Race Review: Roller Coaster Run

Most races are named after their location.  If that’s the case then this event should have been called Mt Dandenong Trail Run.

Some events are named after a feature of the area.  If that’s the case then shouldn’t this event be called Sky High?

So why oh why is this event called Roller Coaster Run?

Because of this:

So which crazy nutter thinks it would be fun to tackle a Roller Coaster of mountains?  Yeah me.

I decided in after I did Tough Mudder in March 2014 that I would buy an open ticket for 2015. The reason I decided to do this was that Tough Mudder was the same weekend as the Roller Coaster Run and I really wanted to do both, but just not on the same weekend.

Well as it turns out Tough Mudder got moved to October, so that meant Roller Coaster was in.  I had some idea of what I was getting into, but I knew that the best way to prepare for this course was lots of training out in the Grampians.  The hill training helped, but I’m not going to lie, walking was involved.

Arriving at Sky High just after 6 am on race day it was dark and cold. The cold always makes me question whether am I dressed warmly enough. It’s the waiting around in the cold that I don’t like.

At 7:30 I set off in the 2nd wave.

The problem with starting at the top of a hill at the start of a race means that you have to go up it at the end.

You do get a view of the city (but doesn’t beat the View of the Grampians – yep country girl at heart here).

I was feeling pretty good throughout the race.  I ran most of the hills (or fast hike), and walked when I had to.

There were moments of cat and mouse with some other runners.  I’d pass them, then they would pass me.
I knew when I got to the 15km mark that I would not meet Tom at the finish line at the 2h30 mark.  That was the time I was hoping for.  He would have to wait another 30 minutes before he would see me.  For those last 5km I fast hiked/walked.  It was just impossible to run on some of the tracks.

At 20km the satellites dropped out and never relocated. It would take me another 22 minutes to travel the 1.5km to the end.

I crossed the finish line in 3h01m.  Considering those last 5km I had to walk as it was all uphill I’ll take it.

I earned my medal that’s for sure.

Will I do this event again? Err ask me in 6 months’ time.