Feature Article - 4 Women, 96 kilometers, 5000 metres total elevation, 14 hours 52 minutes - The Kokoda Challenge 2008

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Team Speeeedy Quattro, first all women’s team across the line. Third place overall, out of 275 teams. A pretty hard day at the office, but worth it!!

My preparation was not the best. Broken toe 7 weeks out from race day and the day before the first run as a team (an accident - kicked a piece of furniture at home). I did actually run that day, hobbling over Pikes Peak, the downhill the most painful. Jackie had flown up from Canberra, Maree and Ness driven down from Brisbane, so it was hard to let them down. Besides, they didn’t have any idea where to go and, as we learnt, had a shocking sense of direction. The broken toes meant that I discovered deep water running and RPM classes (stationary bike) in the gym, to try and maintain my fitness. I prefer running.

Jackie was a veteran of last year’s event. She knew what she was in for. Ness had participated in the Mark Webber Challenge in Tasmania in November last year - a team event over 7 days, plus completed the Australian Ironman 2008. Maree - well Maree has 25 year old legs and while she is the quietest of the group, she has the heart of a lion and just a wonderful attitude to match. Maree and Ness where also triathlon training buddies prior to this challenge. Maree responded to my advertised call for a female team to break 15 hours, inviting Ness to join when another potential runner fell through. Jackie also responded to my call. For the most part, we didn’t know each other well prior to this event.

Given that Jackie lived in Canberra, and I had a broken toe, our team training was sporadic. Jackie did fly up for two weekends, which clearly demonstrated her commitment. This commitment was affirmed over and over in both the lead up to and during the event.

During training we managed to get Maree around the entire course, Ness not quite. Work schedules tricky to line up. Ness is a flight attendant with Virgin, Maree a Brisbane airport customs officer, so both on topsy turvy work schedules. However, we had a great opportunity to test the field four weeks out by participating in the mini Kokoda, which was 29 kilometres of the course. While Jackie couldn’t make this one, the three Queensland girls gave it a run for its money. I had only been back running for two weeks and was counting on my years of running to get me through. It was tough, and we came in second, behind the two guys from Nike Hammer (the outright winning team from the last two Kokoda Challenge events). It was a great event and really boosted our confidence. We also learnt that we worked well together, Maree the speeeedy on the flat, Ness the speeeedy on the uphill, and Christine the downhill speeeedy. (Jackie proved to be a speeedy finisher).

After this I had another set back, with my foot flaring up. Not my broken toe, but the ball of my foot. I took myself to the podiatrist, also a Kokoda participant (walker), and he literally worked miracles. He stuck needles into my leg and foot - a horrid treatment called dry acupuncture, then strapped my foot and told me to run the next day. (Any experienced athlete is rarely told to train the next day after an ~incident~ so you can imagine how pleased I was.) Another treatment and I was good to go. The small muscles in my foot had been under strain from walking with a broken toe, and after loading them with a serious run over very hilly terrain, they decided to go on strike. I learnt that I should have managed a broken toe with the support of a good podiatrist from day one.

I had been feeling as if my training had been like a slow motion movie--slow two steps forward, then slow three steps back - never quite getting in the groove. Next hiccough - I got a chest cold/cough. Me! Who never gets anything. Decided to mostly ignore it, although there were a few nights I made sure to get to bed for 10 hours sleep.

These events take a lot of logistical work for each team. Fortunately there are five crew check points on the course, so we can be replenished with fluid and supplies. The crew are an integral part of our success. We try to have the check points work a little like pit stops in Formula One racing. Precise. Fast. The crew then pack up, go to the next check point, set up and wait for hours. I am told they had a great time. We had Jackie’s brother Nick from Sydney, who took the lead. We also had Ness’s partner Dan, who I am told eats 8 sandwiches in one session as a normal part of his day (he is a cyclist when he is not working), Maree’s partner Tom, my daughter Natalie and her friend Launa, both girls veteran crew members from last year. They were incredible. Nothing was too much for them. Total service mentality. Jackie’s father also managed to fly up from Sydney for the last check point and was there at the finish line. He was a great support to me at the end.

This year the race was a staggered start, given the size of the field.(nearly 1,200 people). The event had sold out three months prior to race day. Isn’t it amazing that so many very normal people want to take this on? Other than about 10 teams, most people walk it, and take anywhere up to 39 hours to finish, which is the cut off time. They come in all shapes and sizes and ages. There are a lot of school teams, and of course, the Kokoda kids, which is what the event is all about. Doug Henderson decided he wanted to do something for kids that had gone a bit off track in life, and so four years ago created this event. The kids that participate have to train for a year, every Sunday and Wednesday afternoon. Then they get to do the event and, to cap it off, they go to Papua New Guinea to walk the real Kokoda track. (In Australian History, the Kokoda Track was one of the pivotal points in the defense of Australia from the Japanese in WWII). You could well imagine that participating in this program would be life changing; learning discipline, endurance, courage, self respect, team work, plus the history of other young people who gave their lives for their country.

It was a warm day. We would have liked it cooler. We had a good start, came into the first crew check point in 4th or 5th place. There was a team of men just behind us as we came in. They managed to beat us out of the first check point, leaving in front of us. One of the guys said they were sick of seeing the backs of us, to which I replied: “Get used to it.” We didn’t see them again, sadly, only to learn that they actually came second, and were only 25 minutes in front of us at the finish.

