the Festival’s Day One) run: a 34km loop with two out and back sections, mostly routed along an old concrete aqueduct, set high above town on the northern valley slope.

Starting from near the footy oval, the course traces the river before edging up the valleyside through the grounds of what was originally a Sanatarium when it opened in 1912, and was then variously a drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre, a wellness centre, and a fully-fledged emergency hospital. As a kid, I never met any of the recovering drinkers there but I did have plenty of stitches sewn over cut knees (an early clue to my running co-ordination) in the hospital and I admit to breaking into the indoor basketball court and heated pool as a teenager. If nothing else, Warburton is freezing in winter, so the November timing for the festival is a smart choice.

Above the hospital grounds, runners quickly reach an old aqueduct. Built from 1911-15, it once streamed drinking water from O’Shannessy Dam (after which the aqueduct is named) downtown to Surry Hills. Today, it is covered in moss, a dry concrete remnant of old-school water transportation (perhaps it was the constant dead wombat carcasses

caught in grates and spoiling the water supply that made them finally shut it down, although not until 1997).

Here, Greg and his Race Director, Adrian Bailey (of Shotover Moonlight Mountain Marathon fame) runs competitors out east along the mostly flat double track trail that parallels the aqueduct. Although a ‘road’ as such, it remains a wild experience as the track weaves in and out of the mountainside contours. Above are walls of ferns and messmate stands, rising up towards Mts Victoria, Boobyalla and Donna Buang above.

The latter is a well-known target for many trail runners and trekkers looking to get some vert training into their legs. A trail darting up from the township rises steeply with a total ascent profile of approximately 1400 metres in 7.5km. Not a worry for those running the Festival’s first day as the course turns around out past East Warburton, heading back above the Warburton township for another out and back to a magnificent lookout just above the township of Millgrove.

On the return leg of the recce run, the night closed in and I was reminded of yet another link Warburton has with my trail running life, this one notched after I had left town and as an adult. The Oxfam Trailwalker also uses this same aqueduct in the latter stages of its Melbourne edition. Running my first >>

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BIG RED RUN FEATURE

BOOK NOW FOR OUR

CAPE TO CAPE, WA SINGLETRACK & SHIRAZ TRAIL TOUR 135km , 6-DAY TRAIL RUNNING TOUR APRIL 12-18, 2015

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(and to date only), I reached the aqueduct stretch above Warburton in the pitch of night, exhausted, hurting, and to be honest, not 100% compos mentis. Checking my mobile phone in the dark while continuing the continuous forward motion thing (lest I collapse), the earth suddenly opened up beneath me. With stars in my head and grazes on all limbs, I came to realizing I had in fact stepped straight off the edge and fallen into the dry aqueduct. Nearly ninety kilometres into the Oxfam, and on my last legs, it was the last thing I needed.

But now my legs were in full swing, with only 28km in them and my Ay Up headlamp brilliantly lighting up the danger of the aqueduct drop to my left. Instead I dropped down the Donna Buang Trail that the vertfreaks love so much, negotiating the slip-nslide mud fest, to run back into the centre of Warburton, picking up the brilliant singletrack that weaves alongside the Yarra River, which I follow to the far end of town and the paddock cross river. As a starter day and distance, it’s a sweet introduction to what the Festival is all about: enjoyable running.

Day two of the recce, and of the event, is the Big Day. This is the marathon effort that has

cover and the fronds were still bent low from the weight of the white stuff, which had only recently melted on our sojourn. Come the Victorian Trail Running Festival, the ferns will have regained a prouder stature and the running will be easier, undulating at most towards the famous Ada Tree.

A few linking (dirt) roads loop runners around ending at the Ada Tree Carpark. Here it’s into an Alice In Wonderland style trail that weaves and undulates amid a rainforest of ferns, giant myrtle beech, sassafras and moss covered rocks, with the odd creek crossing thrown in. At the end of this – 13km into the marathon – is the Ada Tree. Around 270 years old, it’s about 76 metres tall with a circumference of 15 metres and is reputedly one of the biggest living things in the world.

After ogling Ada (a lap of the tree on the boardwalk is obligatory), a singletrail takes you back, eventually, to one of the mill sites, Federation Junction and then onwards towards Big Pat’s Creek valley via the ‘Walk Into History’, upon which most of the day’s running is based. It is these trails upon which the loggers and their trams hauled their wooden cargo, and on which they picked up the pace

runners being transported over the other side of the southern range, via Powelltown (another old logging town, the old mill there still hanging on to existence). The race directors lull you into a false sense of security, with the run trotting off up a dirt road – up but easy running. Then comes the crunch: a left hand turn and look up…before you is a steep incline carpeted by forest foliage. This is High Lead, where they used to lower logs down off the mountain, using the quickest, most direct manner they could find. It’s a 400 metre climb in just over a kilometer, once again a lure to the vert-addicts.

As we trekked (and we trekked – we did not run) up it, thoughts prevailed of the loggers and the many accidents that would have occurred along here, with big steel lines sometimes snapping under the strain of gigantic tree weights, the men working below unfortunate victims of all too often dangerous work.

Reaching the top of the climb at Federation Junction, runners are funnelled east onto singletrack that leads through a grand corridor of ferns, passing through several old mill sites easily identifiable by the old cog and machinery relics. The ferns were low over the trail when we passed through, providing a virtual obstacle course. However we weren’t long off snow

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marathon main course, full of ferny flesh served with a serious side of history.

Recce complete, I headed back into the township, and the Melbourne-style cool cafes that now populate what was in my childhood empty and boarded up shops. I wonder if competitors will be allowed leave passes from the campsite to enjoy the main street of Warburton, and all the gourmet goodness it offers. Not all trail running need be about deprivation, after all. And that is what I hope the Victorian Trail Running Festival develops into. A feast of gourmet appreciation for the trails of my old hometown, and for the fact that you can now get a mean piccolo brew while you stew over the possibility that you have been running on hallowed turf, where trail blazers once cut down giants, and then ran (without the lure of an espresso at the end).

on a Saturday to get to those football games, and in doing so, unwittingly became, perhaps, Australia’s first trail runners.

The route they took descends sweepingly from Starling’s Gap, eventually reaching running water level down low at Big Pat’s Creek, a small settlement on the outskirts of Warburton. This is old-style mountain country, as evidenced not just by the blanket of serenity that hangs comfortably over the environs, but by the little things; like the chair sitting forlornly beside a driveway with a basket of lemons and eggs sitting there, a donation jar reliant on the trust and goodwill of those passing by to make payment should they take a handful. Got to love country ways.

It’s this same sense of calm and homeliness that pervades what will be the campsite HQ of the Victorian Trail Running Festival, which sits on the riverbank between Big Pats and Warburton.

On day three runners will again head back into Big Pats for a 20+km exploration of trails that climb the valley walls briefly before swinging down sweetly. I remember as a kid exploring these very trails with mates who lived out here. Back then (they were rascal mates) we played at bush war with air guns. Looking back it’s a wonder one of us doesn’t wear an eye patch. Today, running along them seems so much sweeter, and so much less dangerous, leeches aside.

Completing the final day seems cathartic. It’s no bruiser run, but a fitting post aperitif to the

vitals Victorian Trail Running Festival Warburton, Upper Yarra Valley, Victoria, Australia 1-3 November, 2014 Incorporating: 100km, 3-day multiday 80km, 3-day multiday 42km/21km or 15km Big Forest Runs single day 10km Black Forest night run www.victoriantrailrunningfestival.com.au

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WORDS: TEGYN ANGEL

FINDING WHY

HOW DOES A SELF-CONFESSED “BLOATED KID WHO HATED ALL PEDESTRIAN EXERCISE” END UP RUNNING 168KM AT ALTITUDE, OVER EUROPE’S BIGGEST MOUNTAINS FOR NEARLY 30HRS NON-STOP, REGISTERING A TOP-100 PLACING NO LESS (IN A CAST OF THOUSANDS) AT ULTRA TRAIL’S PINNACLE OUTING, THE ULTRA TRAIL DU MONT BLANC? MORE IMPORTANTLY, WHY?

IMAGES: TEGYN ANGEL, KELLIE EMMERSON, AND COURTESY THE NORTH FACE UTMB (FRANCK ODDOUX, PASCAL TOURNAIRE, MICHEL COTTIN)

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FINDING WHY FEATURE

PRELUDE

The hiss of the ventilation system makes you feel like part of the jet stream. You’re part of the air current that embraces the planet, distributes moisture, strips earth and sows biota. The knee bounces, the foot a lever-arm, sewing a dressing gown of consequences.

You’ve hewn the timber, built the frame, laundered the sheets and made the bed; it’s time to go to sleep. Everything about this situation is voluntary, of your own choosing.

Sure, the media-heavens aligned to give you an entry, the Frequent Flyer gods bestowed the flights and the Ministry of Recreation and Sport granted a special dispensation. But you’re the one who said yes; the one who agreed to it. You connected the dots, filled the forms and signed the waivers. You somehow maintained a backing track of home, work and social life, waking every day to a chorus of “train-eatsleep-repeat” ringing in your ears like Tinnitus.

Sitting up front in the cockpit, Captain Thai Airways knows the route, processes the cues, maintains course. His job involves piloting this 747 from Bangkok to Frankfurt on time, safely and with respect to all rules and regulations.

Walking down the ramp his co-pilot and cabin crew will pat him on the back and say what a good job he did. The description of his job, the “What”, is clear. But do we have any idea whatsoever of his “Why”? Why does he come to work? Why does he risk his life everyday and ask that the hundreds of passengers on board do the same? Why does he accept the gruelling shifts, sleep deprivation, a largely sedentary workplace, separation from his family and a suitcase lifestyle? A love of flight? Freedom?

Or is it nostalgia for a time when pilots were treated like rock stars? The money? Power?

Freedom? What gives him his wings?

