I was looking forward to this race and being the inaugural event with Max Adventure as the organizers I knew it was going to be well run. I stayed with my cousin the night before the race as he lives on the Central Coast so there wasn’t the need to get up at stupid o’clock to be there at about 7:00am for the 8am start,  and I was picking up a work colleague who had signed up for the race as well as she was staying at Umina.

We arrived at about 7:15am and checked in for the race and I saw some Trailblazers but it appeared that I was the only Dirty Cheetah at this race, not to worry as you are always seen with the ears on 😉

By 7:30am it was starting to get quite warm and with the race start looming at 8am there was still a lot of setup happening down at the beach (I don’t think we are starting at 8am). Sure enough it was about 8:30am before they marshalled everyone down to the beach where Trailblazers gathered for a photo before the start. Have I said it before I’m not a fan of running on the sand? Seems a a bit of a theme with Max Adventure and Coastal Classic and now Bouddi Classic. Hehe anyway it is what it is.

The race started at 8:45am  and Nelda and myself took it easy, the beach start was about 1.2 km so not terrble and was a nice warm up but I could already feel that it was going to warm up quickly and I really wish that it had started on time, later start means later (and warmer finish) time. Once off the sand we wound up the cliff line and started along the coastal boardwalk and the scenery was beautiful. I highly recommend getting out here sometime and seeing this part of the Central Coast of NSW, it’s stunning. Link here for a hiking summary.

We were making some steady progress, nothing too fast but getting some good km under our feet and settling in to the race when at the 6 km mark a male runner went down in front of us hard and we heard the break….. He had broken his ankle and within minutes it came up like a baloon. I was carrying a tourniquet bandage and we got it strapped up and found a makeshift crutch to get him up but it was going to be a long slow hike to get him out to the medics at the 9 km checkpoint. One of our friends from Trailblazers that was with us when it happened an ran ahead and warned them and by the time we got to about 8km the medic team was coming down the other way to help us. He stay in good spirits as I supported him out through some pretty rough trails and we said our goodbyes and left him with the medics but the sub 3 hour goal we had was blown out now so Nelda and myself just enjoyed the rest of the morning out on the trails and finished just under 4 hrs.

I’d love to do the race again as it has some challenging single trail, some steep ascents and maybe I can come to grips with the sand, 21 km is a great distance.

The best part of the race was nearing the finish and having Nelda’s boys finish with her, it was the first time she had attempted that distance in a while and I was proud of her for committing to the training with me and getting it finished, even with the drama we had mid race I really enjoyed it.

-Wastey