Promenading at the Prom

I’m planning for this to be my shortest-ever race report. The TL;DR version is: I won the Wilsons Prom 100km race, having taken the lead after 1.6km, and eventually pushed my lead out to a winning margin of 34 minutes [Strava link is here, and yes I know it shows less than 100km, but I’ll blame the GPS]

Use this to follow along at home! [click to enlarge]

The race takes in almost all of (southern) Wilsons Prom’s best sights, except that if you’re in a rush like me you don’t get a whole lot of time to take in the scenery. About 30 100km racers set off along with another 70 or so 60km racers on a cool, dark, rainy morning at Tidal River. Some of the 60km runners set a cracking pace (4:18 for the first kilometre) and I decided to follow closely behind. We started the climb up to Telegraph Saddle road and I asked around to check that all the racers ahead of me were in the 60km; I didn’t want to let any competitors in front. Before long I was running alone with another 60km runner, we were over the top of Windy Saddle, which was both windy and rainy, and were splashing our way through the mud down towards Sealers Swamp. We hit the chicken wire, by which I mean the long wooden boardwalk with a strip of wire mesh on it so we wouldn’t slip, and I was able to switch off and admire the amazing warm temperate rainforest.

We reached Sealers Cove less than 1h15m after starting, then it was over to Refuge Cove and Waterloo Bay, with fairy tough climbs in between. While the sand at Sealers and Waterloo was firm because of the rain overnight, Refuge’s sand was coarse and got in my shoe, which caused a few blisters over the following 20km until I finally decided to stop and empty my shoes.

A Sealers selfie

Sealers Cove at 20 minutes after sunrise

I turned inland about 27km in, where the 60km racers kept heading south. This time the boardwalk was lacking chicken wire, although there were rolls of it beside the track waiting to be installed. It was wet and slippery and I took a tumble when I only had one step left until I back on the sand. I then headed along Telegraph Track—so called for the cable to the lighthouse laid in 1860—towards South Point, a steep out-and-back section that goes to the southernmost point of the Australian mainland (39.1°S if anyone’s interested). The sun was out by this point and there was a container ship about to pass between me and an island off the coast: it was wild and beautiful.  I looked at my GPS distance at the turnaround, which meant that on the way back up I could work out that I was 2.9km ahead of second place, having run about 42km.

Not far from South Point. The island is actually part of Tasmania!

Next was the challenging track to the famous Lighthouse, which sits on top of a steep hill on a peninsula that juts out into Bass Strait. It was built in 1859 and supplies were delivered only every six months by ship! There is a collection of buildings there and a school that opened in 1880, presumably just for the children of the lighthouse keeper. It would have been a pretty lonely existence; fortunately now it is only bushwalkers who visit for a night or two, and the light itself is solar powered and automatic.

The race director told us there was a camera on the door to make sure we touched it and completed the course…

Importantly for us there is a tap there, so I resupplied with water. This run is unusual in that instead of an aid station every 20km, you have to go over 75km before coming back to a full-service aid station, with a much smaller one that you pass at the 31km and 62km marks. Another feature is that there are only course markings in the Tidal River campground; everywhere else you have to read a map. Other races have marked courses, but the entry fee can be more than three times as much.

The next section back to Waterloo Bay (to finish the southern loop of the course) was really tough—I had run the track before but had forgotten just how hilly it was; I ended up climbing to above 300m elevation. Then it was the descent to the blinding-white sand of Waterloo Bay, which is my pick for the most beautiful beach in Victoria. The sand was a little less firm than earlier in the morning, but nowhere near as bad as some of what I ran on last October in the Great Ocean Walk 100km.

The original photo was extremely crooked, hence the awkward framing when straightened

The course went back onto the slippery boardwalk, where I managed to stay on my feet, and across to Oberon Bay, on the western side of the Prom. This was a dream beach to run on: the sand was firmly packed and didn’t get in my shoes and there wasn’t much gradient so it didn’t put strain on the ankles. I had been feeling pretty tired during the section from South Point to Waterloo Bay, so it was nice to realise that the rest of the run wouldn’t be as technical—I was about 68km in but only had one large climb to go.

Official race photo from Little Oberon Bay

I ran past my parents and Audrey who were on a hike to see me out on course. Once again, I was in a rush so didn’t have time do more than say high and ask for them to text me how far back second place was when he went past. It was then back into Tidal River before the final 21km loop, which takes in Lilly Pilly Gully, Mt Bishop and Squeaky Beach. Climbing Mt Bishop my legs were grumbling with tiredness, but the amazing view in the afternoon light revived my spirits, and on the way down I realised I was still descending fairly well.

View from Mt Bishop to Squeaky Beach

Tidal River from Mt Bishop

A 3km road section was surprisingly pleasant to run on, but I found myself checking the map constantly to make sure I got the right beach turnoff. I later found out on Strava that the majority took a different turn and shortened their run by about 850m, which was caused by different versions of the map showing a different course. Does that sound familiar? Before long I was on the final climb from Squeaky Beach back over to Tidal River, where I discovered some extra energy to run the last 600km at 4:38/km pace (13km/h). It was a great day out along some of my favourite tracks through some of the best scenery in Australia, and I realised how lucky I was that I was physically capable of seeing all of it in a day.

One last view, for the race, back to Squeaky Beach

During the race I thought about the physical and mental pressures of racing, and decided that half the mental pressure is watching the people around you and working out whether you can beat them, or worrying about whether someone is going to catch you. Knowing I had a strong lead lightened the mental load quite a bit, as does the beautiful scenery.

Men’s 100km podium

I now have more confidence going into my ‘A’ race of the year, the 182km Great Southern Endurance Run in November, which will take me from Bright to Mt Buller and involve 11,000m of vertical drop, compared with 3200m for this race. I will have to get used to running with poles and running all night, so if anyone fancies and all-night trail run before then, let me know! Thanks to the organisers, volunteers, Parks Victoria  (for the permit!) and supporters for a great event.

… and I got this beautiful trophy, featuring one of the Prom’s famous residents!