In a little over 72 hours you’ll be trotting down the cobbled streets of Chamonix, a very small part of a 2300-strong crowd of Lycra-clad Ultra Trailrunners taking part in the 2014 Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc (UTMB). UTMB has become the world cup of Ultra Trailrunning, attracting thousands of runners and millions of dollars of investment from all around the world. The International Trail Running Association (ITRA) will be there and for the first time the Ultra-Trail World Tour (UTWT). Krupicka, D’haene, Jones, 86

Olson, Bosio, Picas, Tuckey. The superstars of the sport will toe the line, all nerves, focus and branding. They and the thousands around them inadvertently (or otherwise) represent the brand names that define the industry. The crowd will surge, the MC rave and the histrionic Last of the Mohicans soundtrack will underscore the drama of the starting gun. As always, the Mont Blanc massif will oversee the whole affair, paying it no more attention than it does to the crows riding the thermals that tear up its flanks.

As a runner you’ll probably spend some time thinking that old Mont Blanc has it in for you. Ahead of you are 168+/- kilometres of mountainous trail, over 9500m of ascent and descent and about 30 hours of persistent, stubborn effort. And that’ll get you where, exactly? Right back where you bloody well started: in the cobbled streets of Chamonix.

Surely just walking out your door, spinning around a few times and then falling into a well worn café chair complete with coffee and croissant might give you the same end result? Shit, if you want your body to feel the >>

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same as it will after running a mountain miler, there are plenty of French drivers who might obliviously run over a leg or two? Emotionally?

No worries, just pin your lids open and throw Requiem for a Dream, Sharknado and 12 Years a Slave on repeat and you’ll be feeing drained, fracked and confused in no time.

Fortunately, for all involved in this hit-andrun journey of yours, there’s a part of you that understands there’s a bit more to it than that. This part is cognisant of the underlying motivations, tolerates all the confusion and can justify the investment of time and energy; it’s the part that comprehends what you’re about to do. In the viewfinder of your heart’s cockles is nestled a bucolic scene of grassy alpine fields, knife-edge glaciated ridgelines and a tapestry of meadow, scree, valley and peak woven with an unbroken thread of singletrack. Behind all the glam and glitz of the UTMB festival there’s a deep understanding that somewhere on the trail there’s a Why to be found, an El Dorado just beyond the boundaries of the map.

It’s pretty easy to ramble on like an Absinthe-

stoned poet, sitting here almost horizontal, the climate controlled, the Gets and Wants just a button-press away. But will all that shit about rocks and pretty vistas cut it come race day?

What will keep you going when the spandex starts to rip the skin from your inner thighs, when the fluoro colour-ways are coated in mud and blood and the zippers of your race vest seize with sweat? Will the hype, excitement and fan-fair get you through when the hallucinations start, your quads start to spasm and your scientifically measured carb:protein ratio comes back up faster than you can run?

The first few hours will be pure adrenaline, the next excitement about seeing your crew at the first checkpoint, Les Contamines (31km).

You know it normally takes you 40-odd kilometres to warm up, but you’ll forget this, get depressed and consider pulling out before your body and mind finally agree to disagree.

As far as CP2 (Courmayer 77km) you’ll be pretty well focused on bagging Bonhomme, la Seigne and Favre. You’ll still be relatively fresh at this point, perhaps having spent the night with a few others running at a similar pace.

Either way, you’ll be in the swing of things and eagerly awaiting sunrise. So far so good.

But what then? It’s 50km until you next see your crew, the morning will come and go and things will start to drag. Mostly it’ll be a bit of a daze as fatigue sets in and you swallow every trace of caffeine you can scrape together. You’ve prepared for this section, but will it be enough?

Adrenaline will kick in again for the back 40 (you’re almost home! Mmm croissants), but there’s still a boat load of calf-tearing climbing and quad-smashing descent to survive. You’d better stay focused; it’s gruelling ‘til the end.

How’s that last 18km looking? You know you’ve got about 900m to descend over the last 8km right? If your legs weren’t trashed by now they will be soon. Have you got it? Can you do it? Can you pace it, feed it, endure it to glide home strong and free? Or will you crash-land in Chamonix drawn and shellshocked; a shuddering carcass stripped of skin and feather? One things for sure, come race day you’d better make damn sure your Why is made of more than hot air and promises. >>

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FEATURE FINDING WHY

FINDING WHY FEATURE

EPILOGUE

Can you feel that Déjà Vu? The Rhythm of Stance-Swing-Stance-Swing? There’s a strange sense of symmetry in reflecting on the race when your back flying at 10,000m. Your laptop cuts through the dimmed cabin like the floodlights of a checkpoint through the fog, drawing you forward with a clear sense of purpose. It’s a little under 48hrs since you ran over the timing mat and into the spotlights of the UTMB finish line. You did it you cheeky bastard! How did the bloated kid who hated all pedestrian exercise in school just run through the mountains for nearly 30hrs, defying the 60% DNF rate, to finish before 95% of starters? What have you done, what changed, what made you think you could even toe the line? Never mind the How, forget the What; can you at least tell me Why? UTMB is referred to, at least by its promo material, as a “race of superlatives” and as corny as that sounds, it’s a pretty fair call.

Everything about it is extreme, dramatic. The terrain, the course, the length, the elevation change, the community support. Running it is a dream for a lot of trail and ultra runners and they go about collecting the points required to apply by completing other ultra-distance events. But this says nothing about why they,

why you, went to such effort to get to, never mind participate in and finish, UTMB. Your race went almost perfectly to plan.

The first 35km sucked and then you came good. The rain stopped, night fell and your energy surged. At about 2am you knocked back a couple of caffeine tablets, the effects of which were heightened by having avoided Black Gold for the past month. You steadily climbed through the field, determined and consistent. Your predictions as to how you’d feel at what point and how your training would set you up to cope with the challenges were smack on. But in spite of all this time to think, reflect and analyse, are you any closer to understanding why the hell you did it?

While you were out there, running through day and night and day and night, the question skipped through your head on repeat. What’s my Why? There were definitely a lot of times (and more than you expected, isn’t that right Mr Cynic) when the sheer beauty of the landscape made the question seem easy to answer. But in the depths of night and fatigue, when fog and the glow of your head-torch turned the world into a narrow tunnel, you called >>

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FEATURE FINDING WHY

High Per formance Nutrition You’re out on the trail, you’re surrounded by nature’s best. It’s raw and real and you love it.

Your mind turns to your energy levels. You know you need fuel to perform. You think of the cheap and nasty gels in your fuel belt and immediately feel sick. You wish there was a real food alternative.Now there is. Our products make the most of nature’s cupboard and contain only real food - nothing artificial. Head to our website www.runnerskitchen.com.au to see our fantastic product range and place your order.

RUNNERS KITCHEN IS 100% AUSTRALIAN MADE AND OWNED

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runnerskitchen.com.au

You’ll never truly understand your Why, and perhaps that’s okay? It’s worth considering running, and particularly the dirty variety, is a process of meditation rather than an end-state. The one constant is the run while the variable motivations are whatever issue needs your attention on the day. Feeling anxious and questioning your self worth? Go for a run. Feeling angry and in need of release? Go for a run.

Feeling high on life and the need to express yourself ? Go for a run. Feeling grateful for the opportunities you have and the people in your life? Go for a run. It seems that Why is less important than the act of finding it.

on something else. Is it because you want to be a man of your word; you said you’d do it so you’d better get your act together?

Or because there are people watching at home, cheering you on: you’d hate to let them down or to fail so publicly? Maybe it’s because this is an amazing opportunity, one that few people get and a goal that even fewer realise; so you’d better make the most of it? Perhaps it’s your love of the trails, of adventure, of the sense of movement through a landscape under your own power, close to the edge, without that spongy buffer separating action and consequence; you love it, and so you’d better act like it?

After a lifetime of focused thought and introspection, no small number of grey-haired, tweed-coated scientists, eccentric poets and austere philosophers have reflected that the more we know, the more we realise how little we understand.

The more you run the more you realise how little you comprehend your own motivations. It’s clearly an equation but the result would appear far greater than the sum of its parts. The parts themselves are variable, in flux, constantly changing.

vitals Tegyn Angel is a co-editor of Trail Run Mag and owner of trail tour operation Wild Plans www.wildplans.com For all details on UTMB, see www.ultratrailmb.com 90

TOURS & EXPEDITIONS G U I D E D - O W N P A C E - A C C O M M O D AT I O N - F U L LY C AT E R E D

G R E AT O C E A N WA L K , G R A M P I A N S , H U T T O H U T - V I C A L P S , L A R A P I N TA T R A I L , E AS T T I M O R , C H I N A , B H U TA N , C O O K I S L A N D S

W W W.T O U R D E T R A I L S . C O M

NUTRITION REVIEW WWW.GOODFUEL.CO

VITALS BAR BRANDS REPRESENTED: Raw Bite, Thunderbird Energetica, Zing, Rise, Larabar, Kind Healthy Snack, Gather.

WWW.ISOWHEYSPORTS.COM.AU

$3.50-$5RRP

Isowhey Sports Refuel & Rebuild

VITALS

Reviewer - Chris Ord

RRP:

$54.95 / 500g Flavour: Berry

Good Food Company indication that the Good Fuel Co.’s approach leads with the tongue and with a directive of choice: Spicy Lime, Choc Chip Cherry Torte, Apple Cinnamon, Cashew Fig Carrot, Coconut…we can go on. There’s quite a range available, as there are seven brands that have made the grade to be included on the online shop window, and each brand has multiple flavours on offer.

Secondly, attitude. Yes attitude. A feisty, passionate attitude by the curators of Good Fuel Co. has resulted in an equally attitudinal approach to the what’s on offer and the brands they are willing to represent. Witness the names of their Thunderbird Energetica Range: Almond Cookie Pow Wow, Sweet Lemon Rain Dance, Hyper Hawaiian Crunch, and Cherry Walnut Crunch. That’s fuel with attitude right there.

This range in particular impressed us,

Curation. In a world bloated by information, products, things, experiences, events, choices, choices, choices…it can help to have a curator sifting the wheat from the quinoa, the gluten from the gluten free, the tasty from the tasteless.

And if there’s one market that is struggling with indigestion from being stuff full of choices, it’s the endurance nutrition market.

