Adventures Down South

The Turners keeping our tradition alive!

Australia is about as far from Scotland as it's possible to go, but wherever I am, I still (usually) love to get out and run. The marshals at the parkrun I did on the Central Coast with my cousin on my first weekend out there were amused to hear that my last one was in Kirkwall, Orkney. The next weekend I met up with some friends with whom I've kinda developed a tradition of visiting for a Friday night dinner and a Saturday morning parkrun on every recent trip to Oz. This time, they ensured I joined the "Cowell Club" by running my 100th different parkrun (though it was only the second time I had to double up as post-run doctor, as an older gentleman came a cropper when a child stopped running and cut across directly in front of him).

I've also managed to squeeze a race in.......the Fernleigh 15. I don't think I've ever run a 15K before so as long as I crossed the line, I'd manage a PB. I vaguely remembered the route from a visit a few years ago, along an old railway line which has been made into a cycle track (from Adamstown to Belmont, up near Newcastle). I was meant to be doing it along with my cousins (who had debated entering individually or as a relay team) but in the end I was the only one who ran.

Approaching the finish line...

Registering on the morning was chaotic to say the least, but luckily the start line was not far away. I decided not to start with my "age group wave", but to go off with the open wave a couple of minutes earlier. I know my starts, and figured it was safer to start at the back of the open group, than try to head off near the front of the age group pack and risk a tumble. As it was, it was rather surreal to spend the first couple of kms negotiating my way past people wearing tutus and other Halloween fancy dress (well, it was marketed as "Freaky Fernleigh" with extra prizes for good costumes).

I hadn't got a clue how I would do, as I knew the sharp end of the field would be well ahead of me, as it appeared that the race was doubling up as the NSW 15K champs. At the start, the announcer had described the race as an uphill parkrun, a downhill parkrun and then a flat parkrun, so although I felt distinctly out of my comfort zone in the first part of the race, I figured it would get better. 

It was nice to see how many people were out waiting at the relay changeovers (in fact, there was a total of 1417 finishers on the day, 375 of whom were relay runners), as again I'd settled into my own pace, and for some stretches, could see no one ahead of me (though again I'd have periods so some odd guy doing a kind of fartlek around me.....sprinting past and away and then slowing down so I'd pass him again, only for the cycle to be repeated!).

I'd passed a few ladies in the first 5 or so kms but didn't know how many were ahead of me.....if I'm honest I think I would have been disappointed not to sneak into the bottom of the top 10. After about 10-11k there was a slight odd out and back section to a water station, and so I could see that a decent sized pack I'd been gradually closing down contained a girl surrounded by male runners. When I caught them, I thought about slotting in, but as it happened I was going just that bit quicker and so I had to just keep on running by. I heard their "leader" say something about being "40s up on their pace" and that if they were feeling good, then people should push on. Not really working in kms, I couldn't quote work out what pace he was talking about, but them pushing on meant that they came back to close enough behind me for me to hear whether they were 35 or 40s up on their pace several times.

The comedy podium

The girl in the pack looked like a better runner than me, so I fully expected her to come past me in the last couple of kms, if not fly by sprinting for the finish, but I just tried to concentrate on not slowing down myself. With about 400m to go, someone shouted out "2nd lady".....for a minute, I thought "wow.....keep it up and even she sprints past you'll still make the podium" but then I remembered there were also age group champs  and they must have been referring to that.

In the end I kept my position and crossed the line 10s ahead of her (more if you look at chip time as I started much further back, whereas she was on the front line).....but it turned out that I was second overall (albeit 4 minutes behind the leader). I was so surprised......and even happier when I looked at my watch, as although my 10mile PB is a good minute and a half quicker, that was a long time ago, in my younger/fitter/competitive days. It was only slightly embarrassing to stand at the podium presentation and work out that my age was about the same as that of the first and third placed ladies combined 😂!

The Coastal Trail

So many steps in the
Royal National Park

Apart from that, various friends have taken me out running whilst I've been here.....and each time has been very different.

On Hyam's Beach

My Bondi beach slog!

I've run round the streets of northern Perth, along paths beside the Indian Ocean, on coastal trails through the Royal National Park south of Sydney, around the Opera House, through the Botanical Gardens, and even a barefoot soft sand beach run at Bondi (though that nearly killed me.....and made my soft British toes bleed)!

How great it is to get out there and enjoy the world, wherever you are and whoever you are with!