The Coastal Classic

The Fates seemed to be conspiring against me in December.....initially I had planned on going down to visit my friends in Tasmania and running the Bruny Island Ultra at the same time, but when Tassie delayed their border opening, this became a bit of a non starter. 

It seemed that all was not lost, however, as I was then invited to take part in an International Invitational Race in New Delhi the same weekend. I debated this for a few days, but as they'd offered to cover my entry, my flights and my accommodation, it seemed to be too good an offer to refuse, as I've never been to India. I booked leave from work, sorted out travel to/from the airport, where I wanted to go sightseeing (Covid-allowing) but was foiled again by the Indian Embassy, who suddenly decided that they were not going to issue any visas until 2022!

I decided that someone was trying to tell me something (maybe that I should just give up running......or racing at the very least) and so I lost all motivation and mojo. My friend Katy then invited me to go down and stay with her in Bondi, and run the Coastal Classic with her and her partner the next day. I've run a bit of the route (in the Royal National Park) before but never the whole of it.....I was meant to do the race several years ago when on holiday here, but it was cancelled the night before the event due to thunderstorms (as you run a lot of it on clifftops, some of which is on metal boardwalks...which is probably not advisable with lightening around).

The Coastal Classic route

I had nothing else on, last minute entries were available and so I thought "why not?" - hence Saturday morning saw us driving down to Sutherland station and catching the train down to the start (and registration) at Otford, with Katy talking me through some "highlights" of the route.....ie the steep hill off the start, and the sand at the end!!

I think they have always had a slightly "rolling start" but due to Covid there was also an option of starting at 8am if you did not want the crowded self-seeded start at 7am.....none of us were planning on being world beaters so we preferred to avoid the crowds and went for the later option (which also gave us more time to get there). There were still a fair few people on our train down to the start, but it must have been heaving earlier (and I did pity the non-runners just trying to go places)!!

As we got off the train and walked to registration we passed people "racing" the other way, who were the last few starters of the 7am lot.....but then there was a gap before our group was going to set off so we had time to register, get numbers, find toilets, hand in finish bags and generally mill around whilst trying to avoid being near to anyone else.

Runners went off 2 by 2, and so I started a few behind Katy and Bruce but passed them just before we started the proper climb up the first horrendous hill back past the station. I was glad to see that nobody at all was even attempting to run it, as walking up was hard enough. On finally reaching the top it was great to be able to get running again and start working my way round people on slightly wider portions of the track. 

Some beautiful coastal views whilst running

We had to cross one road fairly early on and some marshals helped us with traffic, but several of the guys I'd recently passed, overtook me again as they hurdled the roadside barrier with hardly a pause, whereas I stopped and heaved myself over it rather inelegantly! From there the track was a narrow steep climb (which I vaguely remembered from a walk with Anne about 18 months ago) so being in a train ensured no overexertion, but it widened again as we ran along the cliff top (not that you could see the ocean as we were in quite dense treecover).

There was a fairly steep, muddy, rooty descent down from the cliff top and the treecover made it rather dark.....which meant that all in all it was not the best time to be catching people up from the 7am start, but most of them were very kind and happily let you pass if you gave them a wee warning that you were coming.

Cliff edge sections - eek!!

Katy had talked me into the event by saying that unlike runs in the Blue Mountains, it was very runnable and there were hardly any steps.....I don't know what route she was describing, as there seemed to be endless steps to me! (I may have taken her name in vain inside my head a few times - sorry Katy!!)

Did I mention the steps?

I had a few "interesting" encounters en route, some more pleasant than others, eg a lovely lass that would fly past me on descents, yet I'd pass again on climbs, runnable flat stretches (we chopped and changed a few times so had a good chat, but she was new to distance running and so eventually dropped back which was such a shame) whereas a negative experience was a lady from the early start who was not in favour of me passing her at all....ever....

I may have mumped and moaned over a few bits of the run....I mean who puts 3K of "undulating" sand into a 30K when you've already gone 25K....and the fact that I thought I was running along the final beach to the finish only to spot that there was a path leading up off the beach and a further km or so to run up and down and round the houses to actually get there.....but all in all, it was a stunning course! 

And the sandy beaches that had to be crossed?

It had a bit of everything....some road (well, actually almost non except for at the very end!), trail, grass, rocks, roots, mud, sand, boardwalks, steps, beaches, and stunning scenery as we went through various completely different little microclimes of vegetation....I'd just suggest preparing for it slightly better, as the lack of distance trail running caught up with me in the latter stages :-)

The aid stations were great as there were more than enough of them providing drinks, fruit and lollies that you hardly needed to carry anything, but my only complaint about this, was that at the finish line, nothing was provided for the runners. You were expected to buy anything you wanted to eat or drink.....there wasn't even a water fountain!!

Happy (if thirsty and hungry) to finish :-)

Having ignored the seeded start, I had no idea how I'd done, though I did feel like I'd had to pass several hundred people en route, so it was a nice surprise to find out I'd "podiumed" in the masters results.....but what was even nicer was being able to head back from the finish down to the final beach and run back in with Katy and Bruce (earning myself a nice ice cream from Bruce at a local shop).

Katy and Bruce running on the final beach

A little snippet that added to the day was another realisation of the small world that running is - as well as catching up with some other friends at the finish (who'd started earlier and so I hadn't seen them all day), I starting chatting to an English girl who was also bemoaning the lack of fluids/food at the finish. She said that her parents were race directors in the UK and would never do that......and as I was describing the amazing spread there was at a trail race I'd done one New Year's Day, it turned out that that was one of her parents' events - wow!!

Post ice-cream and coke - happy days!!