Great Train Race 2012

Yesterday, Sunday 6th May, saw the annual Great Train Race held in the Dandenong hills. And it also saw me get up at a ridiculously early hour, to compete in my first race. The race starts in Belgrave and threads through the hills to Emerald. As an added bonus, a competitor in the race is the local steam train, Puffing Billy, though for me, the backdrop of the beautiful rain forest made the run pretty spectacular.

Rain clouds over the rain forest before the start of the race.

My build up to the race hadn't been too good. Earlier in the week I'd come down with a cold, and on Friday, I was seriously considering not running. But I decided to go along and see how I felt at the start. Well, with the adrenalin kicking in, my cold disappeared and so I decided to give it a shot. The race was seeded into different groups depending on a runner's best 10km time. I was starting near the back of the group and hoping to get around the 13.2km course in about 80 minutes. I travelled up to Belgrave with my good friend David who started in the group in front of me, and there were a further 2 faster groups as well.

David

Me

It was pretty cool at about 10C which was good for running as you were not going to overheat. There were some troubles with getting going for some runners, but from the back the big bunch kept us all fairly tightly packed. The course starts in Belgrave, and heads downhill for about a kilometre before the first of 2 pretty decent sized hills ending in Emerald with a couple of kilometres downhill at the end. I decided to take it very easy over the first downhill bit finding myself close to the back of the field, but then just kept a steady pace up the first hill passing lots of runners in the process. A lot of those runners then passed me back again on the next flat/downhill section which I took again quite steadily, before the second hill which is steeper and longer than the first. This hill took it's toll on runners at the back of the course with lots stopping or walking for a short while (me included) but once it was over, the race was fairly easy to finish even though there was still about 5 kilometre's left.

The buzz of running with lots of other people, and the cheers of encouragement from spectators helps you along, and of course there was the sound of the steam train tooting in the distance. There are 2 trains that race. The first will finish the distance in less than 1 hour which is out of reach of the majority of runners. The second train finishes around the 75 minute mark which is something to aim at (in fact, I will make an effort to beat this train next year). During the race there are a number of train crossings to pass, and as the race goes further the train becomes more of a factor. I was aware of the second train somewhere near me around 8 km into the race, and it passed me just before a crossing at the 10km mark.

All that can be seen is the smoke going into the distance as Puffing Billy passes me.

I eventually finished the race in around 80 minutes, though I'm not actually sure of the final time. My legs were pretty heavy at the end, and I was pretty weak on the downhill sections of the race. But I was glad to finish and complete my first ever race. On completion there were free Gatorade for all competitors and free trips back to Belgrave either by bus or on the train itself. David and I decided to take the scenic option and went back on the train. This took the best part of an hour which is great for sightseeing but not so good for muscles seizing up while sat on the cold, open sided, train.

Puffing Billy taking runners and tourists back to Belgrave.

Puffing Billy

Taking part in the event gave me great satisfaction, and a great sense of achievement in being able to finish the distance. Today I feel a bit sore, especially my calves which are not used to hill running like they had to do yesterday. And I noticed a small piece in the Herald Sun today about the race. Forgive me while I try to work out how anyone can run 13.2km in 41 minutes 33 seconds....

...never mind, I'm planning to be back again next year to try to improve upon this year's performance.