That’s where the Good Fuel Co. has slotted into place. It hand picks endurance nutrition bars from a worldwide market, taste tests them (and we assume field tests them – although they haven’t given us their ultra CV yet), and only gives the on-market green light when it has found a taste sensation that works.

We were lucky enough to be sent a box. It was field tested thoroughly. Box empty within a week.

And it was a big box.

First, taste. The flavours available give you

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Reviewer - Chris Ord

because, thirdly, ethics and ethos matter. Point of order: the Thunderbird range is not only in the main raw, vegan, all-natural, sometimes they have a compostable wrapper and – get this – they are Shaman blessed. We’re not sure if that adds to the price.

We tasted too many to go through, and they all did their job in the field: kept us fuelled.

Well. They were all, well, good fuel. All very much in the ‘real food’ tradition. Just like there’s no longwinded laboratory-generated ingredients in the bars, there’s no whitecoat science in our testing either, just our experience. But we love the vibe of these and will be shopping here for our enduro bars, knowing that some Peruvian (?) shaman has hollered and hummed and danced all over our nutrition, and all so we can run through the jungles with good fuel in our bellies.

Let’s be clear here: there has been no labbased, scientifically measured, isolation-use, control-inclusive, ratified test carried out to produce this mini review at Trail Run Mag HQ. Nope. The methodology was simple: run long, run short, run whatever I happened to be running, then use. So can I categorically say that using this assisted dramatically in my recovery? No. But I can say that I think it did.

I felt as though it worked. And to a non-elite like me, hell, that matters. And damn it tasted good (berry). Okay I mixed it in most often with frozen banana and milk, making my post run drink a banana-berry burst of pure whey protein, BCAA and magnesium goodness.

This powder mix was used exclusively as a nutritional recovery aid. In terms of the science it is based on what those who know, such as run coach guru Chris O’Driscoll of Brewsters Running (www.brewstersrunning.com), say is the good stuff.

For recovery, “we primarily need some carbs to restore our muscle glycogen levels and some protein to help repair the damage you caused to the muscles.”

O’Driscoll notes that protein may be the building block of recovery, but its source matters: “If you are going to take a protein supplement, you are better off with whey protein as it is the most bioavailable. The most common one used is soy protein.”

A tick for this, then, given that its based on whey protein concentrate (58%).

The formula includes Branch Chain Amino Acids (BCAA 2:1:1)– important for performance

and recovery – although it only has three of the eight amino acids available (the most common). Still, those three inclusions are a good thing and matched to L-Glutamine, used in muscle glycogen resynthesis, the combination being the most effectual in terms of athlete benefit. Plus, throw in some magnesium to help with fatigue and tiredness (brand claim), no added fructose, artificial colours, flavours or sweeteners, and you have a pretty ‘clean’ refuel formula.

The downside: it’s pretty expensive (10 serves for nearly $55 means your run just cost you $5.50). The price of progress?

Without going to the lab, and as a recreational runner looking to run longer and recover quicker, I recommend it if it can squeeze in your budget. Especially with frozen banana, milk blended (and with the price of bananas, your run just cost you more like $7!).

FURTHER READING ON BCAA AND PROTEIN SUPPLEMENTS: WWW.BREWSTERSRUNNING.COM/AMINO-ACIDS-FOR-ATHLETES/ WWW.BREWSTERSRUNNING.COM/RECOVERY-BARS/

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NUTRITION REVIEW WWW.TURBOSUPERFOODS.COM

VITALS Performance & Recovery Powder and Body Boost Powder

$118/1.2kg/80 serves $38/200g/13 serves

Turbo Superfoods What differentiates Turbo Superfoods from its competitors is an avoidance of artificial flavours, colours, preservatives, fillers and other rubbish, and the use of high quality natural ingredients such as (yeah, no points for guessing this one) so-called “superfoods” such as Maca, Spirulina and raw Cacao. There are three products in the Turbo Superfoods catalogue: Performance and Recovery Powder, Body Boost Powder and Electrolyte Powder, though we’re told there is a gel-like product in development.

The two key products, Performance and Recovery Powder and Body Boost Powder, both combine Spirulina and Cacao for their protein, vitamin and mineral content, while the latter also provides antioxidants. Add to this Maltodextrin as a carb source and the amino acids L-Leucine and L-Glutamine for muscle maintenance and recovery and Xylitol for some sweetness. This is the base of both

There’s something incredibly authentic about driving through rural areas, putting a few coins into an honesty box and picking up a bag of home-grown avocadoes, a punnet of handpicked strawberries or a re-used carton full of freshly laid eggs. If you want their products you stop and put some money in the box and if you don’t you keep on driving [Capitalism at its finest]. There’s no feeling of being manipulated by the seller, no question as to whether you’re getting value and quality. The simplicity of the product means you’re just as good a judge of its legitimate, intrinsic value as the farmer. The old dairy ad about the housewives whipping butter and chemists manufacturing margarine comes to mind. This is the same feeling you get from Turbo Superfoods’ products. It’s an un-leavened, feel-good pita-bread of slowcooked integrity, marinated simplicity and a generous dollop of Cottage Industry hummus.

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Reviewer - Tegyn Angel

powders, with Maca thrown into the Body Boost Powder for a host of reasons including it’s positive effect on immune system function and hormone balance. The Electrolyte Powder keeps things simple with a mix of Glucose, Maltodextrin, L-Leucine, Pink Himalayan Rock Salt and Citric Acid and would likely make a solid alternative to other Electrolyte and Carb fuels with the added benefit of an Amino Acid (which tends to bypass gastric processes and be directly absorbed, thereby avoiding the issues associated with protein in longer events).

For those looking for natural, sportsfocused supplements that are readily available in Australia, Turbo Superfoods has you covered. Drink up friends, this is the sport world’s equivalent of Slow Food and Kombucha Tea.

WWW.BIOSTEELSPORTS.COM.AU

BioSteel High Performance Sports Drink “The safety and health of participants, and also the fairness of the race has always represented the fundamental axis of the The North Face Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc”, opens a recent email from the organisers of the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc (UTMB). “[W]e would like to remind you that when you registered you agreed to respect the rules,” it continues, including an expectation that runners “agree to the request for any samples of urine and/ or blood and/ or capillaries and the associated analyses requested by the Organisation’s Medical Counsel…”

As an event that attracts in nearly 7500 runners, tens of thousands of spectators and the eyes of the world trail and ultra community, clearly UTMB needs to stay ahead of the doping game. While future drug testing at high profile races like the North Face 100 or Tarawera is plausible, your local trail race or cult classic like the Cradle Ultra or Two Bays Trail Run probably won’t ever see lab coats and pee cups.

Biosteel is the realisation of a very clear imperative: create a sports drink using the best ingredients available and which is absolutely guaranteed to be free from banned substances.

Originally formulated for professional NHL athletes wary of anti-doping laws, Biosteel High Performance Sports Drink is a measured concoction of amino acids (L-Leucine, L-Isoleucine, Glycine, Taurine, L-Glutamine and L-Valine), electrolytes (Calcium, Zinc, Magnesium), organic minerals and a B Vitamin blend. The taste and famous pink colour (their marketing line is awkward #drinkthepink) come from a mix of Celtic Sea Salt, Natural Mixed Berry flavouring, Stevia, Sucralose, Sodium and Red Beet Powder.

Biosteel was supplied to us in single serving sachets and mixed very easily, though it’s available in larger tubs as well. I’m no canary

VITALS RRP:

$89.99 / 375g

Reviewer - Tegyn Angel

down the mineshaft when it comes to noticing the subtle effects of different supplements, but it was a very convenient solution to hydration and mineral replacement and I was quite happy using it after a training run. I found the bubblegum taste pretty hard to get around but recognise this is a personal preference.

Flavoured using a natural beetroot extract, the Pink Drink tends to turn brown when exposed to the sun. While Biosteel claim the product remains perfectly safe and effective in spite of this, their FAQ states that the absence of preservatives means it’ll start to taste different and slowly break down once it is mixed in water. Premium quality, natural ingredients and an obsession with purity aside, Biosteel’s fragility means it’d probably be best served before an event or training session, at race checkpoints or as part of a recovery program as opposed to mixing it into a bottle that’ll bounce around for hours on end. At $89.99 for a 375g tub it’s at the higher end of the price range, but hey, science is expensive!

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REVIEW

TRAIL SHOES // BROOKS PURE GRIT 3

Image: Chris Ord

take outs BROOKS PURE GRIT 3

Great for: gnarly, technical trails, mountain running, transitioning to minimalist No so great for: mud, icy spots, slick rock

Test conditions: a mix of mild and super techy trails usually in damp and wet condition; Grampians National Park, Surf Coast trails.

Approx 120km.

Tester: Chris Ord Tester mechanics: slight pronator, mid foot striker, stiff hip flexors

VITALS

$199.95 AU Information online at:

www.brooksrunning.com.au

GRIT FOR GRIME ASK AND THY SHALL RECEIVE. NOT NECESSARILY BECAUSE ANYONE IS LISTENING. JUST BECAUSE SOMETIMES THE GODS OF ITERATION GET IT RIGHT.

Well, abracadabra, alchemy-do: the Brooks boffins have attained a level of sorcery here with the third outing of the Pure Grit. The result is an almost perfect balance of robust, dozer-like performance with biting grip (Cascadia gene-pool there) together with light, go-fast, low heel-toe drop, natural ride performance and comfort (Pure Grit parentage shining through).

The shoe is sporting the Pure Grit badge, not Cascadia, so the architecture remains true to the Pure Grit philosophy of being a transitionalminimalist shoe with low profile ride (4mm drop), and a good amount of cushion.

In previous reviews I’ve been complimentary about Brooks Cascadia and Pure Grit models, with some minor gripes. If you combined the general gist of my opinions on past outings of both models, the thematic would be that they needed to be whacked into a blender together, and hopefully the alchemy that transpired would result in the best aspects of each shoe being combined into a super model.

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I found the Grit 3 more tactile on the ground with much better feedback to rough trails.