The first half of the course is the hardest because of the number of hills we climb. The bad ones take about 20 minutes per hill, which doesn’t sound like much, but they are steep little buggers. Jackie was suffering from the heat (Canberra girl, used to cold temps), and she struggled through those early hills. At some stage early on I felt nauseous, which was likely to be around my fluid management - I had a peculiar condition only diagnosed in endurance athletes, called hyponatreamia, which essentially means I lose a lot more sodium in my sweat than most people, and if I drink too much fluid, my body swells up and I get sick. So I have to manage the fluid and sodium intake precisely. Last year we got it right, this year, the extra heat meant that I was losing more fluid as sweat, and must have been adding too much. It righted itself temporarily. I knew I was in trouble because I was having difficulty eating, which is not good for these kinds of events. Last year I happily lived on white bread and honey sandwiches, this year, couldn’t stomach one. Instead, I ate lollies, some pretzels, oranges, and finally, because it was all I could get down, some gels.

There were two other teams of men in front of us (other than Nike Hammer Team, two time winners, with Peter Hall, a training buddy of mine - 54 years old and still running sub three hour marathons, the legendary Donny Wallace, ultra runner extraordinaire, Nicky Carrol, one of Australia’s best ever marathon runners - this team would have had to have a majorly bad day to not win) at the half way check point. We passed one team leading into the next check point, and caught the other team as we were leaving. Their team leader was not happy. Two of his guys were struggling, and he was furious. He hadn’t worked out that it was a team event. Four people - only ever as strong as the four people working together. He muttered to us as we passed that that was it for them, we would not see them again. Fine by us.

We came into the highest check point before dusk, a little earlier than last year. I wasn’t feeling too bad at that stage, but that all went downhill...for within 20 minutes I was throwing up. Felt better for getting whatever was in out. Maree was a trooper and stuck beside me for this one. By this time it was dark and we were running with headlamps. Very steep descent, so extra caution needed to avoid any kind of mishap.

The last big hill was not good for me. I was lurching from side to side like a drunk. No calories on board, no energy, not feeling sick, actually I think I was past that. Jackie stayed with me, and also gave me a gel carbo shot. I had to get some calories into my system. It helped.

I picked up for the last and final stage. We had lost ground on the second to last stage -because of me. At this point Jackie was coming into her element. She was determined, positive, (sheer bloody minded - in the best possible way) and ran slightly in front for most of the last section, keeping us honest. Not too far to break our backs, but far enough to keep us moving, stopping every now and then to check in. I had managed to come out of my delirium to some degree and joined in the pursuit of sub 15 hours. I knew this part of the course really well, knew when we hit the last hill, and when we had 400 metres to go.

I haven’t mentioned much of Ness - she as fantastic. Such an easy going, happy soul, very constant in her energy and presence. Actually, there was not a word of complaint from any of the girls. I was probably the noisiest in this department, which is interesting to observe, as I have never thought of myself as a complainer.

So, 400 metres to go. 95.6 kilometres run. For some strange reason our headlamps were failing, visibility was difficult and my eyes were blurry because my contact lenses had dried out. Now we just had to keep stiff legs moving, and we could hear the noise of the crowd (not a big crowd) as we came down the final hill.

Four girls, arms in the air, across the finish line. 14 hours, 52 minutes. Fantastic team. Fantastic effort - what a day!!

My body was about to tell me how much it had spent. Within 10 minutes I was dry retching again, feeling very miserable. Natalie and Launa drove me home, I made it into the shower, and straight to bed, wet hair and all. I was shaking so much - the body in shock-that it took about 15 minutes to subside. The nausea took about an hour or so to go, and I finally managed some sleep. Not a drop of fluid or food passed my lips until the next day. Finally, no nausea and I was able to eat, although not much. Body not nearly as sore as last year, just some pain in the thighs - stairs a little difficult to navigate.

We learnt that the team which came second were our mates from the first crew check point - the ones I told to get used to seeing our backs. Apparently my fighting words had put the devil up their sails and they were worried about us the whole day. They came in about 20 minutes before us. Because I had assumed that the second team was the second place getter from the last two years, I hadn’t even thought about second place. If we had of known, I think we would have managed it. Still, third is fabulous. Very, very happy. We did the sub 15 hours, which was our target. Tougher course this year and we still did 20 minutes better than last year’s time.

Two days later and feeling good. The crazy hunger hasn’t set in - it took about two days last year. Swam an easy 2 kilometres today and that helped my legs. Sleep in tomorrow and no running for at least a week.

The girls are all great. Feeling pretty good all in all. Very happy, very excited by a tremendous achievement.

Most of my life I am an individual player. The beauty of this event is that it is all about the team, and throwing four strangers together into a very significant challenge for a long day, can, and did, create a most beautiful thing. It is what happens when four people come together in determination to achieve a common goal, working as one and four simultaneously. I once heard a definition of trust using a war analogy. Two people in a fox hole, under fire. Both need to sleep, so they decide to take turns. Would you trust the person to stay awake and watch out for both of you while you slept? Well, Speeeedy Quattro had that kind of trust. It was beautiful. Thank you Ness, Jackie and Maree. I would have you in any fox hole of mine. Thanks also to Nick, Tom, Dan, Natalie and Launa. And to all the hundreds of volunteers who manned the check points through the night and into the next day.

This is where life is, on the fine edge, out from the couch, taking a risk, testing what it is to be human. I love it, crazy as that may be.

For more photo's go to http://flickr.com/photos/13233709@N07/?saved=1

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