Thursday, May 5, 2011

Southern Charity Classic.


SAARC Attack Team, The Twisted Sisters and the Chubby Hubbys.


In April, Twisted Sister Susi no Bum and Moi, plus Chubby Hubbys Daryl and Mike competed in the 60 km. Southern Charity Classic. This is always one of my  favorite race events for the year and is run from Goolwa through Pt. Elliot, Victor Harbor, Yilki, over the Bluff to Encounter bay and Back Valley.
In previous years Chubby Hubby Mike has always been our support person but this year for the first time he competed with my husband Daryl.




Susi no Bum and Moi waiting to start.


This event is well organised by organiser Brad Butler and his volunteers, and it has the added bonus of being a very casual, relaxed and fun event.



Terry Cleary and Chubby Hubby Mike  at the start.


The weather threw absolutely everything at us; cold and gusty winds, squalls, horizontal rain and hail. 
Many runners cancelled on the morning of the run due to the extreme weather conditions. others opted for the shorter distances available.
But not the Twisted Sisters . We might not be the fastest runners in town, and we certainly are  
directionally challenged, but we are TOUGH. Pffft to dud weather, nothing stops us.




Moi waiting to start and feeling very, very cold.



The starting line. Only about 200 brave souls turned up.


At the pre race meeting everyone huddled under trees and any available shelter to try and stay dry as it was already raining Big Time. About 200 runners competed but only 13 of us did the full 60 km. course. The long course is for teams only, mainly because much of the run is quite isolated and with only minimal support. It is also quite common for some teams to finish in the dark.




Heading towards Pt. Elliot.



Susi no Bum and I had two main goals to achieve;
- to finish the race before it finished us
- to beat the living crap out of our Chubby Hubbys.





Heading towards Victor Harbor , with another storm coming our way !



Susi no Bum and I completed the first 21 km. in around 2 hours and had already dumped the Chubby Hubbys ! The weather was so bad it was funny and people seeing us could be excused for questioning our sanity.
BIG CONFESSION HERE , but please keep it to yourself as it is not my proudest race moment !
..... at Yilki Susi found a lovely little coastal coffee shop. Now we were both very cold and wet, we are both coffee addicts and we still had 38 km. of tough conditions to go with no more support. The plan was to run in  , grab a take away skinny flat white
and run and drink at the same time.

BUT, the cafe was warm , the fire was toasty and so like the ladies we are, there we sat mid race and had morning tea ! OMG !!
The man in the coffee shop who knew all about the run was quite incredulous that we were running 60 km. yet still ordered SKINNY flat white. Well a girl always has to watch her waistline ! 



Well lucky we had our coffee, because our next challenge was to get our selves over this Bluff in the strong winds.




At the base of the Bluff and ready to start the climb.



Over the other side , and now to run along this rugged coast at Encounter Bay. It was here that we got caught in a hail storm.




Even the tide was right in, so more wet feet.






Susi having a What the F$%K am I doing here moment. It was at this point that Twisted Sister Tracy rang us on her mobile to give us words of encouragement. She was not competing due to ill health but was more than happy to share with us that she was still in her pyjamas, curled up on the sofa with the fire going and watching a Chick Flick !! Even the sanitized version of what we said to her is not printable.




The 35 km. check point.




Daryl's expression says it all, he was drenched to the skin.



Susi and I kept up a fairly steady pace. We were leaving the 35 km. check point as the Chubby Hubbys arrived. We had been there about 20 minutes changing into dry clothes and shoes and having some hot soup. So we were still well ahead of the boys even though we had stopped for coffee.
At 45 km. both of us had no feeling in our legs from the cold and being so wet. We still had the daunting task of running through the pine forest and up Mt. Robinson.


Susi and I finished the event in 9 hrs 57 minutes. We were second team in and took over an hour off last year's time. The Chubby Hubbys were third team in at 10 hrs 40 mins. Some runners did not finish and the last team finished some 3 hours after our boys.

Cheers for now.
 Karen.
Mt. Robinson.
 

6 comments:

  1. this is why I don't exercise..........lol...........you do enough for me..........LOL coffee midway..........congrats on placing 2nd you well deserve it...........what a terrible day for a 60km run.........and congrats to the chubby hubbies too........

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  2. I would have had the first what F^%# moment at 60m not half way through the 60km. Love the fact that you stopped for coffee... You are mad. I'm with Chooky you must do enough exercise for me to.

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  3. Ha ha. I love that you went to a coffee shop in the middle of a race and still beat the boys. Go girls!!!

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  4. Nice one Karen! Stopped for coffee and still came second. Fantastic photos! It looks like a lovely day, not the cold windy day it would have been. I can just imagine it. Oh. And I'm sure you don't exercise enough for me as well. I should get up off my own chubby butt and walk to the end of the street! (About 60m. 60kms is so far off I can't even think about it.)

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  5. Sheer madness is all I can say.

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