Brooks Pure Grit 3

This model has lost the toe-splay that came online more prominently in the Pure Grit 2, reverting to a traditional toe-sole design (with good protection), however the splay remains in place at the rear (to what end I am still unsure) and, interestingly, on the outer side at midfoot.

The outsole is in fact the most obvious design change to the eye: much more aggressive than its predecessor with hexagonal lugs interspersed with perpendicular gutters up front and parallel gutter up the mid to outside rear. The gutters seem to allow the outersole to flex in advantageous spots underneath your foot, allowing for a more natural movement

and response. Indeed while the lugs are grippier, I found the Grit 3 more tactile on the ground with much better feedback to rough trails. And of course it delivered more confidence on the rough stuff that the 2s.

The addition of a forefoot rockplate also brings with it better protection (but again, did not seem to dull the feedback from the ground). This allows the Pure Grit to get stuck into much rougher terrain than the previous model could cope with, broadening its trail-type coverage. Indeed a run through the highly technical Grampians range in Victoria, Australia, where underfoot is a chameleon journey of rock, roots, mud, moss and everything in between, had the Pure Grits performing like a greyhound on heat. Only I was the one panting, like I couldn’t keep up

with them. They were perfectly matched to the technical terrain.

My other beef on the previous Pure Grits (2) was an upper that seemed to allow my foot too much movement internally, which meant increased instability when hoofing it around corners. Super dangerous in territory such as the Grampians. This model goes a long way to rectifying the upper fit, with a traditional tongue in lieu of what was a critic-polarizing wrap design, giving better hold up top. The lace opening remains off-centre but not by much – essentially the tweaks made have worked to lock down my foot in comfort and security.

The upper wicks well up front with a meshstyle fabric, however, does hold a little moisture up back with more materials built into the heel and ankle holds. Nothing that doesn’t dry out

eventually though.

The colourways – which have absolutely nothing to do with performance so really who cares – are on the lairy side and up for taste critiques: all subjective. Get it dirty and no-one will notice the psychedelia.

The shoe won’t please those who were looking perhaps for more refinement leading towards the minimalist tendency: essentially this is a beefed-up Pure Grit designed to appeal more to the middle market experimenting with going low profile, rather than appeasing purists who may have been looking for a further stripped back version of Pure Grit 2.

But for this mid-pack punter, the middle ground has been an improvement. Now if I could just get it in black.

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REVIEW

TRAIL SHOES // VIVOBAREFOOT TRAIL FREAK

take outs VIVOBAREFOOT TRAIL FREAKS

Great for pretty much every type of trail running you can imagine, minimalists Not so great for snow and cold climate running, those just starting out towards lower-drop shoes

Test conditions local Surf Coast Trails, mud, hard packed singletrack, muddy jungle trails in Hawaii and a coral beach run.

Approx 110km Tester Chris Ord Tester mechanics slight pronator, mid foot striker, stiff hip flexors

VITALS

$179.95 /AU Further information at: www.vivobarefoot.com/au/mens/ trail-freak-mens

SUPER FREAK I WAS IN MOURNING WHEN MY OLD PAIR OF VIVO’S (NEO TRAIL) BIT THE DUSTY BULLET. NOT ONLY HAD I COME TO LOVE THEM FOR THE TRAIL (ALTHOUGH NOT BEING A PURE BAREFOOTER, I WOULD ONLY EVER VENTURE RUNNING UP TO 10KM IN THEM), THEY WERE MY EVERYDAY, TO WORK, TO THE PUB, TO GRANDMA’S GOTOS. THE ONLY TIME I SWAPPED INTO ANOTHER PAIR OF SHOES WAS WHEN I WAS TRIALLING ANOTHER BRAND FOR THIS MAGAZINE, OR RUNNING LONGER THAN THE TENNER. But they died. After a good, dirty, fruitful life.

Vivobarefoot Trail Freak

And then bang, back brighter then ever, the Trail Freaks came across the desk flashing like the lights on an emergency ambulance.

It was hard to miss them, what being yellow and red and orange (I’m colorblind so feel free to correct me on that – but these were bright enough that I was nearly blinded, period).

But would the love still burn as brightly as the new paintwork glared back at me?

In the main, yes. Of course, these are only for those wanting to go minimalist. Forget about just shodding yourself with Vivo’s for the long run if you’ve been tapping out trails in in anything other than a zero drop shoe. Okay, those of you in 3-4mm drop can continue the 98

journey to minimalism and these are the ideal pair. Treat carefully, lest your Achilles get angry with you. Ease in.

Lightweight and highly breathable the Vivobarefoot Trail Freak’s main benefit (aside from all the inherent barefoot body strengthening, form finessing, stride correcting goodness that comes with the territory), is in superb foot protection courtesy of a patented puncture resistant ultra-thin sole, coupled with unbeatable grip and outstanding comfort. The result is trail feel like you have never experienced matched to glue-like stability on ground.

The duo 3M mesh and laminated structured

upper is extremely breathable – more so than my old pair of Vivobarefoot Neo Trails - and features a super roomy toe box, something the Vivo’s are known for. This is appropriate, with the philosophy behind barefoot action being that the arch and toes need to splay out on each landing, and recoil, as part of the natural order of how your foot should behave (when it is re-strengthened to do so appropriately).

The Vivo thinking is that the human foot has 200,000 nerve endings, 33 major muscles, 28 bones, and 19 ligaments; they believe that it is a biomechanical masterpiece, but one that needs to be given room to function as it naturally was meant to, with minimal interference. So in terms of offering the best proprioception performance – these are the biggest guns.

Some will find the overall fit unusual in its looseness – but once on the fly, the shoes conform to and hold the foot well, and any internal movement goes unnoticed as your foot

at bay. I ran them over sharp seaside coral – easily, without a whimper or a wince.

That’s the other thing I like about Vivo’s: while most minimalist shoes tend to be light on toughness, the Vivo’s are rugged and longwearing.

For those well-adjusted to barefoot running, these are great on the long run, too, as tested

by TRM co-editor Tegyn Angel (disclosure: he is a Vivo-sponsored runner) who wore them for more than 160km at the recent UTMB. His dot points: “Durable but some wear in the toe knuckle crease, aggressive sole, no blisters, very easily adjusted on the fly, drains well, very roomy. Bruised forefoot but only minor.”

As with any minimalist zero drop shoe, these aren’t for those just starting their journey away from traditional, well cushioned, high drop shoes. Realistically, these are the rewarding end-game to that journey. Which may end up at the UTMB. It happens…

responds to the terrain.

Inside, the Dri-lex lining with Lycra collar offers a comfortable moisture wicking experience, the only downer (as I found with the Neos) is the flimsy 3mm inner sole, which tends to scrunch up, move around and become annoying. Many will choose to either lose it altogether or insert their own innersole (although that comes with its own not-quiteright-fit issues).

There is no sliding tongue and the quick closure lace system ensures they don’t come loose. They are ‘long’ laces though, and I found that a bit annoying with no stash pocket on the tongue.

Of course, trail running involves some aggressive surfaces, and some forced landings, so protection is needed. That’s where the 4mm lugs and the puncture resistant sole come in.

Still super flexible to ensure that intimate trail feel, it keeps the sharp edges, sticks and stones 99

REVIEW

TRAIL SHOES // SCARPA ENDURO

Image: chris ord

take outs SCARPA ENDURO

Great for: walking, fastpacking, gnarly mountain self-supported multidays, Oxfam

Not-so-great for: everyday trail running

Test Conditions: local Surf Coast Trails, mud, hard packed singletrack. Approx 80km

Tester: Chris Ord Tester Mechanics: slight pronator, mid foot striker, stiff hip flexors

VITALS

$249.95 AU Information online at: www.paddypallin.com.au

MODEL OF ENDURANCE THE BLURB VIA SCARPA SAYS THAT THEY HAVE ‘CREATED A NEW LINE OF TRAIL RUNNING SHOES’. I WONDER WITH THIS PAIR, IF THEY ‘CREATED’ IT TEN YEARS AGO, WHEN TRAIL RUNNING WASN’T SO HOT, BUT SHELVED IT. NOW, WITH TRAIL RUNNING CATCHING THE EYE OF MORE BRANDS GETTING JIGGY WITH US DIRTY MOB AS POTENTIAL ‘NEW MARKET’ MEAT, THEY HAVE DUSTED OFF THE PROTOTYPE, NODDED KNOWINGLY AT EACH OTHER, AND SAID, “IT’LL DO!”. HELL, IT EVEN LOOKS LIKE A MARKET LEADING SALOMON (FROM TEN YEARS AGO).

But essentially this particular Scarpa is no trail runner. It’s a trail walker. Or at best a fastpacker.

But not a runner. It’s heavy (370g Size 42.5). It’s brick-ish on the foot. It has little trail feel and is as stiff as a board for the first 100 kays. It has Gore Tex (although there is a model without), which really should only ever be used in trail running when you are running in extreme cold and looking for heat retention. The idea of ‘waterproofing’ a trail running shoe for the sake of keeping water out is as relevant today as Pauline Hanson is, and just about as grating.

The pity is that Scarpa, as a shoe brand, is a high quality outfit. They produce awesome 100

Scarpa Enduro

and well-respected mountain kit, from boots that take you to Everest to approach shoes, to hiking boots and on into goblin-esque climbing shoes for vertical play. Their ‘lifestyle’ range (read: fashion) I totally dig, too. Strangely, internationally, Scarpa offers some awesome trail running shoes on range – their Minima and Ignite models reportedly a sweet wear on dirt.

So the problem here is in the importation Down Under. The distributors have forgotten to consult the trail running market or even dare I say, to understand it. They’ve seen the words trail running on the box of the Enduro, and maybe looked inside and seen a shoe that

Trail running shoes have come a long way in a short amount of time and model releases are now up there with Apple iPhones

matches their idea of what a trail running shoe should be: in their estimation, pretty much like a low cut hiking or approach shoe. They’d be wrong, of course.

Trail running shoes have come a long way in a short amount of time and model releases are now up there with Apple iPhones (verging toward one a quarter?). That is, trail running shoes are no longer walking shoes with added grip. A long way from it.

