March 23rd 2007 Oxfam Trailwalker – 100km/48 hours, Glen Waverly to Warburton, Melbourne, VIC

Friday 23rd March 7:08 am saw Team Tarli Karng – Kelsey McPherson, Kerryn Rim, Michael Kolody & Mike Pickavance off to a fast, albeit late start when I (Mike P) finally arrived for the race, late, courtesy of a faulty GPS device.

Having started 8 minutes behind the rest of the field of (592 teams/2368 competitors) it took us a good 45 minutes to catch, and than pass most of the several hundred teams who started with that small time advantage; it felt good to race past so many in a such a short space of time, Kerryn telling most of them “we started 8 minutes late”. She also tells me that apparently I’ll be forgiven in a few years or so. We probably could have passed more, at the rate we were moving, but the relatively crowded and narrow path was something of a hindrance to us.

Once past Checkpoint 1 we settled into a steady, relaxed rhythm. Kelsey slowed with low back pain for a while, only to rally to a fine and fast pace later on in the event, assisted by massages from her sister Shea at every checkpoint that followed the first. We’d been advised just before the event start that Checkpoint 3 – Checkpoint 4 was closed due to a fire bug lighting fires – get a life!!!. Initially it was disappointing not to be able to run the 12km leg with the 1,000 steps, but as the hot weather (35C) took its toll, it was a blessing in disguise not to have had that little climb.

The pace we set kept us in good stead, turning up to the Checkpoints in around 10th – 15th position throughout, and playing tag with a few teams along the final few legs…now we lead…now they do; 5 of them dropped their slowest member, reducing the team size to 3, and beat us to the finish as a result. In the evening from about 8pm, it started to rain quite heavily.

The rain was welcome as it always is, but made the last leg hard going with a couple of reasonable ascents and descents in extremely slippery mud, not made easier as it was dark by then. Kerryn had a couple of pretty spectacular falls in the mud, but she soldiered through and didn’t do herself any injury. All in all, a good result; 2nd mixed team, 8th full team to finish, 15th outright of 592 teams with the various 3 member teams that passed us.

Thanks to Kerryn for all the hard work arranging this, and to Colin for his superb crewing work where he made a difficult task look easy – a sure sign of experience.

Mike Pickavance
Tali Karng Trackers
www.tktrackers.com