Cradle Mountain Run (well....kinda run...)

I may have just had a low mileage week in running terms, but the crazy bike ride definitely meant that I was still feeling rather dead in the legs and low in energy in general as I boarded a plane to return to Tassie. On my last trip Iestyn had suggested the Cradle Mountain Run as being one for the bucket list, and when a place came up on it (numbers are limited to 60 per year, due to the National Parks restricting the number of people using the trail every day) a few days later, I couldn't resist. 

The Overland Track

He had sold it to me as a fun run along the Overland Track from Cradle Mountain in the north, to Lake St Clair in the south, which is about 80K in total......but when I got there, I realised that it was actually a serious race - oops!! Still - at least we agreed that we wouldn't take the racing aspect seriously and just enjoy a good long day out running, chatting and generally catching up (and as he'd done it several times before, I'd have my own private tour guide!!). I'd managed to beg/borrow/steal all the compulsory kit from various friends (and there was a lot....including 3 tops, 2 sets of bottoms, a survival bag, a map, compass, snake bandage and so on) and attach it somehow to my only decent running pack, which was rather too small for such an undertaking. 

Morning roll call

The Tassie weather that evening and overnight did show why there was a need for so much compulsory kit as it absolutely poured down with rain (complete with rolling thunder etc), but luckily had just about stopped by the time we gathered (in the dark) for the 5:30am roll call. The first section was on boardwalk heading downhill and as I didn't really trust my shoes to grip on it I hung back slightly as people surged off at 6am. Luckily Iestyn was the person ahead of me (allbeit with a large gap between us) but I did keep apologising to the guys behind me for "slowing them down". They were lovely and assured me that if they'd wanted to go faster then they would have set off further forward in the field.

Boardwalk-tastic...

We soon started climbing up....and the climb involved both large steps (some wooden edged and some rocky) and metal chains, which took me slightly by surprise, but everyone assured me that the rest of the "run" wasn't like that. Iestyn pointed out Cradle Mountain and Dove Lake to me....or rather, he pointed out the direction that they were in, as we were surrounded by thick cloud and so couldn't see anything of the amazing views!!

Sleeves up, sleeves down..

I felt totally empty, and so told Iestyn that he really shouldn't wait for me and to run at his own pace, but he said that he was happy to go my speed as I was his "pacing bunny" to try to prevent him from going out too fast, blowing up and then having to death march to the finish. One or two runners passed us but we seemed to be at the right place in the field for our pace so it did just feel like we were the only people out there - and I was just going for a run with a mate (well, there was another ex-pat Brit who ran and chatted with us for a lot of the first few kms - which made for interesting conversation as he now lives in Launceston with his wife who is doing research into GI problems in ultrarunners, especially female ones).

Spotting the edge of the mountains

As we crossed the plateau (on some more narrow boardwalks), the cloud came and went so I did actually get some amazing views of Barn Bluff, and of the side of Cradle Mountain. These glimpses teased me (when I had the chance to look up from my feet) and showed me what a magical place we were running through....and I did appreciate how lucky we were to be there. 

Barn Bluff!!

After that the weather was very much hit and miss for the whole of the rest of the day - we had patches of sunshine, but also rain showers and some periods of strong gusty winds, so it was kind of impossible to decide if you were hot or cold and if the wet was coming "outside in" or "inside out". I couldn't be bothered to keep taking my pack on and off to change so just alternated sleeves up and sleeves down and got on with it.

Teasing me with lovely views ...

Despite (or maybe that should be "as well as") the variable weather conditions, the run had it all in terms of ups and downs, technical stretches and runnable sections, dryish boardwalks and soaking singletrail ( I think my feet spent more time under water than they did out of it), windswept barren plateaus and dense cloud forest, leeches, mud.......it's hard to describe how much was packed into the one trail. Although it was just the two of us for most of the time, we did see a few walkers that were hiking the Overland Track over several days, both out on the trail and relaxing by the huts along the route. The huts themselves were useful as places to refill our water bottles, as although there were a few checkpoints en route, no support was provided for us as we had to be self sufficient. 

Cloudforest and streams

Eating and drinking as I go tend to be a forte of mine so although I don't think that I actually get stronger as the day progresses, I think that I fade less than other people, and it certainly seemed to be true on that day, as by the time we'd covered 30K, I was the one encouraging Iestyn along. Times didn't matter to us, so we chilled out as Iestyn  (along with several others) had warned me that the last section was definitely the toughest stretch from a mental point of view. When we came to the final checkpoint at Narcissus Hut we were still well within the time cut offs, so the last section was on. If you miss this cut off, you then have to take a ferry down Lake St Clair to the finish line (hence the need to carry $50 in your compulsory kit), but otherwise there was no cutting it short option (in previous years people have been allowed to finish their run there and ferry it back down the lake), though thankfully they did provide potato crisps, sweets and fruit at this hut to keep energy levels up.

Coming into Narcissus Hut

The final section sounds like it should really be a nice gentle "glory leg" if you can have one of those that lasts for 15K, as you officially "run along the lakeshore".....but that is not exactly how it is on the ground. Even with fresh legs, I would say that it is not exactly an easily runnable trail as it winds up and down around trees, over rocks and roots, through mud patches and overgrown plants. I managed to stumble on a rock when the trail was hidden by long grass, so rolling my ankle and throwing me off sideways into the undergrowth, but at least I could still get up and continue. I now know why Iestyn had told me that this was the worst part of the day, as it really did seem to go forever - just when you thought that you must be almost there as you dropped back down to the lake shore, you found yourself climbing away from it again. He did say that in past years, he had been more exhausted by this point so had always lost places in those final few kms, but although we felt rather knackered ourselves, we were obviously doing better than some, as we did overtake a couple of other runners.

The "lakeshore run"

Finally we reached the part that I'd had to cover 78K of trail for - the final 2km were along a gravel fire road, and so although it was very slightly uphill (well, it felt like it was significantly uphill but I'm sure it was actually almost flat), we picked up the pace considerably, distancing ourselves from those we'd just passed and finishing together in a time of about 11 and three quarter hours. We actually had to pass kit check again at the finish, but we didn't care as we'd had a great day out, put the world to rights many times over, drank the best can of Solo we'd ever had.....removed leeches and mud and then went in search of the "proper food" we'd been talking about for about 14 of those last 15Kms!

Finishing together

The best can of Solo!!!