We’d die to get our hands on the Scarpa Minima or Ignite, and we think they’d work well on the Aussie market. But no serious trail runner will likely plump for the Enduro.

There is an upside for the dear local brand manager. If you are a beginner trail runner, you may accidentally buy these, and you won’t know any different. Or, and here’s the real upside rub, the Enduros are actually not a bad choice for those more into fast packing: on trail voyages where the load on back is heavier than your usual trail running outing may require

(hello lightweight pack with bivvie, sleeping bag and food), where the distances are longer and more support is needed (to counter for that extra weight). They would also be a fair selection for multiday big mountain races, where the same applies (rough terrain, bigger on-back weights, as much walking fast as running slow).

Interestingly enough, the solo retailer of Scarpa trail runners in Australia is Paddy Pallin, and on its website under footwear there is no trail running category, but there is an Oxfam Trailwalker category, where you’ll find the Enduro. Perhaps they do know their product after all.

I won’t go into the design specifics in this review. Fastpacker? These are worth a look in store to gather your own thoughts. Go fast trail runner, ultra runner or anything in between?

Well, join me in the placard protest to the importers: “What do we want? Minima! When do we want it? Now!” 101

REVIEW

TRAIL SHOES // BROOKS ASR 10’S

take outs BROOKS ASR 10’S

Great for: multi-terrain, lowto-moderately technical runs with extensive forestry road or hard packed sections.

Not-so-great for: hardcore technical; rocks and roots, steep slippery ascents/descents.

Test Conditions: a real mix.

Technical rooty, muddy singletrack with short forestry road sections.

Tester: Vicki Woolley, off-road ultra marathoner.

Tester Mechanics: neutral runner, mild heel-striker, lightweight (53kg).

VITALS

$249.90 AU Information online at: www.brooksrunning.co.nz

ULTRA DEPENDABLE THEY SAY FIRST IMPRESSIONS FORM THE BASIS FOR A RELATIONSHIP, AND I ADMIT THAT FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF THE BROOKS ASR 10’S WERE DISTINCTLY AVERAGE. DESPITE MY EXCITEMENT AT SHOES THAT PROMISE BIOMOGO (A BIODEGRADABLE MIDSOLE THAT BREAKS DOWN A WHOPPING 50% FASTER THAN STANDARD EVA MATERIAL – ENVIRONMENTAL KUDOS), MY FIRST THOUGHT OUT OF THE BOX WAS...

WELL... THESE THINGS ARE ‘SNOTCOLOURED’. HARSH, BUT TRUE. I SET OFF OVER A VERY TECHNICAL SECTION OF TRAIL, DETERMINED TO 102

FIND THE SPIRIT HIDDEN WITHIN THE UNCOMPROMISING EXTERIOR. Initially I slopped around in the Brooks’ signature roomy toe box (runners with a wider forefoot, take note). Despite a 12mm drop, the segmented and grooved crash pad delivered a degree of trail feel as I headed into a big climb over slippery wet clay and exposed roots.

What is distinctly NOT average about the ASR 10 is the tread. The Flextra front crash pad has three rows of direction-specific offset lugs – an interesting theory that may need some refining before it translates into improvement. My pre-run prediction was

Brooks ASR 10’s

the current configuration would provide good uphill grip on half a shoe... and good downhill brake on half a shoe. Indeed, this played out on the first climb with a tiny sideways skew – more of a hesitation – before reliable grip established: a bit like that wee drift you get before your skis bite on firm ice. It was a weird sensation, but one that I began to enjoy (bizarrely!) once I trusted that control would establish.

A struggle ensued on the descent as the flexibility of the segmented sole clashed with the standard Brooks pronationcontrol medial post: the latter’s exposed thermoplastic midsection screamed danger over wet roots and rocks. I found myself

My pre-run prediction was the current configuration would provide good uphill grip on half a shoe... and good downhill brake on half a shoe.

adopting an exaggerated toe-strike on the downs so as to delay medial ground contact.

I was intrigued by the hype surrounding Brooks DNA – a midsole engineered using a ‘non-Newtonian’ liquid. Disbursement responds uniquely at point of pressure to the force generated by the individual’s weight and gait, promising tailored cushioning and energy return. Indeed, the shoe came into its own as we burst out of the bush onto gravel road; barely noticing the transition I was whisked along in BioMoGo comfort.

Brooks tout this shoe as being their “most versatile on and off road shoe”; given that it is a hybrid, I was a bit harsh in my choice of terrain, but I needed to explore the ASR 10’s

limits. The trouble with any hybrid is that it is a compromise: there is nothing extreme or dynamic to get excited about. But then, there are a growing number of events that are themselves hybrid: a bit of trail, a bit of road, something for everyone. Alternating forestry road and single-track, I may have lost a little time over the technical, but made up for it on the flat stuff, and I had my Eureka moment.

Forget multiple shoe changes in drop bags, this shoe was born for mild to moderately technical running with a significant component of road or hard base.

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TECH REVIEW / SUUNTO AMBIT 3

Reviewer - Tegyn Angel

WWW.SUUNTO.COM

Suunto AMBIT3 While it’s too soon to offer a more detailed review of Suunto’s third-generation of GPS watches, the Ambit 3, here’s a few quick thoughts based on our field-testing so far.

Firstly, the Ambit3 (A3) looks and feels so similar to the Ambit2 (A2) you’d be forgiven for thinking it was the same device. There’re a few sexy (aka very nice) changes to the bezel and display font, but otherwise they’re nearly indistinguishable.

Like the A2, the A3 family offers two versions, the A3 Peak and the A3 Sport. These are akin to the A2 and the A2S respectively, the main difference being that the A3 Peak offers a barometric altimeter and twice the battery life of the A3 Sport (max 50hrs vs 25hrs) Behind the “Made in Finland” housing there a few significant changes to the Ambit2 hardware. Battery life remains the same as the A2 (up to 50hrs in low-detail GPS mode), while storage capacity has been doubled.

More relevant to the 100-mile plus, multi-day competitors and fastpackers among us, the increased memory capacity means you can now charge on the go with a USB battery pack and the charging clip, effectively doubling the range of the A2.

The new, significantly smaller, Bluetooth Heart Rate Monitor (HRM) has been completely redesigned to “cache” HR data during a loss of connectivity and then syncs that data to the watch when the connection is restored. Swimmers take note: this development means that, at the time of writing, the A3 is the only watch on the market that will tackle both HR recording and Swim metrics.

Another cool inclusion is the Daily Activity Tracker, which uses the existing accelerometer and recorded Moves to arrive at your total daily activity. While a novel curiosity for some people, this feature

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becomes quite powerful when the data is fed back into the dynamic “Recovery Time” display, adjusting it to reflect your level of activity during the day.

Perhaps most significantly, Suunto has completely dropped ANT/ANT+ in favour of Bluetooth Smart. In practice this means the A3 will pair with your Smartphone and a host of authentic and non-Suunto Bluetooth Smart sensors (think footpods, power meters, cycling cadence sensors etc.), but out-ofthe-box* will NOT pair with your existing Suunto ANT/ANT+ sensors. This will nodoubt upset those who’ve dropped a lot of cash on older sensors. However, for the rest of us the shift to Bluetooth opens the door for a pretty significant extension of the A3s functionality and it’s this extension that not only distinguishes the A3 from previous Ambit generations but also ensures that Suunto remains competitive in a crowded market.

Let’s keep this simple because there’s plenty already written about it: by adding Bluetooth to the A3 and developing tailored Smartphone apps**, you can now customise your A3 without needing to sync it to a computer, display watch data on your phone and display (and only display) phone notifications (such as new message alerts, caller ID and Push notifications) on your wrist. One of the most frustrating things about previous Ambit generations was that you were forced to login to Movescount in order to edit your activity modes and settings. The Smartphone app not only allows you to do this, but also to sync your moves and navigation data between watch and Movescount.

Aside from acting as a mobile substitute for your computer, the Smartphone app will allow you to extend the Sport Mode display of the Ambit3 onto your phone’s screen.

This would be great for cycling, providing a

*Devices such as the MIO Velo could potentially act as a bridge between ANT+ and Bluetooth devices, which MAY allow you to use your existing sensors. However, we haven’t tested this functionality and can only imagine it’d be a fairly frustrating work-around. ** iOS app is currently available. Android app scheduled for an undisclosed time 2015.

relatively huge display backed by the accuracy and battery life of the A3, but I imagine it’ll be fairly useless for runners. Finally, the app allows users to easily tag, overlay data and share photos to social media, and easily create a “Movie” of their Moves, complete with Google Earth flyover, geostamped photos (assuming you’ve linked them) and pretty popups highlighting metrics such as your Max Elevation, Max Speed and so forth.

While the Ambit3 is a very respectful addition to the Ambit family, the hardware updates alone probably wouldn’t justify an upgrade from the A2. What the Ambit3 seems to represent, though, is a subtle but significant shift in Suunto’s thinking. A shift away from a world where devices are born, live and die in a universe of one, toward a more relevant, contemporary environment where a small number of key, interconnected-devices extend our day-to-day lives during work, rest and play.

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FOLIOYO

ALAN URE / PHOTOS4SALE.CO.NZ

story: Vicki Woolley photograpy: Alan Ure / Photos4Sale.co.nz

He’s new on the singletrack block, but when it comes to capturing images that are less about the glamour and more about the grassroots, Allan Ure from Photos4Sale seems to have the knack of capturing competitors in all their mid mud-puddle glory. We have a quick chat and showcase a few of his images from trail events across New Zealand.

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CHECK OUT MORE PHOTOS4SALE.CO.NZ

ew Zealander, Allan Ure doesn’t mess around. He talks with disarming honesty about his two years’ of substance abuse, and his father snapping him out of it. On the lookout for a different kind of buzz, Allan bought a Nikon D7000. After a couple of years mucking around with cameras he cold-called trail and adventure event company, Total Sport, who agreed to give him a shot photographing the 2013 Tussock Traverse.

“I had this amazing location, brilliant day – I thought: this will be gold!” he recalls. “Then I thought ‘Shit! Where are my car keys?’”

