Running on Old Legs Race Review Bloated Goat Trail Run
EVENT. NAME: Bloated Goat Trail Run
VENUE: Wungong Regional Park, Perth, Australia
DATE: 26 March 2017 Time: 07:10 [07:10]
Headline Event Owners: Perth Trail Series
Event Organising Company: Perth Trail Series
Race Director: Melina Mellino
Timing company: Perth Trail Series
Registration company: Perth Trail Series
THE EVENT
http://www.perthtrailseries.com.au/blog/bloated-goat
EVENT SCORE CARD SUMMARY
PRE RACE.
Entry and information:
Initial event information and updates: Everything that was needed to be known was available on the event page. There were very few updates, but that was due to there being no changes or additional information. 10/10.
Contact: Facebook, Web-site and E-mail available and monitored. 10/10.
Categories: Just male/female Open on offer. Not even veterans. 4/10.
Value of entry: AU$99.32 [aprox. 8 min wage hours. Equates to aprox. RM55 mwh]. At around RM300 this would be considered a very expensive event here, especially as there were no medals and no shirts. I felt that, even considering the higher costs, and earnings, in Australia this event was rather expensive. 14/20.
Race registration and kit collection: Collection point, ease of collection: A well organised morning of the event bib collection at the start/finish was perfect. 20/20. 58/70
Race site Facilities:
Venue, space and amenities: Venue and space were just what was needed but there was nothing laid on pre-race in the way of amenities. 7/10.
Toilets facilities: There were a sufficient number of toilets which were in good condition. 9/10.
Start area: Plenty of willing hands around, a real cheerful bunch who knew what they were doing. 9/10.
Parking and transport: Was more than adequate for the relatively small number of competitors. 10/10. 35/40 93/110
Care of Competitors:
Starting time and control: There was plenty of warm up area, flat or hilly. The starting control was good and timing spot on. 9/10.
Medical facilities. Start/finish and on course: There was none. 0/20. 9/30 102/140
THE RACE.
Organisation:
Course management: A full course and safety briefing was given before the event; however, they did forget to mention that there was an emergency phone number on the rear of the bib. There was a mandatory hydration requirement, which was mentioned in the briefing but I don’t think it was checked, mine certainly was not.
The on-course signage, for the best part, was very good. Especially if you took notice of the ‘don’t run 500m without seeing a flag’ rule. 22/30.
Enjoyment factor: Exceptional – Very High - High – Med – Low. There was just one point where the course just became an unnecessary punishment, just before the last check-point/feed station we were sent up, and I mean straight up, a hill only to be turned back at the summit to a point no more than twenty-five metres further on, just cruelty. 19/20.
Marshaling: There were not many marshals on the course and perhaps a couple more at strategic points would have made life considerably easier for some of the runners. The lack of quantity was more than made up for by the quality of those that were there. I would bet that the vast majority were runners themselves. 13/15.
Feed stations: The number of stations was just about perfect, the staffing was perfect, some great people, full of encouragement. BYO was rightly the order of the day, as, in my opinion, it should be on all trail events, and the water flowed freely. Food was limited to bananas with the added bonus of gummy-bears and other sugary delights. 14/15. 68/80 170/220
POST RACE.
Finish line: Investing in a proper finishing tape would be good! There was nothing in the way of choice of food watermelon or naught. Hydration was just water. Given the cost of this event I do feel that there was little over and above the run itself on offer. Even down to reusable bibs, yes OK a money saver in the long run, pun intended, and the ‘save the world’ argument, but, what about those of us that keep our race bibs as mementos? 5/10.
Resting and cool down areas: Good – Sufficient – Lacking. 8/10.
Finishing information: Yes its true that I finished well behind the winners but very much mid-pack but by the time I arrived back it was all but over. I certainly didn’t get to know who the winners were. The actual part of the prize ceremony that I did get to witness was a haphazard affair aimed very much towards the regular series runners. 3/10. 16/30 186/250
AFTER EVENT
Results: Timely reporting of the results but just gender, first to last. 11/20.
Post event communication: Good – Limited – None. Just the results and some good photographs. Nothing from the organisers, no reports, stories or even future events. 2/10. 13/30 Total 183/280 My overall score for this event is 65.4%
COMMENT: A disappointing score for what could have been a fantastic event. The run was brilliant, the people surrounding the event were great, the participants were not very inclusive and the organisation seemed very profit motivated.
Would I return to this event: No – Unlikely – Possibly – Yes. Only because I know I could improve the run I had and go sub4.
Happy Running
When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.
My personal race.
48th. of 190 Overall. 4:28:15 30.69Kms.
My race was a story of two halves.
Part one:
With a half way cut-off of two-hours and thirty-minutes I had to remain mindful of pace for the first section, something I am not usually concerned with on a trail run. But staying focused seemed to pay off well as I reached the half way check-point in one-hour fifty-six and still feeling quite fresh. Considering that almost the entire run to this point was a series of undulations, some steep climbs, a real brute at Km7, 145mtrs of ascent, that put an abrupt end to my subSix-minute kms, and a couple of steep, technical descents.
So, now at half-way and inside my target time by eighteen-minutes, which of course now meant that my target time had been mentally revised and was now at subFour!
Part two:
Ahead were some serious climbs and a really steep descent, what the elevation map can’t show is the actual running conditions, time will tell.
I did my moment of sportsmanship, I called out and stopped the Simon followers [you had to be at the safety briefing to understand] that had missed the trail marking and were happily practicing on yet another hill going in the wrong direction. But, where were those I had saved when just a few kilometres further on myself and an accompanying runner missed the marking on a switch-back and just made a left turn, but, heeding the ‘don’t run more than 500mtrs without a flag’ warning we realised our error and turned back. It only cost us a kilometre and a place or two.
With fatigue beginning to bite the climbs seemed to be getting steeper and longer, but, my biggest problem came on the one and a quarter kilometre long descent through the dried-up river-bed. Strewn with boulders and rocks on a shale base I, along with many others, just did not have the skill to tackle this section at pace, the longest down-hill section and there was I tip-toeing down like I was on hot coals, what a disaster. That said; I was down and uninjured through terrain I had never encountered before.
The last seven-kilometres started with heartbreak hill, the steepest climb, a little under a kilometre but one-hundred and six metres of ascent, it was exhausting but the heartbreak only hit you when you saw the one-hundred and eighty degree turn at the summit, to take you almost back to where you had just come from, a race director’s true colours were on show here. At least at the bottom there was the respite of the last check-point. Sent on my way with a cheerful “just one more climb” and a hand full of gummy-bears to a steady single-track section meandering across a hill-side until at the base of the K28 homeward climb, almost two-kilometres up a slick, single track mud face peppered with a few small trees to cling onto for a breather. Cresting the summit I could see the continuation of the tack winding its way down through a tree covered hill-side, the sound of finishing runners growing ever louder, until onto terrafirma, through the arch and into the waiting arms of my beloved pit-crew of one.
Job done, twenty-minutes inside my original target, twenty-eight outside my revised and over optimistic one. Exhausted and exhilarated.
