10 May 2021
Hallelujah! A race at last. I ran the 50 km option of the final running of the Hubert 100 event which was based in Wilpena Pound in the Flinders Ranges. An added bonus was clicking off some more of the Heysen Trail as it formed the majority of the 50 km race route.
The event takes its name from South Australian 20th century explorer, Sir Hubert Wilkins, who is famous for quoting “adventure is just a word used to disguise a series of unplanned surprises”.
After seeing the start of the 100km race, we took a bus ride to the Trezona Campground which was the starting point of the 50 km event. We then essentially followed the Heysen Trail back to the Wilpena Pound resort and campground. Winning!
We had terrific weather for running. Minimal wind, clear sunny skies and low to mid 20 degree temperatures. Perfect. The scenery is strikingly beautiful – I never tire of the views. I struggled a bit around the undulating 20 – 25 km mark so did a bit of walking and chatting with a fellow runner from Victoria, but then got my second wind and was able to push on to the next aid station which was at about the 36 km mark. This was where the drop bags were and I restocked with fuel including some Coke – aka black gold. Only 14 km to go. But this was right next to the campground, and I could see our campervan. Cruel! Nevertheless on I went even although I knew this would be the toughest part of the run.
And so it was. We left the Heysen Trail for a loop up and over St Mary’s Peak and back around to the Pound. St Mary’s Peak has an elevation of 1168m and the climb is not for the fainthearted. We approached it from the north and for those of us with a fear of heights, it certainly posed a significant mental as well as a physical challenge. According to my Garmin, one kilometer in the hardest section took me 38 minutes. To be fair there was a fair bit of stationary clinging to the rocks in fear, crawling on hands and knees, scaling a few great big rocks with the help of some fellow runners and a great deal of caution. Not my favourite part of the run. The descent is no picnic either. It is very steep, rocky and I was thankful to make it down without stacking it.
Then it was the last push to the finish line. Ironically with about 3 kms to go, on a perfectly flat wide unsealed path, I tripped on a rock and went face first into the dirt, so finished the race covered head to toe in red dust. Amazingly I finished 3rd female overall, a completely unexpected result, albeit quite some time back from the winner and 2nd place.
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