He was still looking for his keys as the first runners approached. Even so, Allan took 1500 photos that day, which he loaded on a website for people to download. “I did $700 in sales for four hours’ work and a return trip to a National Park and thought, yeah, I can make this happen.”

Intelligent and curious about every aspect of his work, Allan feels he has developed a certain understanding of the trail runner psyche and how they like to be portrayed – essential when the subject matter (sweaty, bedraggled runners) doesn’t lend itself to the usual notion of ‘glam’.

“Unless you are an elite athlete, you can look pretty miserable after you’ve struggled over a

few hills,” he acknowledges. “I do what I can to make people look light and fit, and happy to be out there.”

Alan does have a strong if enigmaticallygained sense of empathy for his subjects.

“I once ran a marathon in full motorcycle leathers and a helmet – I was so slow. I know what it’s like being out there with no support, so I always whoop and cheer.”

A year down the trail, Photos4salenz has a solid record as a trail photography agency for the likes of Total Sport, Lactic Turkey, NZ Trail Runs Limited and in4mper4mance. A firm believer that businesses are built on the strength of other people, Allan credits best friend Daniel Sauer as the powerhouse behind Photos4salenz.

“I’m a dreamer, not a do-er,” he tells me, and then quietly states his goal of growing the agency into a multimillion-dollar international business. “By the end of the year we will be doing 10 events a week – 100 a week in five years time.”

Looks like his mate Dan has some work to do. But coming from a passionate, honest, and quietly confident man, this is not boasting – it’s a statement of someone who knows there’s no point in dreaming if you don’t dream big.

NEXT PAGE FOR THE WORK >>

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FOLIOYO ALAN URE / PHOTOS4SALE.CO.NZ

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ALAN URE / PHOTOS4SALE.CO.NZ FOLIOYO

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THE MIDNIGHT SUN AND THE LANDSCAPE LOOMS LARGE OVER A TRAIL RUNNER EXPLORING IN SWEDEN. WWW.ELIASKPHOTO.COM

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EVENTUAL WINNER OF THE 101KM CCC (COURMAYEUR CHAMPEX CHAMONIX) ANNE LISE ROUSSET IN ACTION HIGH IN THE ALPS. FRANCK ODDOUX / UTMBS .

MATT JUDD GETS IN SOME EARLY MORNING TRAINING IN WANAKA, NZ. JUDD ADVENTURES WWW.JUDDADVENTURES.COM.AU

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TIP TOEING ALONG THE COAST IN THE EARLY MORNING LIGHT AT THE SURF COAST CENTURY, 100KM ULTRA. WWW.SUPERSPORTIMAGES.COM WWW.SURFCOASTCENTURY.COM.AU

STUNNING VIEWS ON A RECCE ON THE C OURSE FOR THE INAUGURAL TARAWERA TRAIL MARATHON AND 50K. THE EVENT S TARTS AT POHUTU GEYSER, TE PUIA ROTORUA, AND FINISHES AT HOTWATER BEACH ON LAKE TARAWERA. GRAEMEMURRAY.COM WWW.TARAWERAMARATHON.CO.NZ/

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PAU BARTOLO RUNS TO A WIN IN THE RANGES AT THE NORTH FACE ULTRA-TRAIL DU MONT-BLANC’S LITTLE SISTER, THE 101KM/6100M ASCENT CCC (COURMAYEUR CHAMPEX CHAMONIX).

FRANCK ODDOUX / UTMBS.

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SPRING HAS SPRUNG 128

You know they’re there: those pristine trails.Close.Not far from your doorstep.

You can smell them…

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Bright, Victoria, AU 118

Or maybe that’s just the sweet waft of dirt not-long ground into the lugs of your trail shoes, which sit by the front door — a welcome reminder of the weekend’s mountain jaunt.

But the blood screams for more. The legs are sore, yet they pine for a warm down. A warm up. A flat out blast along some winding, wet, wonderful singletrack. But where to go?

Only got an hour (which you know can stretch to three).

Trail Mag has the answer(s).

Here. In this guide. Each edition we’ll bring you step by step trail run guides, all within an hour of a major city or town in Australia, New Zealand or Asia, all between 5km and 30km, all worth zipping out to for a trail fix.

We’ve also included some post-trail goodness ‘cause we’re human; we’re caffeine freaks too (strong latte – sometimes double espresso, but only on race days), and we love the smell of fresh eggs and bacon after pounding the paths. Welcome to the goodness guide.

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Mount Rosea, Grampians, Victoria

PRESENTED BY

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Bream Head, North Island, NZ

Papahaua Ranges, South Island, NZ

Win Salomon gear!

We need trail correspondents! If you think there’s a cracking trail the world needs to know about, go research it, write it up, shoot a photo and send it in. We do have a bit of a style going, so be sure to check out the guidelines and download the pro forma before you do at www.trailrunmag.com/contribute If your guide is chosen as the ‘Editor’s Pick’ of the issue, you’ll win some great Salomon Trail Gear. The best guide submitted to be published in Edition #14 (out September 2014) will receive an Agile Set 12 backpack (RRP $139.99), and an XA run cap (RRP$29.99), valued at $159.99. Just for going trail running (with a camera!)?

Yep, that easy!

So go running, get writing and start window shopping at www.salomon.com/au

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IMAGES: chris ord

BRIGHT STAR Your Guide: Neil Kinder As trail running has risen in popularity, so too has Bright, a mountain hamlet in Victoria’s North East, risen to take its place as a certified trail running mecca. It’s proximity to some of the state’s biggest and best mountains and trails makes it an obvious training target, especially for those looking at ‘gettin’ some vert’. But while the likes of nearby Buffalo, Bogong, Falls and Feathertop call for the longer run, you’ll find plenty more short singletrack sweetness at the township’s doorstep, no car required.

Godfather of the Alpine Trail Runners group and a man who has run more local routes than most, Neil Kinder, guides us to ten of Bright’s best with an eye to the history that courses along them.

In the mining years (1850-1950) the banks of Morses Creek and the Ovens River, Bright, would have been classified an ecological disaster by today’s standards. Dredges, sluicing, and river diversions were the norm; machines were steam driven and wood was the fuel, the demand for which decimated the natural bushlands.

Yet when the first train arrived in Bright in 1890, tourists still flocked, drawn by the region’s natural beauty that outshone any superficial scars a goldhungry industry could incur.

In 1913, pine plantations were established from the mine tailings to feed both furnaces and a demand for buildings, and mountainsides were again blanketed in woods. The Shire, with some foresight, was ambitious with extensive planting of exotic trees, the result being a valley synonymous with the colours of autumn and leaf-fall. The town’s forbearers lived, died, worked, sweated and even rioted, leaving behind a legacy of amazing trails that are so much more than the sum of their dirty and dusty parts. There’s history on them there hills…

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Bright, Victoria, AU

1. Cherry Walk Loop (2-10km)

otherwise you might find you’re at a dead end gold mining tunnel. Amateur prospecting and gold mining is still active in this area. There are old mining shafts scattered along the edge of the track.

This one’s named after the Cherry family whose descendants still live in the area, and reflects scenes of gold diggings and dredging which stripped both groundcover and gold.

Pick up the fabulous views of the Ovens Valley, Mt.Feathertop and Morses Creek.

Turn west at the four-way intersection. This is Growlers Creek Rd. named after ‘Bob the Growler’ Williams a disgruntled miner. Enjoy the downhill across and through Growlers Creek. Prepare to get your feet wet and if it’s in flood, consider the consequences. It’s onto the bitumen past the old gold mine. You’ll soon end up at the Wandiligong Pub on Morses Creek Road back to start. Or pick up the Chinese Diggings Trail return along the creek.

Or just stop at the pub and get someone to pick you up.

Starting at Howitt Park footbridge, follow the trail east past the first footbridge, across the Ovens River and past the arboretum.

Continue along the river to the second footbridge and cross to the northern side. Continue until you reach the Back Germantown Road, then run in the direction of Bright for about 100 meters before dropping onto the single track along the river.

Passing Howitt Park footbridge again head through the camp ground, across Star Road road and through the Poplars. Cross the swingbridge and return back to town or choose to continue to the Canyon. These amazing water races were cut into solid rock by early miners. It gets technical here if you want to maintain a bit of pace.

The best time to run this is early morning especially if it’s low cloud for a mystical running through the fog into sunshine along the ridgeline, keeping watch for the lyrebirds and Samba deer around.

3. Apex Hill Lookout Loop (6km)

You’ll pick up the second bridge shortly and cross. Turn right and hit the single track until the railway bridge. You can head back on the rail trail, but the return single track is much more fun. So turn around and stay on the southern side of the river and return to start.

Check out the historical notices which explain the significance of the mining techniques and be amazed at the toil involved in cutting those channels to divert the river in order to recover the gold.

From almost anywhere in Bright you can see Apex Hill with its communications tower at the summit. Access the main single track by Mt.Porepunkah Road. The bitumen soon turns to dirt road near the Quinn’s Gap intersection.

The singletrack is marked on the right. Follow this to the summit. It’s a steady and solid climb, especially if you have maintained pace from the start. The section of cleared area gives you a great view of the town. Continue on and there are great views to the east towards Harrietville and the Alps. Now the fun begins on the return. Follow the trail back past the viewing point seat. Continue until you see a faint unmarked trail heading straight down. Keep dancing as the trail becomes steeper and more obvious until its almost vertical. Grab onto anything for the last 50 meters. All of a sudden

2. Wet Gully Track Loop (23km) Starting at the Mystic Landing Site on Churchill Ave, travel towards and along the Back Wandiligong Rd. Turn left and head up a steady hill and onto the dirt 4WD track passing the old tannery on the right. Continue along the ridgeline. Don’t take any sidetracks

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you’re on the Back Germantown Road almost at the intersection of the start. Look back to see how you have returned via the ridgeline.

over to Mystic Lane. Follow up Mystic Lane up and continue by veering right at the fork. You are almost at the top of the climb. Stay on the logging road and enjoy the smell of the pines throughout the plantation. You will come to Huggins Lookout. There is a ripper single track back down to Bright. Great for hill repeats!

