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A very fine weekend gave good running conditions, and as always a great location to mix and talk with experienced trail runners and newcomers to the sport over the two days. The track was in good condition despite 65mm rain over the preceding week, and so it turned out were the runners.

First man home on Saturday Braden Currie nearly caught the finishing crew out, finishing in a brisk 1:24:32 – despite joining the race on a whim with fellow Byron runner Kelley Caoyonan, with no training over the course and an ankle sprain along the way. Kelley was also first women home on Saturday in 2:03:17.

To put these times in perspective, here are the last five year’s men’s Saturday times 1996-2010 – 1:37:40, 1:38:01, 1:36:49, 1:35:47, 1:35:40 – and the women’s – 2:01:46, 1:44:09, 1:46:57, 1:44:21, 2:02:28. Saturday is always the fastest day, since there is more descent than ascent, and runners are fresher.

Lamington of course is a double-day race though, and while 69 ran on Saturday only 52 lined up on Sunday. Cameron Munro took out the overall title with 1:39:25 and 1:44:09 to give a combined time of 3:23:34. Second was Steve Marton in 3:38:02 and third James Bamber 3:40:59. First woman was Kelley in 4:13:33 followed by Sorrell Millis 4:17:56 and Meg Heaslop 4:21:08. Full results are attached.

There was some talk Braden’s Saturday run of 1:24:32 might be a new record but not yet. Gary Briggs’ 1979 record lives on at 1:20:41. Once an old record looks beatable though, quality runners are often tempted to train and give it a shot – so I thought it timely to do some adjustment of the old records so we have a comparable target. Our current course now avoids the 700m road section from the Binna Burra trail end to the Lodge’s lawn, due to increased traffic in the modern era.

Factoring in this reduction from 22.5km to 21.8km, those old-course records are equivalent to these times on today’s course: O’Reillys to Binna Burra male/female 1:19:08, 1:33:18, Binna Burra to O’Reillys male/female 1:18:10 and 1:31:37. Many of the top runners in Queensland have competed over the years and the long-course records for O’Reillys to Binna Burra are held by Gary Briggs, 1979, 1:20:41 and Nicole Carroll, 1995, 1:34:33, and for Binna Burra to O’Reillys by Peter Mylne, 1985, 1:21:40 and Nicole Carroll, 1995, 1:36:18. Incidentally Nickey has said she wasn’t in top form for those times, and regards the women’s record as beatable.

This reminds me of one of the classic English fell (mountain) runs, where the organisers have a prize of 1000 pounds for anyone who can beat Kenny Stuart’s record from the 80s. As they say, “we feel our money is pretty safe”. English – and Australian – runners in the 80s trained as hard as anyone ever has, and had the added advantage that top runners took the cross-country calendar seriously and could run fast over rough ground.

The team competition is another highlight. With the demise of the traditional run clubs its a chance to get a bit of bonding with your favourite weekend mob. It was all about the B’s this year, with top team for 2011 the Bunya Boys (Geoff Heydon, Cameron Munro and Daniel Hooley) beating out the all-female Byron Bay Bastards (Kelley Caoyonan, Sorrell Millis and Meg Heaslop).

Review and looking ahead to 2012:

First the important bit. Next year’s date will as usual be the last weekend in October, the 27-28th. Entries will open three months before, and be advised in the TRAQ newsletter.

This year’s increased field of 75 did add pressure, aggravated by a fault in our online booking system where people think they’ve added extras like meals but haven’t. The result was we had 80 booked for Saturday’s dinner but 90 on the night. Also, recent changes to the catering and a busy organiser not liaising enough meant the meal didn’t really cater for runners’ hunger or tastes. All in all we were disappointed and will make sure Saturday’s meail is improved for 2012.

On the accommodation front, as organisers we are aware of the costs of a weekend event, and that many young runners have little cash to spare. We pre-book affordable accommodation options, but didn’t enjoy trying to balance the varied expectations of so many entrants.

Next year we will book only bunkhouse accommodation – everything else will be reserved so you can book your own, but you will need to do that promptly as it will be held for four weeks only. See the ideas list below for these and other suggested improvements for 2012 – your comments are welcomed.

2012 bright ideas – feedback to digger@ozemail.com.au):

BYO BBQ Friday night (or get pizza on the way through Beechmont);
About 30% of lunch to be vegetarian friendly;
Simple main meal choice of meat bolognese and vege lasagne, and more of it;
Desserts rather than soup – optional or standard?
Kid friendly meal option and kids table so they’re not bored;
Negotiate BYO drinks at the teahouse for Saturday;
Keeping pre-booked accommodation simpler, covering bunkhouse only;
First two groups of 6 can claim their own bunkroom; one reserved for singles, one for waitlist
Other accommodation reserved for run entrants to self-book, til four weeks after entries open;
New ‘Sky View’ apartments available 2012, $600 per night with 9 beds in four rooms;
Sunday start from 7-8am, food/prizegiving 10.30am;
Strapping tape was provided at Sunday’s start, and we’ll incorporate this in next year’s Saturday briefing at Canungra.
Reminders to fast runners to check signs at intersections!
Qualified first aid both days (only Saturday this year)
Chase up those perennial trophies

Lost property (email digger@ozemail.com.au):
1 X Denali hydration back pack (orange/grey)
1 X Nathan water belt carrier with 4 water bottles attached.

Withdrawals, waitlist and refunds:
Because Lamington is a double-day event, there will always be withdrawals – but you might be surprised how many runners drop out, mostly due to injury. We closed with 76 entries and 14 didn’t make it to the start line, nearly one in five. This means we have to find replacements, often at short notice – so a big thank you to those from our waitlist who were able to fill in.

This also led to problems with our budget, given the $1800 of accommodation and meals associated with cancellations. The turnover on the run was 11,600 this year, and we missed covering costs by about $300.

As advised we are holding over race entry to 2012 for those who cancelled after Sunday 7 October ie two weeks out, but refunding all meal and accommodation costs. Payments should go through to your paying account this week – sorry this took awhile to set up with our online provider.

That’s it – great to see you, all the best for 2012
Happy trails – Greg and Bruce

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