Or continue along the road with great views over the town below eventually coming back via Bakers Gully Road. There are lots of roads and junctions but just continue down back to Bright township. Great fun at night, so quiet with the occasional wombat or wallaby picked up in your headlight beam.

The other option without going up the road is to tackle Apex Hill straight up what is known as the ‘Goat Track’.

The best time to run this is early morning or late afternoon to see sunrise or sunset.

4. Huggins Lookout Loop (5km) In 1870 Huggins Lookout was opened and generations have walked, run it, cycled down it and paraglided over it. It’s halfway up Mystic Hill to the south overlooking Bright. There are three ways of getting there. Either via Bakers Gully Road, Mystic Lane or Huggins Lookout Track via the end of Hawthorn Lane. Keep an eye out for the evidence of early mining activity on this hill with tunnels and old shafts.

5. Reservoir Trail (2-6km) The first dam in Bright was built in 1892 and the second in 1916 to provide a permanent supply of water to the town. The trails around them can be accessed from approximately 2km up Bakers Gully Road or a few other offshoots around the perimeter. To a first time explorer you would think it’s a maze but you can’t get lost as all tracks will eventually lead to a main road. The reservoirs no longer supply town water and are now the home to platypus, fish,

My favourite is following the single track along from the edge of Morses Creek starting at the Caravan Park, cross Hawthorn Lane at the bridge and continue along the track past the Pioneer Park and ending at Coronation Ave. Turn right back towards Bright and cross

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frogs, yabbies’ and tortoises.

My favourite is to combine this trail from the top and follow the sweet single track down back onto Bakers Gully Road after the Huggins Lookout Loop or Mystic or Clear Spot. It’s a cracking end at pace with the sight of mist over the reservoir water. It’s a great winter or spring trail but one to be mindful that in the summer that snakes are attracted to water. Early morning is absolute magic in the dark with the sound of frogs. The top end of the track can be accessed as you start into Bakers Gully on the northern boundary.

6. Spots Track Loop (15km) Start as you would for Mt. Porepunkah or Apex Hill. If you’re hardcore that’s straight up the Goat Track or nice and easy up Mt. Porepunkah Road to the Quinn’s Gap intersection. Continue downhill on the Mt. Porepunkah Road, past the sign “Just a Wee Bit Further”. Spots Track turns off to the left and cross a small creek. If it’s been raining it can get up to knee deep but otherwise you can just about jump over it. Follow the undulating dirt road along the side of the hill.

You might come across some deer but otherwise

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NEIL’S TRAIL NOTES: 9. Wandiligong/Chinese Diggings Trail Loop (15km) Gold fever brought a wave of international fortune seekers. Although gold was won by hard work the miners had to eat and the Chinese in particular were there to provide by growing fruit and vegetables and later mining itself by resourceful means.

some nice views over the vineyards and walnut plantations. You eventually drop down onto a bitumen road. Turn Right, this is Roberts Creek Road. It will take you all the way past farms to the Back Porepunkah Road at the Golf Club.

But for a more interesting route cut through the corner at the pine plantation and back onto the rail trail until you get across the Ovens River at the old railway bridge then drop down onto the single track. This is now the return section of the Cherry Walk/Canyon Loop, making for a bonus three awesome trails in one.

7. Mt. Porepunkah Loop (32km) Pick a clear day and get going early for this one. Take food, water, waterproof Jacket, space blanket, first aid kit and telephone. The first 18km heads up Mt.Porepunkah Road. Continue past Quinn’s Gap intersection and Towonga Gap Track. Follow the road signs. At the fire tower summit it’s about 1200m above sea level. The solid climb up the Mt. Porepunkah Rd. is worth it, with views along the way to Mt. Bogong. When you get to the top there

are great views of Mt. Buffalo and just about all of the Victorian Alps. The return run is technical and steep in sections straight down the firebreak ridgeline. A fun bomb that will test your quad muscles. There are one or two sections where you climb again but only for a short distance. Pretty soon it’s back down on the flat turning right at Roberts Creek Rd. See the track details for Spots Track Loop return.

depending on energy and time restrictions. A popular run is from town. Take the single track up to Huggins Lookout. This can be entered at the end of Deacon Ave. Turn left at Huggins Lookout and follow the road sign to Launch or just keep taking any route that goes up. If it’s a single track, beware that you’re probably on a downhill mountain bike circuit and these guys fly…and don’t like to brake.

If training for some serious alpine trail racing vis a vie Bogong to Hotham or Alpine Challenge try going up and back the fire break.

Just about any time is a good time to run this, even when it’s deep winter and there is snow on the summit.

The vertical option is via White Star Road.

Go past The Boys Camp, established in 1944. It was purchased from the army to educate young city boys in plantation forestry. At the Five Ways junction take the steepest firebreak. This will take you to the top.

8. Mystic Hill (10km)

Take a while to be in the moment. Check out the monuments to those who have “fallen from the sky”. Go to the other side of the launch and take the main track down to the intersection veering right and continue any of the vertical downs back into Bakers Gully. You can get a good idea of the trails from Google Maps. It’s a bit of a maze. But keep Bright township to your north and you will be okay. Combine the Reservoir Trails into the return back to town.

From the centre of Bright, look south and spot the astro-turf covered Mystic Hill peak. The is one of the most popular sites to paraglide in Victoria and features as part of the Bright Alpine Climb and Buffalo Stampede Skyrun events.

There are a number of ways to get to the top

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This is a fabulous run with lots of interest along the way. The loop travels from Bright to Wandiligong and back but along a different trail. It can start at the caravan park on Morses Creek. At the far end of the park follow the trail (refer to the Huggins Lookout Loop). Go under the bridge at Coronation Ave, and follow White Star Rd. You can stay on the single track (MTB) or the dirt road. Follow it through on the lower road until you get to the Wandiligong Oval.

Turn into the oval past the BBQ’s and take the short single track along the Morses Creek, cross over the road at the Royal Bridge and follow the Chinese Diggings Trail.

While running, imagine that at the height of the rush 3000 miners had turned the diggings into a cesspit of disease. Many claims were abandoned which led to an influx of Chinese who through toil sifted the remains and reaped the reward. The European miners resented the success of the Chinese. In 1857 things got out of hand and by the time order was controlled it was reported that 2000 Chinese had been massacred or fled. This area has been well worked over by the gold dredges.

Turn left over the Chinese Bridge and follow the loop via the oak trees. Along the way you will see some early tunnels into the side of the hill. Take the trail left over the other Swing Bridge and return back along where you came from through the oval playground. You should be following the Morses Creek back to Bright.

At the far end of the park follow the walking track. Pass through three gates and stay on

There are lots of variations to these trails and they are difficult to explain. This is just a starting suggestion and of course will need some mapping resources for you to follow. You will discover your own routes along the way, be adventurous take a risk so long as you keep a bearing on Bright, the township. Phone coverage is good especially up high.

There is no water out there and drinking from the river is not wise. Be aware that it gets dark and cold very quickly when the sun drops so plan your run accordingly.

the river trail. Take the first bridge over and stay close to the river. This part offers some fabulous singletrack to dance along. Keep going until you come out on the Wandiligong Hanggliding landing area. Cut the corner though the poplars and you are back on the bridge. You can take the opposite side of the trail back to Hawthorn Lane. The tin shed is an old Mines Department Gold Battery. From here, be aware that this is a popular mountain bike track so give way to the two-wheelers. Best run early before there are any mountain bikers around.

See the fog rising from the creek, a magic sight.

You can knock off this 15 km trail and be back in town for the first brew of coffee.

10. Clear Spot (15km)

There are many other trails around some varied by logging activity, which makes them inaccessible. Since 1913 plantation timber has been a huge contributing industry to the area and makes fabulous opportunities for interesting trails. All of these trails can be started and finished from town.

Prepare yourself for Clear Spot as weather can change dramatically and quickly. In 1922, Clear Spot Lookout was opened. Since then, most people visit by cars or motorbike. Some cycle up, some walk. Few attempt to run it. There are three routes from Bright, via the road, the vertical and the steep. Let’s take the steep as it’s got lots of variation and you can see the trail along the ridgeline from Bright. It’s to the west of Mystic.

The trails listed are the ‘town trails’ – all accessible by running from the main street.

Of course, further afield is a mountain runner’s heaven: Mt. Buffalo, Feathertop, Bogong and plenty other alpine gems, with trailheads accessible by car.

Bright’s trails are just the entrée.

It’s easy to find the trail. Proceed up Bakers Gully Road to Sommer Ave, take Hargreaves to the walking track at the bend. Keep going up through the back of the pines and past the water tank. Keep going up. You will start to see the track winding on its ascent. Head past the point of thinking “Are we there yet?”. Enjoy the views along the way. It’s obvious when you reach the top.

Time to fly back to town down the same way until the first fire break on the right and straight down the quad burner Vertical K until you reach the bottom, which is Clear Spot Track, and then onto Bakers Gully Road. Don’t be disappointed if you don’t actually run it. Not many people do.

Power walk is a nice option.

Neil Kinder, Alpine Trail Runners

ALPINE TRAIL RUNNERS

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TRAILGUIDE

PRESENTED BY

IMAGES: Sam Costin

ROSEA COLOURED RUNNING

1.5 + hours

Your Guide: Chris Ord The Grampians, a contained but expansive wilderness region in western Victoria, hosts a bevvy of Alice in Wonderland-like trails all weaving through oversized rock gardens, past wondrous waterfalls and up to ridges and peaks boasting views that blow your hair back. Mt Rosea is one of only a handful of mountains within the park that rises to over 1000 metres and overlooks Lake Bellfield and Halls Gap. This is technical mountain running at its best.

RUN IT:

1. From Rosea Carpark, head west up Stony Creek Road only about 20 or so metres, where you will find the Mount Rosea trail leading off to your left.

2. Running through scrubby messmate forest,

you’ll climb gently until doubling back to the south, at which time the terrain and trail will change from groomed and wide to rocky and mossy as you rise to the plateau.

3. The climb continues and gets technical

underfoot. Follow the yellow triangle markers, easily seen painted on rocks – the trick is to look up and ahead at eye level, they are placed at the most appropriate spots (i.e. where there is a turn in the trail or where you are likely to get lost among rock gardens).

4. This is Alice in Wonderland stuff (indeed, the

Wonderland Walk is just to your north, and the allnew Wonderland Run event – August 2015 www. wonderlandrun.com.au – uses both trails as part of its 37km loop). You weave in and out and between huge boulders, and scrambling is required – it’s definitely not an event tempo run!

5. The climb eases up and most of it is runnable so

long as you mind your footing. Keep an eye to your back – the views out west towards Stony Peak and the Balconies at Mount Victory are intense.

6. You’ll navigate through rock galleries and past Eagle Rock before coming across a metal bridge over Gate of the East Wind (look down!). All the while you will be running past a never-ending lineup of stunning viewpoints just off trail to the east.

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7. The path to the 1009-metre-high Rosea peak

Mount Rosea, Grampians, Victoria

TRAIL TIPS

is signposted and hard to miss. Pop up to it for more expansive views over Lake Bellfield and down the eastern range of the Grampians. This is one of the most magnificent valley views you’ll find in the state.

NAME: Mt Rosea Loop Run NEARBY TOWN: Halls Gap, 9km EXACT LOCATION: Mt Rosea Car Park, Silverband Road

8. From Rosea, head back down to the main trail, hook left following the sign to Borough Huts Campground.

TOTAL DISTANCE: 12km

9. You are now on Cathcart Chislett Memorial

TOTAL ASCENT: 520m

Track, which first treats you to a leg-pounding, highly technical and slippery descent. Take care.

TIME TO RUN: 1.5 hours+

10. At approx. 6.5km, you will come to a four-way

TYPE OF TRAIL RUN: Loop

intersection. The inclination is to keep running straight down – but instead, take a left hand turn for Burma Memorial Track. It’s a fire road pretending to be singletrack, and is actually still quite technical underfoot. Floods and fires have rendered it quite rough in patches with numerous washouts that swallow you whole until you clamber up the other side of them to keep running.

DIFFICULTY: Moderate-Difficult DEFINING CHARACTERISTICS: Rock gardens with highly technical trails for the most part, high escarpment, steep descent with some flowing trail off the back of the ridge.

11. Follow Burma back north all the way to

FEATURES OF INTEREST:

Silverband Road. From here it’s a one kilometre jog back uphill to the Rosea Car Park.

Mt Rosea and various other view spots high along the range, overlooking Lake Bellfield and across to the eastern range.

12. To extend the run, head downhill here instead to find the Delleys Dell Car Park and the trail that leads up to Sundial Peak, from where you can loop back around to the north towards Sundial Car Park, taking a left just prior to lead you back to Rosea Car Park. That extra loop would add on approx. 4km.

ONLINE: http://parkweb.vic. gov.au/explore/parks/grampiansnational-park

MAP: Outdoor Recreation Guide, Northern Grampians or check http://www.grampiansmaps.com.au for more walking maps.

POST RUN GOODNESS: There are plenty of cafes and restaurants in the Grampians hub town of Halls Gap. We love the big and fresh lamb or chicken burgers and chips at LiveFast Café, along with their coffee – the best in town. They are located at 5/97 Grampians Road, at the back of the cluster of shops along the banks of a small river.

(03) 53564400 www.livefast.com.au

ONLINE MAP

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TRAILGUIDE

PRESENTED BY

photo: Vicki Woolley

TE WHARA

2.5 hrs

YOUR GUIDE: Steven Neary The Bream Head/Te Whara track follows an ancient Māori trail, Te Whara being the principal wife of the rangatira Manaia (a mythological creature in Māori culture, and a common motif in Māori carving and jewellery.). The track passes through some of the best coastal forest in the North Island. At the Bream Head summit, enjoy a magnificent coastal panorama taking in Motukokako (Cape Brett) in the north to Tawharanui (Cape Rodney) in the south plus a host of off shore islands out on the glistening ocean.

RUN IT:

1. Start at the car park at the end of Urquhart’s Bay Road, where you will find the Department of Conservation track sign. Head off over the farmland for a nice easy warm up with views across the harbour to Marsden Point.

2. Continue along the well-marked track and after five gently undulating kilometres, the steep climb to Mt Lion Summit begins.

7. After that frenzied descent, you might need to cool your feet off in the sea before making your way over the sand and onto Ocean Beach Road. From here you need to grin and bear it, and bust out a 5km roadie back to the start.

4. After 8km passing through some of the

most beautiful coastal forest in the North Island, you start to climb again to the highest point of the Heads and some very impressive rocky limestone outcrops – those with vertigo need to hold on tight.

POST RUN GOODNESS:

5.

A sublime coastal panorama awaits you from the Bream Head summit: look to Motukokako (Cape Brett) in the north, Tawharanui (Cape Rodney) in the south, and east over a plethora of offshore islands famous

DIFFICULTY: Moderate to hard

NEARBY TOWN/CITY: Whangarei (30 mins)

DEFINING CHARACTERISTICS: A mixed bag of farm track, groomed single trail and technical rooty and rocky sections.

A steep climb (steps) goes most of the way to the summit of Mt Lion.

17.2 km loop

FEATURES OF INTEREST:

TOTAL ASCENT/DESCENT: 938 m

The Bream Head/Te Whara track follows an ancient Māori trail: on the drive out to Whangarei Heads you pass Mt Manaia -

TIME TO RUN: 2hr 30 min

From here it is a “hold onto your pants adrenalin rush”: a flying 2km decent into Ocean Beach – keep an eye out for the remains of a WWII naval radar station as you scream down the track.

sharply to the summit. Blink and you will miss it, because there is no trig or views to be had here, and you quickly start to descend again.

NAME: Te Whara Track

TOTAL ROUTE DISTANCE:

6.

3. There are a few steps to negotiate that rise

TYPE OF TRAIL RUN: Loop (but can do as a point-to-point to miss the road section)

- Urquhart’s Bay Rd, Whangarei Heads.

for fishing, diving or wildlife reserves – Tawhiti Rahi and Aorangi (Poor Knights); Marotere (Hen and Chickens group); Hauturu (Little Barrier) and Aotea (Great Barrier).

In no time at all, and only 3km in, you will literally stop in your tracks with views down to Smugglers Bay.

trail tips EXACT LOCATION: Urquharts Bay Car Park

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Bream Head, North Island, NZ

Head to the Whangarei Town Basin where Reva’s famous pizza is a long-established postexercise tradition. 31 Quay Side, Town Basin, (09) 438 8969.

Te Whara was the wife of the rangatira (chief) Manaia. The high point views are spectacular and the old WW2 radar history kind of cool in a historical, did-theJapanese-ever-get-this-far, kind of way.

(No, they didn’t, but we are in the very north here and they would have come this way). Please keep to the track in this area as there is a collaborative restoration program in place including re-vegetation and weed, pest and predator control.

CHECK OUT THE MAP

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TRAILGUIDE

PRESENTED BY

1.5-2 hrs POINT TO POINT

PAPAHAUA RANGES Your guide: Vicki Woolley Cold, dramatic, windswept, unforgiving – that’s the Denniston Plateau of today.

It is hard to believe that from 1858-1967, this bleak place housed as many as 2000 people who somehow gouged subsistence from the hard, cold rock you stand on. The Incline – rather, the engineering to enable its use – was to be the eighth wonder of the Engineering World: peer over the top and I defy you to not have butterflies at the thought of descending or ascending a 1:1.34 gradient in a coal wagon. As you run, bear in mind that this was the only route up or down for residents and their belongings, as they would sing: Damn Denniston Damn the track Damn the way both there and back Damn the wind and damn the weather God damn Denniston altogether.

RUN IT:

1. From the car park at the top of Denniston

Road, wander around the remains of what was once a bustling community. Many excellent signboards and numbered locators will help you explore the history of this dramatic, isolated area.

2. Eventually make your way down to the

Brakehead – where you can peer over the edge and down the first section of the worldfamous Incline.

South Island, NZ

4. Immediately you drop into thick rimu and beech forest on steep, rocky single-track – take care if it is wet.

trail tips NAME: Denniston Bridle Path, Papahaua Ranges.

5. A short detour off to the right takes you

out to Middle Brake: this is the flattish section which allowed wagons to be slowed and stopped before plunging the rest of the way to the bottom.

NEARBY TOWN/CITY (+DISTANCE TO TRAILHEAD IN KM & TIME): Westport, 18km, 25min.

EXACT LOCATION: Turn left into Conns Creek Road, Waimangaroa: the car park is on your right and signposted.

6. Return to the main track and make your

way down through lush native forest and past an amazing ivy-covered sheer rock wall. The track begins to even and widen, and shortly you come to a grassy junction: turn left at One Mile Log to head out to Denniston Road if you have arranged to meet there.

TOTAL ROUTE DISTANCE: 4.2km (Bridle Path only: you may do another 5km exploring Dennistons’ many features of interest!).

7. Alternatively, continue down through

TOTAL ASCENT/DESCENT: 610m

regenerating forest, past the brickwork ruins and out to Conns Creek Road.

TIME TO RUN: 45 minutes but allow at least 1.5-2hrs to explore before heading off down the track.

TYPE OF TRAIL RUN: Point to point

POST RUN GOODNESS:

DIFFICULTY: Easy if running down, difficult if running up!

DEFINING CHARACTERISTICS: Steep ascent or descent; roots, rocks, single track

Back in Westport, snuggle into one of The Townhouse’s cosy alcoves and reward yourself with anything on the menu. Sporting a philosophy of “the history of human kind and social interaction has food and drink at its foundation”, you can guarantee everything that passes your palate has been prepared with care. Corner Cobden and Palmerston St, Westport, 03 789 7133.

FEATURES OF INTEREST: Views, history of the tramway tramway.

ONLINE

3. The Bridle Path starts just to the left of the

MAPS

Brakehead, beside the glass information boards.

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